It's a Start

Apart from mentally fighting with myself last night, I woke up feeling fantastic. I was ready for a day of walking.

I’d been completely wrong about the time I’d be waking up. It was ten thirty when my eyes opened and I fell out of bed, feeling the forming bruise on my knee while running around the house and getting dressed. I had to take a shower too!

My hair was brushed and dry ten minutes after my shower and I knew I’d regret keeping it down, but what the hell. I pulled on my shorts and sneakers last, falling back on the bed while dragging the fabric up my legs. Makeup wasn’t my biggest fan today, so I gave up on it after one stroke of mascara on both eyes. My nails were fresh and smooth from painting them quickly last night and I pulled on a few rings, admiring them in the light from the window.

I was really late this morning.

When are you going to be here? John texted, ignoring the fact that I’d tried to Facetime him last night.

I shook my head while standing at the end of my bed, breathing heavily. Leaving right now. Couldn’t find my ticket this morning.

It was already eleven thirty! I’d actually sprinted around the house, searching for my ticket when it was on my kitchen counter the whole time. Was I always like this?

I gathered my things and shoved everything I was taking into my bag. My sunglasses covered my eyes before I started my car and pulled out of my driveway. I groaned inwardly, noticing that I had to get gas. This morning was just not for me. My feet tapped impatiently while the worker behind the counter handed me over my credit card and I thanked him before walking fast out the door and toward my car.

The drive was silent, just the wind hitting against my car. My thoughts were scattered all over the place. Fifteen minutes later they came to a close when I arrived at the park that was holding the festival. Excitement bubbled, mixing with nervousness while I slowly got out of my car and saw some other people leaving the parking lot as well. I grabbed my bag, bringing it over my head and locking my car. My keys found a spot to rest inside my bag and I began following the crowd, watching their excited faces as some of them ran.

There were tents everywhere. I could also see stages set up and a giant sign that had all the bands on it under which stage they’d be playing on. My eyes scanned it as others did and I spotted the name I was looking for, turning around and heading in that direction. They weren’t going on any time soon, but they could be hanging around there.

People were in the same attire as I was and a breath of relief escaped my lungs. I’d never been here before so I didn’t know what to expect. There were a lot of people wearing shirts with band names on them, but most of them were black or dark colored. They must’ve been dying in the heat. The back of my neck was a little damp, but not too bad.

Large groups of people were passing me each minute, eagerness on each of their faces. I couldn’t help but smile because they were so excited to see their favorite bands in a few hours. I think the whole idea of this tour was great. It was another way of meeting others and joining friends together.

My feet stopped by the side of one of the many tents and I was stumped for a second before seeing a familiar face.

“Eric!” I called, running over and stopping him.

“Hey! I didn’t know you were coming.” He smiled down at me, wearing glasses over his eyes as well.

“John invited me. You don’t happen to know where I could find him, do you?”

While we were talking people were shouting for him around us, but they were calling him “Halvo”. He nodded down at me and motioned with his hand. I held onto my bag, stopping every so second with him so he could sign something for a fan.

“How come they call you ‘Halvo’?”

“My last name,” he said nonchalantly. “Halvorsen, but Halvo for short. It became more popular when I was in the band I was in.”

“Is everyone in a band?” I asked jokingly as we started walking again.

He laughed a little and glanced at me. “Pretty much. We’ve been obsessed with music since we were in high school.”

That’s pretty cool. Now I understood a little more why John loved music so much. He’d been in the industry for a while – longer than I knew of.

He led me to another tent and I greeted Tim and Becca, cooing at the dog lying at Becca’s feet as she sat in the folding chair. “What’s their name?” I wondered, bending down to pet the dog.

“Ruby,” Becca laughed. My neck snapped up to Eric with a grin and he nodded.

“So this is the famous Ruby.” I smiled as I stroked her head softly and watched her close her eyes. “She’s adorable. I can see why you fell in love.” I told Eric while I stood. He grinned proudly and sat down at my feet to pet Ruby like I was.

“John!” I looked up at Tim as he called out and turned around to see John a few feet away from the tent with his phone in his hands. I noticed his attire, impressed with his uncovered head. He still needed a haircut. He was wearing a tank top with the sides open and blue jeans, bottoms rolled up like he always did with them. Lastly, he was wearing plain black Converse.

He started walking toward me with a big smile and I met him halfway, feeling his arms go around my waist while I hugged him around the shoulders. “I was actually just about to call you.”

My stomach flipped and we pulled away, dropping our arms to our sides. “You still need a haircut, but you look good.”

“I definitely missed your humor the most,” he laughed, putting his arm around my shoulders and talking to Tim.

He missed me? Don’t freak out now.

“Come on,” John moved his arm around me. “I’ll show you around.”

I gave the three under the tent a wave and walked with John. He asked me if I found my way okay and showed me where everything was while he was asking me questions. Some fans stopped him for autographs and pictures and I smiled while watching him talk to a few of them for a couple minutes.

“Sorry about that.” He turned back to me and we started walking again.

“Nothing to be sorry about,” I shrugged with a smile up at him. He looked down at me with a knowing look and wrapped his arm around my shoulders again.

“You’re too nice to me.”

I laughed a little and kept my arms crossed even though I wanted to wrap my arm around his waist and be a little closer to him. Good thing I didn’t because the girls that were walking passed us made me blush immensely.

“John, is she your girlfriend?” One of them asked. Is that really polite to ask?

I was panicking, but he was completely cool about it. His arm slipped away from me and he turned to them since some were asking for a picture. “No. She’s just a friend from home.”

We started with our tour again – only this time he put his hands in his pockets. I heard him mutter something under his breath and I looked up at him curiously. “What?”

He looked at me innocently, wondering if I actually heard what he said. “Don’t go on Tumblr any time soon.”

Luckily for him I had no idea what Tumblr even was.

We ended up running into the other guys in the band and I greeted all of them with smiles, hoping they’d like me just as much. When John told me who Garrett was, I put my hands on my hips. “So, you’re Garrett.”

He looked at me oddly then at John. John chuckled and pointed at me. “You should see the amount of records this girl has.” I grinned proudly, thanking myself for buying all those records in the first place. By the looks of their impressed faces, they seemed to like me so far. I waved to them as John said he wanted me to see their tour bus and we walked off toward the fenced off RV lot.

A smile played on my lips during the time that he was showing me around the space of their moving home. Their “home away from home” as John said. It was pretty cozy, even the bunks looked warm, but John said they were uncomfortable to sleep in.

“I like your bag by the way.” He said behind me as we were walking down the short hall from the back lounge – as they called it.

I faced him when we were in the main area. “Oh really? Do you want to borrow it?”

“Oh my gosh, yes.” He took it off my shoulder, placing it on his and I laughed loudly. He let me take my phone out and snap a picture, which only made me laugh more. He closed his eyes, puckered his lips with one finger against them and posed like a model. I took it without shaking my phone and he chuckled while looking over my shoulder at it.

We were now sat on the couch, talking to each other for the time remaining until they had to go on stage. My legs were crossed and he was showing me something on his phone that caused us to move close to one another.

After showing me, he put his phone in his pocket. It was just the two of us on the giant bus and we could slightly hear the other bands playing in the distance. I was getting excited for their performance.

John picked his arm up and pulled me into his chest. I could feel him slightly playing with the strands of my hair and that only made my cheeks burn.

“I’m glad you’re here.”

Were there drums right next to me or was that my heartbeat?