The Sky Under the Sea

[Jaime]



“Come on, how hard is it to find a taxi in this place?” Mike groaned as we walked up the taxi rank for the millionth time.


“Relax Mike, they’ll understand if we’re a bit late.” I said, hoisting my bag further up my shoulder.
Everyone was a bit grumpy after the long plane ride, especially Mike. He hates being in one place for a long time, something that’s caused trouble on previous flights.
We were all stoked to be playing Warped Tour, it had been two years since we played it last. A whole month of touring the country, playing every day. It couldn’t get any better in my mind.


A flash of red caught my eye.
Further up the taxi rank, there were four people standing in front of a large taxi van.


“We’ll share with them!” Mike said, taking off before we could stop him. Vic looked over to me and rolled his eyes.

As we got closer, I realised what had caught my eye. One of the people was a young woman with extremely bright copper coloured hair. It stood out amongst the darkness of the surrounding night.

She had a big pair of headphones looped around her shoulders and was wearing a burgundy hoodie, black jeans and vans. She was easily one of the most attractive girls I’d ever seen. As we neared them, I began to realise how short she was. Like, even Vic would be taller than her short.
Mike started to speak.


“Hey. Uh, you guys mind sharing a taxi? It’s the only one left and we need to be somewhere, kind of urgently.” I mentally face palmed at his lack of social skills. Vic actually slapped him across the back of his head and I laughed.

“You don’t even know where they’re going, dimwit.” The red haired girl laughed, and it was such a beautiful sound.


Jaime! Pull yourself together, you haven’t even spoken to this chick and you’re already checking her out.

That’s when she spoke.

“You guys are funny. And we’re going to The Mantra hotel, if it helps.”

They were staying at the same hotel as us? That’s freaky.

I looked at her more closely. She had bright blue eyes and a nose ring, freckles decorating her face. She pushed her hair behind her ear and I saw that she had quite a few piercings. A set of anchor plugs sat in her ears.


Jaime, get a grip and stop staring.


I shook my head and helped Mike pack our bags into the taxi.


Re-joining the conversation, I saw that the girl was staring at me. I had no idea why though. It wasn’t as though she was giving me and evil look, but it wasn’t exactly a friendly one either. Our eyes met for a moment, then mine flicked to the girl standing next to her.


“-is Bo. She sings and plays bass.” She finished, pointing to the red head. So, that’s her name. Bo. And, she played bass. Uncanny.

The girl who was speaking was about the same height as Vic, and had long blonde hair. She had the same piercing blue eyes as Bo.
After a moment of awkward silence, Bo pushed up her sleeves and grabbed the two bags at her feet. She had a tattoo running up her left forearm, but I couldn’t make out what it was. It was writing of some sort though. Her other two band mates, I didn’t know their names, stashed their bags and we all climbed in.

The boys and I took a seat in the back, Bo and I think Chloe, was her name, sat in front of us.
The instant I opened my mouth to make conversation, Bo pulled her giant headphones over her ears.

So much for that.



It only took half an hour for the taxi to reach the hotel, and soon enough we all piled out and grabbed our bags. The bands split the fare and we walked into the lobby. Checking the time, I saw that it was almost midnight.


“We’re only here for a night, then moving into the buses tomorrow yeah?” Vic asked as we waited in line to check in. 
I nodded.


Minutes later, we’d checked in and were headed to the elevator. As Vic and I followed Mike and Tony around the corner, we saw that the band we shared a taxi with were already waiting.


“Sup guys, long time no see.” Tony joked as we walked up behind them.


Bo rolled her eyes ever so slightly and I grinned.


“Tony, if we have to put up with your lame jokes again this tour I swear I’m kicking you out of our bus and you’ll have to walk everywhere.” I said.

He flipped me off and the other guys laughed. A ping sounded and the elevator arrived.


“Which floor are you guys on?” Vic asked from beside me to the blonde girl.


“The fourteenth, I think. Yeah that’s it.” She replied, checking the key.

I saw Bo leaning against the wall, on her phone. Even this close, I still couldn’t make out her tattoo. I don’t know why it intrigued me so much, but it did.


“Hey, so are we! Which room?” Vic said with a huge smile on his face. Chloe smiled back.


“302.”


“Really? We’re 301.” Vic said, nearly jumping up and down from excitement. What a little kid.


“You guys just can’t get enough of us, can you?” Tony joked from behind me. I rolled my eyes.


“Tony, I wasn’t fucking kidding before.” The doors slid open in front of us and we spilled into the hallway.

Tony walked past and ruffled my hair. Shooting him a look, I headed down towards the end of the corridor. We stayed here before the last tour, so we knew the way around.

“Sorry, we didn’t introduce ourselves before. I’m Jeremy and this is Sam.” Jeremy held out his hand and we all shook, I felt a little relieved knowing that some people around here had manners. They walked off towards their door, calling goodnight.


“See you guys tomorrow!” Vic yelled as we unlocked the door. They waved and disappeared.