Don't Expect Me to Understand

Welcome to Warped Tour. We have:

•parties at ten in the morning
•enough booze to fill the Atlantic Ocean
•the best fucking music in the world

And right now, I was encountered with all three.

A shit-faced drunk Pierce the Veil was playing a clumsy, slurred set as their first show of the tour. I've never laughed so hard in my life.

While they could still play fine (sort of), they were stumbling and falling all over, and just making fools of themselves. The crowd seemed to be loving it though.

During the little Mexican part in Bulls in the Bronx, Tony came to side stage and took me by the hand and led me on stage. He twirled me around cutely a few times and then, after he decided to grind on me, he licked my face.

Ah, the smell of tequila, Mountain Dew, and lemonade. Tony's favorite.

He smacked my ass as I returned to my position offstage, alongside Adam, who had just returned from in front of the barricade, camera in hand.

"I totally got that!" He exclaimed, standing closer to me so we could both see the screen. I laughed with him as we flipped through the photos.

We stood in silence for a while, watching the set, until Adam spoke up again. "It's hot as fuck out here, you wanna get some popsicles?"

I nodded and we headed off towards the food stands, which, thankfully, weren't too far from the stage.

I got strawberry and he got one of those red white and blue ones and we headed back.

"So Tony tells me you guys have known each other since you were little?" he asked.

"Yeah, we grew up together," I replied. "We kind of fell apart after graduation, but here we are." I decided to leave out the hairy details.

"Cool. You guys are really cute together. I can tell you're going to last a long time."

I smiled hugely. "Thanks. I hope so."

The set ended after a few minutes and Tony ran offstage, only to lick my face again and rub his sweaty body all over me. Normally, I wouldn't have minded, but he smelled terrible and I pushed him away.

I tossed all four boys water bottles, which they drank gratefully.

"You guys go shower," I instructed. "I'm gonna see how Shane's doing."

{•••}

On my way to our merch tent, I got a bit sidetracked when the long-haired boy Tony introduced me to last night decided to strike up a conversation. I think his name was Phil.

"Hey! Zoe, right?" He jogged up beside me.

I nodded and smiled. "You're Phil!"

"I sure am," he laughed. "You look bored, wanna come hang at our bus? We have ice cream and a kitten!"

"Tempting." I paused to think. "Sure."

{•••}

Of Mice and Men's bus was surprisingly clean. Compared to it, our bus might as well have been one of those hoarder houses from TLC.

"What'll it be?" Phil asked, opening the fridge. "Beer? Vodka? Juice box?"

I stood beside him to examine the fridge, but put of the corner of my eye, I caught something much more appetizing.

FROOT LOOPS (◕‿◕✿)

"Can I have some froot loops?" I asked shyly.

Phil smiled the biggest smile I've ever seen. "Sure." He pulled the box down from the shelf along with milk and a bowl, and handed them to me.

I poured myself a mountain of cereal and started digging in. Soon, I heard a door open and footsteps coming toward the front lounge.

I looked up and stared right into the eyes of Austin, the skinny kitten boy from yesterday, standing in nothing but black skinny jeans.

He stared at my enormous bowl of cereal with a smirk on his face. "Eating my froot loops, eh?" He stole a spoonful of cereal that was about two inches from my mouth. "Alright, I'll let you continue to commit this terrible crime. But only because you're so pretty."

I smiled through my cereal. "How's the kitty?" I asked once I swallowed.

"Oh, Padmé? Come look." I followed him to a bunk near the back (which I'm guessing was his), where he picked up Padmé, who was wrapped in a tee shirt, and set her in my lap as we sat down.

She purred and I smiled down at her as I held her like a baby. She even ate a froot loop when I gave her one. It was the most precious thing ever.

The whole time, Austin was silent, just looking at me and smiling. And despite our close proximity, I felt strangely okay with the whole thing. Comfortable.

We sat there in a peaceful quiet until Alan ran noisily to the back of the bus. "Show's in twenty minutes," he announced. "Come on Austin. Zoe, you wanna watch?"

I nodded enthusiastically and handed Padmé to Austin, who set her gently on his pillow.

{•••}

Of Mice's set was awesome, probably one of the best metalcore bands right now. Their crowd was huge, and their performance was awesome.

But now I was sitting in the back lounge of our bus, where an almost-wasted Tony was scolding me as if I was a child.

"I just don't like you hanging out with him," he said for the millionth time. "He's bad news, Zoe. Notorious for sleeping around."

"He's harmless, Tony. He rescued a god damn kitten, for fucks sake," I shot back. "And besides, who are you to tell me who I can and can't hang out with?" I stood up and crossed my arms.

"Because, Zoe, I don't want him stealing you from me," he said, voice rising.

I decided to be a bitch. "Oh, so you think I'm gonna hook up with him? Why can't you just trust me, Tony?"

"Because, Zoe, you've cheated on me before and I actually know how Austin is, unlike you."

Oh, so he was going to bring up the one time I did something remotely close to cheating on him, which was when I kissed (and only kissed) our gay merch guy while both of us were extremely intoxicated. Pussy.

"Let it go, Tony. We were both drunk. It was nothing." My turn to dig up old shit now. "And who are you to judge someone by their past, huh? You put me through hell for four years, and I let that go. I trust you, Tony. Why can't you do the same for me?"

"Just shut the fuck up, Zoe! That's different," he yelled. "Stop making such a big deal out of this!"

"You're the one who brought it up!" I shouted. "You can't tell me who I can be friends with. You're not my fucking mom, Tony!"

"You're right, I can't tell you who to be friends with, Zoe," he snarled. "I'm obviously not your mom– your mom is fucking dead."

Okay, that was low, even for him. Suddenly I didn't care how much alcohol was in his system– no amount of liquor would make what he'd just said okay.

Holding back tears, I did the only thing that seemed logical at the moment: I slapped him. Hard. He glared at me as I pushed past him to get to my bunk. "Fuck you, Tony," I whispered.

He grabbed my wrist, preventing me from leaving. "Don't you dare walk away from me, Zoe," he growled.

I whimpered when, from past the doorway which I forgot was open, somebody spoke up.

"Don't fucking touch her."

Looking up, I saw that the rest of the band and some of the crew were watching, and it was Mike who had stepped forward. He pushed Tony away from me an guided me past the small crowd into my bunk.

Seconds later I heard loud footsteps, most likely Tony, come to a stop in front of my bunk. This time it was Jaime who made him step away.

"Just let me talk to her, Jaim," he pushed. "Zoe, I'm sorry okay?"

I basically started sobbing buckets then and Mike pulled me into his chest as Tony swore loudly and left the bus, slamming the door behind him.

I fell into a restless sleep in Mike's arms that night.