Getting Surreal

Ten minutes and a lot of eased tension (mainly on Becks’ end) later, and the group was rushed, by their manager who was introduced to Becks as Brian, out to the bus where they all threw their bags into the storage bays under the vehicle they were all about to share.

Becks was the last person to climb on board and she saw that everybody was sat in the lounge area looking at Brian as he was speaking. Not entirely sure what to do, but not wanting to stand there awkwardly and alone, she quickly took the closest open spot; on the end of the couch, squeezed into the last inch, right next to Beanie Boy.

“We should reach the first venue around three, but we’ll be cutting it close, so you all had better be ready for that,” Brian was saying, looking at a clipboard. “The crew bus and everyone else will be there already, and everything should be set for us to have a quick sound check once we get there.” Noting the mild confused look on Becks’ face, he added, “It was just easier and more convenient to grab the band at the Ways’ house. For everyone else, it was just better to meet up at the convention hall.” She had to give it to him: as punk rock as he looked, Brian seemed to have his crap together and she felt her heart swell an ounce in respect for him, nodding her head to his words and deciding (not for the first time) that she was going to give everything she had to this band and their tours.

“Food?” Ray asked from his corner of the couch.

“After sound check,” Brian said, earning groans from each of the guys. Becks smiled inwardly. They truly were just a group of regular dudes.

As Brian continued to rattle off rules, regulations, and general information about tour safety and not getting left behind and anything else that might seem necessary, the bus lurched onto the road.

Becks gave a small start in surprise; she hadn’t even noticed a bus driver present, she was so wrapped up in her thoughts. Beanie Boy shot her a quick pursed-lip consoling look and a pat to her knee in a surprisingly successful effort to calm her down so she could hear out the rest of what Brian had to say.

“Any questions?” Brian asked the group when he’d finished his spiel.

Becks had a question, alright. Tragically, in a moment of awkward silence that she was somewhat prone to, she found herself unable to ask the question that burned on her tongue. Luckily, somebody else had the same question that she was itching to ask.

“Where does, uh, Becks?” Gerard looked at her, raising an eyebrow to confirm he’d remembered her name correctly, continuing when she gave a curt nod, “stay? She on our bus, or the crew bus?”

Becks found herself absently nodding along to Gerard’s question and tagging on a drawn out “yyyyyeahhh,” very grateful that he had asked. The literal only thing that she knew was that she would be managing Frank’s guitars and equipment for the next few handfuls of months. That was it. She had no idea as to where she was supposed to sleep or live or do whatever for the next few months.

Screw living day-to-day. From the information she’d been fed so far, Becks was going to be living minute-to-minute with these guys.

And she was more than willing to live up to the challenge, stress and anxiety be damned.

“Becks, you’ll, uh,” Brian checked his clipboard, “be staying on this bus with us until the first show, tonight, then you’ll probably stay on the crew bus for the rest of Taste of Chaos,” he said.

“Probably?” She found herself asking.

“Yeah, probably,” Brian said, looking her way, “I’m sorry to say that your living situation, at least for the first tour, is kind of up in the air.” He shrugged. “You’re a bit of a surprise to our books…” he trailed off and Becks understood exactly what he meant. Becks looked at Frank, who gave a small apologetic shrug, then back at Brian as he continued talking. “We’ll, uh. We’ll get you all settled and figured out as soon as we can.” He looked around the group. “Any other questions? No? Great.” He got to his feet. “I’m gonna go claim my bunk.” And with that, he turned and carefully walked down the hall to the bunk area, Frank, Gerard, and Ray in close pursuit, all ambling to pick the perfect bunk, all hopping out of their seats and shouting eagerly.

“You’re not gonna join in on the, uh…fun?” Becks asked Beanie Boy who was playing on his phone. She noticed that, when all the other guys jumped off the couch, he hadn’t really moved much at all, maybe only an inch or two, leaving him still near pressed up against her. She found that she didn’t really mind, but was still a bit squished in her seat.

“Nah, Gerard’ll take care of my bunk for me. They’re all crazy and I honestly don’t care enough to get trapped in that mess,” he shot her a small smirk and she nodded her head. They fell into a silence where Mikey went back to fiddling on his phone and Becks found herself staring at his hands. She had a thing for nice hands, and his?

His were absolutely gorgeous.

Realizing what she was doing and flushing to herself, she tore her eyes away quickly and looked around the bus at anything and everything else, ending up appeasing herself by staring out the window, watching the scenery go by.

“So, Becks,” he murmured after a little while, catching her attention again. “Short for…Becky?”

“God, no,” she laughed. “No. Beck is my last name,” she explained as he watched her lazily. “My first name is Chelsea, but it always seemed a little too girly for me, so I’ve had people call me Becks ever since, like, the third grade.”

Where the fuck did that come from? She thought to herself. She never let other people in-or know her real name.

“I see,” Mikey responded. “Chelsea Beck.” There was another, brief, pause, then, “My name’s actually not Mikey, either.”

‘Mikey. That’s what it was,’ she thought, trying to log away his name. ‘So it’s gotta be Michael, no way it’s anything else. He’s just messing with me.’ She was just about to call him out on it, but her confidence in the matter faltered, however, when she made eye contact, and noted how straight-faced he was. “Yeah,” he droned, his eyes flitting to the window then back to look into hers. He liked her eyes. She had pretty eyes. Very bright. When he had deemed that he’d left her hanging long enough, he stated, “It’s actually Michael.” He fought, and failed, to bite back the teasing smirk that tugged at his lips.

A smirk that turned into a full-blown, eye-scrunching smile as he watched her face change from an expression of incredulity to a small smile to a giggle to an actual laugh. ‘She actually found that funny?’ He thought. ‘I’m gonna like having this girl around.’

Taking a moment to compose herself, she felt the need to explain her side. “It’s just,” she said with a lingering laugh, “you were so serious and I was thinking that there would be no way for your name to be anything but Michael, but you were so serious!” She gave him a playful smack to the shoulder and he chuckled.

“I’m sorry,” he said as their laughing cooled down a bit. “You just, you made it so easy!”

She let out a happy sort of post-laughing sigh before retorting, “Well, pardon me for trusting people to do the right thing and not mess with my head!”

They smiled at each other, then, neither of them able to think of anything to say after that, yet both content in the moment. Suddenly, though, their peace was interrupted.

“So, Becks,” came Gerard’s voice loudly as he walked their way down the hallway, hands on the walls around him to keep him steady in the moving vehicle. “Please tell me,” he paused as he took a seat at the table across the couch where Mikey and Becks were sat, “How the hell did Frank manage to get you to say yes to this deal?” He was smiling lightly and, sensing that they would be there chatting for a bit, Becks shoved Mikey over a little so she could have some more room before daring to turn sideways along the couch and throw her legs over his lap. If Mikey felt surprised or uncomfortable with the gesture, he didn’t show it.

She was never really so bold as to lounge on top of people she’d just met, but, what the hell. She was currently embarked on a once-in-a-lifetime deal with a band she really liked-for the next eight months. Life for her was getting surreal anyways, may as well live it up to its fullest and be comfy while she was at it. Well, that and the fact that being around Mikey (short-lived as it was to that point…what, like, an hour of knowing the guy?) made her just feel chill and at ease with whatever. That was new to her. Becks had a history of being a bit anxious about doing anything to inconvenience anyone…punk rock attitude or not. It was definitely something she disliked of herself.

“I, uh…” she faltered in her answer, but somebody else picked up the slack quickly.

“I bought her with beer, dude!” Frank shouted as he ambled down the hallway to join the discussion and sit across the table from Gerard.

“No shit?” Ray asked, right on his tail and opting to sit on the far end of the sofa. Mikey looked at her with his eyebrows raised in curiosity.

Becks made eye contact with Frank and smiled at the memory. “Yeah, pretty much.” She looked around at the guys, ending with Mikey. “I, uh…really like beer?”

“She’s a cheap date and it’s great.” Frank stated with a shit-eating grin. Becks smiled back at his jest. She was finding it hard to find anything wrong at all with her decision to drop her life and join this band on tour at the moment. She was going to be stuck on tour with five (maybe the fifth guy would make up in the weird department for the other four when she met him?) attractive, funny, and chill guys. And those three facts were just the icing on the cake for her; she was escaping her dismal life that she built in a small Jersey town to go on tour. The wish-to-be rockstar inside of her was screaming. Even if she was only a tech, this was huge for her. Get paid on an at least self-sustaining level, be surrounded by music twenty-four-seven and (hopefully), party.

Yeah. She was alright with the way her year was starting to play out.

“So, how long have you been playing?” Ray’s soft voice rang out to her again.

“Um,” she pondered for a moment, “since around the sixth grade, so, what…elevenish years ago?” She answered. “Aaaand now I feel old.”

“That’s awesome,” Ray responded, chuckling.

“Hey, man,” Gerard said, pointing at her, “You’re making me feel old. Eleven years ago? When were you born?”

“Uh, eighty-two?”

“A fucking baby!” He laughed. “Ray and me were born in seventy-seven!” Ray nodded.

“Fair, fair,” she appeased, holding her hands up and chuckling along with them.

“So why’d you start, what do you play?” Ray asked her, and they all fell into a conversation about their beginnings and their love of the music scene and everyone’s favorite musicians and groups. The next few hours flew by smoothly; the group felt like they’d know Becks for years and the feeling was mutual. She fit in well with them.

“You’re way better than Andy,” Mikey said looking at Becks then over to Frank. “Cooler, chiller…”

“Hotter.” Frank finished out for him. Becks made a small noise of surprise and smiled around the room with a small blush on her cheeks.

“Well,” she retorted, “I think the fact that I’m a girl and he wasn’t has a hand in that last bit.”

“A fair point,” Frank nodded, feigning a face of deep thought. “Still hot, though,” he flirted, winking at her.

She just laughed and adjusted in her seat, taking her legs off of Mikey, which grabbed his attention, and folding them under her, feeling his eyes on her the whole time. She looked up and met his eyes, a small smile growing present on her lips. She liked Mikey. He made her feel comfortable. They still barely knew each other, but there was just something about him.

“Yo! We’ll be there in ten!” Brian yelled, walking his way up to them. He had been so quiet in the back doing what Becks could only assume was tour business that she had forgotten he was even on the bus with them. When he had everybody’s attention, he continued, “So I suggest you go and get your shit together,” he jerked a thumb behind himself, pointing to the bunk and back lounge area, “because I expect all of you to be ready and present at sound check in thirty.” With that, he walked past them to chat with the bus driver.

All of the guys immediately hopped up (as well as they could with the bus taking a tight turn as it got off the highway ramp). Frank was thrown into Ray one of them shouting “Fuck!” the other one letting out a “shit!” and Becks found herself giggling at the sight as Mikey helped them both back up again and they all shuffled back to grab their stuff.

“Far bottom right bunk, Mikes!” Gerard shouted to his brother. “Grab my shit too, yeah?” When he received a noise of confirmation from the bunk area, he looked at Becks. “So, whatcha think?” He asked her. She stared back at him for a second.

“About what?”

“About us. About the tour. About everything?”

She paused, mulling it over. “I think this is gonna be the coolest year of my life and I can’t freaking wait.” Gerard smiled.

“Good.” He responded.

“Yo, Becks! You’re supposed to be my tech! Get your fine ass back here and help me with my shit!” Frank called from back somewhere in the bus.

She carefully stood and looked at Gerard. “Duty calls.” And with that, she walked down the hall to look for Frank.