Status: Hoping to upload a chapter every Saturday, a little weekend treat :)

Getting Surreal

XXXIV

Warped Tour was about a third way through when it stopped at another amusement park. After waiting excitedly through Brian’s morning meeting, Becks had been given her pass and, forty minutes after that, had found herself waiting in line for the tallest roller coaster she’d ever seen in her life with Mince, Barry, and Mike and Tom from MxPx.

Since all the guys in MCR were having a writing session in the back of their bus, Becks decided to branch out and try to get to know some of the other people on tour with her. First thing off the band bus, she ran the fifteen feet to the tech bus and asked her friends there if they wanted to hit the park with her after breakfast – an invitation they readily accepted (Mince getting so excited that smashed his toe on the corner of the couch in his rush to grab a shirt, Barry and Becks left in a fit of giggles as he did so, Barry explaining to her in between laughs that Mince had been counting down to the next park date), before the three headed off to the food tent.

There weren’t too many people there when they’d arrived, but when he got his food, Mince sat down at the table with two guys Becks recognized from the band MxPx, a punk group she’d watched a few times backstage whenever the opportunity had presented itself. She really liked their style and music, but had always been too nervous to go strike up a conversation with them (she was always better if people approached her, first).

Becks hadn’t realized she’d more or less frozen in place, holding her tray of food and staring at the small grouping of musicians, until Barry nudged her elbow and nodded, eyebrows raised a little, towards the table. “C’mon,” he said. “Mince’ll introduce us.”

“Uh, yeah,” Becks stammered. ‘I can do this,’ she thought, nodding to herself and following Barry and taking the seat next to him and across from the guy she recognized as the lead singer and bass player.

“Oh, here they are now. What took ya?” Mince said cheerily, breaking off of the conversation he’d been having with the guys and gesturing to Becks and Barry. “Mike, Tom, this is Barry,” he gestured to Barry who gave strong nod and a small ‘hey’ to each of the guys across the table. “Aaand this is Becks!” She gave little smiles to the guys in greeting, not sure yet of what to say, before looking down at her bowl of oatmeal and pushing her spoon around in it.

“Becks likes cinnamon,” Mike said with a chuckle, eyeing her bowl of oatmeal that was literally covered in the spice.

“Only a little,” she said slyly, a ghost of a smile on her lips.

“Becks…” said Tom curiously. “That a nickname?”

“Uh, yeah,” Becks answered, looking up at him. “Yeah. But everybody calls me it, so,” she let out a small shrug.

“Rumor has it, she’s only ever told Mikey Way her real name.” Mince said in a spooky sort of way, earning chuckles around the table and causing Becks to blush.

“Really?” Mike stated more than asked. “Why’s that?”

Becks, feeling suddenly emboldened and cheeky, looked up at Mike and shot him a wink, the whole table busting out in laughter when she did. From that moment, Becks decided that she liked these guys.

---

After a pleasant and refreshing breakfast, Becks asked Mike and Tom if they wanted to hit up the park with them, and they agreed at once, Tom saying he was a huge adrenaline junkie, and that’s how Becks found herself in line ten minutes later for the biggest roller coaster the park (and this side of the continental US, Becks figured) had to offer.

“I mean, we’re not here as early as we could be, but the thing is, with parks,” Tom was drawling on and on about all of his favorite things about theme parks and all the ‘tricks’ he’d learned in his day, “is that, you’ve gotta pick the ride you wanna get on immediately, and get in line for that, first.” He was stating all of this as though nobody else in their group had any idea that this was how it went, and Mike shot Becks a look that had her choking back her laughter.

When Tom paused and looked over at Becks in question, she threw her arm over her mouth and tried to play it off as a cough, still biting back giggles. Tom, sensing his friend had said something, glanced at Mike, but he just looked away and coolly eased himself on the railing of the queue. Seemingly satisfied, Tom continued, now addressing mainly Barry and Mince.

“And, really…nobody ever believes me, but you want to be in the back row, not the front.”

At this statement, Becks’ head whirled around and she stared at him like he was insane. Before she had a chance to speak, though, Mince piped up.

“You fuckin’ kidding me?” He asked. Tom just chuckled a little as every head in his group had turned to him, everybody looking skeptical and as though they thought he were insane.

Taking a small, calming breath, Tom nodded. “Seriously. I know everybody likes to be in the front, and, yeah, it’s great and all,” he’d begun gesturing with his hands a bit in a way that reminded Becks of Frank. “But, one,” he threw up his index finger, “Everybody wants front, so the line is always almost double the wait on the good rides.” Becks couldn’t argue that logic, so she slowly nodded her head. “And two, it’s all physics.”

“Wait. Now, you’ve lost me,” Barry said from his position of leaning of the rail with his arms crossed, his eyes narrowed.

“Well,” Tom turned to look at Barry a little better, “think about it. Inertia, right? The front of the car is already halfway down the hill by the time the back hits the crest…” he paused for a moment, watching all their faces as they contemplated his words. “And by the time the back starts going down the hill, the whole cart is in motion with all the weight from all the people in it, so…I mean, it’s not by a ton or anything, but…the back goes faster.” He finished with a shrug then leaned against the railing himself.

Everybody was quiet for a moment, contemplating this new approach to roller coaster riding, before Becks slowly started nodding.

“Shit,” Barry said, sounding slightly wonderstruck, nodding himself.

“Well,” Becks said, and all the guys looked up at her. “Let’s go for the back?”

---

Three hours, a lot of rides, and some questionable hot dogs later, and Becks was walking by herself up to the My Chem bus, having thoroughly enjoyed her time in the park with her tech friends and the boys from MxPx.

Humming a song to herself, she heaved the door open and more or less skipped up the steps, freezing completely at the top when there was a flash and a small click and whirring sound. Rearing her head back a little, she winced through the retina burn and saw Frank and Gerard standing there laughing, Frank holding something in his hands.

“What the hell is that?” Becks asked, scowling a little.

“Polaroid!” Frank answered excitedly.

“Brian gave it to us,” Gerard explained, taking the picture that had come out and waving it in the air. “Said it’d be good for PR if we had some behind the scenes candids.”

“So, naturally,” Becks said, finally moving into the bus and sitting herself on the couch, “you decide to snap a picture of me totally unaware?”

Frank, seemingly immune to her sarcasm, said, “Candids, Becks. Candids.”

“Here,” Gerard said, walking up to her and holding out the photo and a sharpie he’d taken from his pocket. When she looked up at him in question, he smiled. “Sign it. I wanna stick it on the bulletin board.” He nodded his head vaguely in the direction of the tattered bulletin board above the table that Becks could see already had a few polaroid pictures tacked to it. “Come on,” Gerard continued in a kind voice. “It’s not a bad picture.”

Finally, Becks took the photo from his hand and looked at it. He was right; it wasn’t horrible. So, she took the sharpie from him as well and quickly scrawled her name on the bottom in all capital letters before handing it back to the singer who gave her another smile and went to tack it up with the others.

Feeling the couch dip as Frank all but threw himself into the seat next to her, Becks looked over at him, her eyebrow raised. He just stared back at her, and after a solid thirty seconds of silent stare down, Becks asked, “Can I help you?” Frank blinked and smiled the cheesiest smile he could manage. Becks narrowed her eyes. “What’s that look for?”

“Oh, you know…just wondering.”

“What?” She was a little nervous. Frank could be…unpredictable and maybe he’d pulled a prank on her or something. He narrowed his eyes and leaned in a little closer to her, as though scrutinizing her face. Then,

“You mad?”

The tech’s head reared back a little. “What?” She repeated. Frank’s face took on a sheepish expression.

“For blinding you?”

Becks scoffed out a hearty laugh, a feeling of relief rushing through her. She shook her head with a smile and looked at Frank. “Nah, man. You’ve gotta do worse than that.”

Frank smiled again, this time genuine and happy, easing back into his seat. “Good. How was the park?”

“Dude, it was awesome!” Becks said. “Went with MxPx. Did you know that sitting in the back of a rollercoaster is better than the front?” Frank’s pulled a face a pure disbelief and Becks nodded sympathetically. “I know,” she said in a grave voice. “That’s what I thought, too. But it’s true!”

The pair chatted about their days for a few minutes, then, Becks telling him about all the rides and crappy food she’d enjoyed, and Frank let her in on how the new songs were coming along. There was a comfortable silence for a moment or two, when Frank held up the camera a bit. “Wanna go get some other people with this baby?”

Becks looked down at the camera and she smiled a mischievous smile.

“Oh yeah.”
♠ ♠ ♠
Happy Saturday, guys!

Hope you all dig the chapter--I know it's a little change of pace, but I hope it's enjoyable all the same.

Thank you, THANK YOU to everybody that commented. I could never truly express how much it warms my heart to see that I've gotten comments and how much it inspires me to keep this fic alive :)

Death_to_Roses, I can't believe you reread the whole thing! I was soo touched to read that and I hope this chapter will sate you till next week!

Versavulture, I'm kinda in love with how I've made Frank in this fic. haha. I always kinda saw him and a loveable goofball and always down to make people laugh. Love him. ha

Aaaand DoriansAss and A7X_Lover13, there may or may not be content in line with your comments in the next few weeks, sooo stay tuned!!

Hope you all have a good weekend :)