Failure by Design

“FUCK.” I yelled in frustration, throwing my possessions around my previously clean room. I had sorted through everything and finally resorted to throwing things wildly until it turned up. I stopped and began to look around the room, desperately trying to locate the little blue wallet.

“WHY ARE YOU SCREAMING PROFANITIES THROUGHOUT THE HOUSE?” Hadley yelled back, scurrying to my doorway. “What is it? What’s wrong?” She watched me grip the sides of my head in frustration as I looked around the destroyed room.

“My wallet is gone. That thing had fucking everything in it.” I sat down on my bed. exasperated. I had my credit card, and there wasn’t any cash in it, but my license, my school ID, my worry stone, and my guitar pics from all the shows I’ve been to were still in the little blue wallet. I mean there wasn’t anything really worth any value, so maybe someone would send it back?

Who am I kidding? That’s hopeless.

We searched the rest of the house for the next hour to no avail. It wasn’t in the car, or in the house, and the only place I’d been since I had it was at the concert.

//John//

We walked slowly back to the old van. Sweat dripped from my brow and fatigue plagued my body. I hurried to the passenger side and hopped into the front seat, groaning as the pain of performing hit me again. My gaze dropped to my feet and I noticed a strange blue object in the floor. I leaned over slowly, letting out a small groan of pain, and picked it up. I looked in the front window of the wallet and saw the brunette girl from the other night staring back at me. Shit. I flipped the wallet open, looking for an address or her license. She had put her school ID in the front sleeve, seemingly because it was a much better picture than the one on her actual license. The picture on the license smiled sweetly up at me as I looked for the address to send the wallet.

But then again, we have some time off. Why don’t we actually enjoy our off time? Is that crazy? Probably. But I mean, I'm due for some crazy. Might as well make some impulse decisions and chase this girl across the country.

So it was decided, or at least for me it was, that we were gonna drive the wallet to her. It would be an adventure. We were about to kick off the 8123 Tour and we were to be sharing a van with A Rocket To The Moon while we played a few small shows before the tour, so we'd pick them up in Texas where they just played a show, and then we'll head to Alabama to take it back.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and sent Nick Santino a text message, clearing my crazy idea with him before even clearing it with the band.

Nick: Always down for a little adventure, man! Must be some special girl for you to go through all this. I rolled my eyes at his response and shoved my phone and her wallet into my pocket.

*****

I woke up the next morning bright and early. The sun was just starting to shine through the maroon drapes over the windows. The guys were all sleeping soundly in their beds, quiet and peaceful. Pat’s covers were thrown halfway off the bed, along with his right leg. A buzz of snoring filled the small room.

I walked past the sleeping Pat and into the white bathroom. I felt along the wall for a light switch and flicked it on. The light reflected off the stark white tile and straight into my eyes. This early in the morning it felt like I was looking directly into the sun. I turned on the faucet and splashed cold water on my face. The chill it brought woke me up immediately, sending shivers down my spine. I continued going through my morning routine, brushing my teeth and whatnot, then walked out of the bathroom to wake the guys up.

“FREE FOOD.” I yelled through the room, causing four heads to pop up immediately.

“Food?” Jared questioned sleepily. I nodded slowly and then went to make sure everyone else was up.

They dressed quickly, throwing all their dirty clothes into a bag. After all clothes were deposited in the van, we ran to the lobby to eat. There was no conversation among us as we stuffed our faces. Though, there were some muffled grunts and coughs. I finished quickly and continued to the van, leaving the boys in the lobby of the hotel. The boys followed soon after, trudging along, food in hand. I revved the engine and started to back away from the hotel, causing the boys to quicken their pace and jump into the van.

Pat sat beside me quietly for most of the drive. He looked over at me, held his finger up, shook his head and looked out the window. He seemed to regain his confidence as he asked, “John, what’s with your random need to go to Texas and then Alabama? Its really strange.”

“Just-just don’t question it, man. I thought, ‘Hey, we’ve got a week off so lets make it fun. We’ll get the Rocket guys and go have fun in Alabama. The deep south and all...” I answered as vaguely as I could, trying not to share my actual need to go to Alabama.

*****

I slowed to a halt as we reached the parking lot of the Holiday Inn where we were meeting A Rocket To The Moon. The boys took off running to the Rocket guys as soon as the van was in park, excited to see the familiar faces. I got out slowly behind them, sauntering my way to the group of guys.

“Hey!” Halvo shouted from across the parking lot. “Why don’t ya’ll throw your equipment in our van and we’ll all ride in this here beauty?” He pointed to our van before being tackled to the ground by an over excited Pat.

I laughed as I turned to unload the equipment from our van. Everyone grabbed some equipment and Tetris-ed it into Rocket’s van that Pat’s brother, Tim, was going to take to our next destination.

Both bands filed into our ten passenger van, fitting in with one extra seat. Halvo sat in the front seat beside me, replacing the hyperactive Pat.

“Yo, Halvo,” I looked over at him as I pulled onto the main road, “I assume Nick filled you in on everything?” He nodded, “Good. So, I thought it was interesting because I was going through the wallet an-”

“Whoa whoa whoa, dude. You went through the girl’s wallet?” He asked, judging me pretty harshly.

“I had to find the address!” I defended. He took the wallet from my hand and flipped it open.

“There, I found the address.” He eyed me, “You were snooping. Aw, Johnny’s got a cwush!” Halvo cooed.

“Shut up.” I said, punching him in the arm. “Anyway! Before you so rudely interrupted me, I found a bunch of signature guitar pics in the pocket.”

“And?”

“And one’s yours, doofus.”

“So mystery chick likes us too? Big whoop. Why’re you so excited about that?”

“I guess, like, ugh,” I ran my hands through my hair, “I thought you might remember her and it’d be less weird?” I said, staring at the black road whipping past me.

“Describe her to me, I’ll see what I remember.” He stared at the window as I started to describe them, hoping that he might remember these girls from some show.

After a too long description of the girl, I added, “And she had a friend with her, some blonde bitchy girl.”

“Whoa wait I think I remember them.” Halo stopped me, turning to face me in his seat. “Hot blonde, real sweet smile, bright blue eyes?”

“I mean physically yeah, but she was yelling at Dylan, so I wouldn’t say ‘sweet.’” I answered, scratching the side of my face.

He put his hands up in mock surprise, “Whoa now, we’re on first name basis here?”

"It's all over her wallet, dude. But also we met, so yeah, I know her name." I spat back, nott wanting to deal with his judgement. "I can't remember the other one's name, though. It started with an H, I think. Hannah? Harrison? H-"

"Hadley." Halvo mumbled. I looked at him quizzically. His eyes widened, "Oh, shit."

"So you do remember her!" I said a little to loudly, causing the guys in the back to stir.

“Is this about the brunette?” Jared asked at the same time Andrew said, “Is this about Halvo’s crush?”

All heads turned to the front where Halvo and I sat. “What the hell are ya’ll talking about?” Justin questioned.

Kennedy piped up, “John fell for a fan. She was chasing the van and he pulled over-”

“Per ya’lls request I might add.” I butted in.

“Yeah, yeah. And we gave her a ride back to the venue.” he finished.

I glared at him in the review mirror, “ I did not fall for her.”

“He’s lying.” Jared whispered, a grin spreading across his face.

I took a deep breath, “Fine, ya’ll believe what you want to.” I said trying to convince them and myself of my lie.

“Guys!” Pat interrupted, “Just let them be. They’ll come to terms eventually.” He smiled devilishly at me in the rearview mirror. I reached back to smack him in the arm and Halvo shot him a glare.

“Chill,” he said, holding his hands up in surrender.