Of Our Souls

The space in the bus seemed too cramped for me, but I knew that it was only in my head. I felt a bit claustrophobic, because the nerves were getting the best of me. My hands were clammy and shaking under the table, as I sat in front of Adam. Paul, Gabriel and Henry were sitting on the couch behind Adam and they were talking about how excited they were to meet the other bands that were going on Warped this year. Harold was probably in the bunk area talking to his girlfriend back home. He missed her a lot, because he hadn‘t seen her in almost five months and now he wasn‘t going to see her for another few months, because of Warped. His girlfriend, Elena, understood that this was our dream and an opportunity like this didn‘t come up more than once in a person‘s lifetime. She was very supportive of our dream and I was glad that at least someone back home appreciated us and what we did.

‘Greta..? Are you okay?’ Adam snapped me out of my train of thoughts and I looked at him. Paul, Gabriel and Henry stopped their talking and I saw them lean a bit to look at me. The lump in my throat slid down harshly and I nodded my head, not making a peep, afraid that if I do, my voice will break and give away my fear.

‘Okay, don’t lie. What’s wrong?’ Paul stood up from the couch and came towards me. Then he proceeded to push me towards the bus wall and sit down beside me. I got squished between the wall and Paul, which made me more claustrophobic than I was. Now, it seemed that I barely had any breathing space.

‘Oh God, you’re going to suffocate me…’ I muttered lightly and put my head on the table. My eyes closed shut and I felt a bit better for a fraction of a second. I felt Paul grab my hand under the table and squeeze it in reassurance.

‘Don’t be nervous, Midget. Everything will be fine. We shall take on this quest together.’ I lifted my head from the table and looked Adam. He had this stupid grin on his face. Paul looked at him like he was retarded and I saw Gabriel and Henry snicker on the couch. They had their bromance going on like always.

‘Perfect time to show your gamer side, Adam. Makes me feel oh so much better.’ I bit back sarcastically and Adam giggled girlishly, waving his hand in a girly fashion.

‘No problem, girlfraaaan.’ He imitated flipping his hair back. Me and Paul just shook our heads, but the smiles were evident on our faces.

Just then, Harold walked in wearing one of his sparkly shirts. I mean, the boy radiated straightness, but he wore strange clothing that made everyone question his sexuality. The question was always answered when everyone found out he didn’t understand any jokes. He was oblivious to any kind of dirty or sexual jokes. We were surprised he had survived for so long.

‘How’s our princess doing?’ Paul looked at Harold, as he stopped to get a water bottle from the fridge. He turned to us and grinned.

‘Oh, Elena is doing fine. She told me that she was going to sleep, because she had a long day, so I wished her goodnight…’ All of us looked at each other and shook our heads. Paul evidently rolled his eyes and sighed.

‘I meant you when I said princess.’ Paul cut into Harold’s rant. There was silence for a few moments, before Harold raised his brow.

‘What?’ He asked flatly and I chuckled lightly.

‘What the fuck is wrong with you? You’ve been with us for so long and you still don’t get our jokes, sheesh.’ Adam laughed a bit and I watched Harold frown.

‘I don’t see where the joke was. I mean, princess. If you say that then you’re referring to someone of female sex. Now, seeing as I talked with my girlfriend moments prior, I thought you were asking about her.’ Harold explained and we looked at each other before we burst out laughing. Adam clutched his stomach and I had a few tears slide down my cheeks. As I said, the boy is oblivious.

‘Harold, you wear sparkly shirts and neon colored jeans. Explain to me how can you be straight?’ Henry asked as calmly as he could. After the last word left his mouth, he chuckled a bit. Harold just watched us with his eyebrows raised, before he shrugged his shoulders.

‘That’s called fashion sense. If you don’t have it, no one can help you.’ And we were laughing once again, clutching our stomachs and being as loud as we could while Harold stood there, not getting what was so funny.

‘Do you ever hear what comes out of your mouth?’ Adam asked between his laughs. Harold took a sip of his water bottle and shrugged his shoulders.

‘I do.’ He answered shortly and Adam looked at me.

‘Then how come does it sound so gay?’ Harold chucked the water bottle at Adam and he stuck out his tongue.

‘Oh my God, did you see that?’ Adam looked at all of us, pointing at Harold.

‘And how come can he be so straight with all the shit that he does?’ Gabriel asked and all of us shrugged our shoulders.

‘Excuse me, I am right here.’ Harold waved his hand in a ghetto fashion and Adam started laughing hysterically. I had to admit, Harold would always get us in a better mood and he didn’t even have to try. His obliviousness was an entertainment to us, but we never took it too far. We knew that it was just friendly banter and we always stressed it out so that Harold wouldn’t get hurt, because we all had problems in the past and all of us knew that we shouldn’t bring it up or in any way use it to hurt someone from our band.

‘You guys are asses.’ Harold muttered and I squeezed out from my place between the wall and Paul and hugged him.

‘Don’t be mad at us. You know we love you.’ I told him and he threw his arm around my shoulders.

‘Greta is the only one that understands me. I’m glad that she loves me and I hate the rest of you.’ Harold imitated flipping his hair back and I jabbed his side.

‘Don’t be mean, Harry.’ I told him and he pouted.

‘But Midget, they make fun of me.’ I gave him a stern look and shook my finger in front of his nose.

‘Because you are an easy target to make fun of.’ I grinned at him and he rolled his eyes. He stayed silent, but sighed in a few moments and looked at the rest of the guys.

‘Give me a hug, you sluts.’ And I felt myself get squished between Harold and someone else so hard that it was really hard to breathe.

‘Oh God, stop choking me.’ I squeaked out and I heard Adam laugh.

‘That’s what she said.’ He screamed beside my ear and jabbed my elbow into his ribs. That made him let go of me and our hug-o-marathon dispersed.

‘Scream in my ear once again and I shall put an arrow in your knee.’ I exclaimed and the guys laughed.

‘I got that pun.’ Harold piped in and we looked at him.

‘Yeah and there’s an endless supply of puns to go.’ Paul muttered to me and I chuckled.

The bus came to a halt and I looked out the window. It seemed that we had reached our destination and I immediately felt my nervousness return. My hands started shaking a bit and I ran my hand through my hair.

‘Let’s get this party started!’ Harold screamed and started walking towards the front of the bus, swinging his hips in every direction that he could. The rest of us just stood there and watched him, feeling embarrassed for ourselves. Harold seriously was the guy who did things before he thought if they were appropriate or not…

‘If we don’t get known throughout the bands as the gayest group in the whole Warped that will be an accomplishment…’ Gabriel muttered and I slapped his shoulder.

‘Stop with the gay jokes and let’s go. We don’t want to look retarded if we let Harold walk in there alone.’ The guys agreed with a laugh and we left the bus. The driver wished us luck and I smiled gratefully. We were going to need a lot of luck, especially me, if I didn’t want to mess up.