The Wild Ride

Brian’s P.O.V.
Three days. Three whole fucking days without so much as a text message from any of the girls. I wasn’t sure if I was more worried or pissed off. All I know is they better be back soon; we have a show in a few days.

I stared at the TV; not really paying attention to what was on, looking like a kid whose brain has gone to mush from too much television. My attention was wrenched away from the TV by the sound of the bus door opening. Zacky joined me in the living room, leading Gilbert along on his leash.

“How was your walk?” I asked him, trying to forget about the girls for a little bit.

While kneeling down and removing Gilbert’s leash, he answered, “Fine.” He looked toward the bunks. “Have those three moved at all?”

I shook my head. “Besides for the normal stuff? No.” Matt, Jimmy, and Johnny pretty much hadn’t gotten out of their bunks since yesterday. The only time they’d get up, or even move for that matter, was to eat, go to the bathroom, or check their phone in hopes of getting some news from the girls.

Zacky sighed and shook his head. “This is shitty.” Gilbert scurried over to the couch and jumped up onto the back of it. He peered out the window, as if waiting for the girls to come back.

Zacky joined me on the couch and we sat and watched TV together, conversing every so often. The door opening again made us look toward it to see Jason carrying a sleeping Rilen in his arms. Jason had taken Rilen to the park to keep him busy. He must have fallen asleep on the ride back.

“Anything?” Jason almost whispered, referring to the subject of news from the girls.

Zacky and I both shook our heads, causing Jason to deflate. “They’ll be back soon,” Zacky told him reassuringly. He didn’t sound very confident however.

Jason just nodded and joined us on the couch, still cradling Rilen. The whole bus was silent except for the TV. I don’t ever remembering this bus being so quiet in all the years we’ve been touring. Deciding to at least get some conversation going, I turned to Jason. “So what happened to Matt?”

“He went to a bar or something,” Jason replied with a shrug. “He’s probably sick of being around when we’re all meh.”

As if on cue, the bus door squeaked a third time, admitting Bee onto the bus. She dragged her belongings passed us without and all of our mouths were probably hanging open. Jimmy shouted, “Bee!” from the bunks, followed by a thump, signaling he had fallen out of his bunk.

The other two must have started pelting Bee with a string of questions because the next thing we heard was an angry yell of, “Shut the fuck up!” before Bee came storming back through the living room and out the door.

Jimmy, Johnny, and Matt all joined us in the living area, looking guilty. “Way to go guys,” I fake congratulated them, including an eye roll in the mix. The three just glared at me.

“Well, should we go see if they’re alright? I kind of need to tell Lynds about that call from Shaun.” Jason’s voice was laced in venom as he said the name of Lyndsey’s ex. The rest of us nodded in agreement and headed for the C.A.B. bus.

We entered the girls’ bus to find all of them congregated in the living area, talking quietly. Their heads all shot to us when we walked in. Gilbert leaped off of Zacky’s shoulder where he was perched and dashed over to Moriah, who scooped him up and placed him on her shoulder.

Everyone just kind of stared at each other until Matt, who probably had the shortest temper of all of us (surprisingly), asked, “Where the hell have you guys been and why didn’t you tell us?”

The girls shared a quick look of what I thought was worry. I quickly shrugged it off, knowing better. “We went to our friends’ funerals,” Mo replied calmly, “and we didn’t say anything because we figured you guys would want to come with us. We wanted to go by ourselves.”

The guys and I all looked at each other, all of us at a loss for words. If they others felt the way I did, we all felt stupid and were still pissed that they didn’t even call.

“You still could have called,” Johnny finally said, eying Liss sadly. I saw Liss mouth a quick apology to him.

“We didn’t want you guys worrying or feeling like you should be there with us,” Lynds told us after getting up and taking Rilen from Jason. She carried him back over to the couch and plopped back down between Liss and Bee.

Matt, still not pleased, grumbled, “You still should have called or something.”

“Look, we’re all sorry for just up and leaving like that. But, we felt like we had to. We promise we won’t do anything like that again.” Jaci smiled weakly at Matt, which seemed to calm him down a bit.

“Lynds.” We all turned to Jason, who had been silent since we saw Bee. “Shaun called your phone while you were gone.”

Lyndsey’s eyes grew wide and she looked up at Jason. “What’d he say?” Her voice was emotionless.

Jason shifted from foot to foot before answering, “He said that this touring environment is bad for Rilen and he’s coming to get him. I don’t know if he was just trying to freak us out or if he was serious.”

“Oh, nuh uh!” Liss yelled, jumping up. “That bastard’s not coming anywhere near Rilen as long as I’m here!”

Mo was growling with clenched fists while Lynds muttered angry curses under her breath. Bee, Jen, and Jaci were obviously pissed, but too shocked to say or do anything. Jason moved over to Lynds and tried to calm her down. Johnny and Zacky did the same with Liss and Mo.

“Um…Bee?” She looked up when I said her name. “Can I talk to you?” She shrugged and I led her off the bus.

“Whatcha need Gates?” Bee asked after I had led her away from the buses.

I didn’t answer her question but engulfed her in a hug instead. She hugged back and chuckled a bit. “Well this is new.”

Suddenly, words just spewed from my mouth. “Will you be my girlfriend?”

Bee giggled at me and I felt a blush creep into my cheeks. “It’s about time you asked me. Yes I will.”

I jumped up and cheered, cause her to laugh more. “You’re such a dork.”

I grinned goofily at her. “But now I’m your dork.” She nodded, still snickering.

A voice behind us interrupted our happy moment. “Where’s Lyndsey?”

Bee squeezed me a bit and growled. “I’d know that voice anywhere.”