High Tide

“I swear to God, I will straight-up murder the next moron that tries to buy the fucking display items on the desk,” Kelly said through gritted teeth, causing Tom to laugh. Bring Me The Horizon were currently playing their set on one of the many stages at Warped, so business was slow, although some people still stopped by the Drop Dead tent.

“I’m pretty sure murder is a federal offence,” Tom said.

“Wanna find out?” Kelly replied, a crazy look in her eyes. Tom shook his head and smiled at her.

“You need to calm down, Kel. Or have a drink.”

“Fucking oath, I do. First round tonight is on me.”

Kelly’s phone buzzed in her back pocket. She unlocked the screen to see that she’d received a new message from Becca. Opening the message, she saw a picture of her best friend and Jamie, both sticking their tongues out, with the caption: ‘don’t be mean to the fan girls.’ Kelly swore Becca could read her mind sometimes, no matter how far apart they were.

“It’s almost seven. I say we call it a day,” Tom said, starting to pack up the Drop Dead tent.

“I love you,” Kelly said, throwing Bring Me The Horizon shirts back into their boxes erratically. Tom laughed as he continued packing up his side, the two of them working quickly, eager to pack up the van and head back to the tour bus.

*

“I believe I owe yeh a drink,” Matt said, handing Jona a beer and throwing his arm around his friend’s shoulder. Jona smiled at the drummer and took a swig. The atmosphere on the tour bus was electric, everyone pumped after a great first day on the Warped tour. Oli was wearing silver hot pants and disco-dancing like a maniac, Lee was curled up on the floor just about screaming in laughter, and Kelly was out-drinking everybody else on the bus, a bottle of heavy liquor in each hand. Vegan sat down on the couch beside Matt, shaking his head at the shenanigans unfolding in front of him and bringing his drink to his lips.

“Can you believe this shit? You’d think it was fucking 2010 all over again,” Vegan said. Matt and Jona laughed. Vegan was just about as sarcastic and cynical as Kelly.

“It really is starting to feel like old times,” Jona said, looking over at Kelly, who was now engaging in some sort of dance battle with Oli as a horrible rap song came on shuffle over the speakers embedded in the walls of the tour bus. “Speaking of which, I think we should at least set something on fire tonight,” Jona said. “It might as well be a tradition now.”

Matt looked at Jona with a knowing smile. The last time they’d gotten drunk and crazy on tour they’d almost blown up a few small cars in a Wal-Mart parking lot. “Yeh’re on,” he said. “But we ‘aven’t got any explosives, ‘ave we?”

“Did someone say explosives?” Kelly interrupted, her voice slurring.

“Jesus Christ, Kelly,” Vegan said, shaking his head.

“People need to stop starting all their sentences with ‘Jesus Christ, Kelly.’ Honestly,” she said. Jona grinned at her. “What have you got?”

“I picked up all these fucking fireworks, right? Pretty much as soon as we landed. I got this shit on lock,” Kelly said. The three boys on the couch just shook their heads and laughed, causing Kelly to roll her eyes.

“Enough with the judgy-judgy, okay? You guys have known me for almost five years now, you gotta learn to anticipate this shit,” Kelly said, leading the way outside to the van she was in charge of for the entire Warped tour.

“She’s right, you know,” Matt said on the way out. “I reckon she’s a bad influence on my son. Might have to start restricting visiting hours.” Kelly pretended she was offended, her mouth agape.

“You would never!” she fake gasped.

“Jamie would kill you before you took his favourite aunt away from him,” Jona interjected. Kelly grinned at him.

“Little guy has some fight in him, he’s straight-up wreck you,” Kelly said, grinning at Matt. He rolled his eyes and laughed, shoving her in the shoulder lightly. His light shove caused Kelly to sway uneasily on her feet, and almost trip over. Jona reached for her hips with his hands and steadied her.

“Pfft, I know how to human,” Kelly said. “Look! Walkin’ in a straight line and everything!” She proceeded to place one foot in front of the other, as if she were walking on an invisible tightrope. She got about four steps into it before falling on her ass in front of Matt, Jona and Vegan; who all erupted into fits of laughter at the sight of the drunk American. Kelly just out her bottom lip and crossed her arms over her chest, looking up at the others.

“Come on,” Jona said, laughing. “Time to blow shit up!” He held his hands out to help her up and she took them, swaying a little as she stood. Jona let go of her hands to put an arm around her small shoulders, keeping her steady.

“They’re in the back, under the seats in a box,” Kelly said, gesturing in the general direction of the van.

“Keys?” Vegan asked. Kelly reached into her back pocket and retrieved the keys for the van, tossing them to Vegan, who caught them in one hand with ease.

“You are a fucking tank, Vegan. You can knock back like fifteen drinks and still be one hundred per cent sober,” Kelly said. Jona snorted in laughter.

“Yes, well, we can’t all get hammered off three or four like you and Becca can,” Vegan shot back at her, raising an eyebrow. Kelly laughed.

“It’s so true,” Matt laughed, thinking of his girlfriend back home, a smile on his face. He was trying his best not to get too bummed out. He felt kind of bad after what Jona had said to him on the plane. He couldn’t stop thinking about it, actually. Had he really been that horrible to be around on the last few tours? He knew Jona might have been exaggerating, but he was still determined to have fun on Warped this year, and get out of his bunk at least once a day.

“Alright, lets light these motherfuckers up!” Matt said excitedly, eyeing the huge box of firecrackers Vegan was now setting down on the ground.

“Shouldn’t we go someplace a bit more isolated?” Jona cautioned. “You remember what happened last time.”

“That Wal-Mart parking lot will never be the same,” Matt said with a stupid grin on his face. “Fair point, though. Let’s head out to the grounds.”

The three boys and Kelly all made their way over to the now empty grounds where various stages were still set up, making sure to stay a fair distance away from them, so as not to set any on fire by accident. The four of them got to work setting up the fireworks in a neat row, before lighting them up and running like hell to the nearest stage. They all climbed onto the stage and sat on the edge, watching and waiting for the show to start.

“I propose a toast,” Matt said as they waited, raising his almost-empty bottle of beer above his head. Vegan and Jona did the same as Kelly pulled a flask out of her bra.

“You are ruthless,” Jona said with a laugh as he watched Kelly unscrew the lid on her flask.

“Here’s to the best Warped tour ever,” Matt said. They clinked bottles and flasks together just as the first firecracker went off, lighting up the dark night sky. The four friends watched silently as they drank, each firecracker bigger and brighter than the last, until it was over.

“Well, we didn’t light anything on fire,” Kelly said, breaking the silence. “To tell you the truth, I’m kind of disappointed.”

Matt laughed. “C’mon, punk. I think you’ve had enough tonight. Time to get to bed,” he said, smiling at her. She stuck her tongue out at the drummer.

“Yes, Dad,” she responded sarcastically.

“Only Jamie is allowed to give me that kind of sass,” he joked, leading the way back to the bus, Kelly in tow.

“I can’t wait til the little dude is old enough to come with us,” Kelly said.

“What? So you can corrupt him even more than you already have?” Matty joked.

“Hey, I’m educating the kid,” Kelly said. “I’m the best aunt ever.”

“That you are.”