Don't Expect Me to Understand

Never have I seen such an organized chaos as that which was going on in Phoenix for the Warped check-in day.

What seemed like a thousand people were running about, doing everything from filling out forms and organizing merch to skateboarding and collecting free Vans.

I saw a couple of bands I knew, but most of the people I saw were strangers. About half of them, I had heard of (or just heard) or seen in magazines and pictures.

After I gave a quick pep talk, the band, crew and I spilled out of the bus and got to business.

Most of them headed to an empty stage to make sure everything worked smoothly, save for Adam who had a photoshoot with Breathe Carolina, so I was left with Shane, our twink merch guy, and Jake, one of the guitar techs.

I left them for a few minutes so I could fill out and turn in some forms, forms that basically said that if one of us gets hurt, we won't blame Vans or Warped Tour and we give permission for Warped to use us in ads, promos, interviews, videos, etc.

Once I did that, I came back to where the two boys were sitting outside the bus. Shane was setting up merch boards (the things behind the merch guy that show what they have, what sizes they come in, and how much they cost) and Jake was tuning, restringing and cleaning guitars.

"Can I help?" I offered, sitting in between the two of them.

While Shane shook his head, Jake spoke up. "You can help me polish and organize these things," he replied.

I nodded and scooted closer to him. He handed me a bottle of polish, a towel, and Tony's favorite guitar- the green one with a black splatter detail. I'd be sure to take extra care of this one.

{•••}

"Okay guys, sit in a row on the top steps!" Adam called. The boys complied.

I had to hand it to Adam, this photoshoot was really clever. It was a parody of One Direction's photos on the steps, with them wearing classic 1D attire and the bus parked in the background, complete with Mexican flags instead of British ones.

In my humble opinion, Pierce the Veil did it way better.

Vic, of course, was Louis, wearing the red pants, suspenders and a bow tie. Whether he bought them for the shoot or had them before, I don't know. But I suspected the latter.

Mike, being the naughty one, was Zayn. I had taken the liberty of giving him the quiff hairstyle. Jaime was Harry, what with the big hair, and Tony was Niall. I'm not sure why, maybe because he's adorable?

It was great, oh man.

{•••}

The interview with Fuse went longer than expected, so when we got to dinner, it was packed, but the line was short.

I followed Tony with my plate in had and we sat in some camping chairs in a small circle with Jaime and some other dudes I didn't know.

Seeing my shy look, Tony introduced me around the circle. "Zoe, this is Alan, Phil, Tino, and Aaron. They play in Of Mice [&] Men," he explained. "Guys, this is Zoe, my girlfriend and our tour manager."

They all waved politely at me and I waved back before digging into my mac n cheese and chicken nuggets.

I was practically inhaling them, mouth embarrassingly full when a tall, stick-skinny figure approached our chair circle and sat down across from me, beside the ginger that had been identified as Alan.

My almost choked on my noodles.

With spiked hair, neck tattoos and a Slipknot shirt, this guy looked metal as fuck.

That is, until he spoke.

"Sorry I'm late you guys, there was this kitten under our bus, and she looked so hungry and sad...so I fed her and well...." He trailed off and adjusted the bundle of fabric in his lap that I had thought was just a hoodie, but inside was a tiny calico kitten, who mewed softly at the change in position.

So much for being a complete badass.

Meanwhile, Alan looked ready to scream and/or pass out, so Skinny Kitten Boy gently handed the kitty to him, making Alan awwwwwe.

SKB looked across at me and smiled. "Who is this lovely lady?" He asked, looking around at the other guys.

"I'm Zoe," I said. "Tony's girlfriend and Pierce the Veil's babysitter– I mean manager."

He laughed melodiously at my attempt at humor. "I'm Austin, I yell really loud with these four guys." He pointed down the circle. "Pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure's all mine." I got back to my mac n cheese, a bit more ladylike this time.