When Nobody Else Is Looking

“GET UP!” I woke to Austin Carlile screaming at me… Well, not actually him, but the alarm on my phone was The Depths. I sighed and got up, knowing he would just keep going and going and going.
“Looks like she’s up,” I heard my friend and band mate Brody chuckled. The bassist was definitely the joker of the group.
“No way,” I heard another voice say in awe and I heard footsteps walk towards my bunk. At the moment, I was hiding in my blanket on our tour bus and it was the Warped Tour rehearsal day.
“GET UP!” Someone screamed at me. I opened my eyes to see the real Austin Carlile leaning down with his head in my bunk.
“Oh my god!” I yelled and hit my head on the ceiling.
“Sorry, did I scare you?” He grinned.
“Holy shit, yes,” I gasped and climbed out of my bunk. I rubbed my forehead as I leaned against the kitchen counter in our bus.
“Woah,” My guitarist Josh said. “Your head’s already swelling.”
“That’s what happens when you hit your head Joshua,” I used his full name. “God, where’s the Tylenol?”
“Bottom drawer on the right side,” My other guitarist Jo told me. I gratefully pulled the bottle out of the medication drawer and took two. Between the six of us, there was quite a bit of prescription meds and just general crap from the drug store.
“Sorry again, I didn’t mean to scare you that bad,” Austin said. I chuckled at his last words.
“It’s fine,” I said and looked up to see Alan Ashby sitting on my couch too. “Hey Alan.”
“Hi,” He said. He was a man of few words.
“We just wanted to come say hi since you probably won’t know anyone else here yet,” Austin said.
“That’s so nice,” I said.
“Well you guys seem cool,” Alan spoke up. We hung out for a bit until we all had to get to our stages. And I still had to get dressed.
“Bye,” Alan called as they left.
“Bye guys, see ya later,” I said and started tearing into my suitcase.
“Don’t rip anything Brye,” Josh told me. I flung one of my thongs at him and hit him in the face.
“Shut up!” I yelled and finished finding something good enough to wear. I ended up in my white Dead and Divine tee and some ripped jeans.
“Guys, can we stop the fighting for one day?” Brian said. He was our drummer, and he also broke up every single fight we had. I left to go get dressed and came back to see Jesse had joined us. Jesse was our screamer, but lately we’d been sharing all the vocal responsibilities.
“Let’s go, where’s Annie?” I asked, grabbing an apple on my way to the front of the bus. I decided to eat them since we wouldn’t be able to keep them for very long.
“He’s already down at the stage,” Jesse said, lighting a cigarette.
“OUTSIDE!” I screamed and kicked him out the door. I hated it when the boys smoked inside.
“You can be such a nazi sometimes,” Jesse complained as he left.
“I have a lung condition!” I shouted after him.
“It doesn’t sound like it,” He said before walking off. I sighed and chucked my apple core at his back as I watched his red hair disappear under some tents.
“Let’s get going Brye, we’re already late,” Josh said and put his light brown hair into a beanie and handed me a Monster. I love Monster, and it’s not only because they sponsored us and bought us a bus. The other energy drinks taste funny. And Rockstar is too sweet. Yuck.
Josh, Brian, Brody, Jo and I walked to the Monster stage. There weren’t too many bands there yet so I sat up on the barrier and waved at Anthony. I like to call him Annie because it pisses him off. He likes to bother me too so I guess it balances out.
“Hey baby girl,” Annie said and hugged me awkwardly since I refused to get down. Annie was a tall, awkward mess of a man with darkly tanned skin and dark brown hair that he usually shaved so he was close to being bald.
“Hey An,” I replied right before someone pulled me backwards.
“SAVED YOUR LIFE!” He yelled.
“Alan! That’s not funny, you gave me a heart attack!” I complained once he let me sit back up.
“It was pretty funny,” Alan said and leaned forward onto the metal fence thing.
“What is it with Of Mice & Men and scaring me?” I asked.
“How’s your head?” Alan asked. I pulled back my bangs and watched An sigh before running off. “Ouch.”
“I’m over it,” I said and turned sideways to lean against the real fence that enclosed the pit. Eventually An came back with a pack of ice for me.
“Thanks doll,” I said, making Alan laugh before putting it against my head. An scowled at me before walking away to find the rest of the boys. Alan and I watched a few sets before I was collected to go on. The boys rolled out their stuff while I plugged in all the mics. Alan and Austin were in the front, cheering for us and I smiled. We didn’t play a great show but we were focusing more on the sound then being showy for a bunch of other people who were more than likely judging us. A little later in the day, I was hanging out and watched the end of the Asking Alexandria show. How on earth Ben was wearing a hat, I have no idea. But it didn’t really look too hot on him, his hair was one of the best parts of his appearance. He winked at me before walking off and I couldn’t help but blush. Not many guys like him look at me. I also watched half of the Pierce the Veil set until they had to stop.
“Wait, where’s Kellin?” Vic asked. “No one else knows his part!” I sighed and got up and jumped on stage.
“I know it, just play,” I told Vic. One of the stage hands handed me a mic and everyone looked at me like I was crazy.
“Dare me to jump off of this jersey bridge,” Vic started.
“I bet you never had a Friday night like this!” I continued and most of the people stopped whatever they were doing to stare. Luckily, the band didn’t and Vic only missed one line.
My screaming got everyone’s attention, even Kellin’s as he watched from the pit that was now crowded with other bands and their crews. My own band was even pretty impressed since I hadn’t been screaming for that long.
“Please won’t you push me for the last time, scream until there’s nothing left! So sick of playing, I don’t want this anymore! The thought of you’s no fucking fun, you want a martyr? I’ll be one! Because enough’s enough, we’re done,” I finished and grabbed for the water Jesse was holding up for me. Thank god for that boy.
We finished the song and I sat down immediately, being out of breath. I wasn’t used to screaming so much.
“Holy shit woman, that was impressive!” Jaime yelled.
“There’s a lot of skills I have that I don’t use often,” I gasped and saw An run over, my inhaler in hand. I refused it, it wasn’t that bad yet.
“What else can you do that we don’t know about?” Mike joked, coming up from his drums.
“I was taught how to play soccer by an ex member of the German team,” I said.
“Woah,” Vic gasped. “Who?”
“My uncle?” I replied simply.
“You should play with us this summer in the tournament,” Tony suggested, finally speaking. I noticed he’s usually quiet.
“Sure, my boys don’t get soccer, it’ll be nice to play with someone who does,” I laughed and watched Jesse walk away. I finally caught my breath and climbed off the stage.