Drumsticks, Starter Kits and Bass Guitars

"Nice shirt sweeting," Tarra stated as Heaven opened the bathroom door. Tarra held a cup of Pedialite and the Excedrin bottle in her hands. Heaven gladly took their now well stocked hangover remedy from her and downed it.

"What the hell happened?"

"To hell if I know, you came stumbling in here twenty minutes after three when I had just gotten Keri and Quinn to go to their own room."

"You mean ..."

"Yes Keri is no longer innocent in the eyes of her God!"

"Well hell ... Heaven groaned.

"You shower; I'll go awaken the lovers. I just hope none of them are nekked!" Heaven turned to the bathroom as Tarra went to the abandoned hallway. She decided it was just best not to actually go into the rooms instead she moved a bit down the way and in the middle of the two rooms.

"WAKEY WAKEY EGGS AND BACEY!" she screamed out and heard four distinctive voices groan.

Nell and Minnie both popped out of their room and laughed while moving toward Tarra and Heaven's room, but not before they pounded 'softly' on Pete and Cristi's door. Pete opened the door and glared at their retreating backs Tarra smiled at him and pointed to Keri and Quinn's room and went back into her own.

"So hello my lovelies. Minnie, quite trying to stab Pedo with my broken drumsticks, save it for Boyd, wait ... what?"

"Anyway," Tarra said, "So ... our littlest Sarah wants to come to the show. Unfortunately, her parents aren't too happy with the idea ... Thus, we need a plan to get her to our show."

"Fly her in," Nell said as if it were obvious.

"Ah yes, but Nell," Heaven added, "This Sarah is a youngster. Thirteen in age and therefore her parents would worry."

"Little kids suck!"

"Le gasp Minnie!"

There was pounding on the door and Bert came running in, eyes covered by a hat. Nell was trying to swiftly hide under the bed Heaven was sitting on. Bert laughed and launched himself at her. She screamed in horror as he locked on to her ankle and pulled her back into the open part of the room.

"Nell! My best friend!"

"No I'm not, let go of me you're ICKY!"

Bert fake pouted, lip jutted out, eyes big and watery.

"Fuck off!" Nell snapped, then she looked at him properly, "Why is there a bra on your head?"

"Cause I found it on the balcony of my room."

Tarra spit the juice she had been drinking out, choking.

"What's on that bra?" she took a closer look. Heaven was trying to cover the blush creeping up her face. The bra had penguins and flamingos on them.

"Hey," Minnie said, "Don't you have a bra that looks like that."

"NO!" Heaven denied quickly.

"Yes you do, I did laundry last. They have matching underwear."

"Lies!"

"What happened to your bra Heaven?" Minnie was sneering now.

"N-nothing."

"Where's Beckett staying?"

"Seventh floor," Tarra offered helpfully with a laugh.

"And what floor are you on Bert?"

"SIX!"

"Fuck you!" Heaven snapped the bra off Bert's head and tossed it into a corner of the room. They all laughed as she stormed out of the room.

"Hey, by the way, can you and Beckett keep the noise down from now on!?" Bert shouted after her.

"Think she's gonna go bitch at him now?"

"More than likely, that or she's going to go strangle him." Tarra shrugged her shoulders and gave Bert a questioning look. He was singing Smother Me to Nell while trying to give her a kiss.

~~~~

"Oh I'm desperate for some love-n and I want a kiss!" Tarra sang softly to herself, she had no idea where the words came from, they just appeared and the funny thing was the rhythm to it just so happened to be Dance, Dance.

She stopped on her journey to visit the ever brutal Fat Mike, hey he was offensive, but he was the only person who could beat her at poker besides her dad.
She smiled as she seen that he was coming out of the tour bus and making his own way toward her.

"Mike, no comments. Poker tonight!"

With that said she turned on her heel and walked away from the green haired man that amused her too much. Hopping that she could catch Brendon before the Panic! Set in ten minutes she made her way toward the main stage and began the search for him. Nell and Minnie were off trying to rig the Fall Out Boy's soon to be stage to shower them with their own confetti mixture, which the refuse to give the secret away for, but so far they had already gotten The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Paramore, The Used, and All Time Low.

Bert claimed to get them back as he got of the stage, but they just ran and hid from him.

"TARRA!" the short girl turned in the direction of the person calling her name and then glared at the person. Frank was running after her, losing his pants on the way.

"You know Frank my love, you run weird."

"You would too if your best friend stole all your belts."

"Why did Mikey or Gerard steel your belts?"

"Gerard did it?"

"Once again, why?"

"I hid all of his sketch books." Tarra began to laugh and shook her head at her friend.

"I'm on my way to catch Brendon, Want to join?" Frank just shook his head no and mumbled something about just needing a belt and having to be at a signing right now. Tarra smiled at him then ripped the belt out of her jeans and gave it to him.

"Be lucky I love you Frank, that's my favorite belt."

"Why, it's not a 'you' belt?"

"How the hell is my belt not a 'me' belt, it's a spiffy cool Mickey Mouse belt!"

"I thought you kept all that Disney stuff away from the fans."

"Which is exactly why my tee-shirt is long!" With a kiss on the cheek she left him for the stage that Brendon's voice now flooded out of.

Smiling to herself she stood backstage and watched as the set began to take full force. The entire crowd was singing along with Brendon, but his voice was the only one that she focused on. She watched him work the crowd and smiled the entire time. Somewhere in all this time of playing back and fourth with him she'd done the one thing she had promised herself that she would never do, well besides fan girl squeal when she first met Bert, but she did say that she loved him upon first meeting him.

She'd gone and fell, the big L word was now lingering in the back of her mind. As she watched Brendon "kiss" Ryan on the stage her face went blank, her breath quickened as she began to panic. She never truly wanted to fall; she never thought that it would actually happen for her. All the times that her stomach jumped when he'd smile at her, she took as just the attraction she had built up for him.

Tarra turned away from the stage and slowly made her way back to the bus, where she wanted, no needed to hide.

~~~~

Crying softly to herself Tarra walked onto the bus and made a beeline for her bunk. Keri and Cristi were the only ones on the bus at the time and they just watched her as she closed her curtains and softly began to sniffle.

"Tarra?" they questioned at the same time with a hint of concern in their voice. Cristi hadn't seen Tarra cry, and Keri couldn't remember the last time that her cousin had closed her off and cried alone like this.

"Shortcake?" Keri called out trying to get some answer from her. When nothing but a stiffled sob came out from behind the curtain they both turned to each other and nodded. They moved as one toward the bunk, but as soon as Keri's hand reached to open the curtain Tarra's soft voice rang out to them.

"Guys, could you just leave and not let anyone on here, not even Heaven?" She asked out her voice caked with sorrow.

"Sure thing." Keri stated confused. They both gathered up a few things and headed outside of the bus, plopping down on the pavement and looking sullen themselves, both wondering what the hell had gotten into their friend.

"What do you think is going on?"

"No clue, Last time she got like this with me around was in eighth grade, and it was all because Heaven and she had a fight."

"You don't think that Where's Heaven?" Cristi's eyes went wide as they both shot up to go find Heaven.

~~~~

"Hey, Bert?"

"Hum?" he mumbled turning around and looking from Cristi's serious face to Keri's. "What's going on?"

"Tarra pretty much barricaded herself in the bunks and doesn't want anyone around." Keri stated then her eyes went as wide as Bert's and her hand went over her month. Cristi gave Keri a now you've done it look as Bert ran toward the DE bus.

"WAIT" Cristi screamed after him. He turned around quickly and ignored the fans that were around him. "She want's to be alone."

"WELL SHE'S NOT GOING TO BE!" He screamed as he began to run once more.
"Great she's going to either Kill us, or thank us." Keri mumbled as she spotted Fat Mike talking with Gerard and Frank. They made their way toward them and gave a small wave. Frank cocked his head to the side.

"What's with Bert?"

"Tarra ..." Keri mumbled.

"What about her?" this time it was Cristi's turn to tell it, she sighed and told all three men exactly what the auburn haired girl had done, and even asked Gerard if he had seen Heaven. All the while Frank was cursing under his breath and he too began to make his way toward the DE bus.

"Last time I saw Heaven she and William were arguing with one another about apples and oranges, as they were getting on the TAI bus."

"Thanks, Gerard." Cristi quickly gave him a kiss on the cheek and they made their way toward the bus. As soon as they got there they didn't even bother to knock on the door. If anyone was nekked on that bus, they wouldn't even have the time to blush.

"Hey Siska, where's Heaven?"

"Bathroom." He shrugged his shoulders and left the bus. When Keri and Cristi had made it to the back Heaven and William were stumbling out of the bathroom together.
Cristi and Keri stared at them in mock horror.

"Finally got around to playing together, huh?"

"Pfft," Heaven said with a sneer, knowing that that was no answer at all.

"Please," William huffed, "She was in a bathing suit ... and I didn't get to touch her ... at all!"

"That would be, William, because you are on probation," Heaven said in a mocking tone. Keri's face took on one of consideration, then she smiled.

"Conserving water always is fun." Her smile then turned into a frown when she remember exactly why they actually came searching for Heaven in the first place. "Did you and Tarra get into a fight?"

"No more than usual, why?"

"Tarra barricaded herself in the bunks." Cristi stated, then explained what had happened, and who had ran after her. Heaven shook her head then patted Bill on the shoulder.

"See you soon Apple fiend."

"Uh-huh." Bill smiled at Heaven when she lent into him and gave him a very chaste kiss, and left to figure out what the hell was wrong with Tarra.

~~~~

Tarra curled up into a tight ball on her bunk, the only light coming to shine on her was from the small crack in the curtain. She held blue tight into her chest and was doing nothing, but slowly crying. She didn't want these feeling. She felt that they only made her weak, made room for her to get hurt where she didn't need anymore hurt; her heart.
She knew when he got on the bus. He had a way about him that made the entire world know that he was there.

"Tarra, come on sweeting come out of the bunk."

"No, leave me alone Robert, that's all I want right now, is to be left alone."

"What the Hell is wrong with you now? The last time you wanted to be alone was because you was being overwhelmed about everything and that took you three fucking weeks to get over. What the hell could possibly be wrong this time?"

She heard the door to the bus open once more and shook her head, tears still falling down her face. She heard Frank whispering to Bert. Neither one of them made a move to open up her curtain, and she was thankful for that. For one she probably looked like shit and she sure as hell felt like it.

"What the hell is wrong with My Jelly Bean of Joy?" Minnie's voice rang out into the bus. She knew that both Bert and Frank would be looking at her in fight. Minnie was a force to be reckoned with when the mood called for it. Tarra's tears never failed to stop, even though she was trying to will them away.

"Bert and Frank didn't do anything Minnie. I did it to myself!" Her voice was weak and she did want to be comforted, but she felt so stupid for crying, which is why she didn't want to be around anyone. "Minnie, Sugar, Darling, and everything else in the world. Can you get these two to calm down?" Tarra threw her hand out of the curtains and made a shooing motion.

"Fine, but I want to know what the Hell is going on Jelly Bean, and I mean it!" Minnie reached and grabbed a hold of Frank's ear, but as she went for Bert's he dived into Tarra's bunk and protested that he too didnt want anyone around. Tarra groaned but did nothing else to stop Bert from wrapping her into his arms and rocking her back and forth. The tears came fast and she felt like a child, but she dealt with it. Minnie drug Frank off the bus, and left Bert to calm her down as much as he could.

"You know, it's easier if you talk about it."

"Everyone says that," she mumbled and wiped her face off with the back of her hands.

"Yeah they do don't they. Heaven's arguing with Minnie outside."

"I know, I can hear her."

"Do you want to talk to her instead?" He asked raising her face to his, wiping more of her tears off of her face.

"Not really."

"Then are you going to talk to me?"

"It's stupid it really is"

"If it made you cry, then it's not stupid."

"I realized something."

"And that something was so horrible that it made you cry?"

"Not really, it was how I felt about it that makes me weep."

"Weep, cry, whatever the hell. What did you realize today?"

"That I'm in love."

"God I didn't know being in love with me was that horrible." Bert said smiling Tarra laughed at him and shook her head. He wanted her to smile, and he got it. Her smile always lights up her face and even though it was dark in the bunk, he could still tell that she was smiling.

"Bert I've been in love with you forever it seems. Well since I first heard your voice coming out of the speakers of my computer back in two-thousand-two."

"Ah the voice, did it make you week in the knees and make you think nasty thought about me?"

"Bert, now your starting to scare me just a bit. The nasty thoughts were only dreams, but my knees always quake when I hear a smexi voice." It was his turn to smile and giggle.

"You had nasty dreams about me!"

"Nah, they were weird dreams. Which one involved you stealing all my purple undies."
"Ummmm purple ..." His eyes glazed over and he had a smile on his face that let her know that he was just picturing the purple lingerie.

"Bert ..." Tarra smacked his shoulder and he smiled at her.

"Sorry. Who did you realized that you loved?"

"Brendon ..." Tarra blushed and hid her face in his shoulder. He oddly smelled clean, which meant that he showered after his set, how or why was a mystery to her. But he was the first guy that she'd been around in a while that actually smelled yummy.

"So you realized that you're in love with Brendon. Tarra, my small lover, why is being in love such a bad thing?"

"It leaves you weak."

"You're not a super hero with a secret identity, why's that such a bad thing to have a weak spot?"

"I don't know! I don't want to get broken over some guy, Bert. I don't want to bare my feelings and then somewhere down the line find out that I was just being played with, that I never truly meant anything."

"I bet you mean something to him. Come on he was jealous of me!" Bert smiled down at her and then they both giggled together.

"You are a force to be reckoned with smexi!" She winked up at him.

"Oh stop, you'll make me blush!"

Bert smiled at her as she smiled back. Her head was full of thoughts of what could happen in the long run. She knew that everyone was wanting back on the bus, hell she even heard Brendon and Ryan's voice join in with the crowd this time. Bert looked at her for confirmation and she just nodded her head. He opened up the curtain to get out and go to the door, but Tarra stopped him as he reached to open the door.

"Bert, after you let them back in, come snuggle me to sleep?"

"Sure thing, but your set is soon."

"I know, but I still want to snuggle with you." Bert opened up the bus door and smiled out there at everyone as he stepped off the Bus, Tarra closed the curtain and listened in as he explained to Frank and Heaven what had happened as everyone else climbed onto the bus. Nell was the first one to open her curtain and peek in at her.

"Tarrs, what's got you in a mood?"

"Life always has me in a mood Nell, I'd tell you to go talk you Bert, but first you'd have to come to terms with him. So send your dearest Mouse for the news, and then all shall be clear. Besides, Spencer wanted to ask you something of the utmost importance."

Nell smiled at her and closed the curtains mumbling something about that stupid Spencer Smith kid and always wanting her around.

Tarra glared into the darkness when she heard Bert whispering to Frank everything that had happened, Frank and Bert both climbed into the bunk with her, Bert On one side and Frank had climbed on top of her.

"Frankie, you're squishing me!"

"But there isn't any room for me to cuddle too!" He complained pouting out his lower lip and then smiling at her.

"You two are making it difficult to have pity in myself. Frankie, I'll cuddle with you later, its Bert's time right now."

"All because Minnie didn't almost rip his ear off ..." Frank grumbled out as he left the bunk.

"Bert ..." Tarra whispered stifling a yawn.

"Yeah?"

"Sing to me?" Bert laughed, but complied as he began to sing the first song that came to mind.

~~~~

Heaven smiled out at the crowd as she got off the stage. Right after she put her bass guitar away she heard the announcement that All Time Low was to play the stage next, smiling to herself she pointed from Minnie, to Nell, to herself, then to the stage in which the band had just filed onto and began their set. They all nodded to each other then ran full on and attacked the band as they were in the midst the first song.

Heaven glared as Security began to come after the three to pull them off of the guys.

~~~~

After the set Tarra didn't really want to talk to anyone, so instead of being badgered with questions from her band mates, she'd take them from the fans instead.

She was walking to the merch tent for her shift and the next thing she knew she was being swept up into someone's arms and being carried away. Her eyes went wide in fear, but she couldn't scream. She began to look around her, and more importantly at who held her. Blonde hair and light blue eyes were staring at her.

"Bert, why are you kidnapping me?"

"There are people at my bus that wish to meet you." Was all he said as he carried her inside the party bus and tossed her down on the couch.

"Tarra I'd like to introduce you to ..."

"Who, Frank? Bert I Know Frank."

"No you dork, Aaron Gillespie and Kenny Bozich from The Almost and Ronnie Winter and Joey Westwood from The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus" Tarra's jaw went slack as she waved at the four guys around the room they all ended up smiling at her the Aaron confronted her.

"Like the band's that I'm in, but never come to talk to me?" Tarra blushed and sat down on Frank's lap and spent the rest of the night talking to her now new found friends. When it was time to pack up and leave the venue She decided it was time to play another trick on Panic! She went and hid in their restroom on the tour bus, awaiting for someone to figure out she was in there.