It all went smoothly. As I had predicted when bus call came around the whole of Asking Alexandria staggered onto the bus desperately trying to steady each other in their more than drunken state. They seemed to be in a good mood though cause Ben and Danny were shouting a song that obviously still played in their heads. It is my duty to be at the door checking them off making sure nobody gets left behind.
Of course they walked past me without a word just a stupid smirk on their faces. They know I can't party because I have to drive and they want to show off what a great time they had. But tonight I smiled back at them, knowing that I will be enjoying myself later on.

We take off at the designated time while I hear them rumbling around in the bunk area getting ready for the night. An hour into the drive and everything is quiet apart from a few snores. When I turn into the service station that is our first pit stop I already see the Of Mice and Men bus waiting in a parking lot. I come to a halt right beside them, jump out and open the baggage shudders as Austin scoots around the corner chucking the boards into the compartment. "Come on let's go" he grabs me by the shoulder and leads me around the front where Alan and Tony were already waiting, snickering with excitement.

"Hush guys keep it down, we don't want to wake the demons in the back of the bus" I whispered to them although I could hardly stop giggling myself. "Hey Tony, what's up with the war paint, Dude? " I pointed at his face after giving him a hug. He was dressed in his usual black hoodie and black snapback but had also painted three black stripes on either side of his face.

"I dunno, just felt it would add to the excitement." He smiled back at me. I nearly melted away at the look on his face. Cute, cute, cute! I inwardly screamed .

We sneaked back onto the bus and Austin and Alan settled in the front lounge while Tony took the free seat in the drivers cabin.

"Let's do this" I whispered as I shoved in first gear.

When I parked the bus about an hour later at the Esplanade of Surfside Beach the sun had just risen out of the ocean and the glassy waves rolled in in perfect shapes.

I could hardly turn the key before Alan had grabbed my arm and dragged me out of my seat. " Whoa, Easy, look at this, this is going to be sooo good."

We really had a lot of fun. Austin got all touchy-feely under water but I didn't mind at all. Come on this guy is hot! Alan and I were mucking around like two groms, dropping in on each other's wave trying to push the other off the board and I have never seen Tony so happy before, he just genuinely seemed to enjoy our company and he also caught a few good waves.

The two hours we could spend went by so fast and we decided to get back to the bus. Austin walked up from the beach in front of us, Alan had his arm around my shoulders and Tony walked on my other side.

We were just laughing about a stupid joke Alan had made when I bumped into Austin who had stopped in his tracks his hand shot to his mouth mumbling "shit, shit, shit" and already turning around on his heel to look at us with wide eyes.

That's when I looked past him and saw that Asking's bus that I had parked on the other side of the road was surrounded by a decent sized group of people, fans I assumed. "We can't go there, shit what are we going to do?" Austin said sounding a bit freaked out.

My mind was racing, there must be a way to get to the bus without having to fight off a crowd of fans. "Okay, here's the plan"

I heard Alan chuckle at this but I did not let me get distracted. "Look, I parked right in front of this one storey building, it has a nearly flat roof. You guys stay here and try not to attract attention while I try to get to the back of the building and onto the roof, from there I should be able to jump onto the top of the bus and get through the skylight of the front lounge that I left open. Once I am inside I just drive off around the block and when I come round the other side I'll pick you up and off we go."

I was pretty pleased with my idea although I did not want to overthink what could go wrong but the guys faces weren't at all that excited.

"I don't know, Easy." Austin obviously did not like the plan and started to play with his hair nervously.

"I don't like it, I don't want to stay here and miss all the action" Alan pouted. This guy clearly has a high risk personality I swear.

"I'll go with you, I can pull down my hood and cap so nobody will recognise me. And you will need some help to get onto the roof." Tony said in such a stern voice that nobody objected. He grabbed my hand and together we ran across the street passed the bus at a safe distance and disappeared behind the said building.

We looked around the backyard for something to climb on to get onto the roof. Tony found an old rusty barrel that he turned upright and we tried climbing it together.

It was a pretty shaky and very small space that we had to balance on and I held onto Tony trying hard to suppress my laughter. I swear it was just my nerves not his presence.

He folded his fingers and bent down a little and motioned for me to step into them as to help me climb the roof. I held onto his shoulders and he practically threw me onto the roof were I landed with a thump.

"You OK?" He whispered from below. I just snorted for an answer, tearing up with suppressed giggles. He took this as a yes and I heard him rummaging around before he launched himself onto the roof.

We crawled to the front of the roof and peeked over the edge at the bus still surrounded by the kids that now started to chant "Ask-king, Ask-king".

I turned my head to look at Tony "You know what? I am not sure I can make the jump, it's a pretty big gap." I confessed, my confidence suddenly gone.

"Let me jump first, so I can grab you if you miss" he said seeming totally calm "this is cool, just like the Ninja Turtles." He grinned.

Don't guys never grow up? I watched as he stood up to take a couple of steps back wards and ran for the gap. He made it onto the rooftop of the bus easily and crouched down again. Luckily the kids hadn't noticed yet. And he waved for me to jump.

No I just couldn't. I had to do one more thing before that.

So I whispered over to him "Tony, why are you on the roof?" It took a second for him to comprehend but then he whispered back. "Why are you not on the roof?"

With that I did my run-up and jumped. My foot only missed the roof by inches but Tony gripped my arm and pulled me safe. The impact had us fall to the roof together and we snickered as we rolled off each other to crawl to the front lounge skylight, which we could see was tilted open.

The fans were still oblivious to what was going on and so my tension dropped thinking we had made it.

I shimmied through the opening letting myself drop to the floor inside. My feet had just touched the floor when I was gripped by the front of my shirt by a raging Danny and shoved up against the fridge door.

A sharp pain shot through my back and I flinched not wanting to show it. I heard Ben and James yell at him "DANNY, STOP!" but he didn't react.

He held me pinned against the surface, my feet a couple of inches off the floor. His face was so close that I could feel his alcohol fuelled breath on my cheeks.

Just then I saw Tony drop to the floor beside me. He stood up realising what was going on and just lay a hand on Danny's shoulder. "Dude" he said quietly. Still no sign of movement from Danny. The scene seemed frozen for a moment.

I tried my best to steady my voice, looked him in the eyes which I had previously avoided and whispered. "If you want to get out of here, Danny, let me go and do my job, you can bash me up later if it gives you any pleasure." That worked. He let go of me, turned around and entered the bunk area slamming the door shut behind him without a word.

I immediately started for the drivers cabin turning round to Tony only once. "You better let yourself not be seen, you never know, they might be Tony Perry fans as well."

He followed me to the front, stopping at the slide door and stood there like he was shielding my back from the rest of the bus.

I took a deep breath and entered the cabin. The crowd outside noticed the movement and started to cheer. I sat down in my seat and opened the window to them.

" Hey guys, how are you doing ?" I tried my best to sound casual.

"We want Asking, we want Asking" they called out from the crowd.

I raised my voice a bit so that I was heard above the shouts. "I am sorry guys, the bus is empty, I just parked here to have a quick nap and a shower" I hoped this would explain my wet hair. " but now I have to leave and pick up the band from the venue, I hope I see some of you guys at the concert tonight."

There were a lot of disappointed "Ooooooh's" from the crowd.

I handed the two kids that stood closest to my window a handful of bandmerch from the box I had sitting on my dashboard for occasions like this: stickers, bracelets and guitar picks.

"Don't keep it all to yourselves but share it with the rest or else Danny will rip your greedy little hearts out" I joked.

They looked at me with big eyes and solemnly nodded. Jesus, I think they were actually afraid this might happen, this band has got their fans in a tight grip I can tell you. I started the engine and the kids scurried away from the bus letting me pass.

I drove around the block and when I finally returned to the street I turned into the parking lot where I saw two people with four surfboards sitting on a bench. Austin and Alan had put their towels over their heads in lack of other disguise and they looked hilarious.

I stopped right in front of them and they quickly hopped onto the bus. I took off immediately concentrating on finding my way back to the highway. Leaving it to Tony to explain to the others what had happened.

Austin was pretty shocked where as Alan didn't seem to be disturbed at all by the events. "Those guys are shit, they can't even acknowledge a meticulously planned prank." Was all he said before settling in to one of the couches and falling asleep.

Notes