Time Bomb

In all the years he had been in this band, performing on stage, never had Jack wanted to be through a set this bad before. He made his usual slew of dick jokes, laughed at Alex over some sexually transmitted diseases and even gave Rian hell, ending with jumping into Zack’s arms and kissing him but the whole time only one thing was on Jack’s mind.

Riley.

She hadn’t given an exact “yes” to the party after the show, but “I’ll think about it.” was good enough for Jack. Who didn’t want to be at an All Time Low party after a show? They were pretty kick ass if Jack was to be the judge. After he had talked to Riley, Jack had ran off to tell Alex that he had grew a set of balls, took his advice and asked the girl. Alex was rather amused that Jack had actually been able to find words to talk to the girl, but never the less he was glad Jack asked her.

Riley had opted to stay on the bus for the shows, claiming she was upset with Josh and was tired. The other occupants of the bus were all inside the venue getting ready for their big performance, giving her the perfect time to get ready and sneak away to the other bus travelling with them. To clear herself a bit, she sent Mike a text telling him she was in bed, not to wake her because she was getting sick and didn’t want to listen to Josh when she already had a headache.

It was the perfect excuse, Mike would take it as fact and if Josh tried to open the curtain to her bunk he’d be stopped by the over protective bassist with the maternal instincts of a great-great-great grandmother who had mothered over 400 children in her day. It was fool proof. If not, then by the time Josh figured it out, they’d already be on the highway and there was no stopping until the next town.

Riley had saw a few others get back on the All Time Low bus and decided to give them about thirty minutes before wandering over. She didn’t want to look too eager. Around forty five minutes, to be safe, after she had saw Jack climb onto his bus, Riley grabbed her coat and away she went. Hurrying over the space between the two busses, she waited a second before knocking.

It was cold and they were slow! Shivering and blowing a fresh curl out of her face, she smiled widely when Alex opened the door and popped his head out inviting her in. It seemed awful quiet inside for a party.

“Uh, hey sorry am I early?” Riley asked stepping onto the almost empty bus.

Awkwardly glancing around the only saw one other person, aside from Alex and it was Zack who was sitting with his phone. He looked more like he was ready for bed than a party.

“Nope, make yourself at home.” Alex beamed, gesturing to the open seats. “Jack is in the shower, he’ll be right out. I’m just going to pop into the back lounge; if you need anything um...Zack can do it.” Alex offered before disappearing out of sight.

Sitting awkwardly on the edge of the seat, Riley took in her surroundings. It was like any other tour bus she had been on. It had a small kitchen, a front lounge, clearly a back lounge, a bathroom and a place to sleep. Her eyes wandered over a set of photos that she took were the band, crew and most likely family and friends from back home when she let her gaze land on Zack for more than a millisecond. Apparently this is all it took for him to speak.

“I haven’t seen you out, give up the weed?” Zack asked, never breaking the stare from his phone.

“What’s it to you? Upset I didn’t offer to share?” Riley asked with a raised brow.

Zack chuckled and shook his head. “And what makes you think I’d want to share?”

“I’ve heard the rumours.” Riley shrugged in reply.

“Rumors are a vicious thing.” Zack countered, before turning back into his silent self.

Riley couldn’t argue that. She had her fair share of things said about her, some true and some not. Still she couldn’t help but hate the smug smirk that Zack Merrick sat wearing. It was like this guy’s mission for the tour was to get under her skin and annoy the living hell out of her. Ian had said the guy never talked; maybe it was because he had nothing nice to say.

Silently, Riley sat waiting for Jack. She had shrugged off her fitted leather jacket and now sat in a bright purple t-shirt, much cooler for the warm bus’ temperatures. Picking at her freshly painted deep burgundy nails, she sighed earning a look and a raised brow from Zack. Both were interrupted from their little stare off when a door opened and Jack walked in, towelling off his black and blond hair.

“Riley, hey!” Jack said enthusiastically taking the seat across from her. “Flyzik kind of killed our party, but you can still hang out. The guys are watching a hockey game in the back, but we can watch a movie up here or something, alone. If you want to?” He offered, glancing at Zack who was still making his home on the couch.

“I’m going to bed anyway.” Zack muttered, standing up and heading toward the center of the bus where their bunks were.

“A movie, sure.” Riley gave Jack a small smile and nodded.

Anything was better than being on a bus with Josh.

“Okay, why don’t you pick the movie and I’ll make us something to eat. I always get really hungry after a show.” Jack explained leaving the couch to start digging through the cupboards.

Riley skimmed the stack of dvd’s that they had sitting on a ledge near the big screen tv. Most of them she had saw a hundred times over and others she had never heard of. A few feet away, Jack was moving around, opening and closing doors in order to get things ready as he did so the smell of popcorn filled the small space of the bus. Finally making her pick, she turned to see Jack ripping open a bag of popcorn and pouring it into a large bowl. Grabbing two cans of soda he popped them open and grabbed two plastic straws that each had Jack Skellington gripping the top of them.

“Did we get a movie?” Jack asked sitting the food down on the leather sofa before grabbing more off of the counter and walking over to Riley.

“Home Alone?” Riley questioned with a small shrug.

“I have seen this movie, no lie, a million times. It’s my favourite. I’ll warn you now; I sometimes recite it and don’t even realize it.” Jack admitted with a wide grin.

“Wow, I’ve never seen it.” Riley admitted, feeling a little silly.

“What?!” Jack’s big brown eyes grew wide with surprise. His grin was absolutely adorable. “Then we must watch it! Hurry, sit, sit I’ll set it up!” he ushered Riley to the couch and took the dvd, putting it in the player and setting the tv up.

Retreating back to where Riley was sitting, Jack sat down a few inches away from her and pointed the remote at the tv, readying their movie to begin. “You are in for the greatest event of your life!” he added, clicking play.

They watched contently, both laughing at the film; Riley a few times at Jack as he got a bit too excited or started quoting the movie. He was like a little kid and she had to admit, it was cute. About half way through, the popcorn was gone and Jack had got up to get something else to eat, never missing a beat of the movie as he did so. When he was finished he sat back down, this time a little closer.

“Here.” Jack said offering Riley half of the sandwich he had made. “It’s fluff-n-nutter.” He sang holding it up under her nose.

“Thanks.” Riley smiled taking the sandwich and moving so that her shoulder rested against Jack’s.

The movie ended and being too lazy to get up, neither one moved from their latest position on the couch. Riley was lying stretched out with her body between Jack’s legs and her head on his arm. It was comfortable, even for two people who hardly knew each other. Riley was quick to know she liked that Jack had an easy manner to him and always kept things light. They laid on the couch talking about random and silly things, nothing too personal which is the way Riley liked it. Things had gone quiet for a few minutes; when Jack glanced down to realize Riley was asleep on him.

Some people would probably call it creepy, but Jack sat just staring down watching her sleep for a minute. Her dark curls were slightly messed up from laying down and her cheeks were a slight tinge of red, probably from the warmth of the bus and the fact Jack had brought out a huge fuzzy blanket for them when Riley had mentioned being chilly. She shifted slightly but never woke, Jack’s attention was drawn away when the door between the bunks and the front lounge opened and Rian appeared.

“Oh, you must really like her!” Rian teased. “You even used your Jack Skellington straws.” He said carefully picking up a straw from one of the cans and laughing at his band mate.

“He also shared his Ravens blanket.” Alex added with a chuckle as he emerged from behind Rian. “Jacko, you are in deep my boy!”

Placing his finger to his lips, Jack signaled for his friends to be quiet. Nodding his head toward Riley, letting them know he didn’t want to wake her up.

“Okay, well we’re turning in.” Rian added. Alex nodded. Both grabbed what they had came out for, Jack not really sure what that was, but he could hear them both opening doors to cupboards.

“Night.” Jack whispered.

Turning his attention back to Riley, he felt so giddy. She looked so peaceful, cliché, but Jack liked it. His arm was beyond numb, his own body was tired and yet he didn’t have the heart to move in case he woke Riley up. Resting his head against the side of the plush leather sofa, Jack closed his own eyes. It looked like he was parked here for the night.