The Sky Under the Sea

[Jaime]



We’d been waiting at the arrivals lounge for about five minutes, and Vic was getting worried.


“Calm down dude. They might be waiting for everyone else to get off first. Stop stressing!” I laughed, watching Vic nervously adjust and re-adjust his beanie.
 I’d just turned back to where everyone was walking out when something with bright red hair jumped on me.


“Bo!” I shouted, a grin instantly spreading across my face as I wrapped my arms around her. I was expecting a hello hug, but definitely not this.
 She had wrapped her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck, holding on to me tightly. I pulled her even closer and rested my head on her neck.


“I missed you so much, Jaime.” She said softly, burying her face in my neck. I felt my cheeks go crimson and my lips curled into an even bigger smile.


“I missed you too, sunshine.” We stayed like that for a minute, just taking in each others company, happy to be reunited. I breathed in her familiar scent of strawberries. She always smelled so good and it was something I’d come to miss in the few weeks we were apart.


“You’re all better now, right?” I asked, leaning back to look at her. Her grin was as wide as mine. She nodded.


“My lungs are perfectly a-okay.”


“That’s really good news, Bo. I’m happy.” And I really was, for the first time in a fortnight. She unwound her legs from my waist and I gently set her back down, a grin plastered across my face, one that wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.


“If you two are finished..” I cleared my throat, not wanting to interrupt Vic and Chloe’s make out session.


“Sorry, just a bit excited.” Vic looked so happy to be back with his girlfriend. They weren’t official but I had a feeling they would be soon.
 Grabbing Bo’s bag, all four of us headed down to the baggage claim to meet the rest of the band.


“Jeremy, nice to see you mate!” I gave him a quick hug, doing the same with Sam.
“You guys ready to kill this tour?”


“Fuck yeah. This is going to be so much fun, I can tell.”


“Hey, you know what I just realized?” Chloe said, hauling a few bags of the carousel.


“What’s that?” Vic asked, still holding her hand tightly.


“It’s Bo’s birthday while we’re on tour!” She shouted, jumping up and down.


“Is it now?” My eyebrows were raised as I turned to Bo.

“When is it?”


“October 24th.”

We definitely have to throw her a party.


By now all of the bags had been unloaded and we headed back to the car.


“How old are you going to be?” I said softly, falling back into step with Bo.
 She grinned at me cheekily.


“Guess.”


“Well. I’ll say.. twenty six?” That was a year older than me. She shook her head. I thought I’d had it, too.


“Lower.”


“Okay.. same age as me. Twenty five?” I asked hopefully.


“Wrong again, Preciado. But I’m flattered. I’ll be turning twenty four.” 


I didn’t know she was a full year younger than me.


“Ah okay.” Right at that moment, her phone started ringing. She frowned at the screen before answering.


“Hey Oscar. Yes, I swear I was about to ring you. No, I didn’t die on the plane trip over. I’m fine. Would you relax? Sheesh.” Bo rolled her eyes at me and mouthed ‘brothers’. 


Why was he so worried about her? Had something happened?


“Oscar, look I’m really tired, I’ll cal you from the bus tomorrow night and tell you about everything okay? Alright. Love you too. Bye.” And she was done. 
I didn’t know what having a brother was like, since I was an only child. From what I’d seen of Mike and Vic, I thought things worked pretty well. I guess that was just them.


“He’s really protective, isn’t he?” I mused as we dumped all the bags into the back of the van and we climbed in. Chloe sat in the passenger seat next to Vic, then Jeremy and Sam and finally Bo and I in the back. She nodded.


“So who’s house are we going to?” Bo asked, staring out of the window. I loved how she was fascinated with how the city looked at night, always staring out of the window at things we drove past.


“Fuentes house. Mine’s too small to fit everyone and Tony doesn’t live close by.” Tony had moved in with one of his friends last year and their house was a few towns over. He wasn’t home much though. 
My house was tiny. It was more of an apartment, really. It had two small bedrooms, the smaller of which held all of my gear. It didn’t matter though, I was rarely home long enough to have guests stay over.


“I can’t believe you guys all grew up here, it’s so beautiful.” Bo said softly.


“San Diego’s alright I guess.” I said with a smile.


Vic cranked up the radio and A Day To Remember’s “Have Faith In Me” started playing. 
Chloe started singing along from the front seat, Vic’s voice soon joining in. 
As the chorus started, Bo and I added our voices into the mix. 
Strangely enough, we didn’t sound too bad. That’s how we spent the remainder of the drive home, singing along to whatever played next.
Eventually, Vic pulled into the driveway of the house and pulled the keys out of the ignition.

We all piled inside, deciding to leave the bags in the car until morning when we headed off. They were bringing the bus here, and then we drove for a day to our first show the night after. 


“It isn’t much, but it’s home sweet home.” Vic said dramatically, flicking on the lights.


“Mike! Tony! Get your asses out here and have some manners!” Vic yelled into the seemingly empty house.


“Okay, quick tour since it’s like 3am. This is the kitchen/living room. Down the hall to the right are mine and Mike’s room, then right at the end is the bathroom. Through that door-” Vic pointed to one in between the kitchen and living room. “-is the backyard but that’s irrelevant.” We all walked into the lounge to see a few mattresses spread across the floor.


“Hey guys.” Mike emerged from his room, rubbing his eyes. After a quick round of hello’s, he gestured to the floor.


“I set up some beds, we don’t have enough room in mine or Vic’s so you guys’ll have to crash here. Hope it’s okay.” They all nodded. I was staying on the floor in Mike’s room tonight, I’d decided. The way Chloe was looking at Vic, I didn’t want to be anywhere near their room tonight. Tony must still be in Mike’s bed asleep.


“Alright well I’m exhausted, so we’ll see you guys in like five hours. Sleep well.” Vic stated, walking up the hall to his room and tugging Chloe along with him.


“Safe sex is good sex!” Bo yelled after them with a grin. Chloe just flipped her off before closing the door behind her.


“I’ll see you guys in a bit. Night.” I said, following Mike back into his room. I’d have preferred to stay out there with Bo, but I thought that was being a bit forward. 
Mike shot me a questioning glance as I reached into his cupboard and grabbed a blanket.


“I’m not sleeping in Vic’s room while they fuck next to me. Nu uh.” He shrugged, sliding into bed and throwing me a pillow.


“Hime, turn the light off.” Mike grumbled. I flicked it off and lay down on the floor. It wasn’t too uncomfortable fortunately, but a proper bed was much more comfy.
 Soon, a rhythmic thumping could be heard from across the hall.
 Groaning, I pulled out my headphones and jammed them into my ears, turning my music up loud to drown out the noise. Sleep came soon after.



~

I’d only had a few hours sleep when a slight knock on the door woke me up. My headphones had fallen out and I was on my back.
 “Jaime? Are you in here?” Bo’s voice whispered as she opened the door a crack.
 “On the floor, over here.” I whispered back, sitting up.


Why was she up?

A quick look at my phone confirmed the early hour of the morning. 4:27am. 
She picked her way around the mess of clothes on the floor and sat next to me. 


“What’s up?” I asked, pulling the blanket up over our legs. 
Her voice was so soft I barely heard her answer.


“More nightmares. I’ve been having them more and more lately..” She trailed off and in the dark I saw her look down at her hands. 
Instinctively, I reached out and took them in my own.


“The only time I didn’t have them was when we had that movie night on tour, and I don’t know what it is but when I sleep with you they seem to leave me alone.” She sounded so small, so scared, so.. vulnerable. Bo wasn’t usually this honest, either.


“Aw Bo. Lay down, it’s okay.” I shuffled over and rolled onto my side, Bo doing the same. She balled her hands up in my shirt and rested her head on my chest. Through that slight touch I could feel her shaking.


“You’re with me now, Bo. Get some sleep alright?” She whispered okay and I rested my arm on her waist, pulling her in closer. Eventually, her breathing slowed down and got deeper as she slept.


I could get used to this.


A smile crept across my face as I let myself sink slowly back to sleep.