Without You, I'm A Disaster

Sal and Brendan were crashed on the couch back on the bus. The two of them were slowly working their way through a six-pack that they had on board.
The guitarist finished his third beer, and decided that he should call it a night, at least on the drinking. He knew that he couldn’t afford to get drunk like he was before. He slid the bottle onto the table and slowly stood up and stretched. He ran his fingers through his Mohawk, which was slowly losing its ability to stand up on its own.
He gave Brendan a clap on the shoulder before heading back to where all the bunks were. He looked around at them. There were three bottom bunks and only two top ones. None of the guys ever understood why it was that way, but they didn’t care. Crystal, Sal, and Doug had all called dibs on the bottom bunks for this tour, so Matt and Reid were stuck on the tops ones because there was no way anyone was going to convince Brendan to deal with all the guys snoring every night.
Sal slid his baggy pajama pants on and flopped down onto his bunk. He sighed as he ran his hands over his face. He closed his eyes and was about to fall asleep when he heard someone collapse onto the bunk across the narrow aisle way from him. Sal opened one eye and saw Brendan lying there with his face buried in the pillow.
“What’s with you?” Sal asked tiredly. The bassist forced his face out of the pillow, “Huh?” Sal chuckled, “What’s up? You seem so like…not yourself lately.” Brendan groaned as he rolled over to he was lying on his back. “Fuck the friend-zone,” he said with a sigh. Sal couldn’t help but to laugh, “I know the feeling,” he paused, “But who are you stuck in the friend-zone with? Every girl fucking loves you.” Brendan shook his head, “They “love” me. They think I’m a great, sweet guy or shit like that. And that’s awesome and all, but it’s a recipe for a life-long trip to the land where love goes to die. Aka, the friend-zone.”
Sal couldn’t help but to laugh a little bit. He had never really given much thought to Brendan’s love life, or apparent lack thereof. The bassist wasn’t like Reid or Matt who flaunted their accomplishments, and he wasn’t like Doug either who had a steady girlfriend. Sal hooked up every now and again but he wasn’t as consistent with it was a couple of his band mates were. After all, he couldn’t, not when he had always been waiting for Crystal.
Sal was about to ask Brendan another question about what girl exactly made him realize that he lived his life in the friend-zone, but when he looked over, the bassist was fast asleep on the bunk. Sal chuckled; at least Brendan wouldn’t be kept awake for the night.
Reid walked onto the bus and immediately stripped down to his boxers and climbed up into his bunk that was above Sal’s. “They’re still together you know,” Reid said flatly as he stared up at the ceiling. Sal was caught off-guard by the fact that the keyboardist was still speaking to him. “What?” he asked. Reid sighed, “Walst and Crystal. They’re still together.” Sal shook his head, even though Reid couldn’t see him. “How do you know?” Reid laughed, “Because I’m not a fucking idiot. I saw the way that they were acting at the bar tonight; they’re definitely still together.” Sal took a deep breath, “Reid?” The keyboardist hung his head over the side of the bunk and looked down at Sal. “Yea?” Sal looked him dead in the eye, “They’re not together.” Reid opened his mouth to say something but Sal cut him off, “They might be screwing around, but they’re not together. She still loves you. And as long as she does, she’ll never be with anyone else, not with her heart anyway.”
Reid rested his head back onto his pillow without another word. He had always heard the other guys saying how Crystal was still in love with him, but ever since his conversation with Jordan, he had begun thinking about what that really meant. His eyes grew heavy and he drifted off into a troubled sleep.
The next morning, everyone had surprisingly found their way to their own bunks. Matt had managed to climb up into his without hurting himself or waking anyone else up. Crystal was passed out on top of her blankets in nothing but a bra and a set of shorts that she had worn under her skirt the night before.
Brendan walked into the main part of the bus and saw Doug and his girlfriend entwined under the covers. The bassist chuckled and gave a low whistle at the two of them. Jordan smiled as she sat upright and wrapped the blanket around her bare skin. “How was your first night back together?” Brendan asked with a laugh as he sat at the small table with a bottle of water. Jordan didn’t say anything, but the red that quickly flushed her cheeks as she bit her bottom lip gave Brendan his answer. “Ohlala. Jordan Westerly, I can’t believe it.” The girl laughed, “Oh please, Doug and I have been dating for nearly three years. We’ve been doing this for about that length of time.”
She nodded to the seat on the other side of the table, “Toss me my shirt?” Brendan chuckled as he tossed the tank top that she had been wearing the night before over to her. She pulled it on over her head and stood up. The bassist laughed as he gave her a joking slap on the ass, “You wanna put some pants on too?” Jordan chuckled, “Oh please, I have underwear on. You lot have seen girl’s in far less than this.” Brendan chuckled, “I guess this is true.”
As the morning wore on, everyone slowly started to wake up. The only person who was still asleep was Crystal. She was still passed out on her bunk. “Let her sleep,” Reid told them, “It’s been a long tour for her.” None of the guys argued and Jordan gave the keyboard player a small, approving, smile.
Since they weren’t going to have to leave or start driving until that night, the guys decided that they’d wander around town while it was still daylight out. Doug and Jordan said that they had passed a few placed the previous night that they had wanted to check out.
Reid flopped down onto the couch. “I’ll stay here with Crys,” he said as he ran his fingers through his messy hair. Doug looked at him doubtfully, “You sure?” Reid nodded, “Yea, I don’t want her to wake up here alone.” The drummer gave a slight nod before sliding his hand into his girlfriend’s and heading off the bus.
The keyboardist closed his eyes and put his hands behind his head and laid there for a moment trying to think of what to do next. He didn’t want to wake up his ex, but at the same time, he desperately wanted to talk to her about everything that was going on and everything that had happened.