Beautiful Tragedy

"Oi, lover!"

I looked over to see Jim waving at me from the bus. Boxes and all sorts of equipment laying out around him. I rolled my eyes, and ran over to him.

"Wassup?" I eyed the boxes suspiciously, I knew what he was about to ask, but there was always the slightest chance of getting away with it.

"Will you take the equipment in?" He gestured to the stuff laying around him and then grinned at me cheekily. "I'm getting it out of the van."

I saw Gerard coming out of the bus in front to come and talk to one of us, and tried not to acknowledge him. The last thing i wanted was Jim knowing I fancied the socks off of him.

"And there I was thinking you'd called me over for a quickie in the bathroom," I laughed and picked up one of the amp stacks.

"Later, Sex-bomb!" Jim called as i walked away, and I felt both pairs of eyes follow me through the back entrance of the venue. I kept my eyes trained in front of me, and didn't let go of the smirk on my face until I got my finger caught in the clasp.

I pulled out the amp and laid it in the corner of the stage, dragging the box off with me and hiding it in a little store-room backstage. As I walked out of the room, I almost got bowled over by Jess.

"Woah! What's going on here?" I asked, still grinning like a chesire cat.

"Beth challenged me to a skipping race! She'll never win!" Jess raised her fist in the air in detemination, and Beth stuck her tongue out, lunging.

"Im warming up!" She giggled, flexing her arms. "I'm the skipping master!"

"I'll have you know," I started, "I'm the master of skipping in Utah!"

Suddenly the hallway erupted with high-pitched giggles, and both Beth and Jess were doubled over clutching their ribs. I frowned slightly, and glared at them both as they recovered, before jumping up and down on the spot.

"Then i shall prove it to you!" I shouted. "From here to the bus, since I'm currently meant to be helping to unpack."

"GO!" Beth screamed, and suddenly all three of us were flying down the corridor, arms and legs getting tangled with each other before we would quickly recover and carry on through the hallway making a sharp right through onto the stage.

I stumbled over an empty box that hadn't been put away yet and jumped across the barrier and carried on skipping around and through the empty door. Yelping as Jess pushed me out of the way, I ran to catch up with both her and Beth and scraped the lead, stopping right in front of Gerard and Jim who were staring at all three of us with worried looks.

"Should we check them into a mental clinic?" Jim asked, and just as he finished his question, Jess pushed Beth into me and I fell straight into Gerard's chest. The force of me made him trip and suddenly my arms were around him, with his back against the tourbus, our faces barely inches apart.

"Bert? I thought you were my sex beast?"

I quickly let go of Gerard, ignoring the look I was getting from him, and turning to Jim. I was getting quite good at this pretending I didn't care jazz, if I may say so myself.

"I am Jimmy-pie. I only have eyes for you."

As I turned to pick up a guitar case, I could have sworn I saw jealousy in Gerard's eyes.