Getting Surreal

“God, it feels so good to be back,” Becks exclaimed, throwing her head back and basking in her own glory for a moment. It had been four days of misery being essentially confined to the bus and not allowed in the venues for anything but quick trips to the infirmary for check-ups with the tour doctor.

“Shit,” Frank said, chuckling, picking at the crust of his cheese sandwich, “who knew somebody could be so passionate about tuning guitars and tech work.”

“Bagged yourself a good one,” Ray said, nodding his head approvingly and took a large bite of his sub.

“Oh, shut up,” Becks said, trying and failing to give them both faux dirty looks from behind her own sandwich. She was too happy to even pretend she was upset. Her body wasn’t sore anymore (except for a constant, manageable, headache), she was allowed to get back to work, she wasn’t confined to the bus, and she was really loving her food today.

“What did you even get on that thing?” Frank asked her, eyeing her sub skeptically.

“Mmm?” Becks mumbled through her mouthful and looked down at the sandwich in her hands then back up at Frank. “Errythin’” she munched happily.

“Man, I can’t believe the tour’s almost over!” Bob said as he sat down next to Frank.

“What?” Becks sputtered loudly around the bite she was just taking. The guys all looked at her with amused looks on their faces, but she didn’t really care about that. “Shit,” she said, much more quietly, frowning and putting her sandwich down.

It was hard enough to keep tabs on time and days of the week when you were constantly moving to a new city every day, and what with her concussion and being trapped on the bus for the last few, she had really lost track of it all.

“Yeah, dude,” Ray said, nodding thoughtfully to Bob. “What do we have, two more stops?”

“Yeah, I think so….Yo, Brian!” Frank called out, waving their manager over from where he was grabbing his lunch.

Brian just nodded his head in acknowledgement as he grabbed a water bottle before shuffling over to the group. “’Sup?” He asked, easing into the seat across from Becks.

“How many more shows this tour?” Ray asked him.

“Uh, two,” Brian answered, mixing around the dressing on his salad. “We’ve got, uh…” he took a bite, thinking, “Columbus tonight and Boston tomorrow.”

“It’s crazy how fast it goes by,” Bob muttered, and everyone else nodded in agreement.

“And we’re taking a bus back home from there?” Frank asked around his mouthful.

“Yeah,” Brian nodded, “we’ve got the tour busses for that, for the band, at least.” He looked at Becks, “crew’s taking different transportation, depending on where they live,” he explained to her and she nodded in a vague sort of understanding, “and then a little more than three weeks of break…then Warped starts. For that one, you’re all going to have to find your own transportation to the convention hall in New York.”

“Right,” Frank said. “So, what’re you guys doing on break?” He asked looking around the table. Becks just sat and ate quietly, listening to how Bob was saying he was going to go back home to Chicago then probably stay with Ray for the last week and how Ray was just planning on some quiet time and hoping to work on some side project. Frank was going on about how he didn’t have much planned and was probably just going to wing it, when a thought struck Becks hard and she froze.

I don’t have anywhere to live anymore.

It hit her like a ton of bricks and she suddenly lost her appetite, dropping her sandwich on her plate. A few thoughts were hitting her at once.

How did I not think about this? What am I going to do now? Maybe a hotel…no, I don’t have enough money for that long.

“Shit.” she muttered it under her breath, but Frank heard her.

“You good?” He asked warily but she didn’t respond, clearly having not heard him, too lost in her thoughts. “Becks,” he put his hand over top of hers gently and she stiffened, looking up at him. “You good?”

“Uh…oh,” she shook her head as if trying to clear it of her anxious thoughts. “I, uh,” she blinked and glanced down at their hands for a second before meeting his gaze again. “Yeah,” she cleared her throat and looked around, noticing the other guys were gone. “Wh-where’d everyone else go?” Frank chuckled and pulled his hand back from hers.

“They left a minute ago. You were pretty lost in that head of yours,” he squinted an eye shut and pointed at her forehead. She let out a nervous sort of laugh and Frank leaned forward in his seat, bracing his elbows on the table. “What’s up? You look a little lost.”

“It’s, uh….” She wasn’t sure if she should tell him or not. Not to mention that she was suddenly flushing in embarrassment for never considering finding a place to stay. “I…” fortunately for her, though, at that moment, Gerard’s voice cut across the room, distracting Frank. Saved by the bell, she thought wryly.

“Dude, Frank,” he jogged up to the table the pair were sat at, panting slightly.

“Hey-o.” Frank acknowledged coolly, looking up at his friend.

Gerard shook his head and pointed his thumb over his shoulder. “Ping-pong tournament. Now.” Frank stood immediately, his eyes wide. Becks was slightly taken aback at how serious the two guys seemed about ping pong.

“Where?” She swore, she’d never heard Frank’s voice so serious.

“Saosin’s dressing room. Come on.” And like that, Gerard was leaving as quickly as he’d arrived, Becks watching, amused, confused, and still a little stressed out, as Frank chased him, right on his heels. Just as he reached the door, the guitar player whipped around, realizing that his tech wasn’t with him, and he raced back to the table, grabbing her and pulling her, hand in hand, out of the lunch room and down the maze of halls to where Saosin’s dressing room was.

When they arrived, they found the room to be packed out with various band members and crew, all cheering, some drinking, and all watching intently as Barry, Ray’s guitar tech went up against Rosanna, the tour manager for Saosin. Frank slipped into the room quickly and pressed himself against the wall next to Gerard, chatting into his ear.

Becks looked around the room quickly for a spot to hang, hopefully next to a familiar face. Her face lit up when her eyes landed on Mikey, smushed into the corner of a couch that was clearly meant for four people, maximum, but had five dudes all squeezed on it. She pushed her way through the crowd and made her way across the room to where he was sat and perched herself on the arm of the couch next to him, snatching the beer he was holding out of his hands and taking a long sip.

“Hey!” He cried in dismay, turning to look at the drink thief, his protests dying on his lips when he saw Becks smiling down at him. “Oh,” he said, somewhat dopily (he was happy to see her, just wasn’t expecting her), returning her smile with a tiny uptwitch of his own lips. “Hey.”

“Hi,” she said, the teasing clear in her voice before she took another, quick sip before handing him back his beer. “How’s it going?”

“Uh, good,” he said, nodding, taking a sip himself. He gestured in front of him saying, “ping pong,” as though that should explain everything.

“I see that,” Becks said with a laugh, still not quite getting it but turning her head to watch as Rosanna won the point and the room burst into screams of cheers. “Who’s winning?” She asked, leaning down towards Mikey so he could hear her.

“Rosanna,” he said, watching the match himself but tilting his face towards hers a little so she could hear him over the cheering. “Uh,” he watched her miss a shot, “I think…I….” His sentence falling short when he turned his face a little bit more, his eyes moving with the turn of his head this time, and he realized with a small start how close they were. His nose was just shy of brushing her cheek, and he felt his breath catch a little, but when she turned her face to look at his, nothing but a happy sort of look on her face and seemingly oblivious to their proximity, he quickly caught back up his guard. “H-hard to say,” he tagged on lamely, turning his face away from her slightly, sipping on his beer and hearing her hum in response.

“Are you gonna play?” Becks asked into his ear again, wincing in her investment when Barry missed his shot, earning an uproar in the room. She liked Rosanna well enough and thought it was cool that a chick was doing well against the dudes, but Barry was Barry, and she had to support the MCR camp with all her heart.

“Actually, uh,” Mikey started to speak as Barry missed another shot, apparently then losing the match, the room going wild.
“Mikey Way!” Someone from across the room screamed, and suddenly, people were pulling and shoving the scrawny bass player off the couch as the whole room erupted in chants of “Mi-key! Mi-key! Mi-key!”

As he was finally out of his seat and being pulled towards the pink-pong table, he glanced back at Becks with a sheepish look on his face, handing her his beer. She just laughed and called after him, “I’ll save your seat!” before sliding off the arm, effectively tucking herself into the small space next to Cove, the singer of Saosin, and sipped on the beer, watching as Mikey threw his arms in the air to pump up the crowd. She smiled happily, loving to see him like this.

---

Becks watched as Mikey battled against Vince, the tech for Atreyu’s drummer, over the next fifteen minutes, chatting occasionally with Cove about how the match was going and who they would put their money on for overall victory when Mikey served the last shot and won the round with an ace. Becks almost launched out of her seat cheering for him, smiling like a fool as he passed his paddle off to Bert McCracken, the singer for The Used, and made his way towards her, earning hair ruffles and slaps on the back the whole way across the room.

“You killed it!” She shouted, standing up to give him a hug. He laughed happily into the embrace, wrapping one arm around her waist as he spun them around, dropping into the seat she’d opened for him and pulling her down with him so that she fell into his lap with a startled giggle.

Once she stopped giggling and calmed down a little, she let out a shy sounding, “want me to, uh,” she nodded towards the arm of the couch, offering that she didn’t have to squish him in his seat and she could move, but he just shook his head and tightened his grip around her waist a little more, holding her still. “Okay,” she said quietly, letting out something in between a giggle and a hum and nestling in a little, throwing her legs over the side of the couch and laying her head in the crook of his neck, passing off his beer to him and watching the new face off at the ping-pong table.

“How’s your head doing today?” Mikey asked her after he tipped his head back and finished off the drink.

“It’s good,” she said, nodding into his neck, “better.”

“Good,” he responded, angling his head to look at her a little, giving her a small look that she couldn’t quite read.

“What’s that look for?” She giggled and reached up to poke his cheek, earning a tiny grin and a shake of his head.

“Nothing,” he said, looking back to the match. “Good to have you better, is all.” He gave her a small squeeze as if to further prove his point and Becks smiled, nuzzling into his neck a little more.

Feeling more content than she could ever remember, Becks let her eyes wander around the room, taking in all the faces of the people she’d been touring with. Some of whom she knew would be life-long friends of hers and some that she would always think back on fondly, even if they fell out of touch. All of the guys from My Chem, all the techs she worked with and exchanged tips with every night, musicians and roadies, all together and enjoying a (Becks had to admit, even though she still didn’t quite get it) very exciting tournament of ping pong.

As her eyes wandered to the far wall, she met gazes with Frank who was watching her with an expression she couldn’t decipher and raised his eyebrows in a suggestive manner when their eyes locked. Becks shook her head a little and scrunched her face up as if to say ‘what?’ to him. She just saw him chuckle and shake his head. Rolling her eyes, Becks focused her attention back on the match just in time to see Bert attempt a jump-smash on the ball and hit it way too hard, losing him the round, the room going crazy.

---

About a half hour later, and the ping-pong crowd was dispersing, tour duties inevitably taking people away from the room one by one, Becks one of those called away by their job.

She was just lining up everything in order to make Frank’s life a little easier for the show when the guitar player in question swung around the corner towards her.

“Hello there, tech of mine,” he greeted, throwing an arm over her shoulders in a quick sort of side hug before settling himself on top of a nearby amp, tucking his legs under himself.

“Hello there, boss of mine,” she retorted, sitting down on the ground and looking up at him. “What’s up?”

“Nothing, really,” he said, looking around the backstage area where techs were and roadies were all doing their jobs. “Just bored. You?” Becks chuckled.

“Just finishing up.”

“Cool,” he nodded, swinging his gaze back around to the girl sat on the floor a few feet in front of him, looking around the room herself and idly picking at a loose thread on her jeans, a somewhat nervous look on her face. “Hey,” he called, grabbing her attention. She raised an eyebrow at him in prompt for him to continue. “You, uh…you all good? You’ve seemed a little, uh…edgy ever since lunch?”

Becks sighed and took in Frank’s slightly concerned expression. “Yeah…I just….” She trailed off, not knowing how to explain her problem.

“Hey,” Frank slid off the amp and sat himself down in front of her. “You can tell me whatever, you know?” Becks rolled her eyes and gave him a smirk.

“Cheesy, much?” She joked lightly.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” it was Frank’s turn to roll his eyes and he gave her a light smack to the arm. “Seriously, though.” Looking at his hopeful expression, Becks’ joking smile turned to a small frown and she huffed out another sigh.

“I know, Frank,” she muttered. “It just, uh…I’ve got a little problem….”

“Can I help?”

“Uh, well…I don’t…” she let out a nervous chuckle, “my lease ran up second week of this tour and, uh…I don’t have anywhere to live when we’re on break.” The words tumbled out of her mouth and she stared down at her lap, her face contorted in a wince of embarrassment as Frank stared openly at her, taking it all in.

“Well…dude,” he finally said, and the almost obvious, ‘no duh’ sort of tone he said it in had Becks’ gaze shooting up to his in confusion. “You should stay with me!”

Becks tilted her head, confused and incredulous. “What?”
“No, really! How cool would that be?” Frank leaned forward, his hazel eyes shining with excitement.

“Frank, I don’t know…I don’t wanna be in the way….”

“I’ve got nothing planned for break and I’ve got a spare room, seriously. And…I could use the company.” He looked so hopeful, and Becks almost couldn’t take it.

“Ar-are you sure?” She asked quietly, and he shot her a big smile and head nod before his expression mellowed a little.

“Look, I love hanging with you and really, I think it’d make things easier. Besides,” he gave her a sheepish shrug, “I kinda owe you.”

“What do you mean? You don’t-“

“No, I do,” he reached out and placed a hand on her knee. “I’m kinda the reason you’re in this mess. The least I could do is give you a place to live.” He stared her down, watching her brain work a million miles an hour behind her bright eyes. “Please?”

Becks stared back at him for a minute, still unsure, before finally giving in.

“Yeah. Okay,” she said with a big smile.