The Most Unexpected Faces

ANDY’S POV

~

Ashley didn’t say one thing to me all morning.

For the second time this tour, I fell asleep and woke up alone, clutching the thin cover as a make shift replacement. When the next day rolled around and I found myself being prodded awake by C.C, I knew I had to face it like a man and move to the front of the bus, where Ashley undoubtably was.

I drug out getting dressed, lazily pulling on my black jeans before slipping a t-shirt on and shuffling towards the bunk room door. Pausing with my hand on the handle for a second, I took a deep breath before pushing it open and walking inside, my head tilted down.

The murmur of voices grew louder as I moved through the bus before gradually fading quieter as I approached the living area, where – judging by the four sets of jean clad legs I could see while looking down – all of the guys had gathered.

Looking up, I saw Ashley’s gaze settle on me for a few seconds before flickering away, now looking at a non-descript part of the bus wall. Jake, Jinxx and C.C looked between us; whether they knew the situation or not, they could tell something was up.

“Morning” I murmured, moving to sit next to Jinxx, which, in itself, is a shocker as usually I would emerge from the bunks and park myself straight in Ashley’s lap. Various quiet responses came, though none from Ashley, who had now switched his attention to his fingers, which were laced in his lap.

An awkward silence settled over us like a blanket, their previous conversation dead with what seemed like no hope of revival now that I’d come in. Eventually, Jake piped up with a question about tonight’s venue; the conversation started to flow and while it was still slightly uneasy and tension filled, it was definitely better.

After five minutes had come and gone, Ashley still hadn’t spoken to me and I couldn’t take the tension anymore. I rose from my seat, mumbling that I needed a cigarette to the guys before heading off of the bus. Overhead, the morning Milwaukee skies shone a bright blue. We were a good fifthteen days into the tour now, and had passed through Canada just a couple of days previous. During Warped, we were playing a total of thirty-seven shows, so we weren’t even half way through yet, but it still felt like so much time had passed since I was waking Ashley up for tour just over two weeks previous. I guess it was because of all the events that had taken place, it just felt so much longer than a fortnight.

I contemplated the dates and time while drawing my pack of cigarettes from my jeans pocket. That and my phone are the only real essentials I feel the need to keep on me almost constantly because you never know when you might need either.

I lit my cigarette, waving with my free hand to Matt Good from D.R.U.G.S as he walked across the bus lot, a guitar clutched in his hand. Leaning back against the sun-warmed bus, I took a drag of my cigarette, blowing the smoke out above me in a cloud. I was only alone for a few minutes, enough for my cigarette to burn down a significant amount before someone – or, more specifically, some people – came over to me.

Chris greeted me with a shy smile and a little wave while Zander stood just behind him, sending me a smile which I gratefully returned.

“Hey you two, what’s up?” I took one last drag on my cigarette before dropping it to the ground and crushing it under the heel of my shoe, destroying any remaining embers of it.

“We were wondering if you wanted to go for some coffee with us, I think we need to talk” Chris spoke with more confidence this time, smiling up at me hopefully.

My thoughts flickered back to inside of the bus, where the tension had been so thick a knife could’ve cut it. Then I looked forward at the two boys in front of me, who greeted me with smiles and an offer of caffeine.

“Okay, sure”.

*****

“So that’s a café latte, an Americano, a caramel frappuccino, two plates of pancakes and a blueberry muffin” the waitress recited as she placed our food and coffees on the table, a worn out order pad sticking out of the pocket of her green apron. I flashed her a smile as she left before turning my attention to Zander and Chris (and my Americano, of course, that shit’s too good to ignore!).

“So, before we start anything else, I just want to clear something up, the kiss, it was an accident, right?” I asked a little awkwardly, needing it confirmed even though I was ninety nine percent sure that it was an accident.

Zander chuckled lightly for seemingly no reason while Chris just beamed at me; they shared a look of silent communication before Chris spoke up.

“Yes, it was a hundred percent accident. Actually, we have something to tell you” he started, sharing another private glance with Zander, before they both moved their hands on top of the table. The first thing I noticed was that they were holding hands, then, after a couple of seconds, my mind processed what it meant.

“Aww, are you two together now?!” I cooed at the pair, waving my hands in a slightly fan-girlish gesture.

“Yup” Zander replied, popping the ‘p’ before turning to kiss Chris on the cheek. A blush ignited across his face like fire, just adding to the cuteness of them as a couple.

“That’s great, congrats!” I cheered, my smile only slipping when I remembered that my relationship’s going down the gutter. They seemed to notice this, as their faces took on more serious expressions and the giggling stopped.

“So, what happened with you and Ash after I left? I could hear him yelling at you, and I wanted to check that nothing too bad happened just because of a stupid mistake, you told him it was a mistake, right?”
I chuckled once without humour, before proceeding to explain how Ashley hadn’t given me the chance to, finishing by telling them his parting words to me.

“Fuck man” Zander whispered; the pair sat there, open mouthed, their coffees now ignored.

“I know right…” I sighed, pushing some sugar that had been spilt around the table with my finger.

“Well, we need to start thinking of a way to fix this!” Chris exclaimed after a second’s silence, looking between Zander and I as if expecting us to suddenly have a whole plan.

We all just stared at each other before Zander spoke up, somewhat quietly.

“He said you need to prove it, right? Well, all you need to do is exactly that, the question is, how to prove it” he mused, pushing the empty mug away from him, next to the plate that was once filled with pancakes.

“Yeah…” I agreed, reclining in the soft dinner sofa chair. Well, as much as I could in such a small space.

Chris waved over the nearest waitress over and ordered us more coffee, meanwhile, I mentally resigned myself to the fact that I would have to think of something pretty damn special. After all, it was Ashley; he means the world to me.

One thing’s certain, I have a long day of thinking ahead of me…