Snapped Guitar Strings and Broken Hearts

Jake pulled up in my driveway and I smiled, kissing my dad goodbye and sprinting out the door. I heard a farewell and good luck from him.
Jake helped me put my stuff in the trunk, along with everything else. Caleb’s drums took up the most space, because there were so many pieces. I don’t think he’ll be able to see in the back window.
I climbed in the passenger seat again. That was ‘my’ seat now. I was the only one who sat in it.
“ So, where are we going first?” I asked Jake as he pulled onto a highway.
“ Seaaaattle.” He smiled and I was excited. Seattle wasn’t that far, so we would get to see the tour bus sooner. Yay!
I spotted 5 packets of Skittles in the backseat with Aiden and the rest of them.
“ Hey, man. I want some dang Skittles!” I whined, and Aiden smiled evilly, throwing a neon green sharpie at my head.
“ SKITTLES NOT SHARPIES!” I shouted, and a packet of sour skittles hit me in the shoulder. I squealed in delight. These were my favorite. I began to eat my skittles happily, giving Jake one every five minutes or so.
Finding use of the sharpie, I began to color my nails, and drinking Jake’s Vault. He complained when I did, and I heard laughter from the backseat.
They were throwing Skittles at each other. Oh, Jake is gonna be pissed…. Ooooohhh….
“ STOP THE SKITTLE FIGHT IN MY CAR!! ON THE TOUR BUS!!!” Jake shouted, pulling off the highway and onto a smaller more deserted road.

We drove this road for what seemed like maybe half an hour and then pulled onto a bigger, busier one.
Jake pulled into a parking lot. It was almost vacant, but there was a huge tour bus in the middle. It was awesome. It was black, with our logo in silver and red on both sides and the back. I loved it at first sight, and jumped out of the car before it had fully stopped.
“ Gwin!” Ricky shouted, pouncing on me. We crashed to the ground and I lightly scraped my elbows.
“ Rick!” I shouted into his face and he winced. Ricky was around 20 years old, and as enthusiastic about us as our parents were.
Jake came over and lightly prodded Ricky in the side with his foot.
“ Sorry.” Ricky got up and helped my up. I swatted the dust off of my jeans as they talked.
I caught bits and pieces of it. Four bunks. We wouldn’t have to drive; there was a stereo… a bathroom. Small, though. Oh, so sweet! They had Guitar Hero II AND DDR!
Our tour bus was heaven. Yup.
Craig was the first one on, because he ran on before Ricky even finished talking. Go figure.
I ran after him, and we ran up the steps, onto the tour bus. Whoa.
The first thing I did was go back outside to get my bag and amp. I put the amp in a small room I guessed was for instruments and my bag on the top, back right bunk. My bunk. Yay!
Then I ran back into the alcove, and looked in the fridge. MAJOR SKITTLES!!! YAY! Plus there was Vault, Mountain Dew, Coke, Rock Star, and Red Bull. Psheah. Our tour bus is full of caffeine. Awessoooome.
The others made their way into the bus and they all just kind of stared around in shock. I was opening some Vault, happily chugging it and opening a pack of Skittles.
“ Ricky, you know us too well!!” I said, hugging him. Aiden’s eyes looked like they would pop out when she saw the massive amount of sugar we had.
SCORE!
“ Nah. I know you like caffeine, sugar and video games. That’s an easy combination.” He nodded, and I removed myself from him.
“ That sounds about right.” Caleb nodded, picking up the guitar for Guitar Hero II and struggling with it. Sometimes drummers are idiots…
But Caleb was an idiot most of the time… so yeah.
Aiden took the guitar from him and began to show him how to do it. He gave little grunts there or a nod here. Clueless, much.
Robby and Craig were gone; probably somewhere in the back…doing something I don’t want to think about.
I shivered and then drank the rest of my Vault, throwing the bottle at Jake’s head. I missed.
“ Dammit.” I muttered, kicking a chair lightly
“ Hey, were you trying to hit me?”
“ Um…” I looked away. “No?”
“ Right.” He tackled me onto a couch and began kissing my neck. Ack…
“ Jake... Jake don’t do that…Jaaake…” I whined, as he began to bite the soft skin.
“ And…why shouldn’t I?”
“ ‘Cause you sho-o-ouldn’t…”
“ Mmm-Hmm…” He mumbled, his lip ring brushing my neck. Pleasure rippled up my neck as I tried desperately to push him off of me.
“ Jaaaaaaake….”
I saw Caleb and Aiden’s eyes on us. They were sort of twitching.
“ Thaaat’s why.”
“ Hmm?” He lifted his head from my neck momentarily and glanced at the two.
“ Get a room.” Caleb said.
“ Or a bunk.” Added Aiden, turning back to their videogame.
I took my chance and wriggled under Jake’s grip, sliding out of his arms. I ran into my bunk and curled up into a ball under the blanket that was there.
I heard Jake walking through and I think I heard Robby and Craig below me. I shuddered at the thought.
A light filtered into my bunk and I lay stock-still.
There was a snicker and then I felt an extremely large weight on top of me. That was definitely Jake.
I tried to hold in my giggles and not groan. But it didn’t work.
“ Jake!” I shouted, moving uncomfortably under him. He chuckled and got off. I scooted as far back as I could until I hit the wall. Dammit.
I sighed and poked my head out from under the black and red-checkered blanket to see Jake’s face right next to mine. I screamed and Jake fell out of the bunk, laughing.
My face turned red as I fumed, hopping down and kicking Jake. I saw Robby and Craig peered out of the bunk that they were in, hair stuck up and Craig’s lip was bleeding, along with Robby’s neck. Ew.
They started to laugh and slipped back into their bunk. I really didn’t want to know what was happening in there.
“ Hey, man, nothing more than making out!” Ricky said, kicking somebody in there. I helped Jake up and I heard a low snickering from behind the curtained mattress.
“ But we’re christening the bunk!” Robby whined, while Craig laughed in the background.
“ NOT TODAY, MORONS.” I heard Caleb charging into the bunks and throwing something. A remote whizzed past my head and hit the curtains, a squeal emerging as a shirtless Robby rolled out of the bunk, to Jake’s feet.
He giggled as Jake nudged him in the side and Craig’s face emerged and he smirked again. Robby jumped up and tackled him back into the bunk and I heard a thud as they hit the wall. Weirdos.
Soon enough, they both emerged with their shirts on and hair relatively fixed. But it was still way too obvious what they’d been doing.
Jake and I were in the alcove, watching Caleb get his butt kicked as Guitar Hero. It was hilarious to see Aiden on the ground and Caleb struggling, playing the wrong chords and trying to keep up madly.
I took the guitar from Caleb about halfway through and began to play, gaining more points than our drummer had gotten. He was so pathetic.
Aiden still beat me, but that was because I only jumped in the middle. Well, that was my excuse. Robby begged to play Dance, Dance Revolution, so we got it out, just as the bus started. I felt it begin to move and Jake slipped on the mat he was dancing on, Robby standing up and laughing at him madly.

This routine seemed to go on for hours. According to Craig and Robby—the only ones not high on caffeine—we’d kept this up for well over ten hours. My jaw dropped and I felt the drowsiness affecting me.
The others were also really tired, and we trudged off to our bunks, leaving Craig and Robby alone. I’m guessing we’ll all have sugar hangovers in the morning and they’ll have to take care of us. Poor them.
I fell asleep in Jake’s arms, his muscular arms, the arms that he played guitar with. He shifted occasionally, and I would check to see if he was okay.
I heard Robby and Craig making their way into their bunk, giggling softly. I decided to try and sleep, and it worked, my eyes closing almost immediately.
When I woke up, my eyes were groggy with sleep, and I no longer felt Jake’s arm around my waist.
I groaned, getting up slowly and making my way into the alcove, holding my head. Checking a clock, I realized it was past lunch. I’d slept forever. My head hurt so much… too much caffeine is definitely a bad thing.
Jake held out a bottle of Advil for me and I took it, thankful. I put two pills in my mouth, swallowing them dry.
Ow… my head.
Craig laughed at my expression. I thought it was my hair and touched it. It could’ve been. My hair was sticking up, and it felt all tangled. Robby was beside him on the couch, almost asleep. I was aiming for Craig when I threw the bottle, but it hit the sleeping figure of my friend, waking him up.
“ Hey!” He shouted. It was too loud for me and I winced, going to sit on the floor.
I sat down, and saw Caleb lazily playing GuitarHero. I made my way over, took up the other controller and started to rapidly play. This was lazily for me, but Caleb just stared in awe.
“ Cheater.” He mumbled. Aiden snickered from behind him. She’d made her way in around five minutes after I had, sitting on the floor.
“ No. I just rock at guitar.” I replied, still playing.
He sighed, and tried to play still. I must admit, though. He was better than last night. His fingers were a bit better, more dexterity in them.
“ You’re getting better.” I tried to encourage him, as the game ended and I completely kicked his butt.
“ Yeah. Right.”

Around an hour and 50 packets of Sour Skittles later, there was a jerking and we were flung forward. I rubbed my head and heard an apology from Ricky, who was driving the bus.
“ Sorry, kiddies, I stopped the bus a bit suddenly.” His head emerged from the door, spiked neon orange hair flying in every direction. Sometimes I wondered if his hair was dyed on accident.
“ So, we’re here then?” Craig asked excitedly, bouncing up and down on the ragged couch he was on.
“ No. We’re at a gas station.” Rick said sternly, and our faces fell. “ MORONS! We’re here, you idiots!”
“ AWESOOOOME!!!” Jake spoke for the first time this morning, jumping up and down like the kid we knew he was. On the inside. “ But wait… where is ‘here’?” He asked, cocking his head.
“ Urg…” Ricky tried to remember. Hey, he was the one who drove us to the damn place, he should remember!
“ Ricky, you drove us here. Where are we?”
“ Oh!!!! I remember now!” Our manager got excited, seeing that he actually retained valuable information. “ We’re in Everett.”
“ Wha?” Half of us said. Robby was asleep again and Caleb and Craig were on GuitarHero.
“ Everett, Washington you dipsticks. You live in the friggin’ state.” He sighed, and walked off, outside.
“ Oh.” I looked around as he left and grabbed 3 cans of Rockstar, chucking one at Jake, the other at Aiden. I link my arm with hers and we skipped off of the bus, giggling while we drank energy drinks.
“ Ohmigod!! Look, Aiden!!! It’s Aiden!!” I began to giggle harder and she did too. We skipped over to them, arms still linked. After a while, we stopped, unable to skip without falling over our feet.
When we finally stopped in front of the guys who were chatting and tapped Wil on the shoulder. He looked around and Aiden just kind of gawked. At the moment he probably had on more make-up than both of us together.
“ Hey…Wil…. I’m…. Ohmigod… Aiden, what’s my name?” I asked, forgetting my name at his extreme hawtness.
“ We don’t know you. We don’t know your name.” There was a chorus of ‘I don’t know’s from the band.
“ No. Gwin means me. My name is Aiden. And I love you guys!” She squealed, hugging Jake tightly. I noted that his eyelid slowly twitched and she loosened her grip.
“ Weird…” Nick mumbled and I nodded, holding up the Rockstar in her hand.
“ Psheah. We’re high on Rockstar!”
Wil nodded, slowly at first and then decided to speak up. “ So, what band are you two groupies for?”
I pretended to look shocked, taken aback. But it ended in a fit of laughter between my friend and I.
“ I’m in Slightly Dead. Lead guitarist, dudes.” I said, proudly raising my chin. It was believable, just not common.
“ And I’m their groupie!” Aiden screeched, jumping up and down excitedly. Yeah. She had too much Rockstar.
“ Aiden… let me have the energy drink…” I tried to pry it from her but she insisted on finishing it, chugging the rest before giving me the can.
“ Dammit Aiden… you’re so gonna be up all night…” I muttered, kicking the can around the asphalt.
We received awkward glances from the emo band across from us and I apologized.
“ Sorry. Aiden was eating like… 15 packets of Ski—“ I started, my sentence being rudely interrupted by Aiden’s drunken babbling.
“ HEY, LADY! YOU HAD LIKE 25!!!” She accused, starting to sound drunk. Maybe I shouldn’t have given her that Rockstar.
“ I think we get it…” Jake nodded, chuckling. “ And you should make her lie down…”
“ Yeah. Will do.” I paused, looking around for Aiden, who had disappeared. I found her, enthusiastically talking to a drunken Quinn and Jepha.
“ C’mon, Aiden… you are sleeping. NOW.”
She whined, struggling against my grip on her arm but obliged, sighing. “ I got to see Quinny!”
“ Yes… Yes you did, Aiden. Now lets get you back into the bus and you can lay with Caleb.” I nodded, leading her towards the bus. She was slightly tripping over her feet and giggling insanely.
I rolled my eyes and dragged her up the stairs, receiving glances from Caleb and Craig. Robby was laughing hysterically at her, and I threw my empty can of energy drink at him.
He winced and muttered something like, ‘the second time today…’ before growling.
Caleb walked over to me, taking Aiden in his arms. I was surprised—so seemed everybody else—that his small body could even manage to pick up Aiden’s weight.
She wasn’t fat, and was about as short as him, but it /was/ amazing, nonetheless.
“ Wowzers.” I breathed.
“ Psheah.” Craig agreed, nodding sleepily.

We’d gotten Aiden to pass out around an hour later and realized it was around 8:00 at night. Tomorrow at 4:30PM, we would play our first show on Taste of Chaos.
Wow.
I crawled into the bunk that Jake and I shared, pressing myself against the inside wall and burrowing underneath the black and grey comforter. It was really warm, and that was what I needed. I was still in my jeans and tank top, but it didn’t matter. Without my belt and shoes I could fall asleep. Hell, I could fall asleep with my belt and shoes.
Aiden’s breathing could be heard from her bunk. I peered out of the curtain to see her sleeping peacefully. That’s what I’d hoped for.
Turning around, I faced my head toward the wall again and burrowed deeper, burying my head in the pillow. I felt a weight beside me, and an arm around my waist.
Jake.
“ Get some sleep, Gwin. We have a show tomorrow.” He mumbled sleepily, burying his face in the crook of my neck. I felt warmer, and murmured an okay back to him.
My eyelids were getting heavier by the millisecond and soon enough I felt sleep take over my body.

I felt a ray of sunlight on my back and a harsh poking at my side.
“Ow. GeddafeckawayfrommemofoImtryintosleephere.” I mumbled, clearly confusing everybody else.
“ GO AWAY!” I yelled and then Jake climbed back in with me. I felt his mouth on my neck again.
“ Jakkkke…. You’re gonna leave me a love bite and we have a show.” I whined, trying to push him off of me again.
“ Display it proudly.” He snickered, before continuing. “ If you get out, I’ll stop biting you…”
“ OKAY! I’M UP!”
I hurriedly jumped out of the bunk, pushing Jake over while I was at it. He seemed amused as I searched for something to wear.

Aiden was awake, hyper as ever. She was bouncing around, happily putting on my make-up. There was massive black and hot pink eyeliner. I’d tried to get rid of the pink, but she said that it matched.
But my friend was right after all. The black and pink Hawthorne Heights shirt had matched, along with the black skinny jeans that wrapped their way around my frame.
“ Ohmigod!!!” Robby screamed in an extremely high-pitched voice. Sometimes I wondered if he wasn’t bi, just gay. “ Gwin’s wearing /PINK/!!!”
He started to go into hysterical giggles. Man, they all probably had Skittles. Even Jake was hyper and jumpy. I rolled my eyes and grabbed a Vault from the mini-fridge.
“ Lay off the caffeine or you’ll end up like Aiden…” I mumbled to him and the only other girl in the bus just kind of stared.
“ Wait. What happened to me?” She asked, kind of loopy-ish.
“ Um. You passed out after we went and talked to Aiden and you met Quinn, Bert and Jepha.”
“ No. Way.” She looked shocker, and her jaw just kind of sagged. “ SWEEEEET! Wait. Why don’t I ever remember all the good shit like that??!?”
“ Don’t ask me, but you were all like ‘I met Quinny…’. It was really scary.” I nodded, and Aiden giggled.
“ Hahaha. I probably would’ve been like that minus the sugar!”

Aiden wanted a full recollection on what happened since she’d missed it. I gave her one, but was rudely interrupted.
“ Hey. Enough of the girly gossip. We’re off to sound check. That means you, Gwin.” Jake pulled me roughly by the collar and I gasped before regaining my composure. “ If you want, you can sell our shirts and shiz, Aiden.”
She nodded enthusiastically. I could already see her getting our logo tattooed somewhere on her body… Ew.
Hey, I can’t say anything. I was going to for my 17th birthday, which was in a bit over a year.
I was sixteen in a month!
Then I could drive. Oh, yeah. That rocks.
Jake would probably kill me, and I would be on tour, and not earning my license. So when I got back, and into school, I’d get it. But still. That was awesome.
I felt a sharp tugging at my left arm, shaking me from my thoughts. I turned my head and saw Jake trying to pull me up from my sitting position on the floor. It wasn’t working, and he was just dragging me.
“ GWIN! Get yo’ lazy butt off the ground! WE HAVE TO GO TO SOUNDCHECK!” He yelled, stomping his foot.
“ Oh. Wait. What?” I asked, standing up and rubbing my head lightly. It hurt sort of. Probably from all that thinking…
“ SOUND CHECK, BISH!”
“ Oh. Okay!” I said happily, grinning at Jake’s angry face. He rolled his following behind him.
Jake rolled his eyes, trying to catch up with the rest of our idiots. We passed Aiden, who was selling a CD to some emo guy. Sweet. Fans.
We’d walked up to a small stage, like some that we saw at Warped Tour. Craig was there, jumping up and down, bass in his hands. Robby was screaming. Just screaming. No words, but it was beautiful.
Okay, I think that’s just me.
Jake nudged me, once again taking me from my thoughts. I shook my head, removing my guitar from its black case. Sure, the guitar was beaten up a bit, but it was pretty in its own way.
I was lost in thought, tuning my guitar half-heartedly. Jake had finished what seemed like hours ago. He was strumming his chords for our single. The song that had started this band.
I still loved that song, but I knew we had better. I’d written a few, but didn’t like them. Craig and Caleb were there to help compose, while the rest of us randomly threw ideas on paper.
But it worked.
And now we had an album. How life just throws things at you…

Okay, back to reality. Jake was poking me in the nose and Robby was biting the sleeve of my shirt.
“GEDDAFECKOFF!!!!!!!!” I screamed, making Robby jump from his place behind my shoulder.
“ Yeah. We’re on in like ten, Gwin.” Caleb laughed, hitting Rob in the head with a drumstick. Finally. Somebody besides me got hit.

So many things change.
Even if we still are friends, I sensed something was going to change. And it wasn’t good.

We walked onto the stage, Caleb twirling with a piece of his bleached hair. He stayed out of the sunlight, like Robby and Craig. What precautions they had for being such creatures.
What things Jake and I would do for them. To keep their secrets hidden.

Back to reality. Again.
Jake earned a few squeals from the girls, same with Robby and Craig. It was the hair. I was sure of it…
Some guy decided to throw his shirt at me. Yuck. Dude. I belonged to Jakey. He was mine.
So, I decided to show the twits this.
Making out on a stage is fun. Especially when there are a whole bunch of people just staring at you wide eyed.
Jake started to bite my neck and I told him to stop, returning to the other side of the stage.

I got a good look at the crowd now. There were probably around 200 to 400 kids out there. Wow.
And I had a feeling that Craig and Robby were gonna tell the girls to back off somewhere in the middle…

“ Heeeeeeeey!!” Robby screamed out, smiling. It concealed his fangs, but his teeth were perfect.
There was a cheering from the crowd. It felt so good to be up on the stage like this…
“ We are Slightly Dead, and we’re from Eldon and George Washingtooon!” He yelled, receiving a louder roar.
I vaguely heard a few taps on Caleb’s snare. Then there was a soft beat from the bass. Jake’s guitar let out a screech, and we composed ourselves, jumping into a song.
I saw a mosh pit form when Robby began screaming, a vein in his forehead popping out.

“ When colors fly
And words blur
We’re flying
No, we’re goin’ down.

Oh, and when we fall down
From these fists
We’ll be happy
‘Cause those pills have us screwed.

Happy faces
Hallucinations
Snap out of it.
NOW.

The music is welcome.
So is the alcohol
Come with me
And we’ll take these together.

I’ve got this gun
Yeah, it’s pointed to my head
Oh, I’m happy though

Happy faces
Hallucinations
Snap out of it.
NOW.

Oh, I love you all
But tonight was my last
I’d waited too long for my dreams.”

Robby sang every note right. There were no mistakes. We’d made it through our first song on Taste of Chaos.
“ That was Buried in Euphoria! Now all of you need to go buy our album when we get done playing. Or we’ll personally come out and beat all of your asses!” Craig smiled as he said this, stealing the microphone from Robby.
Robby rolled his eyes, taking the microphone back. “ That’s Craig, our annoying, overly pierced bassist.” He said, receiving a few laughs, some squeals and shrieks.
Craig came up behind Robby and swung his bass so it was on his back and jumped on Robby. He was hanging from Robby’s back and speaking into the microphone.
“ Yeah, well Robby, here, so totally owns me. Sorry, ladies.” He snickered, kissing Robby on the cheek.
Once again, Robby rolled his eyes. “ Yes, I own Craig. He’s mine. Stay away.” He giggled and Craig got off his back, skipping over to his spot next to Jake.
Sometimes I wondered how he survived. The insults, the hatred.
Robby announced that we were playing our single. Jake and I started off with the usual notes, and everybody else jumped in with us. Robby sang Razors like he had the first time, Jake screaming at all the usual parts.
Some of the fans even sang along. I was mildly surprised. Only a few, but there were some who knew it as well as we did. Wow.

We played around 5 more songs, only what we thought was best on our album. And then we did a cover for This Time Imperfect. The best song by AFI ever. I loved it.
There was only one guitar, so Jake let me play. Robby sang, and it wasn’t bad at all.

So here we are, backstage, after the show, drinking energy drinks and going nuts. I had snuck a few drinks from Jake’s beer. And you had to admit, it was good. Gave you a feeling. Like nobody could stop you. You were on the top of the world.
But it didn’t last long, since Robby pried me from the beer. I was reluctant, but knew what it would do to me. So I stopped, and got what Jake had from him. I didn’t want him smashed and in bed with me.
That’d be bad.
Robby and Craig spent most of their time on a ragged couch by our massive amounts of drinks. They would kiss, murmur softly to each other and cuddle. How cute.
How could you be a homophobe? My best friends were gay or bi or whatever, and it never really did bother me.

Once again, I was taken from my thoughts. But not by Jake. It was Aiden. She was shoving some kind of pastry in my face, shouting things.
“ Ohmigod, Gwin!!! Look at ‘em!!! Isn’t he just AWESOME!?!?!” She squealed. I got a better look and saw that it was a muffin. A muffin with chocolate chips in it. Yum…
“ HIS NAME IS LANCELOT!” Aiden announced, happily skipping around and singing about it.
She had Rockstar…
“ WHO GAVE AIDEN CAFFIENE?!?!” I yelled, wanting an answer. Caleb gave a shy smile, almost innocent like. He raised his hand.
“ Um… me?”
“ IMMA KILL YOU, CALEB!” I screamed, getting up from my spot on top of an amp and launching myself at Caleb. He screeched. It was very girl-like.
“ Nononononononoooooooo… Dun hurt me…” He whined, kicking me pathetically. I continued to jab him in the stomach. “ I’m innocent!”
“ Liar. But I’ll let you go. ‘Cause we need you for shows.”
He smirked triumphantly and I sucker punched him. That ended up with him falling over to the ground, and Aiden rushing over, Lancelot the muffin in her hand.
I rolled my eyes, walking over to Jake, who was lying on a couch. Sitting next to him was easy. But lying with him was harder. I attempted to do it without waking him, but failed.
He was startled and blinked rapidly before wrapping me in his arms.
“ You were great, Gwinny…” He mumbled incoherently, rubbing my side.
“ Same with you. I loved it, Jake. It was awesome…” I nodded, and he buried his face in my hair.
“ Very awesome. The thing Craig did when he jumped on Robby…” He gave a soft laugh that rang through my ears. “ That was hilarious…”His hand continued to slide up my side, soothingly.
“ Yup. Well, it’ll get the girls off of them. But they’ll still go for you and Caleb, I bet…” I said, turning my head around and received a peck on the lips. Rolling my eyes, I turned back around and closed my eyes.
“ Nah. I don’t think they’ll mess with me. We were, like, gonna have secks on the stage, dude…” He mumbled. I laughed and elbowed him, receiving a cough. “ You know I wouldn’t allow that, Jakey…”
“ Yeah, I know. Hell, I’m waiting’ till I’m married…”
“ Same here…” I yawned and he giggled into my neck.
“ Go to sleep, lazy.” He took his hand off my side.
“ No… put your hand back. I’ll go to sleep then...” I whispered, and he replaced it, continuing to stroke my side.

I didn’t end up falling asleep because Aiden was screaming at the top of her lungs. Oh well.
We had fun. I had a ton of sugar, almost ending up like Aiden the previous night. Jake stayed sober and continued to eat Skittles with me. I threw a few at Robby, and he smashed a yellow one with his foot.

“ OHMIGOD!!! YOU KILLED THE SKITTLE, ROBBY!!!!” Aiden screamed, a look of horror on her face as she looked at the yellow-white powder.
“ Hahaha. Looks like cocaine.” Robby giggled, falling into Craig’s lap. He bent over and looked like he was about to snort it before Craig put his arms around Robby’s waist and yanked him back. A slight ‘oof’ emitted from his mouth.
“ No coke for you, Rob.” Craig murmured. I could barely hear it. He nuzzled into Robby’s neck and stroked his hair. My gay, gay friends…
Before I knew what was happening, Aiden was in my face, showing me the powder and sobbing hysterically. Yeah. She’d had more caffeine.
I was going to murder Caleb.
“ Robby…he killed…the skittle…” She cried, shoving it by my face.
I was still lying down and she was on her knees. I nodded slowly and yawned, closing my eyes.
“ Go have a funeral for it then, Aiden…” I murmured, feeling Jake’s hand still stroking my side.
“ Okay…” She sniffled, wandering off to a patch of dirt. I cracked open one eye and looked at her dig a small hole and bury the skittle powder.
Wow. I think that Aiden is on drugs.
“ Caleb, seriously, no more sugar for Aiden.” I mumbled, and I felt Jake pick me up from the couch.
“ Okay, night Gwin.” I glanced at the clock. It was almost midnight.
“ Night, guys. Aiden.” She sniffled and the others gave various farewells.

Jake had put me into our bunk and I removed my belt that was digging into my waist. I took off my jeans and pulled on some black sweat pants. I told Jake to go away and he did, leaving me to change from my sweaty tee shirt into a red tank top.
“ I’m decent, Jakey…” I mumbled, and he came back in. I snuggled into the back corner of the bunk like usual, him right up against me.
“ G’night, Gwin. We’ll wake up in San Francisco,” he mumbled, reminding me where we were playing next.
“ Night…” I managed to get out before drifting to sleep.