What's the Point of Being in Love?

A week and a half later, we were in Shakopee, Minnesota.

Like I had guessed, Alex and I became really close after his little performance.

I was currently hanging out with Kellin and Beau Bokan of Blessthefall in the Blessthefall tent.

“Aw, fuck!” Beau flinched when he got a paper cut signing an autograph for a fan.

“Oh my god!” she gasped.

“I’m dying!” he said over-dramatically to us. I giggled at his child-like-ness.

“Don’t be a baby, Beau,” Kellin told him. Beau glared pointedly at Kellin, sucking on his finger.

“Fux woo, Winn,” he said, muffled. Kellin laughed and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. My cheeks heated up.

“So, what are your plans for this evening?” Kellin asked me.

“I play Monster Energy stage at four then nothing,” I shrugged.

“You play Monster Energy stage too?” Beau asked. I nodded. “Nice.”

“You wanna hang out after your set?” Kellin asked.

I smiled, “Sure.”

We made plans to hang out then I left to go to my tent. I was surprised to see Alex there talking to Emmie.

“Hey, guys,” I said upon entering. I raised my eyebrows at Alex’s newly died pink hair. I fluffed it a bit. “You look like a flamingo.”

Alex grinned, “Thank you.”

“I think I’ma call you ‘Ingo’ now,” I nodded matter-of-factly.

Emmie giggled, “Ingo? That’s lame.”

“I don’t wanna say the whole ‘Flamingo’ every time I say his nickname,” I told her.

“Then don’t give me a nickname,” Alex poked my nose.

“But Jack calls me ‘Cotton Candy’ and you call me ‘Candy Cayne’,” I whined. “You have to have a nickname tooooo.”

Alex wrapped his arms around my body, “Sure.”

I got this sudden warm feeling at his touch at my core. A familiar feeling. A feeling only Peyton could ever give me.

I pulled away, turning to a random fan. Alex gave me a weird look.

“Hey hun, you want me to sign that?” I asked, pointing at the ticket clutched tightly in her hand.

“Oh, would you?” she grinned at me. I smiled and nodded, taking the ticket and a nearby sharpie. I signed it and handed it back. “Thank you!”

“Of course,” I smiled at her.

“What’s wrong?” Alex asked as I took another fans arm which was already covered in signatures.

“Nothing,” I replied, scrawling out my name.

“You sure?”

I looked at Alex, smiling, and nodded. “Why would there be anything wrong?”

“I don’t know,” Alex furrowed his brows. “You just acted weird for a moment.”

“Whatever,” I shrugged, perking up in conversation with a fan about how much fun she was having and how she couldn’t believe she was meeting me.

Some time later we began making our way to the stage, Alex walking with us.

“So what are you doing after your set?” he asked me.

“Hanging out with Kellin,” I replied.

Alex made a face, “Why?”

I raised my eyebrows, “Because we’re friends…?”

I thanked the tour worker that handed me my guitar. It was a gorgeous blue Fender Jeff Beck Stratocaster electric guitar.

“I don’t like him,” Alex admitted.

I opened my mouth to reply, but I was being pushed up on stage next to Brynn. I shot Alex one last look that said, We’ll talk about this later and made my way to the microphone.

“Hey, Shakopee!” I said into the microphone.

“I have not been here before,” Abner said from his place. “And let me tell you, when I got here I was jizzing my pants…”

*

I got off stage and handed off my guitar to a tour worker. Kellin stood there with a grin on his face.

“Hey!” he slung an arm around my shoulder.

“I’m all sweaty,” I pouted.

Kellin chuckled, “I’m used of it. It’s okay.”

I pouted s’more.

Kellin poked my cheek, causing me to giggle.

“Whaddya wanna do?” I asked him.

“Uh, I was thinking we could go see Senses Fail’s set. Their playing Tilly’s Stage right now,” he answered.

I looked up at him. He looked a little bit nervous.

“Why are you so nervous?” I asked.

Kellin pushed it away and smiled. “I’m not. Let’s go.”

We made our way to Tilly’s Stage and showed the guard our passes. They allowed us through.

We pushed through the crowd to get to the front. I also noticed Kellin’s hand clutching mine.

Senses Fail was a little into their first song, Rum Is For Drinking, Not For Burning.

We finally stopped a little close to the front of the stage. Kellin grinned down at me.

We sat watching until the end of the set before we decided to go get something to eat.

“My van is somewhere around here…” Kellin gazed around the lot.

“Uh, we don’t have to go out,” I chuckled. “Let’s just go to my bus.”

Kellin smiled at me, “Okay.”

We made our way to the bus, which was empty. I was guessing everybody else was at either ours or someone’s tent.

“This is a nice bus,” Kellin said, looking around.

I smiled, “Thanks.” I got out a Hot Pocket and unwrapped it, put it on a plate, and put it in the microwave. “It’s home for the summer. What do you want?”

“Chips is fine,” he said. I shrugged and tossed him the bag of Cheetos that sat on the counter.

We moved and sat down on the couch. In silence, Kellin munched on a few Cheetos but got rid of the bag and wrapped his arm around me. I settled my head on his shoulder.

We sat there for a while, and then shifted to where Kellin was looking down at me. My Hot Pocket was long forgotten.

Kellin leaned closer…

“I’ve been looking for you!”

I jumped and glared at Alex. He barely glanced at Kellin.

“What, Alex?” I seethed.

I raised my eyebrows when I saw the worry lined around his face.

“Emmie, she fell,” he said in a rush. “She’s broken her arm.”