The Sky Under the Sea

[Jaime]



Holy fuck. I didn’t even know what to say to what Bo just told us all. There was so much to take in all at once, I didn’t even know where to begin. A million thoughts besieged my mind.


She saw her brother die? Someone tried to kill her? She was an addict? She had no family other than Oscar?


The only one that I cared about right now was,


Where did she go?



“Did you know all of that?” Vic asked Chloe, breaking the silence.
 Chloe nodded, staring down at the table.


“It was so scary to watch, I honestly thought I was going to lose her. That’s why she doesn’t let people in, she’s lost too much already.” 
It fell silent again.


“I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t care what Bo’s done in the past. We’ve all done things that we aren’t proud of, so it shouldn’t change our opinion of her now. I think it’s actually pretty fucking brave of her to just tell us, honestly. She didn’t really leave anything out.” Mike put in his two cents and I agreed.


“Like she said, she isn’t that person anymore. I can’t believe that she went through all of that basically on her own, and look where she is now.” Tony said softly. 
No one knew what to say, we were all just trying to let sink in everything we just heard.


“I’ll go find her. Vic can I have the keys?” I said, speaking for the first time in what felt like years. Vic reached into his pocket and tossed them to me. 
Before I could leave, Chloe walked over and took the keys off me.


“Jaime, I know you care about her but you just heard all of that at once so it’ll be a shock. I know what she’s going through so I’ll find her. The GPS will help me get home so don’t worry.” She was out of the door before I could say another word. 
The clock read 7:45, and the bus was meant to be here at 8. We needed to get packing.


“We’ll have time to talk about this on the bus. For now, we need to pack. Sam and Jeremy, if you guys want to grab all of your gear and get dressed we’ll load up as soon as the bus is here. Our stuff is all piled at the front door.” Tony said, always the practical one in sticky situations. 
I couldn’t get my mind off Bo and if she was okay. It all made sense now, why her nightmares scared her so. Why she was so frightened that night she woke up screaming. Why she doesn’t want to get close to anyone, only emphasizing Chloe’s words.


“It means you’re different. It means you’re special.” 
Maybe this would be a step to getting Bo used to having people care about her. No one cares about what’s happened in the past, in fact I think we all love and respect her more after finding out what she’s gone through. Finally, she will see that she’s found people who won’t leave her. We’ll always be by her side.



“I’m having a shower.” I mumbled, quickly grabbing clean clothes from my bag and ducking into the bathroom. 
I turned the water temperature up as hot as I could stand and let it drown me. Poor Bo. If all of that had have happened to me, I don’t think I would have lived through it. Knowing that she has to live with that every day, and see that horror every night.. I just don’t know how she does it. It can’t be easy, that’s for sure. Any wonder she was so distant when we first met and why Chloe warned me to stay away. I don’t care. Hearing all of that this morning only makes me want to protect her more, keep her safe from the world.


But what about this guy that wants to kill her? What are we going to do about that?

That was the main thought that stayed in my mind as I dressed and made my way back into the kitchen.


“You alright?” Vic asked, walking over and rubbing my back.
 Not trusting my voice I simply nodded. Yes I was still in love with her, but I also needed time to fully comprehend it all.


“She’ll be fine. Look at everything she’s overcome already.” Vic pulled me into a reassuring hug. At the table, Mike and Tony were already dressed.


“I always wondered what her tattoo meant.” Tony mused.



“Well now you know. It’s sweet though.” Mike added softly. At that very moment, a car pulled into the driveway and my heart sped up.
 Chloe opened the door and was soon followed in by a very disheveled Bo. Without hesitation I swept her up into a hug, wrapping my arms around her as tight as I could.


“Bo, I don’t care what’s happened in the past. Its exactly that, in the past. Don’t ever think for a second that we would hate you! I want you to listen very carefully. No matter what happens in life, we will always, ALWAYS be here for you. Better or worse, okay?” I whispered this as fiercely as I could while she buried her face into my neck. She needed to know that we were there for her. She cried harder, her shoulders shaking with sobs.


“I’m going to stay right here.”
 Bo didn’t say anything, the only sound emanating from her small frame were sobs.



“Alright, is everything packed?” Vic yelled, doing one last walk through the house. Bo had showered and cleaned herself up, reappearing in jeans and a t-shirt, looking much more human. She’d gone to put on the jumper she wore to bed when I grabbed it out of her hands and replaced it with one of mine.

“It’s my favourite one and I never go on tour without it but I want you to wear it. So you have a reminder that you’re not alone, I’m always with you.” The words rushed out of my mouth and I blushed at my cheesy words, feeling the heat fly into my cheeks. I looked down at my feet, too nervous to look at her in case she laughed.


“Jaime..” Bo said softly. She didn’t say anything else, but I didn’t care. All I cared about was that she knew she wasn’t alone anymore.


“You’re the sweetest, you know that?” Bo smiled sadly at me.
 As I looked up, I saw her tug on the hoodie and damn did she look good in my clothes.

“Come on. I think everyone’s ready to go.” Bo smiled at me, but it didn’t reach all the way up to her eyes. She looked even sadder than before.
 Following her out the door, I grabbed the last bag and we headed onto the bus.


“This is the last one I think.” Vic nodded and sprang back out to lock the house up.
 Everything had been loaded, the bags stacked in a haphazard heap on the lounge.


“Dibs on the top bunk.” Bo grinned, hauling her bag onto one of the top bunks.
They were stacked three high, with four sections on total with drawers and a cupboard separating them.


“Can your short ass even get up there?” Chloe sniggered from the lounge, in the midst of grabbing her own bag.


“Ha, ha. Yes it can, actually.” Bo retorted indignantly. To prover her point, she stepped lightly onto the middle bunk and sprung up onto the bed. She could even sit on the edge if she slouched down and ducked her head.


“There are some advantages of being so short.”
 Chloe slung her bag onto the middle bunk just underneath Bo’s. Soon enough, everyone began claiming bunks. Mike ended up on the top opposite Bo, with me in the middle and Tony underneath. Vic was in the next bay down with Sam in the middle. Jeremy grabbed the last top bunk opposite it.


“Hey Mike, don’t you think you should have that middle bunk? Your drunk ass is going to have a fair bit of trouble hauling itself into such a high place.” Vic sniggered as he leaned against the wardrobe. I heard Mike groan from the bunk above.


“Fuck you Vic. As much as I hate to admit it, you’re actually right.” Mike rolled out of his bunk and relocated his stuff to the remaining middle bunk. As we were all lying on our beds, I rolled over and poked my head into Tony’s bunk beneath me.


“Turtle. You want the top one?” I asked, hoping he’d say no. 
He shook his head and I beamed inside.


“Nu uh. You remember what happened the last time I had a top bunk, not going to happen.” I chuckled at the memory. One of the first tours we did, Tony was in a top bunk. There was one night he was tossing and turning because he couldn’t sleep, so he managed to roll out of bed and land on the floor, breaking two of his fingers.


“Fair point!” Win. I’d scored a bunk across from Bo, which is what I’d hoped for from the start. Before I pulled my head back up to my bunk, Tony winked at me. Little shit.


“Alright guys, we good to go?” Vic called, now sitting up the front of the bus in the driver’s seat.


“House is all locked up, everything is packed. Let’s do this!” Tony yelled.
 Vic turned the key in the ignition and soon we were on our way. We had a whole day’s worth of driving ahead of us, picking up our tour manager Kevin and Adam, our photographer along the way. We kicked off the first show tomorrow night and I was so excited. We’d played some of our new stuff on Warped Tour, but only a few songs. Now we were armed with a whole album of material, and even though it was released a few weeks ago the response was great. 
I settled into the lounge and pulled out my phone.


‘@ptvjaime: Already on the road, ready to kick off this tour in style. Are you guys ready for us? :D’



Almost instantly my mentions blew up with responses from fans saying which shows they were going too and how excited they all were. It was the most amazing feeling, seeing how thrilled the fans were to come see us play. After a few follows and some tweets, I put my phone away. Mike and Tony headed off to the back room, probably to play some FIFA.


“Any of you want to join us?” Mike called from the back. Soon enough, he was joined by Sam and Jeremy.


“I’m good thanks.” Slipping my phone back into my pocket, I walked down to the bunk area. Bo was unpacking her bag, putting everything away.


“Hey you.” She said, looking up with a small smile.


“Hey you.” I smiled back, leaning against my bunk. “Are you okay?” I said softly and her shoulders visibly tensed up in response.


“Right now? Honestly, not really. I wasn’t really expecting to have to tell you guys all of that this morning and no one’s said anything so my heads a bit of a mess.”
 She put down the clothes in her hand and turned towards me.


“Do you think any less of me?” She asked, sounding about five years old.

Was she still worried that we would think less of her?


“No. I think more of you, actually. What you did this morning was incredibly brave and I don’t know if I would have been able to do that if I was in your shoes.” All I wanted to do was show her that we didn’t care about her past.

She looked at the floor.


“Really?”

I put my arms out towards her.


“Come here. Really. Mike even said so this morning, what’s in the past is in the past. Tony agrees, so does Vic. None of us see you any differently. You’re the same Bo we went on Warped Tour with, the one that slept in a ditch and played a whole set hungover with no shoes. That’s who you are to us.” Bo stepped forward and hugged me tight. The last sentence got her to laugh.


“Good to know that’s what you guys remember most about me.” She joked, sniffling a little and pulling back.


“Come on Bo, stop crying. Let’s see that pretty smile of yours.”
 Just like that, I put my hands on either side of her face, just like she did at the airport when we said goodbye. I gently pushed the edges of her mouth up into a smile, causing her to burst out laughing.


“That’s what I like to see.” It was strange for me to be like this with a girl, especially one I wasn’t even dating. I didn’t care, it just felt right.


“You guys are the best, okay? I’m glad that Mike’s lack of social skills allowed us to meet.” Bo laughed again, wiping her face.


“Well he has to be useful for something. Only reason we keep him around.” I joked back.
 A silence fell between us, but it wasn’t awkward. We just stood there, looking at each like we were seeing each other for the first time. Taking each other in. 
Bo spoke first.


“I’m going to hop into bed and try to catch up on some sleep. Didn’t get much this morning.” Bo shrugged, kicking off her shoes.


“Want some company?” I asked quietly, hopefully. My fingers were crossed that I wasn’t taking things too far.
 Instead of hearing ‘no’ like I’d expected, I got a smile out of her.


“Sure.” A moment later she disappeared into her bunk.
Now I was faced with the challenge of getting into this bunk. It was higher than I’d thought, and I hadn’t tried getting into my own yet.


It can’t be too hard, I mean how tall are you Jaime? It’s just a bunk.


Putting my foot where Bo did, I tried to spring into the bunk just she did. Unfortunately it was neither as smooth or as graceful as I’d hoped. On the way I bumped my head and Bo giggled as I finally crawled into the small space.


“That was classy.” She laughed harder, now seeing at my look of fake annoyance.


“Well long legs aren’t always useful you know. I’m not blessed with your miniature-ness.” I grumbled, laying down onto my back.


“Are you going to sleep too?” Bo asked, shuffling closer to me as I pulled the curtain closed, engulfing us in darkness.


“Maybe.” I mused, tossing up a restful sleep or having some time to think about everything.
 Bo turned onto her side so she was facing me, snuggling over to lay her head on my chest and draping her arm over my stomach. I wrapped my left arm around her waist.


“This okay?” She asked. As if she’d needed to.


“Of course. Jaime Alberto Preciado, human pillow at your service.” She giggled again.


“Your middle name is Alberto?” Bo asked with surprise.


“Yeah, didn’t you know?” Bo shook her head against my chest.


“It’s cute, suits you.”

“Ms Thompson, was that a compliment I heard?” I put on a tone of amazement. Did she just compliment me?


“It might have been. Or, you could have been hearing things.” She replied innocently. I laughed and shifted closer to her.
 I could get used to this. Bo might not be ready to love me back, but that wasn’t going to stop me from loving her. As long as I was here when she was ready, I knew things were going to be okay.


“Get some rest. I’ll wake you if anything happens.” My voice was quiet in the small bunk as I rubbed tiny circles on her lower back.


“Night Jaime.” She mumbled, sounding half asleep. She must be tired.


“Night Bo.” A minute later her breathing was deep and even, Bo sound asleep.

As desperately as I tried to stay awake and make the moment last, my eyelids grew too heavy and I lost the battle to stay awake, sinking into sleep minutes later, the rhythmic rise and fall of Bo’s breathing lulling me into a sweet slumber.