The Lips That Made Me Fly

I awoke with a start, when I felt the van come to an abrupt halt. I sat up in my seat, and stretched, while looking out the window. I felt a smile break onto my face, when I noticed that we were stopped in front of the first venue.

“Alex, wake up, we’re here,” I said shaking his shoulder.

He mumbled something incoherent, and I just laughed before crawling out of the van. As soon as my feet hit the pavement, I couldn’t stop smiling. The weather was absolutely beautiful, and I was almost sad that I was going to have to spend the day inside some dingy venue.

“Are you ready to sell some merch?” Kelly said walking over to me.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I said laughing a little.

We both walked to the trailer, and started hauling out the Rubbermaid tubs full of merch out onto the sidewalk. We had just pulled the last tub out when Jake walked up to us with two passes.

“Here girls you’ll need these so you can get in and out and backstage,” he said handing us the clips.

“Thanks honey,” Kelly said as she gave him a quick kiss.

I just clipped mine onto the keys I already had, and grabbed one of the tubs. I started walking to the door, and noticed it was closed. I looked down to the tub in my hand, and realized I wouldn’t be able to open the door. Luckily one of the girls in the cue opened it for me.

“Thank you so much dear, you’re a lifesaver!” I said as I walked through the door.

“Do you have a pass?” a security guard with a lot of tattoos asked me.

“Right here,” I said sort of sticking my hip out towards him.

“Thanks ma’am,” he said and moved so I could get in.

I found our area for merch, and set the tub down before heading back outside. As I got to the door, Kelly and Jake were carrying in the final 2 tubs. They both set them down on the same table as I had, and Jake ran outside so he could start bringing equipment in.

The two of us immediately started getting the folded shirts out, and placing them over the sides of the bins. We made sure the sizes were separated, and did the same with the designs.

Once the bins were organized, we started putting up samples of each design’s. I almost fell off the chair putting the highest one up, causing Kelly and I to fall into a fit of laughter. Once we were composed though, we finally were able to take our seats.

“Wait! We need a tip jar!” I said realizing we had both forgotten about one.

“Ooh, I got a great idea!” she said taking a piece of cardboard and writing on it.

She promptly taped it to the jar, that once held some kind of candy, before showing it to me. I immediately started laughing, and she joined in with me.

“You fling ‘em, we sing ‘em,” I read aloud, “Oh man Kelly, you can tell you used to work at Cold Stone.”

“I know! But maybe we’ll get lucky and people will wanna see us sing,” she said finally calming down a little.

“Hopefully,” I said doodling on the table with a sharpie.

We stayed like that for a few minutes, before we both started fidgeting. I couldn’t stop moving so I was hoping Kelly would want to go somewhere.

“Hey, wanna go check out the surroundings until doors?” I said standing up, and abandoning my sweatshirt.

“Hell yes!” she said jumping up, “I couldn’t sit still for one more minute.”

“Same here!” I said as we walked outside.

Alex was talking with some fans, and excused himself when he saw us walk by.

“Hey, where are you girls going?” he asked giving me a quick hug and kiss.

“We’re actually not too sure,” I said laughing a little, “Maybe we’ll get lucky and there’ll be a 7-11 close!”

“Oh man, that’d be sweet,” he said laughing, “If there is will you bring me an icee?”

“Of course sweetheart!” I said smiling, “Now go talk to some fans. I’ll see you soon!”

“Alright babe! Love ya!”

“Love you too!” I said, and then started walking down the street again.

“You two are too cute!” Kelly said nudging my side.

“Oh come on! You and Jake could beat us,” I said laughing a little.

She started protesting, but I wouldn’t hear it. I started skipping away from her, and I heard her laughing after me. I turned to stick my tongue out at her, and ran into someone.

“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry!” I said looking at the guy in front of me.

“It’s fine, really,” he said laughing a little, “Wait, you have a pass. You’re on the same tour as me.”

“Really? No way! That’s awesome!” I said smiling, “I’m Katy, Mayday Parade’s merch girl. And that girl laughing at me is Kelly, she helps with merch.”

“Well Katy, it was nice to meet you,” he said shaking my hand, “I’m Alec, I’m the lead singer for Powerspace. Hey, are ya’ll going to the party at the karaoke bar after tonight’s show?”

“Uhm I’m not sure,” I said laughing, “But now that I know about it, we for sure are!”

“You do realize we already have to sing for tips right Katy?” Kelly said appearing at my side.

“Well, yeah. But Karaoke is so fun!” I said bouncing up and down a little, “Plus, I sing better after a few drinks.”

We all laughed at my last comment, and continued on our journey to 7-11, with Alec now tagging along. Once we reached our destination, we immediately raced back to the Slurpee machines. I grabbed two of the largest cups, and began filling them with a mix of flavors.

“Why do you need 2 cups?” Alec asked as he filled his.

“Oh, my boyfriend told me to get him one,” I said putting straws in both cups.

He nodded in understanding, and the 3 of us made our way to the cash register. Once everything was paid for, we made the short five-minute walk to the venue. I saw Alex still talking with random people. I bid farewell to Alec and Kelly, for now, and walked up to Alex.

“Here ya go sweetie,” I said handing Alex his drink.

“Thank you so much babe!” he said putting his arm around my waist.

“Oh, by the way, we’re going to the after party at the karaoke bar tonight,” I said looking up at him.

“Oh yeah! I was going to tell you when you got back. Nathan from Madina Lake just invited us. How did you find out?” he asked.

“I ran into Alec from Powerspace and he went to 7-11 with us. Then he mentioned the party and said we’d be there,” I said laughing a little.

“Sweet. Well, doors are in like 10 minutes, so we better get inside,” he said bidding farewell to his fans.

We walked into the venue, and he gave me a hug and kiss before walking towards the back of the venue. I just took a seat at the merch table next to Kelly and waited the short 10 minutes for doors to open.

Once they did, and the show had started, Kelly and I hardly had downtime. Kids really seemed to be in love with Mayday, and were buying up a ton of their merch. The kids even liked our tip jar, so Kelly and I ended up singing after almost every purchase.

Once the show was done, and the venue was cleared out, Kelly and I started putting the merch away. I started by taking the shirts off the bins sides, and placing them neatly into the bin. Kelly did the same with another bin, and soon enough we we had everything put away.

Then the whole totaling them came up, which I was left to do, seeing as everyone thought I was good at math. While I added everything up, and marked all the apropiate stuff off, I put the lock onto the lock box, and made my way out to the van. The boys had just finished loading their equipment, so it was time to head off to the bar. We all piled into the van, with Alex driving and me shotgun, and were on our way to the bar.

“Kelly, we made $75 dollars in tips tonight!” I said holding up the wad of cash.

“Ahh! Awesome!” she said high fiving me, “We are so keeping that tip sign for a while.”
“Oh, totally agreed!” I said laughing.

As soon as we were at the bar, we all basically separated to talk to the different bands on the tour. Alex and I made our way to the bar, and ordered our drinks before going to talk to anyone. Soon enough though, I found myself sitting in a booth with Alex, Alec, Kevin Kane, Steve from Meriwether and Derek. We were all currently laughing at Kelly and Jake doing a duet to ‘Jasey Rae’ by All Time Low. Once the song ended we all gave them a standing ovation. We then continued with our conversations, and I saw Alec and Kevin wave someone over.

“Guys, I’d like you to meet Autumn City Lights,” Kevin said pointing to a group of guys standing by our table, “They’re a local band here in SanFran.”

I scanned the faces of all of the guys, and felt my heart stop. John was standing among this group of guys, and luckily he hadn’t noticed me. I buried my head in Alex’s chest, and he gave me a confused look. I told him I’d tell him later, and he just put his arm around me.

I couldn’t believe it. I come all the way to San Fransisco, and run into John. He still looked the same, except his hair was a little longer now. I heard the guys bid farewell to the band, and I finally sat back up in my seat.

“Katy, are you okay? Was something wrong with the band?” Alec asked sipping his drink.

“Well, you see, their guitarist John,” I said letting them nod before I continued, “Well, me and him have history. And to put it simply he’s a dick.”

“So that’s the John that you were with before I met you?” Alex asked looking at me.

I merely nodded and he gave my hand a squeeze.

“Oh jeez, I’m sorry Katy,” Kevin said trying to apologize.

“Don’t be, you didn’t know,” I said finishing my drink, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a song to go sing.”

The boys just cheered me on as I made my way up to the make shift stage.

“Alright, this song goes out to someone in the crowd,” I said grabbing the mic, “Here’s to you John Martinez.”

I scanned the crowd and saw John looking at me in shock. As soon as the song started, I sang with all of my heart, not taking my eyes off of him.

“I wake up every evening, with a big smile on my face
And it never feels out of place

And your still probably working at a 9 to 5 pace
I wonder how bad that tastes

When you see my face
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
When you walk my way
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell

Now wheres you picket fence love
And wheres that shiny car,
And did it ever get you far

You've never seem so tense love
I've never seen you fall so hard,
Do you know where you are

And truth be told I miss you
And truth be told I'm lying

When you see my face
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
When you walk my way
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
If you find a man that's worth a damn and treats you well
Then he's a fool, your just as well, hope it gives you hell

Hope it gives you hell

Tomorrow you'll be thinking to yourself
Where'd it all go wrong, the list goes on and on

And truth be told I miss you
And truth be told I'm lying

When you see my face
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
When you walk my way
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
If you find a man that's worth a damn and treats you well
Then he's a fool, your just as well, hope it gives you hell

Now you'll never see, what you've done to me
You can take back your memories they're no good to me
And here's all your lies,
You can look me in my eyes
With that sad sad look that you wear so well

When you see my face
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
When you walk my way
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
If you find a man that's worth a damn and treats you well
Then he's a fool, your just as well, hope it gives you hell

When you see my face
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
When you walk my way
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
When you hear this song and sing along oh you'll never tell
Then you're the fool, I'm just as well
Hope it gives you hell
When you hear this song I hope that it will give you hell
You can sing along I hope that it will treat you well.”

Every word I sang was full of sarcasm, hate, and bitterness. Once the song ended, I heard the table I was sitting at erupt in cheers and I couldn’t help but to laugh. I took one final look at John, and noticed he wasn’t where he was during my performance. I just shrugged, and walked off of the stage, and started to head back to my table.

“You never did let me tell you why I was leaving,” I heard John say as I got off the stage.

“Well, you made it clear the next night,” I spat at him, “Don’t think I didn’t see you getting some sort of disease from that blonde bimbo. Just save it John, I’m over you.”

“That was a drunken mistake,” he said trying to reason with me, “And I didn’t leave you for her. I left to come out here, for my band.”

“Oh well, that makes it even better,” I said sarcastically, “I honestly could care less why you left anymore. Especially since your stupid little band was more important. Plus, Alex treats me like a princess, and wouldn’t leave me like you did.”

“Alex? Is that your new boytoy or something,” he said sounding amused.

“Boyfriend, John, get it right,” I said fuming, “I’m not like you. I don’t do fucking random hook ups. Good fucking riddance John. Never speak to me again.”

He went to say something but I just left him standing in bewilderment, and made my way back over to the booth.

“Babe, that was incredible,” Alex said as soon as I made my way back to the booth.

“Thank you sweetheart,” I said before attaching my lips to his.

“Do you think John got the message?” he asked as we excused ourselves from the booth.

“If he didn’t through the song, he did with our little talk,” I said before telling Alex about me and John’s ‘discussion’.

“I hope you know how much I love you,” Alex said as he pressed his lips to mine.

“Mmm I think I have a good idea, because I love you just as much,” I mumbled against his lips.

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” he said leading me outside, “The hotel’s close, so we can just walk.”

“Sounds like a plan,” I said taking his hand and walking off down the street.

I wasn’t sure if it was because I was with Alex, or because I had gotten a huge load off of my chest, but I felt refreshed and amazing. I had a feeling that from now on, things were going to be getting a lot better.