I'm Just a Moment, So Don't Let Me Pass You By

As Warped Tour was winding down, we started making our rounds to the other bands signings. The only signings we had to go to were We Came As Romans, A Day To Remember, and Of Mice & Men. Essence informed us that she caught up with Motionless In White and they said they would definitely be there. Then as she was leaving, she ran into David of Breathe Carolina and she invited them.
We made our rounds and invited the bands we wanted. We Came As Romans said they would totally be there and that a chill party was well needed this far in the tour. When we went to the Of Mice & Men signing Tino and Phil said that they had something to do, but Austin, Alan, and Aaron said that they would show up. The only band that we couldn’t get to come was A Day To Remember, but they promised us that it was for a good cause that they had to miss. The four of us agreed that they were probably writing new music and that that was better.

I checked my phone to see what time it was and 7:25 showed on the screen. I told them that I was going back to the All Time Low tent to get my poster from Matt and to ask Matt if he and the band wanted to go to the party. As I walked away, I heard someone running to catch up and turned to see Essence.

“I’m coming along,” she said. “So that when you realize that ATL touched the paper in your hands you don’t faint.”

I laughed at her and we walked to the tent.
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I checked my phone again and it showed 7:45. I tucked my phone away and crossed my arms over my chest, trying to fight back the tears that threatened to fall over. Essence must have noticed and started to hug me. I lost it.

“Shush, it’s going to be okay,” she cooed.

“No it’s not,” I exclaimed letting tears fall down my face. “I was stupid enough to think that a silly bag and figurine would get me a signed poster.”

I started to collapse to the ground, but Essence caught me and eased me down to the ground to cry. After 5 minutes she calmed me down with the idea of seeing more bands. I picked myself up, whipped my tears away, and we walked to one of the smaller tents to catch some small bands before the party started.

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Warped Tour was coming to an end and with all of the bands invited (aside from one major one) Kelsey, Kaylyn, Essence, and I made our way back to the bus to set the party up. We neatly packed all of our things into one of the extra bunks. Since Kelsey had to ditch her bags, we had to take a few minutes to search them to make sure no one stole anything and surprisingly nothing was.

We opened the fridge and found quite a stash of drinks of both the alcoholic and non-alcoholic nature. I asked Kaylyn how she got all this and she just shrugged and said Ryan got them.

“Remind me to thank Ryan,” I say grabbing a bottle of vodka and a six pack of coolers.

We put some bottles in a bucket of ice and left the rest in the fridge. Essence whispered in my ear that she found an old cooler at her house and convinced one of her old friends to fill that with liquor too. I looked at her and told everyone that we had enough booze to run a bar.

We unloaded the fold out chairs we brought and arranged them in a semicircle next to the bus. Essence ran into the bus to start the music which was mostly Warped Tour Compilation cds from the past 3 years and some other random mixed CDs we all brought.

As the music started playing, I noticed a group of 3 people approaching out bus. If it wasn’t for Essence constantly talking about them and practically forcing me to remember their faces I wouldn’t have recognized them without their make-up.

“ESSENCE, FIRST GUESS! TIME TO GET FUCKED,” I screamed through the open bus door.

I saw her poke her head out of the bus before practically falling out of the doorway. Luckily, one of the mystery guests caught her. She stood up and introduced herself to the group as the rest of us laughed at her clumsiness. She shot us a death glare and gained her composure.

“Guys,” Essence began. “Let me introduce you to Chris, Ricky, and Balz of Motionless In White.”

We all said our hellos and Essence showed them around the bus and pointed out where the drinks were. Then returned outside to greet the other band members that had joined. Some brought a little snack food like a bag of chips or some baked goods. Others brought more alcohol. The party was well under way and it hadn’t even been an hour since the first guests arrived.
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I had to admit, I had had a little to drink. Not much, but I was definitely feeling something fogging up my brain. And I had to admit that they were right when they gave liquor the nickname liquid confidence because I would never have had the courage to dance with Alan Ashby, but here I was. Now this wasn’t my typical dancing either. This was hands everywhere, bodies pressed together, dirty dancing and I was not a pro in that, but with the new music from David pulsing and the liquor running through my veins, I wasn’t half bad. Alan has his hands around my waist and didn’t show signs of quite letting go. I didn’t mind though.

Our dance was cut short by Essence and Kelsey grabbing my arms and excusing me away. I waved by to my dance partner and walked with them off the bus. As my feet touched the dirt, I was immediately blindfolded.

“The fuck is this?” This was starting to kill my buzz.

“We have a surprise for you,” Kelsey said, excitement running high in her voice.

They led me to the other side of the bus. The music inside was still pulsing and I could hear some voices from the front of the bus. Those members who didn’t want to be stuck in a bus or wanted to be less surrounded by the alcohol.

They stopped me and instructed that I hold out my hands. I did as instructed and felt a long glossy tube of paper placed in my hands. My friends instructed me to unroll what was placed in my hands. I already knew it was a poster and assumed I was guided to the other side of the bus incase I screamed. I did as instructed and unrolled my poster with high expectations. My friends checked to make sure it was the right way and undid my blindfold. I screamed.

“HOW DID YOU GET THIS,” I exclaimed not taking my eyes off my newly signed All Time Low poster.

“I ran into their tour manager guy when I went to the bathroom,” Kelsey explained. “He gave me this and said he was running late to give it to you.”

I hugged my friends and noticed Essence was starting to laugh at something. Kelsey soon started too and she gently took my poster away from me as Essence spun me around to greet some new arrivals. My knees went weak and I started to cry. All Time Low was standing right infront of me.
I hid my face as the tears came and had to be held up by both Kelsey and Essence since I was dead weight. I heard someone walk next to me and helped me get to my feet. I looked over to see Rian and I started to cry even more, but I was able to stay on my feet.

“I’m so sorry,” I said to the band after I regained some composure. I wiped the tears from my face and stood on my own.

“I’m just really excited to finally meet you guys.” I laughed nervously hoping I didn’t freak them out too much.

“Well after what Vinny said about a certain blonde fan, we had to at least go to your party.” Alex laughed. “We wouldn’t have know about it if your friend there hadn’t told Flyzik,” he said pointing to Essence. I whipped around to face her and punched her in the arm.

“I know what you were trying to do, but you nearly gave me a goddamn heart attack!” She rubs her arm as I turn back to our guest.

“Well now that that’s over, who wants a drink?” I usher them to the door of the bus and show them around. I noticed other band members waving to them and start to think that this might actually be the best day of my life.

As I’m coming back from my bunk to place my poster away, I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turn and see Flyzik with a bit of a grin on his face. I notice the beer in his has and assume this isn’t his first.

“Sorry I didn’t show up,” he half slurs out. He is definitely buzzed and probably one more drink from full on drunk.

“It’s fine Matt. Thank you for getting me that poster.” I give him a hug and he hugs me back. I excused myself to go outside to get some fresh air. I stop in the front lounge to tell Kaylyn that I hugged Flyzik. She gives me a thumbs up and goes on a hunt for Alex. I stop and notice Kelsey half laying on one of the couches and smitten to see she’s making out with some band member. He kinda looked like Justin from Sleeping With Sirens, but I couldn’t tell. I grabbed a Smirnoff mixed drink and made my way out the door.

I was always attracted to being outside during the summer nights. Even an hour from home, surrounded by people who inspired me, that didn't change. I sat down between Vic and Aaron, trying to pick up on the inside joke they had started at some point in the night.

Two more drinks and a few seat changes later, I was enjoying some down time by myself when I heard someone pull a seat closer to mine. I looked over to see Jack. My mind had a bit of a hard time registering that Jack goddamn Barakat was sitting next to me. The one band member who ever single one of my friends knew I'd fallen head over heals for was sitting directly next to me. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't freaking out even the slightest inside. Luckily I have the liquor on my side. I saw Jack had a matching cup to mine, but the liquid in his was much darker. It probably contained whiskey whereas mine was mostly vodka.

“Hi,” he starts. His makes his words sound confident.

“Hi,” is all I can muster back. I silently pray that my face isn’t as red as I think it is.

“So.” He sounds more nervous than before.

“So,” I mimick back. I stare down at my cup and take a drink.

“What’s your poison?”

“Uh… it’s vodka and fruit punch. You?”

“Not sure,” he chuckled nervously. “Alex just handed it to me.”

This small talk went on for a little bit until someone suggested a game of “Never Have I Ever”. I’m not quite sure who, mostly because at that point I had finished my drink and I felt my confidence come back. We each held up our ten fingers and started. I had a bit of an unfair advantage since I was a fan and he didn’t even know my name.

“You start,” I tell him.

“Okay. Uh… never have I ever… wow this is hard. Never have I ever dated a fan.”

I looked at him like he was crazy. He just shrugged and said it was hard to think of things.

“Fine. Never have I ever been on a TV show.”

He stared at me and slowly started to realize I had the upper hand. He up a finger down and put his game face on. The game continued for a little bit to the point where we each had one finger left and it was his turn.

"Never have I ever….. fuck it you’re going to win this. Never have I ever not been kissed." With
defeat, I lowered my last finger. His jaw dropped and his eyes almost bugged out of his head.

“You don’t have to let me win.”

“I’m not,” I said simply, taking a sip of my drink.

“I’m calling bullshit! There is no way a hot girl like you has never been kissed!”

“No one has ever found me attractive enough to kiss me. I’ve also never had a boyfriend.”

“How?!”

I just shrugged and took another sip of my drink.

“I never liked to think about that topic, why I don’t have a boyfriend,” I started. “It was just easier for me to think that I liked to be alone, so I never went looking.”

“Are you, like, asexual or something?”

“No and I’m not gay either.” I stare down at my drink, suddenly unable to look at him.

Just as he was about to speak, a mob of people flooded out of the bus. All of them chanting ‘Light It Up’. They all gathered in a circle a few feet from the bus and started lighting off fireworks. Jack and I went to spectate. I wasn’t one to stare at fireworks, but something about the night made it feel magical. I felt someone grab my hand and looked over in time for Jack to grab my face and kiss me. Fireworks were going off around us and in my mind. I felt like I was on Cloud 9. I could hear cheers coming from people and could feel them staring at me. Jack pulled away first and I could feel a blush creeping up my face.

“Looks like you should put your finger back up…. uh, sorry I forgot your name.” His smile was small, almost like a young boy asking someone out.

“Kelsie,” I said putting a finger back up. “My name is Kelsie.”