Higher Than My Expectations
Falling Asleep On A Stranger
I wasn't entirely sure how long I was in the hospital for from that day onwards, but all I know is that for the days I was, Mike and Vic didn't visit me. Mum and Dad visited me a couple of times before the doctors decided that I could be discharged.
We, me Kyle and David, made our way from the hospital back to the bus park where our bus had been left by the police after seizing it.
''I think you should erm, probably go and get some rest, it's been a long day'' Kyle looked at me and smiled weakly before picking my bag up off of the floor where it had fallen, and placing it on my bunk.
''Oh right, sure. I'll see you guys in a bit then'' I smiled back at them and climbed into my bunk, I didn't have the energy to get changed into anything else so I just stayed in what I was wearing.
I pretty much fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
I woke up a few hours later to voices spilling out from the 'living room'.
''Look I know you're mad''
''Mad? I'm bloody fuming! We told her that we didn't want either of you near her and you bring her back to your bus!''
I swung my legs out of the side of my bunk, jumped down landing quietly on my feet and walked out to see who was shouting, even though I already had my suspicions.
Yep, I was right. Victor Fuentes. My arsehole of a brother, well one of them anyway.
I stepped through the doorway and leant on the frame on looking, and cleared my throat, causing them all to change the direction they were looking in, to me.
''Lexi, you're coming back to our bus with me'' Vic stated matter of factly.
''No, I'm happy here thank you'' I stood up properly and walked straight past him to the fridge and pulled out a carton of orange juice. Taking a swig I raised an inquisitive eyebrow, ''I'm not coming back to your bus with you so quit while you're ahead mate'' I put the juice back in the fridge and walked past him again. Grabbing my bag off of the end of my bunk and headed towards the small bathroom/shower room to get changed.
''What do you mean you're not coming with me? Of course you are'' He hissed at me.
''I mean what I say Vic, and you know I'm a woman who likes to keep to her word, so please do us a favour and just go back to your band. You're quite clearly not welcome here'' I sighed and walked into the small room and locked the door behind me.
When I walked out, about 15 minutes later, Vic was nowhere to be seen and the boys were crowded around the small table we've been 'blessed' with.
Brett turned around to face Lexi with a large smile on his face, somewhat of a surprise comparing to his usual grumpy self.
''Well what's made you so happy Sykes?'' I chuckled
''Well,'' he snaked his arm around my shoulder and dragged me away from the others '' what do you think of having your name back up in lights, touring the world again! Meeting as many fans as you possibly could in the space of a few hours?!'' He turned to me and grabbed both my shoulders and smiled even wider, if that was possible ''Imagine what we could do with our own tour, get a few well known bands as support and drop Warped..'' at this point the smile on my face dropped, I knew there would be a catch somewhere ''..What? Don't you like the sound of that?'' His smiled faded and turned into more of a worried expression.
''No, Brett it sounds like an amazing idea, apart from dropping Warped. I've missed 2 years of this tour and I don't want to miss this years! I mean, I'll get to see everyone that I haven't for 2 whole years. I mean, I would love to do a promo tour but we can't do that yet, we need this tour! The amount of people it pulls in we'll have our old fans back and even score ourselves some new ones. I mean, even if we have to go along as support acts for a few months, we'll be able to get ourselves back up to the high levels we were and then head off for a tour of our own. Like the tour for our new album, that's the sort of thing you were expecting right?''
''Yeah, that's exactly what I was expecting! And it would be great experience!''
''C'mon Brett, we've already had two of them! We know all the in's and outs of these tours like we know the palm of our hands, and for some of you boys you know them better than we actually think..''
''Right''
''I'm not saying forget the idea, I'm just saying we need to give it time, I mean I've just come out of hospital and Warped, well our Warped, hasn't officially started yet. Just a month or two before we can fuck off and do what we want to, okay?''
''Okay, I see what you mean'' He smiled weakly and walked back over to the crowded table and sat back down with the others.
I picked my phone up off of the side where one of the boys had put it on charge for me and checked to see if I had any messages.
- 13 missed calls
- 7 texts
- 2 voice mails
And they were all off of Vic. I dialled his number and listened to the drone of the dialling tone before the crackle of him picking up.
''Lex?''
''Yeah, you called? And text, and left voice mails. It's been like 20 minutes Vic, what do you want?''
''It's Mike,'' A surge of panic pulsated through me.
''What do you mean? What's happened?''
''I can't find him anywhere and we're due on any second now''
''Look, I'll try and find him. Where are you?''
''Kia stage, just make sure he gets here!''
I pulled on my black toms and run out of the bus, shouting a quick message to let the boys know where I was going. I tripped up on something; I fell to the floor and looked behind me to see what it was I fell over. A foot.
I looked up to see whose foot it was and saw my own brother staring at me with a small smirk on his face.
''Michael? What the fuck was that for? And Vic's going mental looking for you! You’re supposed to be on stage any minute!''
''No, no we are not. Vic's only saying that so you'd come and speak to me. Look, Lexi, We're really sorry''
''We? I'm not going to believe that until he says it to my face''
''Fine then, I'm really sorry for how we acted in the hospital, I completely understand where you're coming from, before you were born Vic was really controlling over me. But, everything aside, I think that I should apologise to the others, I treated them like shit''
''Yes, you should. Although you weren't as bad as Vic was, he really ripped into them even though it's not their fault. It isn't any of their faults''.
''C'mon then'' He rested his arm round my shoulder and pulled me into a side hug as we walked back towards BC's and our bus.
We, me Kyle and David, made our way from the hospital back to the bus park where our bus had been left by the police after seizing it.
''I think you should erm, probably go and get some rest, it's been a long day'' Kyle looked at me and smiled weakly before picking my bag up off of the floor where it had fallen, and placing it on my bunk.
''Oh right, sure. I'll see you guys in a bit then'' I smiled back at them and climbed into my bunk, I didn't have the energy to get changed into anything else so I just stayed in what I was wearing.
I pretty much fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
I woke up a few hours later to voices spilling out from the 'living room'.
''Look I know you're mad''
''Mad? I'm bloody fuming! We told her that we didn't want either of you near her and you bring her back to your bus!''
I swung my legs out of the side of my bunk, jumped down landing quietly on my feet and walked out to see who was shouting, even though I already had my suspicions.
Yep, I was right. Victor Fuentes. My arsehole of a brother, well one of them anyway.
I stepped through the doorway and leant on the frame on looking, and cleared my throat, causing them all to change the direction they were looking in, to me.
''Lexi, you're coming back to our bus with me'' Vic stated matter of factly.
''No, I'm happy here thank you'' I stood up properly and walked straight past him to the fridge and pulled out a carton of orange juice. Taking a swig I raised an inquisitive eyebrow, ''I'm not coming back to your bus with you so quit while you're ahead mate'' I put the juice back in the fridge and walked past him again. Grabbing my bag off of the end of my bunk and headed towards the small bathroom/shower room to get changed.
''What do you mean you're not coming with me? Of course you are'' He hissed at me.
''I mean what I say Vic, and you know I'm a woman who likes to keep to her word, so please do us a favour and just go back to your band. You're quite clearly not welcome here'' I sighed and walked into the small room and locked the door behind me.
When I walked out, about 15 minutes later, Vic was nowhere to be seen and the boys were crowded around the small table we've been 'blessed' with.
Brett turned around to face Lexi with a large smile on his face, somewhat of a surprise comparing to his usual grumpy self.
''Well what's made you so happy Sykes?'' I chuckled
''Well,'' he snaked his arm around my shoulder and dragged me away from the others '' what do you think of having your name back up in lights, touring the world again! Meeting as many fans as you possibly could in the space of a few hours?!'' He turned to me and grabbed both my shoulders and smiled even wider, if that was possible ''Imagine what we could do with our own tour, get a few well known bands as support and drop Warped..'' at this point the smile on my face dropped, I knew there would be a catch somewhere ''..What? Don't you like the sound of that?'' His smiled faded and turned into more of a worried expression.
''No, Brett it sounds like an amazing idea, apart from dropping Warped. I've missed 2 years of this tour and I don't want to miss this years! I mean, I'll get to see everyone that I haven't for 2 whole years. I mean, I would love to do a promo tour but we can't do that yet, we need this tour! The amount of people it pulls in we'll have our old fans back and even score ourselves some new ones. I mean, even if we have to go along as support acts for a few months, we'll be able to get ourselves back up to the high levels we were and then head off for a tour of our own. Like the tour for our new album, that's the sort of thing you were expecting right?''
''Yeah, that's exactly what I was expecting! And it would be great experience!''
''C'mon Brett, we've already had two of them! We know all the in's and outs of these tours like we know the palm of our hands, and for some of you boys you know them better than we actually think..''
''Right''
''I'm not saying forget the idea, I'm just saying we need to give it time, I mean I've just come out of hospital and Warped, well our Warped, hasn't officially started yet. Just a month or two before we can fuck off and do what we want to, okay?''
''Okay, I see what you mean'' He smiled weakly and walked back over to the crowded table and sat back down with the others.
I picked my phone up off of the side where one of the boys had put it on charge for me and checked to see if I had any messages.
- 13 missed calls
- 7 texts
- 2 voice mails
And they were all off of Vic. I dialled his number and listened to the drone of the dialling tone before the crackle of him picking up.
''Lex?''
''Yeah, you called? And text, and left voice mails. It's been like 20 minutes Vic, what do you want?''
''It's Mike,'' A surge of panic pulsated through me.
''What do you mean? What's happened?''
''I can't find him anywhere and we're due on any second now''
''Look, I'll try and find him. Where are you?''
''Kia stage, just make sure he gets here!''
I pulled on my black toms and run out of the bus, shouting a quick message to let the boys know where I was going. I tripped up on something; I fell to the floor and looked behind me to see what it was I fell over. A foot.
I looked up to see whose foot it was and saw my own brother staring at me with a small smirk on his face.
''Michael? What the fuck was that for? And Vic's going mental looking for you! You’re supposed to be on stage any minute!''
''No, no we are not. Vic's only saying that so you'd come and speak to me. Look, Lexi, We're really sorry''
''We? I'm not going to believe that until he says it to my face''
''Fine then, I'm really sorry for how we acted in the hospital, I completely understand where you're coming from, before you were born Vic was really controlling over me. But, everything aside, I think that I should apologise to the others, I treated them like shit''
''Yes, you should. Although you weren't as bad as Vic was, he really ripped into them even though it's not their fault. It isn't any of their faults''.
''C'mon then'' He rested his arm round my shoulder and pulled me into a side hug as we walked back towards BC's and our bus.