The Sky Under the Sea

~ Time Lapse: Four days ~

[Bo]



The last few days have been nice, hanging around with Jaime. Usually I wasn’t one to make friends, seeing there was no point in them from experience, but there was something different about Jaime.

Maybe it was his persistence, maybe it was something else. Whatever it was, it was persuasive enough to change years of habit and make me sit up and try having a friendship for the first time in ages. Sure, I had people that I saw from time to time, but I was always busy with writing or playing music. A social life had never really interested me, I suppose.

Until Jaime. Around him, I was more open than usual and actually had fun. In such a short time, we’d become really close, mucking around and being stupid. He brought out a side of me I wasn’t even sure existed anymore, but it was.. nice. Really nice.


Now, I don’t exactly know why I was reflecting on my friendship with the spiky haired boy while finishing up our set, but I did know that the more I was around him, the more I liked him.

A prospect that scared me more than anything.


We’d just finished up our last song, thankfully, when I hear a loud twang come from my bass. One of the strings had broken. Shit. We didn’t bring any spares since there were none at the local guitar store when we left home.


I pushed the thought to the back of my mind as all four of us quickly cleared the stage of our gear, packing it into the storage cases and wheeling it backstage.


“What’s up?” Chloe asked as I crouched in front of the guitar rack, staring thoughtfully at the instruments in front of me.


“Broke a string and we don’t have any spares.” I chewed my lip, trying to think of someone else on this tour who used the same strings.


“Oh shit. Do you know anyone who would have the same ones?” Chloe’s voice echoed my thoughts.


“I don’t know, I’ll have to ask around.”

I suppose one of the guitar techs would have some, but the same strings? Doubtful.


“Are we still seeing PTV’s set tonight?” Chloe held out her hand and helped me to my feet once I stashed my beloved blue bass back in its case.


“Yeah.” Finally, the timetables got switched around and we were playing at separate times. They’d come to all of ours the last few days, and apparently they really enjoyed it.


“Good.” Chloe had been dying for someone to go with her and since we’d all been busy until now, I finally decided to go with her so she’d be quiet.


We walked back to the buses, deciding to skip lunch in favor of a nap.


“Jaime might have some.”
 Chloe stopped walking and stared at me.


“What?”


“Strings. He might have some.” My mind was still trying to figure out where to find a replacement string when Chloe had obviously been talking about something else entirely.


“Oh. Since when are you two all best buds now? Last I knew you hated making friends.” Chloe always put my lack of friend making skills so tactfully, saying that I ‘hated’ to do it, rather than I ‘couldn’t’.


“I don’t know, he wouldn’t stop being so nice and I guess I thought I’d give it a shot.” I shrugged a little as if it was something small.


“Bo Thompson, Warped Tour is changing you.” Chloe grinned at me. “I’m glad though. He’s nice enough, maybe even become a little more than friends down the track?” Her comment caught me off guard and I stumbled.


“Yeah right, you know I don’t do relationships, Chloe.” She noticed my slip and was grinning even wider now.


“You never know, he changed your mind about friends didn’t her? Besides, he is really attractive.” My cheeks flushed as I agreed with her. Yes, he was definitely one of the most attractive human beings I had ever seen. Whether it was the goofy smile, the dimples or the eyes that you could lose yourself in, I didn’t know. Maybe it was a whole package kind of deal.


“I guess.” Was what I choked out. By now we were back at the buses.


“I’m going to ask Jaime if he has some spare strings, I’ll be back.” Chloe winked at me as I kept walking past our bus, down towards where their’s was usually parked.
When I reached their bus, the door was wide open and I could hear yelling.

“Fuck’s sake Mike!” That must be Vic.


“What?” Mike shouted back. Maybe this was a bad time.


“You can’t keep sneaking out, you could get in a ton of trouble!” Vic sounded exasperated.

Sneaking out? What?


“Whatever Vic, it’s not your problem.” He was now standing on the steps of the bus, looking inside.


“It is my problem, since I’m your big brother!” Mike just shook his head and walked off, giving me a weak smile as he passed.


“Mike! Fuck me that kid is difficult.” Vic groaned through the doorway, and as I got close I could see him hang his head in his hands. 
Tentatively, I knocked. He jumped a little, then relaxed.


“Hey Bo. Come in.” I climbed the steps, waving hello to Tony.


“Brotherly spat?” I asked, sliding into a seat opposite him. Vic nodded, looking downcast.

“You heard that?”

Tony giggled from the couch.

“I think all of Warped heard that.” Vic shot him a glare and I tried to stifle my laughter.


“Anyway. What do we owe the pleasure?”


“I’m looking for Jaime, actually.” Vic’s eyebrow raised a notch, but he didn’t say anything.


“He should be in his bunk, you’re welcome to go down.”


I said thank you and made my way down the bus, noticing how clean it was compared to ours. On our bus clothes and shoes were strewn everywhere, it was a real mess.
 When I reached the bunk section, I realized I didn’t know which one was Jaime’s.

“Last one on the top right!” Vic called, clearly seeing my confusion.
 Once again I thanked him, knocking lightly outside the aforementioned bunk.


“Tony, I swear if you ask me to play Lego Star Wars one more time, I’ll strangle you.” Jaime growled and I took a step back, hearing Tony’s laugh echo down from the kitchen. Jaime must have heard it too, since he pulled back his curtain.


“Oh, hey. Sorry, Tony’s been bugging me all day and-”


“It’s fine.” I cut him off with a smile, it growing slightly wider when he returned it.


“What’s up?” He swung his legs out of the bunk and jumped out.


“I have a favor to ask of you.” If Jaime didn’t have these strings I was kind of stuck.
 He raised his eyebrows, gesturing that I should go on.


“What kind of strings do you use on your bass?”
The question clearly caught him off guard and he stared at me like I was an alien.


“The Ernie Ball power slinky ones, why?” Yes!


“Would you happen to have any spares? I broke one of mine on stage today and we don’t have any replacements.. I hate to ask but yeah.” I sheepishly scratched the back of my head.

“Yeah of course, walk with me?” Jaime smiled and I followed him out of the bus, heading over to the gear trailers.

“You’re a life saver, thanks Jaime!” He smiled his famous smile at me and we soon reached the trailers. It took another minute of rustling through some cases before he produced the little purple packet that would save my life. Figuratively speaking, obviously.

“Thanks so much.” I said again, throwing my arms around him and hugging him tightly, and action that surprised me as much as him. Jaime tensed for a moment, before relaxing into the hug and wrapping his arms around my waist. Butterflies erupted in my stomach.


“Hey, what are friends for?” He smiled.