The Sky Under the Sea

By time I woke up, the sun was high in the sky. Grunting, I rolled out of the bunk in a rush to get my hoodie off because it was so hot. I felt like I was melting. My legs hit the ground and gave way immediately, leaving me in a heap on the floor. I groaned, forgetting that I was in Bo’s bunk, and that it was higher than usual.


“You alright bro?” Tony laughed from his bunk, tears running down his cheeks.


“Fine, thanks.” I said, rolling my eyes and picking myself up from the floor.

“What time is it?” I asked, rubbing my eyes.


“Nearly 12:30. We picked up Kevin and Adam about an hour ago. Sleep well?” Tony smirked. 
I couldn’t help but fight the smile creeping onto to my face.


“I’m just teasing, Hime. I know you really like her. Good for you, really. I just hope she can see that.”

Whenever Tony stopped being immature and said something serious, you needed to listen. Those moments were few and far between but always full of meaning. This was one of those times.


“Thanks man. Means a lot.” And it really did. Tony was my best friend, and we’d grown up together. He knew all of my worst moments and I knew his. We were more brothers than friends, really.


“Anytime.”


“What do you lot want for lunch? There’s no food on the bus yet so we’ll shop tonight, but we need to stop somewhere.” Came Vic’s voice from the front of the bus.


“Not fussed!” Tony and I yelled in sync.


“I don’t care as long as there is lots of it!” Mike shouted from the back room.


“There’s a food van up ahead, we’ll eat there.” Vic shouted back, slowing the bus and pulling over to the side of the road.
 I turned around and saw Bo staring out at me from the bunk, her bright blue eyes definitely awake.


“You would easily have to be one of the most un-coordinated people I’ve ever met, you know that?” She smirked. I pouted.


“I thought you were still sleeping.” She shook her head.


“Been awake for a while but you were kind of blocking the way out so I stayed put. That fall was worth it though.” She laughed and swung her legs out of the bunk.


“You could have woken me.” I sighed, feeling bad that she couldn’t get out.


“It’s fine Jaime. No stress.” At least she looked happier than this morning. There was slightly more of a sparkle in her eye as she jumped down.


“Why are we stopped?” Bo rummaged around in her cupboard and pulled out a pair of ugg boots.


“Food.” Tony said, rolling out of his bunk as well.

“Vic’s pulled us over at some food van. Don’t ask, he’s driving.” Tony laughed and we all filed into the lounge. Chloe was already there, talking with Kevin.


“All you have to do is mention food and you lot come running.” Kevin rolled his eyes as we all walked off the bus once Mike, Jeremy, Sam and Adam joined us.


“You know us too well, Kev.” Tony laughed. It was a gorgeous day outside, the sun was shining down nice and warm. The sky was clear and blue, without a single cloud in sight.


“What kind of food do they sell here?” I asked Vic as we headed up to the van.


“I don’t know. It was the first place I saw with food so I pulled over.”


“See this is why we shouldn’t let you drive. Some weirdo could own this van and we could all be dead in an hour. Nice one big brother.” Mike smirked, smacking Vic over the back of the head. I laughed as Vic frowned.


“Fine then smart ass, you can drive!” He shouted, throwing the keys and storming up to the counter.


“What does this place sell?” Bo’s voice surprised me as she walked up beside me.


“There’s sandwiches and burrito’s and stuff. They have the menu up the back, see?” I pointed to a faded board behind the counter.


“Uh, no, actually.”
I turned to look at her, confusion written across my face. She pointed to her eyes.


“I’m really short sighted. Normally I wear contacts but because of the messed up sleeping schedule I haven’t been wearing them and I didn’t think to grab my glasses.”

That’s new, I didn’t know that.


“Shit, really?”
 Bo took three steps back so she was about two meters away from me.


“Yeah. You’re a blur, to give you an idea.” She walked back towards me.

“I can’t even see past the counter, let alone read what the menu says. Feel like being my eyes?” Bo laughed and looked up at me.


“No, I’m going to let you starve because you’re blind.” My voice was dripping with sarcasm and Bo slapped me on the arm.


“Ha ha, Preciado.” She said in mock annoyance.


“There’s sandwiches you can design yourself or you can pick a specific one, you can make your own burrito, there’s hotdogs and there’s burgers. What do you feel like?” I asked, reading from the board.


“Surprise me!” She said thoughtfully.

“As long as there’s no tomato. I hate that shit more than anything.”


Something else I didn’t know about her. I guess her little revelation this morning was just the beginning of her really starting to open up to us.

 Twenty minutes later, we’d ordered our food and piled back into the bus. Kevin decided to drive so we could eat, and somehow all nine of us managed to squeeze into the kitchen and onto the couches.


“What did you choose, Jaime?” Vic asked from across the little table.


“I got a deluxe burrito for me, and a barbecue pork sandwich for Bo. You?” I asked, unwrapping both meals and handing Bo her food.


“Spicy burrito, same as Mike. It’s so good.” He mumbled through a mouthful. Bo looked over to Chloe and rolled her eyes.

“Mexicans.”


Everyone burst out laughing and Vic nearly choked on his burrito. 

The rest of the trip went pretty quickly. Everyone went off and did their own little thing. Mike and I played more FIFA out the back while Jeremy and Sam watched. Kevin was driving, Tony was asleep and Bo and Chloe were in the lounge. 
It was dark by the time we pulled into the parking lot of the first venue. Seconds after the bus stopped moving, everyone was eagerly out and stretching their legs. Time had flown but we were all stiff and sore from nearly a whole day of being cooped up inside the bus.


“This feels so good.” I commented, bending over double to stretch out my back.


“Fuck yeah. Glad thats one of the biggest drives out of the way.” Vic agreed, cracking his shoulders.


“What’s for dinner?” Mike wondered, and I rolled my eyes. All he was interested in was food and FIFA.

“Why don’t we see if there’s a restaurant nearby? We can walk and stretch out legs on the way.” Jeremy said with a shrug. Everyone nodded in agreement.
 I jumped back onto the bus to grab a hoodie and soon enough we were out walking around. My stomach grumbled and I looked at my watch. 7:48.


Any wonder we were all starving!


It took us about fifteen minutes to find somewhere that wasn’t booked out. We eagerly took our seats and hungrily browsed the menu.


“Vic, swap with me?” I asked, nudging his elbow. I was sitting on the end of the table and I hated it. I felt so out of the conversation and it made me uncomfortable.


“Jaime, you and your pet peeves I swear.” He grumbled and reluctantly agreed to swap.


“You’re the best. Thanks Vic!” I chirped, happy to be in the middle.
 The waitress came and took down our order, needing to double check that yes, we did want all this food. I’m pretty sure we’d ordered enough for thirty people and not ten. 
Two hours later, we left the restaurant with smiles and full bellies. Somehow we’d managed to eat everything we ordered, including dessert.


The night was cold as we made our way back to the bus in high spirits.


“That was so good, wow.” Mike said, rubbing his stomach.


“How you’re so skinny has me beat, Mike. You eat enough for five people!” Bo explained, poking him in the side.


“A man’s gotta eat.” He justified, holding out his hands.


“You’re more of a bean pole than a man.” Bo laughed, making Mike frown at her.


“Says the dwarf.” He retorted, poking his tongue out.


“That’s original.” Bo said sarcastically with a roll of her eyes. I smiled.

“Calm down children.” Chloe warned from behind them. She hadn’t left Vic’s side all night, clinging to his hand as if she couldn’t let him go.


“Who are you calling children?” Mike and Bo said in unison, turning to face her.


“We’re both older than you, excuse you.” Bo said with her arms crossed.


“And I’m more mature. And taller. So?” Chloe grinned.


“Taller than Mike? Gee, I knew my eyesight was bad but I didn’t think it was totally gone.” Bo’s voice was dripping with sarcasm.
 Everyone else was laughing at their banter, knowing it wasn’t at all serious.


“No, taller than you.” Chloe poked her tongue out.


“I could still take you.” Bo’s eyes sparkled mischievously and I knew something was up.


“Yeah right.” Chloe scoffed.
 One quick glance at Mike and the next thing we knew, both Chloe and Vic were up in the air.
 Bo had grabbed Chloe and slung her over her shoulder, while Mike grabbed Vic from behind his waist and lifted him into the air.


“I didn’t say anything! What did I do? Mike put me down!” Vic yelled through laughter.


“You’re banging Chloe so you’re going to take her side. That makes you equally as guilty.” Mike stated, carrying his little brother easily. He might be tall and lanky, but he sure was strong.


“Hey I-” He started.


“Don’t lie Vic we all heard it.” Tony cut him off with a laugh.


“Harder Vic! Ohhhh Vic harder!” I imitated Chloe’s high pitched moans and everyone was in tears of laughter.


“Fuck off Jaime!” Chloe yelled from in front of me.
 By the time we reached the bus, everyone was content to just go to bed. Mike and Bo let Chloe and Vic go as soon as they were inside, earning themselves dirty looks before they stormed off. Mike and Bo just grinned at each other and high-fived.

It was like nothing had even been said this morning, and I was glad. Even Bo seemed to pretend that nothing had been said, and maybe it was for the best. I knew the more we dwelled on it, the worse we’d all end up feeling so maybe the fact that nothing changed was good, even if no one had spoken about it. God knows it hadn’t left my mind, but only because it was a massive chunk of her history that explained a lot, not because I thought less of her.

This was going to be a good tour, I could feel it.