I woke up the next morning with the worst pain in my jaw. I got out of my bunk and I padded into the bathroom on the bus. I looked in the mirror and I found the bruise on my face. I groaned, trying to figure out who the hell hit me.

"Okay who the fuck hit me last night," I asked Matt as I got out to the front lounge.

"Emily," he replied, "From Lost at Sea. She decked you pretty damn good."

"Bitch," I growled as I punched the nearest wall, "I'm going to give her an earful."

"No you won't," Rian came into the front lounge, "You earned that punch. You were a douche bag to her last night."

"Whatever," I crossed my arms in frustration as I plopped onto the couch.

---

We finally got to have the stage to practice. I looked over at the merch booths to find Emily helping her band set up their merch tent with Vinny. He was going to man both our booth and theirs since they didn't have a real crew like we did.

"Dude," Zack came over to me after we finished playing Heroes, "If looks could kill, poor Emily would be dead."

"She deserves it for punching me," I told him.

"Stop being a sore loser," Jack yelled at me, "So she hit you, big fucking deal. You deserved it."

I rolled my eyes and went back to playing. Through the rest of the set, I watched Emily dance along to the music. Her body got lost in the melodies of every song. Her cotton candy pink hair flowed through the air as she twirled and got into it. When we got into A Love Like War, I decided to include her. I might as well help her get her band out there through her voice.

"Emily," I called into my mic, "Do you want to sing A Love Like War for the tour?"

"Sure," she replied, "Give me a sec. I'll be right up."

Emily ran up to the end of the stage and Zack hoisted her up with ease. Damn muscle junkie. Dan hooked up her monitors and got her a mic to use for rehearsal. Now I was going to have to spend all tour playing this song with her. Joy.

---

Once we were done for the day, I chose to collapse into my bunk and go on my macbook. I surfed the web, looking up baby goat videos since I was bored as fuck and in a bad mood. Weird videos like that would always make me smile.

"There you are grumpy gills," Jack poked his head into the bunk, "You want to play some Halo to vent your frustrations out?"

"No thanks, Jack-o," I told him, "Maybe later."

He shrugged and left. I then plugged in my headphones and looked Lost at Sea. I wanted to actually give her band a listen. After an hour, I was sold. She had this great voice, but it wasn't showing during the rehearsals. Maybe she was struggling with the pressure of opening for us.

Which means I'll have to hook up with the guys to get her band to hang with us to let loose a little. Maybe a nice party without me being so drunk is in order.

Notes