Pushing Me Away

(Luna's POV/Narrator)

The next morning when I cautiously peeked open one eye, I found myself still tangled up in the sheets on the small sofa bed of the back lounge, with Chester snuggled right beside me. Oh no, what if the others come looking for us? The sunlight was showing dimly through the dark curtains, surely someone had to be awake by now. Although his face looks incredibly adorable as he slept, I knew I had to get him awake as quickly as possible. I shook him gently at first but when that didn't work, I aimed for a more rougher approach. "Chester!" I hissed in is ear, this time seeing him stir and eventually open his clearly tired eyes. "What time is it? Shit, the guys are gonna be up soon." I glance quickly at my phone, seeing that it was already 8, the guys had to be at check in at 11. I raced around for my clothes as did he, until that ended up in the both of us smacking right into each other. "Ow, shit. Sorry babe." He says with a semi chuckle before pausing only to give me a swift kiss on the forehead. "We still need to talk about last night, okay? When the time is right." I don't say a word and just nod before making my getaway out into the bus. I tiptoe quietly pass the bunks, noticing that Brad, Rob, Dave, and Joe were still fast asleep. That meant I would only have to deal with Mike. Not too bad, he was easy to distract.

"Morning. Did you sleep good? Sorry, I kinda am a heavy sleeper." Luna looks up when she enters the main lounge of the bus, seeing Mike perched at the table with a cup of coffee in hand. She shakes her head with a gentle smile before getting a cup for herself and taking the seat across from him. If only he knew the kind of night she had, then he'd really understand just how great she slept. It had been years since she had felt the warm and loving touch of someone who truly meant no harm to her, since she had even made love. With Adam, that wasn't love. It wasn't even considered sex, it more so felt to her like rape. It was never wanted by her, it was always initiated by Adam. So what kind of caught her completely by surprise, was the fact that she gave herself up to Chester so fast and so willingly last night. But the more she thought deeply about it, the more it all made sense. They both suffered so much hate and abuse between their partners, so of course the first taste of pure love their hearts felt was going to drive them to act fast. "It's fine, I didn't really hear you." The both then talk about the plans for the upcoming show tonight and what tasks Luna would be assigned for the day ahead. It all sounds like hard work, but she's more than willing to take it all on.

"Where's Chester? Still sleeping?" Mike finally asks as I finish off my cup. I shrug before suddenly hearing the bunk room door close softly behind me, revealing just the person we were talking about. "Hey ba-Chazzy." I catch myself fast, before smiling up at him sheepishly. He's still shirtless, but he has a tight pair of black skinny jeans on and I have to admit, it's damn near impossible to look away. "Well look who it is. How'd you sleep last night?" Mike interjects with an amused smirk. I can feel my cheeks glowing hot as I continue to stare at him and I notice that Mike is catching on too. Then to make matters worse, Chester sits right next to me and it's even more difficult to hide my clearly flustered facial features. "Hey Luna, are you alright over there? You look a bit red." Perfect, now even Dave noticed as he joins in our group and sits directly across from me, next to Mike. I sigh before hurriedly nudging Chester in the side to let me get out. He gets the message thankfully and scoots out so I can leave. "Sorry, I have a splitting headache, I'll catch up with you guys later." They all just nod and wave as I make my way back to my bunk. I slowly gather up comfortable clothes for the long day ahead before dragging myself into the small bathroom to take a quick shower.

Fifteen minutes pass by as Luna finally steps out with a towel wrapped around her body firmly. She digs around her pile of clothing only to realize she had forgotten a pair of underwear, just her luck. "Shit." She curses under her breath before making the split decision to sneak into the bunk area and retrieve a pair. She cracks open the door a pinch, looking around to see if anyone else was there. Taking up the opportunity, she races from the door to her luggage, hunting around anxiously. She freezes immediately when she hears the door to the bunks open and close behind her. To make a run for it or to continue on with her search, those were her only two choices. "God, you are so breath taking." The tiny hairs stand up on the back of her neck as soon she can feel a pair of calloused and warm hands make their way around her waist and pull her body close to them. She tenses up greatly, but relaxes some when she makes out just whose voice it was. "Ch-Chester. You sc-scar-scared me half to death." She's stuttering and stammering over her words as he continues to just hold her pressed against him. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to. It's just, you really are beautiful."

His voice is a mixture between guilt and honesty, which instantly makes me feel bad for saying what I had said. I turn so I'm facing him now, seeing a sudden sad look in his eyes. I tilt his chin down with my hand before pressing a gentle kiss to his lips. "We can't let someone catch us like this, okay? I know you didn't mean to, I'll get over it. But go on with the others, I'll be out in a minute, love. And just so you know, you're really beautiful too." His eyes light up greatly as he agrees and scurries off to wherever it was the guys were waiting for him at while I run back into the bathroom to finish getting dressed. After another good twenty minutes pass by and I finish getting ready, there's absolutely no sign of anyone on board anymore. Perfect, just what I wanted. A minute of peace and quiet to myself where I can be alone to gather and analyze my thoughts. So Chester and I took the ultimate plunge last night, we had sex. We're not officially together, but we're not single either. He says he loves me, I say that I love him. So what's really stopping us from making this an official relationship? Society, plain and simple. He's doing it to keep me safe from negative attention, but I'm starting not to care anymore. I mean, I just gave everything to you in a matter of hours, I think I have enough guts to take care of myself and manage a little criticism from whoever the fuck cares.

"Luna? Are you in here? We're ready to start setting up the merch for tonight!" It's Mike, the one person who was constant with keeping Luna on her toes. She's run a brush quickly through her hair before meeting him in the front. "Sorry, I was just finishing up getting ready. I'm up for whatever you're throwing at me." He gives her a wicked grin before agreeing and the two head off inside the large arena. There's tons of stage crew and other team members all gathered around as they receive each of their own set of instructions from the production and stage manager. Luna looks over at Mike who then hands her her own sheet. She had the honors in setting up the merchandise booth once more and then writing the review of the set afterwards, which would then be reviewed and published by the social media team to the bands website. Her first real review of the night, something she had been slightly dreading doing since they had set out on the road yesterday morning. The band was now in Arizona, Chester's home state. That was the one thing Luna found incredibly intense about touring with a band. The constant traveling. One minute you're playing a show in one town, then the next morning you wake up in a new state playing a show to another.

As the team meeting comes to an end and I'm left to my own devices to start loading in the crates, I can see Chester coming out of the rehearsal room from the corner of my eye. My mind is at war with what to do; Do I keep going on with my work and ignore him? Do I stop and talk to him? I had no idea what to even do. But low and behold, that fate was decided for me when he nonchalantly stepped away from the guys and headed my way. "You got everything handled?" He asks with a semi serious smile, but I can tell he's only acting that way because of everyone around us. I just nod, pressing my lips tightly together. "Uh huh, I got it all set. Thanks Chester." I keep it short and blunt before walking the opposite way from him and out to the buses. I can feel a sudden aching in my chest as I start to realize just how awful that must have sounded and felt, but I was again, only doing what he asked. Keeping our feelings and relationship, if that's what you can even call it, out of sight and out of mind from everyone at least until the tour was over. "Hey Luna, you're working with me for the first couple of hours, right?" It's Candy this time, and she has on a tight pair of black jeans with a cut up Linkin Park shirt that showed almost her entire cleavage. I was never one to be judgmental, especially when I didn't even really know a person, but this girl, made it more difficult.

"Yep, I guess that's the plan." I say more so to myself then her as I continue loading my boxes onto the roller cart and pushing them towards the inside of the venue. I can tell she must have taken my response as a bit hostile as I see her make a scowling face once I walk away, but I honestly wasn't in the mood for being social. I just wanted to get my work done and be able to relax for a brief moment until it was time for me to watch the guys preform. I must have brought in a total of fifty boxes this time in the only two trips before I started to sort and organize everything once again. I wipe the little beads of sweat that had formed on my forehead with a towel, only stopping to look up once from my tasks. There, standing in all her promiscuity across from me and the booth, was Candy, only this time she was practically draping herself all over Chester. I felt a slight tingle in my hands as I felt themselves ball into tight fists. I was becoming extremely jealous, that much was easy to see. But I couldn't let anyone else know or see that, then it would jeopardize everything. But try as I may, I couldn't seem to control myself. "Hey! Candy! Are you going to finish helping me or keeping flocking all over Chester's ass? I have a lot of shit to finish and I can't get it done with you flaunting your attire!" And with that one sentence, I had started all out war between the two of us.

(Chester's POV/Narrator)

I watched silently as Candy stormed over towards where Luna was standing with her eyes raging like balls of fire. "What the fuck was all that for? You didn't have to embarrass me like that in front of him! What the fuck is wrong with you? You don't need to humiliate me!" I can see Luna's gaze shift from Candy over to me in a split second. I knew this was going to be a disaster, I never should have let things move so quickly between Luna and I. But who really could stop a thing between us from happening? I was destined to meet her, that was set in stone. Only now as I watch her and Candy about to tear each other to shreds, I knew I had to hurry up and break it all up before the management saw. Thankfully Mike and Brad were just happening to walk by when I flagged them over to help me. "Stop it! Candy, back off of Luna! Get off of her!" Brad took a hold of Candy while Mike helped Luna from off of the ground and onto a chair. I wanted to immediately run to her side and hold her as Mike then wiped at the blood that was coming from a small cut above her eye. She was already so fragile, so scarred and so innocent. She didn't need this type of animosity, the whole point of even bringing her on this tour was so that she could get another shot at really living. So without much thinking, I did just that. I went right over to her and switched places with Mike, so this time I was holding the towel to her face. "You're one hell of a fighter." I say softly, seeing a halfhearted smile come to her lips now. "See! That's the shit I'm talking about! We've been on the road for exactly two days and already she's becoming a goupie! We don't need that shit here!"

Mike, Brad, myself, and Luna can't believe what we had just heard. I was trying to go great lengths to prevent any of shit from happening and already I was failing miserably. "I think you need to cool off, Candy. Go take a walk or something, get some fresh air. Luna is our friend, she's apart of this family now. If you can't handle that, then I guess you know the rules already, you're free to step away from us." Joe interjects suddenly and I can see a total look of disbelief and anger come to Candy's face instantly. She certainly wasn't expecting that reaction, that much I could tell. "Fine! Whatever! You all can take her side, I don't fucking care! That's why she must have gotten beat up by her husband so much, because she must be a raging whore! That's probably the only reason she got this job anyways, I saw her sneak off into a dressing room the other day with Chester. Is that how you make friends, Luna? By fucking them so they'll like you? What a sad, pathetic excuse for a woman you are. I'm sure you rightfully got whatever you deserved. I hope you all have a great time with this bitch, cause I'm out of the team! I'm finished! Fuck you, Chester. Fuck all of you." With that, she stomped away angrily, her clothes torn and her hair a mess. I can feel a lump tightening in my throat as I wonder if anyone will believe her about seeing Luna and I sneak away yesterday.

Chester's nerves are on edge as the guys all gather around for a quick meeting. "Don't worry Luna, we know you're not any of those horrible things Candy was saying. She's just always had a thing for Chester and being one of the only two girls on the tour since the beginning, it's easy to see that jealousy and tensions ran high. But listen, don't worry about a thing. I'll get one of the guys to help out with the merch until you're ready to step in. Chester, you take care of it from here. We've gotta go work shit out with the guys." Mike clearly was the voice of reason, and thankfully his friends didn't believe a word the angry girl had said although only the ending was true. Once left alone, Chester immediately takes advantage of the situation and grabs onto Luna's hand softly. Only when she jerks it away angrily, Chester can feel a sharp pain hit him the gut. This was all his fault, he never should have kept pestering Luna when she told him not to, that way none of this would have happened. "Please, I'm so sorry Luna. I had no idea this was going to happen." His voice is on the verge of cracking as the tears begin to swell up in his eyes. Her face is stiff and blank, he can't read what she's feeling. "I want to go home, Chester. I knew this was going to be a bad idea. I'm done."