Your Life Is a Map With No Compass

“Jack”, Zack whispers in my ear, waking me from my amazingly hot Megan Fox sex dream. Man, she was good at giving blowjobs. I grab my phone from its resting place between my bunk and the wall and check the time. 8:30. Just like usual.

“Hey Zacky.” I reply, pushing the covers off me and climbing out of my bunk. Zack is already dressed, just like usual, and is silently counting on his fingers as he looks at me, just like usual. I pull on a pair of Alex’s sweats that were sitting on the floor, then let Zack take my hand and lead me out into the front lounge.

“Morning Jack.” I smile over at Matt, who was already drinking a Monster and typing away on his laptop; probably mending whatever fences Alex and I broke down last night. Matt’s the first one that Zack wakes up, followed by me, then Rian, then Vinny, then Grieco, then Evan, then Colussey, then Danny, then Jeff, then finally Alex. I found it unfair that I have to be the one that was woken up second, but I knew better than to argue with Zack. Compared to what he was like in high school, he’s practically . . . normal now.

Zack walks back to the bunk space to wake up Rian, and I settle down next to Matt, resting my head on his shoulder and grabbing his monster from his hand. I take a sip, then hand it back to him, shuddering as the tastes evades my mouth. I hate energy drinks. Fucking despise them. But, I mean, I need something to get me through the day when I get woken up at 8:30 every. Fucking. Morning.

Soon enough, Rian is sitting beside me. He’s wearing a pair of Matt’s Mickey Mouse PJ pants, and, of course, Zack notices. “W-why are you wearing Matt’s c-clothes?” Zack looks like he is about to cry, and I thank my lucky stars that Alex’s sweats look practically identical to mine.

Matt, Rian and I exchange a glance before all standing up at the same time and simultaneously hugging Zack. “It’s okay,” I whisper into his ear. “Rian will go change.” Zack lets out a tiny sob before burying his face into my chest, and I silently motion for Rian to go change. I pull Zack down onto the fake leather couch and rub small circles onto his back. He's not crying, just letting out shaky breaths and counting on his fingers.

“Zack. It’s 8:45. Don’t you need to go wake up Vinny?” I ask gently. He pulls away from me and nods, then stands up and walks over to Vinny’s bunk. Rian walks into the front lounge with a pair of his basketball shorts on, then sits down next to me and lets out a sigh.

“Well, that’s one disaster averted.” He says a little sarcastically.

“Rian, come on. It’s not his fault, remember?”

“When did I ever say that it was his fault?” Rian snaps. He rolls his eyes, then gets up from the couch and pours himself a cup of coffee. Damn. What the hell’s happening here? Rian never snaps at anybody.

Zack comes bounding into the room with Vinny in tow, a smile on his face so wide that it is starting to hurt my eyes to look at it. “Vinny’s awake,” he says simply. I nod, then hold out my arms, signaling Zack to come over to me. He jumps into my lap, and I wrap my arms around him and kiss the top of his head.

“Ready for the show tonight?” I ask him. He nods, his eyes bright.

“Yeah. It’s going to be so much fun. And I love 9:30 club.” I smile and rest my chin on top of his head.

"Zack?" He looks up at Matt, his eyes wide and innocent.

"Yeah?"

"Alex and Jack need to do an interview with some people today. It's going to be at 1:30 here on the bus, okay?" Matt asks hesitantly. My hands are already tightly clasped with Zack’s, ready to comfort him if he doesn't like this change of plans.

"B-but I thought it was going to be at two." He doesn't seem like he's about to have a breakdown, but just to make sure I put my lips close to his ear and whisper comforting words.

“They had to change it because no interviewer was free until two. It’ll only be for, like, half an hour though.” Zack is biting down on his lower lip hard, and he tightens his grip on my hands.

“They only changed it by half an hour, Zacky. It won’t mess anything up, okay?” I murmur into his ear, the tip of it slightly sunburned. “We’ll still do soundcheck at four, we’ll still eat dinner at six, we’ll still play at seven. You’ll still go to bed at 11:30, and you’ll still wake up at 7:45 the next day.” That’s one thing that calms Zack down. Knowing what the schedule for the day is.

“O-okay,” he says. Matt smiles at me gratefully, and I nod at him slightly in return. “I’m going to go wake up Grieco.” He gets off of my lap and stretches, then goes over to our drum tech’s bunk and pokes his head through the curtain.

“Thanks Jack,” Matt says, opening another Monster.

“For what?” I ask, fishing for a compliment.

He knows what I’m trying to do, and rolls his eyes before saying, “You’re like, the only person that Zack listens to. You’re the only one that can calm him down. If you hadn’t been there just then, he probably would have gone all freakout mode on us. And we all know that there’s no getting him back after that happens.”

“Let’s just hope that it doesn’t happen today,” I reply, then get up to get some breakfast.