All the Wrong Reasons

It was nearly a month into the tour, and Natalie had already gotten used to the flow of things. Brooke on the other hand, didn’t enjoy being a stand-in merch girl.

The day was nearly over, but the sun was still out, and just as torturing as ever. Brooke entered the bus, hoping to have a moment or two to herself. She plopped down on the couch and opened a cool bottle of water.

Her headphones were on as loud as they could go, but the distraction didn’t keep Brook from nearly falling asleep. The crowd today had more energy than ever, and it seemed Brooke’s own energy had been stolen from her with every group of fans that decided they wanted a shirt.

Eyes closed, with no chance of hearing any sound that wasn’t coming from the small speakers made Brooke oblivious to the fact that she was no longer alone in the tour bus.

“Wow, Gabe. Why didn’t you tell me you guys has a bus full of gorgeous sleeping women?” A strange tall, slim guy said while staring at Brooke, who still thought she was alone.

“I wouldn’t let her hear you say that, if I were you.” Gabe informed them while waving his hand in front of Brookes face to make sure she was asleep. “ And what do you mean full? There’s only one here. Natalie is still out somewhere with the other bands.”

“There’s more?!” a second boy asked, looking rather excited.

“Don’t get your hopes there, guys,” Nate chimed in, “I don’t think Brooke’s your type, or Natalie.” Alex turned away, but Jack kept staring at the sleeping Brooklynn.

“You sure about that?” asked Jack with a cocky grin. He switched his gaze to her hand when he noticed a movement. “I guess we‘ll see now, Navarro. She’s awake.”

“No she’s not, I checked.” Gabe assured them.

Jack pointed to Brooke’s hand, “Does she always turn her iPod down while she sleeps?”

Gabe laughed nervously, “Whoops.”

The music from her iPod stopped, and Brooklynn opened her eyes.

Gabe saw that she really was awake, and sat on her, like he usually does when someone is taking up the entire couch. “Hello, sleepyhead.”

“Why hello there, Gabriel. Hello Nate. Hello people that I do not know.” Brooklynn said, barley breathing. She rolled over, causing Gabe to fall to the floor. “So do you have names?”

“I’m Jack.” he said quickly, extending his hand.

Brooklynn looked at him strangely. “Brooke,” she replied. It had been a while since actually had to shake someone’s hand.

“And I’m Alex,” Alex stated from across the bus, “but screw that formal crap.”

Brooklynn smiled at Alex, “Thank you.”

Nate nudged Alex as a sign that they were leaving the bus so Brooklynn could take her nap. Nate, Gabe, and Alex all left the bus peacefully, but Jack decided that he would sneak back into the bus after all the others were away from a visual standing point.

“So, Brooke, how are you today?” he asked, startling her.

“Just fine. I thought you were all gone,” she uttered quietly.

Jack laughed smugly, “What’s wrong? You don’t like Alex and me?”

“Oh no, I have no problem with Alex,” she teased.

Jack made his eyes look like those of a lost puppy and pouted, “That’s harsh. I like you,” he winked and grabbed Brooke’s water bottle as she went to reach for it.

“Give me my water,” she ordered smiling, so Jack continued to keep the water from her for amusement.

“What will you give me in return?” he asked with a grin.

With a roll of her eyes, she grabbed a magazine and began reading, “Absolutely nothing. Keep it.”

They sat in silence for quite some time. Brooke read her magazine, and Jack watched.

Brooke looked up from the text in front of her and met Jack’s eyes, “Yes?”

“Do you want to go on a walk?” he sighed, “I’m bored out of my mind.”

“Not particularly,” she admitted, looking back to the article she was reading.

“Do you have something against walking?” Jack asked.

“No,” she replied quite annoyed.

“Then let’s go!” he grabbed her by the wrist and forced her off the couch.

“Pushy, pushy!” she whined, grabbing her shoes as she was pulled past them. They walked off of the bus, heading towards absolutely nothing.

As they continued walking, Brooke noticed that she was in a particularly good mood. It was odd because, only moments earlier, she was feeling crabby and vulnerable. Now, she didn’t have a care in the world. Now that it cooled off a bit, everything seemed more beautiful. She could appreciate the way that the sun light up everything into countless shades of bright summery colors. Brooklynn remembered the afternoons that she spent as a teenager, walking just to get away from everything. Everybody. She loved the freedom then, and she loved it now. Jack’s company wasn’t even as bad as she thought it would have been.

For the past half hour, they walked while Jack asked her countless random questions , but none that annoyed her. In fact, Brooke was growing to dislike this Jack character less and less.

“So, what is your full name?” he asked while they passed a group of girls in short shorts that were trying to impress him. Brooke kindly ignored the fact that he stared as they passed.

“Brooklynn Rae Patience Travena.” she replied with a note of disgust to her voice.

“Two middle names, impressive.” Jack said.

They walked a few more steps, then Brooke turned to him, “And yours?”
“Jack Bassam Barakat” he accounted.

Brooklynn laughed, “Bassam?”

“Don’t make fun of me!” he ordered semi-non seriously, “It’s different.”

“I agree. You didn’t make fun of me, so it’s only fair.”

They turned around and started heading on the long walk back to the bus.

Shortly into their conversation, Jack managed to fit in another question, “So what do you do for a living? You don’t seem to me like much of the merch girl type.”

“I just finished an internship with a newspaper in New York. What do you do?”

Jack laughed as if he were glad the question were asked, “I’m the guitarist for the band All Time Low.”

Brooke rolled her eyes, “I’ve heard of you guys.”

“Yeah, not surprising. Alex’s voice tends to get people talking.”

Brooklynn was shocked that Jack didn’t say anything slightly more overly self-centered. As they got closer to the busses, Jack turned to Brooklynn, “What do you think of not stopping the walking?”

Brooklynn shrugged, “Everyone’s packing up. I don’t think it would be that great of an idea.”

“Okay,” Jack surrendered, “but at least tell me that you don’t still hate me. Please?”

“I do not hate you Jack Bassam Barakat.” Brooklynn smiled.

“Good,” he retorted, returning the smile, “So Farewell Miss Brooklynn,”

Brooklynn boarded the bus to find that only Natalie was there.

“Brooke, I need to talk to you about someone,” Natalie said quickly when she noticed Brooklynn standing there. It was if she hadn’t been aware of Brooke absence. “You’ve had a month. You need to take your first pick now, because I’m ready to pick for myself.”

“Well,” Brooke paused, the first person that came to mind was Jack, but she quickly dismissed that, “I’ve got no one. I guess I will just have to forget about our little deal then.”

“Okay, I guess I should tell you about Alex then, huh?” Natalie asked, sitting straight up like she always does before telling a story.

“Alex who?” Brooke inquired, taking a seat next to Natalie.

“Gaskarth. Yes, you’ve probably heard of him. He’s from All Time Low.” Natalie informed her before going to start her story.

“You’re kidding!” Brooklynn shrieked, like they were a couple of high school girls again. “I met him and the guitarist earlier today.”

“Then I guess I don’t have to tell you how amazing he is.” Natalie chuckled.

“Yeah right! Don’t spare any details.” Brook ordered.

So Natalie went on with her story of how she met Alex. His amazing hair, his cute laugh, and how he was incredibly down to earth for a famous person. Brooklynn, however, heard none of it. She couldn’t get Jack out of her mind, and she had no idea why. Brooke was denying to herself that she could ever date someone like Jack. You could tell just by being in the same room as him that he wasn’t exactly the relationship type. This guy was the biggest flirt in the worst way possible, but Brooke couldn’t stop thinking about him.