The Biggest Fan

The Day Off.

When I woke up the next morning, I felt groggy as hell. Even though I wasn’t having my usual hangover headache as I normally did after partying the night before, I still felt pretty beat up.
Bert on the other hand was still lying next to me sleeping peaceful, so I carefully climbed over him for then to put on some pants.
I gazed out of the tiny window above the bunk bed, seeing we were still in Hamburg, Germany.

While I was getting dressed, I noticed Quinn was in the small kitchen area, making coffee.
“Hey, you’re up”, he said pouring himself a cup of coffee in a thick black cup. “I’m makin´ coffee, want some?”
“Yes, please”, I replied, reaching for another cup at the top of the shelf.
As I was pouring the hot coffee into the cup, I saw Jepha and Dan’s beds being empty.
“Oh, Jeph’s out joggin´ and Dan’s takin´ a shower”, Quinn said before I even got the chance to ask.

As I was about to take a careful sip out of the coffee cup, I noticed Bert suddenly sitting on the bed.
“Don’t drink that shit! Quinn doesn’t know how to make coffee”.
“Yes, I do”, Quinn said before taking a sip of his coffee for then to make an awkward face expression as he gagged.
“No, you don’t”, Bert emphasized, laughing mildly. “Hey, Lina, wanna go down to Starbuck’s and get some real coffee?”
“Sure”, I responded smiling as I began putting on my black Converse shoes with yellow laces. They were both covered in scrabbling, all music related.

Bert was still wearing nothing but his tight black boxer as he began looking inside the tour bus for his jeans.
“Anyone seen my jeans? Fuck, I can’t find ‘em anywhere”.
“I have no idea. What did you do with them after you took ‘em off last night?”
“Got me”, Bert said, scratching the back of his head, making the black long hair curl up at the back.
“Some party last night, eyh?”, Quinn then added with a grin on his face.
“Fuck, yeah. The best ever”.

Bert gazed at me with a smile as his face turned slightly pink, before he quickly added; “Too bad I don’t remember much”.
“Yeah, me neither. It must’ve been awesome, though. The more fun you have, the less you recall”, Quinn agreed as he poured his coffee into the sink.
I knew Bert remembered more than he was giving himself credit for, but I didn’t want him to know.
Therefore, to change the subject to avoid talking anymore about it, I hinted to Bert that there was lying some clothing on the floor, looking like a pair of pants.

“Ahh, there they were!”, he burst out, before putting on his black knee-high pants.
As he found a tee lying on the couch along with a black hoodie with some brown pattern on it, we were ready to go.
“Don’t forget the cash!”, Quinn yelled as Bert and I stepped out of the tour bus.

While we were walking down the street, Bert pulled his hood over his head as it covered his face.
“It’s just not to get recognized”, he explained, sticking his hands down his pockets.
I nodded, putting on my black hoodie on which I’d been carrying with me.
“So, where is Starbuck’s around here, anyway?”, I asked looking around, before he pointed at a sign saying ‘Starbuck’s’.

When we entered the shop, we saw people sitting inside, sitting by the tables enjoying their cappuccinos, espressos and lattes and other coffee names which I couldn’t even pronounce.
“What do you want?”, Bert asked looking at me from under his hood.
“Erm, I don’t know. What are you having? I’ll have whatever you’ll have”.
“You like, cappuccino, right? ‘Cause that’s what I’m having. Me and the guys love it”.
“Sure, I’ll have that”, I responded.

While Bert was getting Euros out of his pocket, the counter girl came and made eye contact with me.
“Guten Morgen. Was wollen Sie?”, she asked, making me stand there with a question mark on my face.
“Uhm…”, I said looking over at Bert who was having the same face expression as me.
“Fünf Cappuccinon, bitte”, I continued.
“Sehr Gut. War das alle?”
“Ja”.
“Das wird fünfzehn Euros, bitte“, the counter girl said.

I took the money out of Bert’s hand, counting them to make sure it was fifteen Euros, and handed them to her.
“You know German? Where’d you learn that?”, Bert asked with his eyes wide open, looking as me with fascination as he clearly was amazed.
“I have my hidden talents”, I said, slightly sarcastic for then to laugh it off with a smile.
“Yeah, I bet you do”, he said grinning, taking the Starbuck’s bag, which contained five cups of coffee.
“Auf wiedersehen”, I said to the counter girl as Bert and I walked towards the door.
“Auf wiedersehen”, she replied, giving me a crystal white smile.
“Fuckin´ badass”, Bert said, looking at me as for then to bump into my shoulder.

As we got back to the tour bus, Jepha was back from his jogging, now soaking wet wearing nothing but a white towel around his waist, indicating that he’d been in the shower.
“Coffee’s here!”, Quinn announced seeing me and Bert entering the tour bus.
“How much?”, Jepha asked, sitting down on the sofa next to Dan.
“Uhm…”, Bert said, looking over at me.
“15 Euros. That’s about $20”.
“Haha, a roadie with a mastermind”, Quinn commented with a grin on his face.

“Here”, Bert said, putting the Starbuck’s bag on the table, taking out each of the five cups.
While we were sitting in the black leathered sofa group, drinking our cappuccino, a man suddenly entered the tour bus.
“Hey, guys, we’re leavin´ now. Got everythin´ with ya?”
It was the bus driver informing us that we now were about to leave and hit the highway.
“Sure,” Bert answered putting down his coffee.
The bus driver nodded as he went as quickly as he’s come.

“Where are we going?”, I asked, taking a big sip of my sweet tasting over-sugared cappuccino.
“France, baby. We’re goin´ to France”.

As the bus started rolling, I looked outside the window, seeing us leave the large parking lot that we’d been spending the night.
After a couple of hours on the road, I was starting to get hungry and my stomach made damn sure I was heard.
“You hungry?”, Bert asked, raising his eyebrows with a smile. “’Cause the fridge’s right over there”, he continued, pointing at a little refrigerator across from where Quinn was standing and tuning his guitar.
“Yeah, a little”, I responded. I lied, I was starving.
“Take whatever you want, make yourself at home”.

I walked to the fridge and when I was about to open its door, I noticed little magnetic letters sprawled all over it. I saw a significant choice of words, but one particular caught my eye.
“F-U-C-K Y-O-U”, I read with a smile on my face while opening the fridge door.
All I could see was vegetarian food stocked on each shelf, which obviously belonged to Jepha, including some canned food.
‘Campbell’s Chicken Soup’ was labelled on one of the cans which I took out.

“Hey, is if okay if I make some chicken soup?”, I asked. “I could make you some too.”
“Sure, that’ll be great”, Bert said, sitting in the sofa and reading a magazine.
I found a microwave where I put the chicken soup and sat the timer to two minutes.
While I was waiting for the soup to get heated up, I sat down with Bert.
I couldn’t stop noticing his lyric tattoo on his right wrist along with a red pop-art like one with butterflies that he has all the way up his right arm.

“Awesome tattoos”, I said to him, looking at them with fascination.
“You think?”, he asked, putting down the magazine he was reading for then to meet my eyes with a sparkling look.
“It’s really one of my favorites, the lyric tattoo”, he continued. “I’ve had it, like, forever.
This red one is fuckin´ rad. I took it back in 2005 and it’s really special to me.”
“Yeah, it’s beautiful”, I said admiring the notes on the lyric tattoo that were curling around Bert’s wrist.

“I’d like to get one too someday, but I’, just so scared of needles and the pain”, I complained with laughter in my voice.
“Nah”, Jepha added, participating in the conversation as he sat down in the sofa with us.
He was the one with the most tattoos of all of the guys.
“It doesn’t hurt that bad, if that’s what you’re thinking of. It depends on where you get the piece”.
It’s just a little uncomfortable the first time and then you’ll get used to it after a while”, he continued making me feel slightly more comfortable about getting a tattoo.

“Biiip!”, I could hear the microwave’s timer saying.
“Oh, that’s the soup”, I said rushing over to turn off the irritating sound.
“Anyone want some?”, I asked while setting down one bowl of chicken soup in front of Bert and another one where I was sitting.
“Sure, it you’ve got enough”, Quinn responded, now finished tuning his guitar.
Dan was asleep, sp I wasn’t expecting an answer from him.
“What about you, Jepha?”, I then asked gentle, fully aware of his vegetarism. “I think I saw a can of veggie soup in the fridge. I could make you a bowl?”
“Hell, yeah. That would be awesome”, he answered grinning under his dark gray beanie.
“Okay, then”, I said going back to the fridge again, taking one ‘Campbell’s Chicken Soup’ and one ‘Aunt Martha’s Veggie Delight’.

I took both of the canned soups into each bowl and put them in the microwave, turning the timer on to two minutes.
As I again was waiting for the two-minute timer to beep, I walked over to Dan who was still asleep in his bunk bed at the end of the bus.
“Hey, Dan”, I whispered, gently stroking his shoulder. It took a while before I got a response as he slowly turned over facing me. “Do you want some chicken soup?”
“Yeah”, he mumbled, rubbing his eyes as he sat up from the bed.
“Good. Just come when you’re ready, okay?”
“Sure”.

As the timer went off, I rushed back to the small kitchen area to turn off the timer, and took out the two bowls of soup and served them to Jepha and Quinn. Then I got back and found yet another bowl, filling it with chicken soup for then to put it in the microwave and turning on the timer at two minutes.
“Mmm, yummy”, I heard Jepha saying before taking another spoon of his veggie soup.
“Fuckin´ awesome”.
“Yeah, chicken soup rocks”, Bert said, agreeing with Quinn.
Their enjoyment for the food made me crave for my chicken soup ever more.

The timer went off yet again, causing me to rush and turn it off.
“Here you go”, I said to Dan as I served him his bowl of soup before sitting down next to Bert.
I couldn’t wait to finally start eating, but as I took my first taste of the soup, it was to my great disappointed lukewarm, almost cold.
I sighed due to the fact that I’d spent too much time making food for the other guys that I’d forgotten about my own food.
Oh, well, it didn’t matter. At that point, I was so hungry and the soup tasted good anyway, despites its temperature.

As I sat there, enjoying my chicken soup, hearing the guys slurping mouthfuls of their own soup, I couldn’t help but thinking that life was good right now. So damn good.
♠ ♠ ♠
so, this is the first whole day spent with the guys.
comments are very useful to me; by that i'll know
what you readers like and what you don't like.
so remember; comment. :]]]
and just for the record; no, i don't speak german.
thank god for digital translation online. xD

xo,
lina.