I Will Make You Believe....

Josh
After an amazing tour of Australia, I had touched back down in California. While everyone else flew to their homes, Chips picked me up and we drove back to her home in a rented car. The drive did not help my jet lag, but she helped me back on a normal sleep schedule pretty quick. After the first weekend, we had start some sort of schedule. Chips had mentioned that she wanted to get back into working out and that's started our morning runs. We did nearly ten miles every morning and then came back to the house to get ready for the morning. She would make breakfast and then we'd decide what to do for the day, making sure to set aside time for work as she was still advancing for festivals and the upcoming tour and Tyler and I had the finish production details. We would usually finish out the day with some time practicing in the music room down stairs. It was weird that after only two weeks, we had made a schedule and were really sticking to it. I enjoyed having a taste of home life with Chips, but duty calls and we were currently flying out to Alabama for her to work Hangout.

"So are you doing the same thing as Coachella here?" She shrugged as we both stared out the window for our decent.

"Yeah, but it's much less hectic. I'll be in the shipping containers most of the time and able to just worry about restock."

"Am I allowed to sit with you?" I asked her as she grabbed my hand. She hates the landings on planes, so it made sense that her grip refocused to my hand as we jolted to the ground.

"Yeah, I'm ok with whatever. Panic is playing one day though. I know you're friends with Brendan if you want to go spend time with him that day..." She told after taking a deep breath.

"I mean, I'd like it if we could both spend time with him...." She sighed.

"I'm ok with telling a few more people that you feel you can completely trust, but I really can't leave for more than a few minutes at a time. He's gonna need the full story if you tell him who I am..." She released my hand as we taxied into the gate.

"Can you slip away so I can at least introduce the two of you? That way when I really do tell him that I found the woman of my dreams, he's not completely surprised that I kept her locked away for so long?" She laughed at my corniness. I always try and spin conversations like this as if I am hiding her away, it makes her feel less bad when it's funny. Of course, I wouldn't want her to continue to feel like I can't handle this part of our relationship.

"Yeah, just bring him through the merch tent or text me when you get to him and we can figure out a meeting point. What are you going to tell him in terms of why you're out here?" I shrugged.

"I mean, everyone kinda thinks Tyler and Jenna are off doing couple things. It wouldn't be that weird if I told him that I was just here to spend time with you since you're the newest addition to our crew." She nodded.

"Alright, that's cool. So does that mean I can ask him for work? I've actually always wanted to work for Panic..." I scoffed.

"No way....You're all mine remember...." She just chuckled as the captain turned the seat belt sign off and everyone stood to grab for their things.

"Yeah, I've actually turned down a few dream gigs in the last 6 months to stay with you guys..." I just stared at her as we quickly gathered our things and made our way out to baggage claim.

"Why? Like I love you and want to be with you, but it's unrealistic to think you'll always be on tour with us..." She just kind of stared at me.

"It's quite a relief to hear you say those words," She smiled before looking over and grabbing her bag from the carousel," but it's a phase we're in. I felt like if this was going to work , I really needed to put in the effort to make it do so. I want to be with you Josh, don't ever forget that." She smiled at me again before she pointed to my bag, which I almost missed because I was smiling at her.

"Well, then by all means stay with us." She chuckled and I quickly gave her a kiss on the cheek before we were to meet the shuttle to the house we were staying in for the festival.

"Who did you turn down?" I asked her out of curiosity once the shuttle was moving.

"Uh...." She looked up in thought while I grabbed her hand," Sum 41 for their Warped Tour run, obviously the Underoath comeback, a few big festival production gigs like EDC and Danny Wimmer, I have a few more that came in this week...." She took out her phone and showed me the emails. One that caught my attention made my jaw drop, Avenged Sevenfold wanted her as a tech.

"Avenged Sevenfold? That's one of your all time favorite bands?" I looked down at her leg and saw the tattoo I knew commemorated their passed drummer.

"Yeah, I mean, I've worked with them before and I know that it's just a one off run. The Berry boys are staying home to take care of some family stuff from what I'm remembering." She just shrugged and bit her lip.

"Chips, this is a really big deal. You want to tech. This is the perfect thing for you! You'll only miss a few weeks with us..." She shook her head.

"I get that," She took a deep breath before facing me," but if I wasn't dating you then I would be told not to come back and they would find someone else. I'm very much so replaceable from Live Nation. I can't leave on the off chance that someone that really has nothing going on can stay and take over the job." I sighed.

"Well, why don't you just take all these one offs? They keep coming literally all the time and you're set for the year with work from Coachella. Teching makes you happier, I can see it in your eyes..." She frowned at me.

"I don't know if I'm ready to be away from you for that long..."