Stealing Glances

January 2016

It was less than 2 months till the “These Friends Are… New Friends Are Golden” tour began and only a few weeks till production rehearsals were happening. But despite the two things being weeks away, The Maine had been keeping fairly busy with rehearsing their setlist they had created for the tour.

But John had come to LA for the week, not only to spend time with Molly but she had booked a week’s worth of press as well for all the bands on the tour. John had “volunteered” to do press duties for the week while everyone else stayed home in AZ.

“Come on, we got to get to the studio to do your photo shoot.” Molly called out, as she grabbed her keys and John began walking out into her living room.

“So, what is this for again?” John asked, as he put on his leather jacket while the two were heading out the door.

“Kerrang is doing a piece on the lead singers on the “These Friends Are… New Friends Are Golden” tour—basically, you four get to talk about yourselves.” She smiled, as she locked the door to her apartment.

“Right.”

“Are you excited?

“Honestly, it’s weird having so much hype and press even when the tour hasn’t even started.” He chuckled sheepishly, as they both headed to Molly’s car.

“It’s the it-thing to do this spring.” She teased, causing John to chuckle.

“All thanks to you.”

Molly did a overdramatic hair flip and smiled. “I try.”

The two got to the studio where the photo shoot and interview were taking place for the morning. They walked in to see

“Jonathan.” Molly greeted opening her arms to embrace him.

“Molly, good to see you… thanks for making this happen.” Jonathan smiled, looking back at the set behind him then back at her.

“Anything for some of my favorite clients.” She said, as Jonathan guided the two to hair and makeup where everyone was standing around and chatting.

“So, everyone but John knows each other—you’re the new friend on this tour. So, let’s have some introductions.” Jonathan said, gesturing John to come closer “John, this is Patrick Stump, Brendon Urie, and you know Jamison Song. And that’s Marvin, who is the photographer for the day.”

“Hi, nice to meet you guys…” John said, shaking Brendan, Marvin, and Patrick’s hand. “Hey Jamison.” He gave her a quick glance before averting his gaze.

“Hi, great to meet you. So excited to tour with you guys.” Patrick said, looking and sounding completely genuine.

“Brendon nodded in agreement with a smile. “Same.”

“So, why don’t we have you guys do some individual shots then we can do some group photos then interview?” Marvin said, looking around at the group.

Brendon gave a mock salute. “Yes sir.”

Marvin looked around at the group, “Who is my first victim?”

“Beauty before age…” Patrick said teasingly while looking at Brendon causing everyone to laugh.

“John, you just need to go to hair and makeup for now.” Marvin instructed as John shook his head, while taking off his jacket.

After hair, makeup, along with wardrobe and " it had finally been John’s turn to do his shots before the group photo shoot. It had still been somewhat awkward for John to do photo shoots especially if it wasn’t with Dirk or a friend of sorts, but he still knew how to make the situation work.

The group photo shoot for the most part went smoothly, each of the lead singers holding microphones that were wrapped around them like rope and other various poses. It was the last couple of frames when things had become a bit awkward. Patrick, Brendon, Jamison, and John stood with arms around one another standing side by side but John had felt awkward being that close to Jamison, let along touch her in any way.

Honestly, John didn’t know what to or how to feel being around Jamison again.

“John, can you just scoot in closer to Jamison?” Marvin said, motioning John to scoot in. “Let’s all look friendly…” He teased causing everyone to chuckle.

After the shoot, the four sat on a couch being interviewed about the “These Friends Are… New Friends Are Golden” tour. It had been Jamison Patrick, Brendon, and John sitting and chatting with Shelia who was conducting the interview about the infamous upcoming tour.

“So, how did the idea for the “These Friends… New Friends Are Golden” tour come about?”

“We’re actually under the same management… and everyone knows our history with Panic! then there’s Jamison who co-produced the first Panic! record as well as our record with Butch and we needed a “new friend” to go on tour with… we went through a lot of records and Pete stumbled on The Maine’s records then remembered Jamison helped them with their record. We loved what we heard and saw… so, that’s how it happened.” Patrick explained with a smile, looking over at John then Jamison.

Brendon chuckled and put his arm around Jamison’s shoulder and looked at her. “Thanks Jae.” He said, in a lighthearted manner.

“You’re welcome?” She said, not sure how she should react to his words causing a few laughs.

Shelia chuckled at the banter between everyone. “Do you guys have any surprises planned for tour?” She asked, looking at each of the lead singers.

“I actually have a few ideas, so does Pete, so hopefully it all pans out… we want there to be a lot of collaborations and comradery between the bands.” Patrick explained, “So, if we’re all down for that…” He looked over at his fellow future tour mates as they all nodded their heads in agreement.

“I’m most excited for that, I don’t know about you guys.” Brendon looked at everyone to gauge their reactions. “We all put on such different live shows. I don’t think the audience will be bored, that’s for sure.”

“We’re all so different but we’re all fans of music and I think that will shine through and that’s what matters most.” John answered, with a smile as everyone nodded in agreement.

Shelia nodded before looking at her sheet of paper filled with notes. “You guys minus Jamison have quite a discography, how are you guys all planning on making your setlists?”

“We’re going to have a nice mix of things… we’re working still on ours.” Patrick said, chuckling sheepishly.

“I think ours will be more based on the upbeat songs.” Brendon answered, excitedly.

“We’ve actually already have ours done, we’ve been rehearsing.” John said, as Patrick and Brendon looked at him completely impressed.

“I’m still tweaking mine… I might change a song out every night to keep things fresh.” Jamison said, giving a small shrug of sorts.

“Do you guys have any tour essentials?” She asked, continuing to fire her questions.

“I am not speaking for myself but I know The Black Widows will be demanding Jameson on our rider.” Jamison answered, with a chuckle.

“We always need cold cuts on our bus to make sandwiches at any given moment.” Brendon chuckled, breaking out into a smile.

“We are fueled on beer.” John joked, causing everyone to laugh.

Shelia looked at Jamison with a smirk before asking. “Jamison, you’re only girl on tour… are you nervous? Scared?”

“Just another day… there’s going to be a lot of bromances going on, that’s for sure.” She teased, with a laugh. “I think I’m more nervous to just be living on a bus instead of in the studio for 3 months… but I got good people coming on tour with me.”

“You have Jake…” Brendon said, looking over at Jamison with a smirk. “Everyone loves Jake Sinclair.”

“My hero.” Patrick joked, with a laugh.

“So easy on the eyes.” Brendon said, in a high falsetto and sighing dreamily like a teenage girl causing everyone to laugh.

“I have The Black Widows as my backing band this tour.” Jamison explained, clearing any confusion.

“It’ll never be boring on your bus.” Brendon smirked.

“It’s going to smell like whiskey and farts, that’s for sure…” Jamison said, with a laugh.

After a few more questions, the first day of press was over. John walked over to Molly who was sitting in a chair furiously typing away on her phone. She immediately looked up and gave John a smile.

“You did great.” Molly said, standing up and giving John a hug.

“Thanks.” John said, embracing her.

As Molly pulled away from their hug she looked seemed to have a smile plastered on her face from the sight that was behind John. “Jamison, you are just always so wonderful.” She said, giving Jamison an encouraging smile.

“Thank you.” Jamison smiled, grabbing her bag from her chair.

“John and I were going to go to lunch, you should join us.” Molly offered.

“I actually have lunch plans.” Jamison said, looking at her apologetically. “Rain check?” She gave her a hopeful look.

“Rain check.” She smiled giving her an assuring nod.

“I’ll see you guys.” Jamison said, as she looked at Molly and quickly glanced at John with a wave before walking out of the studio.

Jamison had tagged along with Brendon for a ride to drop her off at Blu Jam Café to meet Jake for their lunch together. Once Brendon had dropped Jamison off, she quickly ran inside to be escorted to where Jake was sitting at a table outside on the patio.

“Hey, sorry I am late.” Jamison said, giving him an apologetic smile as she took a seat across from him.

“No worries, how was your shoot?” Jake asked, taking a sip of his water.

“I’m always going to be somewhat awkward. I don’t hate the attention—I just don’t know how to approach it.” She chuckled sheepishly as she drank her water.

“Awkward charm—it’s your thing.” He teased, with a laugh causing Jamison to look at him with a clueless expression.

“Thanks… I think.” The two burst into a fit of laughter before being interrupted.

“Jamison?”

Jamison turned around upon hearing her name to see Molly and John standing in front of her.

“Hey you guys…” She said, completely speechless.

“Who knew you were coming to the same place we were?” Molly giggled, as Jamison tried her hardest to cover her shock.

Jamison let out a speechless laugh. “Who knew?”

Molly looked behind Jamison and smiled at the site of Jake. “Jake, good to see you as always.” She said, giving a wave.

“Same.” Jake said, giving a salute to the couple.

“You guys have to join us.” Molly insisted, “We won’t take no for an answer—cash in your rain check now.”

Jamison looked over at Jake knowing they couldn’t get out of the situation without raising a few questions.

“Sure…” Jake said, as he pulled out the chair beside him.

Jamison walked over and sat next to Jake while Molly and Jake took the seat across from the two. An awkward silence lulled upon them for a moment as they all began looking at the menu.

“So, did Jamison tell you about the photo shoot and interview she rocked?” Molly asked, putting down her menu and looking of at Jamison proudly.

Jake looked over at Jamison with a smirk. “She was about to…”

“Her and John looked great together in the photos—“

Just then their waitress had saved the day by coming and interrupting the conversation. “Can I take your orders?” She asked, looking at everyone sitting at the table.

“Can I have the Classic Cheeseburger with bacon and a Coke? And she’ll have the Florentine Benedict with an Arnold Palmer.“ Jake said, as he handed Jamison and his menus over to the waitress.

“Do you want salad or potatoes with your burger?”

“Salad.” Jake answered, politely.

The waitress now turned her attention to Molly and John. “Alright, and for you guys?”

“Can I get the Cobb salad and sparkling water?” Molly ordered, handing her menu over.

“And can I get the California omelette with coffee?” John asked, as their waitress quickly began jotting down their orders.

“I’ll be back with your drinks.” She smiled, before leaving the group to go back to their conversation.

“Jake orders for you?” Molly gushed, “How cute.”

“He just memorized what we both always get here—luckily for him, it’s not rocket science.” Jamison answered, with a chuckle as Jake began ruffling her hair.

“How have you guys been?” She asked, looking at the two attentively. John just kept wondering to himself when this lunch would be over.

“Good. Work and play has been the mantra I guess. We’ve been doing weekly shows at The Basement Traven as Sin & Song and during our normal day job so to speak…” Jamison explained, looking over at Jake who nodded in agreement with her words.

“Which reminds me, I loved the EP you guys did.” Molly smiled, “The artwork was awesome—loved all the concepts and matching outfits.”

The four had continued their lunch for the most part, keeping the conversation up without seeming awkward. One thing John was always grateful for was despite being an awkward person at times, he knew how to keep up a conversation even when he didn’t want to but he had felt completely out of the loop with his emotions all morning and afternoon. He didn’t know what to feel exactly being around Jamison again. The thought of 3 months of being on the road together was just something he realized he needed to mentally prepare himself for what was to come because ever since running into Jamison at Molly’s work event, it was like getting to know a stranger for him.

The bill had arrived and it had seemed to be a tug a war battle between Jamison and Molly. “No, I insist… let us pay.” Molly said, trying to grab the check out of Jamison’s hand

“It’s—“ John tried to stop Jamison from handing over her card to the waitress, but it had been too late.

“No, it’s the least we can do for you guys for letting us join.” She said, with a smile as Jake pulled out a twenty-dollar bill and left in on the table as tip.

“Thank you.” Molly said, looking at her sincerely thankful by her gesture.

“Thanks…” John mumbled sheepishly.

The four walked to the parking area, stopping in front of Jake’s motorcycle getting ready to say bye and go their separate ways.

“What are your guys plans for the rest of the day? We were planning on roaming around the city. It’d be fun if you’d join us.” Molly said, as John internally prayed the two had something else planned.

“We got to go to RubyRed and do a podcast with Pat Monahan.” Jake said, looking apologetically at her.

Molly nodded. “Rain check?”

“Sure.” Jamison said, as she turned towards Jake who was holding a helmet in his hands.

“Let’s get this on you…” Jake said, as he carefully placed the helmet on Jamison’s head and fastened the strap for her.

“We’ll see you guys.” Jamison said, giving them smile through her open-faced helmet.

Jake began putting on his helmet and started up his bike as Jamison quickly got on the back on the bike.

“You ready?” Jake asked, as Jamison nodded her head.

Jamison gave a final wave to the two before grabbing onto Jake as they drove out of the parking lot and out of sight.

“Those two together…” Molly smiled to herself, as she and John began walking towards her car.

Truth be told, it had felt a bit weird for John now being on the other side of it all. But he was moving forward with a good person by his side and that’s what he focused on—moving forward.