Getting Surreal

“Fuck, that was awesome!” Bob shouted as he, Becks, and Frank filed through the exit of the rollercoaster they’d just ridden.

“Dude, yeah!” Becks agreed, turning to high five him. “Definitely my favorite so far.”

“Yeah,” Frank piped up, nodding slowly. His hangover was just starting to abate, after two energy drinks and the greasiest vegetarian breakfast the park had to offer, courtesy of Becks. “That one was good.”

“How ya feeling, sunshine?” Becks asked him, throwing an arm over his shoulders as they finished making it through the exit. Frank scowled at her a little and shrugged her arm off of him. Before Becks had a chance to worry that he was upset, though, he reversed the action and threw his arm over her shoulders, pulling her tight for a second.

“Much better,” he whispered into her ear, causing her to giggle.

“Good,” she said when he loosened his grip a tiny bit, a big smile on her face. She was out with her friends, they were all happy, and the park was great so far. “What next, Bob?” She asked, twisting in Frank’s grip a little to glance at the drummer.

“Uh,” he squinted and looked around, trying to decide. Finally, he stopped and pointed at the crest of a rollercoaster way off at the other end of the park. “That one.” Beck and Frank looked up and followed where he was pointing, the both of them nodding.

“You got it, chief.” Frank said, heading off towards their next ride.

It took them about ten minutes to finally make their way to the rollercoaster through the maze of paths that was the amusement park, Becks making them stop along the way because she wanted to get some cotton candy, saying, “it’s what you do at these places, right?”, and by the time they got there, there was a fairly considerable line for them to wait through.

“How we doing on time?” Frank asked as they took their places in line, looking at Bob.

“It’s…” he leaned against the railing of the queue and looked at his watch. “almost four, so we’ve got probably this ride and maybe one more before we have to be back.”

“Sounds good,” Frank replied, reaching over to steal some blue fluff from Becks, earning a joking whine of dismay from the tech. “This tastes like shit,” he told her when he’d swallowed his mouthful.

“You taste like shit,” she retorted, hopping up to sit on the railing and sticking her tongue out at him. Bob laughed a little and she looked at him. “What?”

“Your tongue’s all blue,” he said, stealing some candy from her.

“Really?” She asked, sticking out her tongue and going cross-eyed trying to see, getting laughs from both of the guys, now.

“Totally is.” Frank said, reaching up to take some more from her.

“Cool,” Becks said, giving up on both trying to see her own tongue and fighting the guys off from her candy, openly passing it off, now. As they fell into a small silence, she looked around, people watching everybody in line, some people definitely here for Warped, some definitely not. As her eyes bounced around the crowd, she saw a couple of people a few rows up looking really excited and reaching in their bag for a camera. “Hey, guys,” she said, getting Bob and Frank’s attention. “I think those people recognize you.” She nodded her head towards them and the guys followed her gaze, just in time to see the camera go up, both of them making faces for the picture.

When the photo was taken, Frank smiled and waved at the couple, who excitedly waved back and then fell into a giddy-looking conversation with each other, looking back at them from time to time.

“Man, that’s so weird,” Frank said.

“What?” Becks asked, hopping down off the railing to mill forward with the rest of the line.

“Being recognized like that and shit.” Bob nodded in agreeance to the statement.

“Well, I mean…you do kinda have a look about you that screams you’re in a punk-rock band,” Becks said, looking at Frank a little sideways. Between his black and blonde hair, the peircings and tattoos, he did stand out a little bit. “But yeah. Think you’ll ever get used to it?”

“I dunno,” Frank pondered, shrugging. “It’s just so bizarre.”

Becks let out a low hum to agree.

---

“Honeys, we’re hooome!” Frank shouted as he and Becks skipped, arm in arm, together towards the MCR bus where they could see the Ray, Gerard, and a few techs hanging out.

“Well how do you do?” Gerard asked in a drawl when they finally reached the group.

“Oh, you know…” Frank started.

“Awesome!” Becks exclaimed, smiling wide at the singer and earning a chuckle.

“Rides were good, then?” Ray asked from his spot of leaning against the bus next to Gerard.

“Ohhh, yeah,” Becks replied, nodding enthusiastically. “Second to last was the best one, right?” She looked at Frank and he nodded.
“Totally. That one was ridiculous.”

“Well, I’m glad,” Gerard said, a laugh in his voice. “But, uh…where the fuck is Bob?”

“Oh, he died,” Becks said with a shrug and an ‘it happens’ sort of expression on her face. When all heads whipped around to look at her, she flushed a little bit and her expression turned sheepish. “Uh, sorry,” she brought her fist up to her mouth and cleared her throat, “old family joke….”

“God, you’re such a freak,” Frank said, giving her a quick shove which earned him one in return. “Nah, Bob stopped by Underoath’s bus quick to talk with, uh...” he paused and rubbed at the back of his neck, looking to Becks for help, but she just gave him an ‘I don’t know’ look before easing herself down to lay on the grass next to Barry, who was fiddling around with something tech-y, “…somebody.”

“Nice,” Gerard quipped. “Good thing we’ve got you two on the case,” he and Ray both chuckled.

Frank was just about to retort something, when the bus door opened up and Brian stepped out, both looking around to see who was there. “Good to see you’ve come back from your day of rides, Becks,” Brian greeted her with a head nod. She held two fingers to her forehead and gave him a solute.

“Yeah, there was some worry that you might never come back at all,” Ray quipped, earning another round of laughs throughout the group.

“Hey, man,” she lifted a hand from the grass and waved it dismissively in Ray’s direction, “I know my duties.” Frank snorted.

“Duties,” he replied, sniggering. Becks narrowed her eyes at him for a second, one eyebrow quirked, before laying her head back down on the grass and shutting her eyes completely, enjoying a little rest after all the excitement of the day.

“So, where’s Bob?” Brian asked the group.

“Underoath’s,” somebody replied.

Becks wasn’t invested in hearing the same conversation over, so she was tuning out the world. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t even hear the bus door open again, and only vaguely registered somebody moving to stand next to her. It wasn’t until they eased themselves down to sit next to her –blocking out the sunshine she was receiving – that she finally opened her eyes, squinting up to see Mikey looking down at her with a small smile.

“Oh, hey,” she greeted warmly with a grin of her own.

“Hey,” he said, shifting so he was leaned back on his elbows, still looking at her. “How was the park?”

“Mmm,” Becks replied, moving to lay her head on his lap – much comfier than the ground – and let out a little sigh of contentment. “It was great,” she said.

“Good.” They fell into a brief silence, then, listening but not participating in everything going on around them as Bob came back and all the other guys chatted. Becks’ eyes had slipped shut, but Mikey couldn’t help himself, gazing down at her. “You got some sun,” he said.

“Did I?” Her eyebrow quirked, but her eyes stayed shut.

“Yeah,” Mikey leaned up a little and lightly touched her cheek. “There,” he wasn’t immune to the tiny smile now on her face. “…and there,” he touched her nose and she tried to stifle her giggle. “Shoulders, too,” and with that, he tapped on her collarbone, and Becks finally opened her eyes, bright blue looking up at him.

“That’s not my shoulder,” she said, biting back her laugh and fighting the smile (and failing) at her lips. Mikey gave an awkward shrug.

“Close enough.”

“Am I burnt?” Becks asked him, too lazy to look down and gauge herself.

“Nah,” he answered, a little shake to his head. “Just…sun…kissed?” He wrinkled his nose out of semi embarrassment from using the word, but it was the only one he could think of. This time, Becks didn’t hold back her laugh.

“Sunkissed?” She asked in jest.

“I just…well…”he was a little flustered and Becks was more than a little enjoying it. “…yeah,” he finally said in defeat, looking down at the girl that was smiling up at him from his lap.

As their gazes met, all humor fell away from Becks and she just got caught up staring at him again, still unable to believe the difference not wearing his glasses made.

“Anybody ever tell you you have beautiful eyes?” It was almost like she blurted it out, but it was soft and sweet and with something of an honest intent, and Mikey felt his heart flutter for a second and a small warmth spread in his chest. Part of him wanted to joke that, yeah, she had a million times over the past couple days, but instead, he just said,

“Could ask the same about you.”

This time, it was Becks that was trying to fight back a blush and she just wasn’t sure what to say, so she just smiled up at him, shyly but happily, hoping her ‘sunkiss’ would cover up for the redness in her cheeks.

“Yo, lovebirds!” Gerard shouted, and both Becks and Mikey jerked in their spots and looked up at him, Mikey giving him a look that could kill. “You coming to dinner?” Gerard nodded his head towards where everybody else was walking away.

“I hear it’s tacos,” Ray shouted over his shoulder.

That was all it took, and the next thing Mikey knew, Becks was up and off after the group and he was left sitting alone on the ground next to his band’s bus, amused, confused, and still feeling a little warm on the inside from the interaction only a moment earlier. He had been sitting, for a moment, looking down at his lap as he tried to process everything, when somebody stood in front of him. Looking up, Mikey saw an excited Becks, smile splayed across her face, looking down at him, arm extended.

“You coming?” She asked. He blinked up at her, touched that she came back for him when tacos were waiting, and then smiled, too, taking her hand and letting her help him stand.

“Taco time?” He asked once he was up, wrapped an arm around her shoulder as they walked (quickly – Becks wanted her tacos) towards the food tent.

“Taco time,” she responded, edging closer to him.