Five Years

I sat on the ATL bus the next day with Jenna and Zack. They were comforting me after Jake left last bight with no explanation whatsoever, I just didn’t understand why he would leave me like that even though we had been hitting it off so well the night before and all of last night.

“Don’t worry about him,” Jenna wrapped her arm around my shoulders. “He’s the one who’s missing out.”

Zack let me rest my head on his shoulders, I had soaked the sleeve of his shirt with tears earlier. I honestly don’t know why I was making such a big deal about this, we had only known each other for a total of 24 hours at least.

“The thing that has me reeling is why he would lead me on like that and just leave.” I sighed and blew my nose in the tissue that Jenna handed me. “I mean, it seemed like we were getting along so well and all of a sudden he got cold and just left me standing outside of the bus in a daze.”

Jenna rubbed my shoulders and moved her arm so Zack could pull me into a bear hug.
“Honestly, guys are the worst. We only want what we can’t have, and maybe he just figured that after the night at the bar you were waiting to put the moves on him. Making out on the couch in the venue probably threw him off.” Zack let go of me and I guess it made sense. I was giving into what he wanted so then he didn’t want it anymore.

“Yeah but why would he do that?” I pouted. “I was dead set on getting laid whenever he wanted, I was just trying to make that clear in the dressing room.”

Zack made a face and looked at the ground. “Sis, that’s not something that you should be telling me.”

Jenna and I laughed and I fell onto their laps, resting my head on Jenna’s lap and my feet on Zack’s. She played with my hair and Zack rubbed my feet. We watched a movie for a while and after it was over, Matt came walking in with a giant bag of Chinese takeout. Just as everyone was starting to dig in, an arm pulled me out of the huddle and then outside of the bus.

I looked up to see Alex with a sad look on his face. “Shay, I’m really sorry that he did that to you, you didn’t deserve something like that.” He pulled me into a hug. “I could tell he was an asshole as soon as he came onto the bus.” I started to cry again and Alex only held me tighter. “Do you want to go do something to get your mind off this whole thing?” I let go of him and shook my head.
“Thanks.” I sniffled and he wiped away my tears before I could get the chance to.

“For?” He pushed some hair behind my ear so it wasn’t dragging in my eyes.

“For being the only one who noticed that Jake was going to be like that.” I smiled. “I just don’t know what I expected from him, I mean, he just fucking left me without an explanation at the party last night. What kind of asshole can’t even come up with something besides ‘I just don’t think this will work out’? He didn’t even sound upset about it!”

He smiled sadly and wrapped his arm around my shoulders while we were walking back up to the door of the bus. “Guys do that sometimes. But honestly, letting you go was the biggest mistake that he’s ever made. The poor dude is missing out on something truly amazing.” I smiled widely and we went back on the bus. Giving Alex a second chance for friendship was starting to seem like a really great idea.



That night was another concert. However, I didn’t watch the whole concert like I normally do; instead I was spending it talking with Alex. After not talking to him in such a long time, we had so much catching up to do that I wasn’t willing to do on the first day of tour. He had blossomed as a person, someone that I could actually get along with. We sat in the dressing room and laughed like we were teenagers again.

“Okay, time for you guys to head up to the stage.” Matt poked his head into the room to give the guys a heads up for the performance. Zack was the first to leave the room, followed by Rian, of course the most responsible ones would be the most prepared for the show. Jack, Alex, and I all headed up to the stage together.

“It’s cool to see the two of you being besties again.” Jack laughed and took his guitar from the tech. Alex rolled his eyes and grabbed his guitar, they pulled me in the middle of their huddle and did an awkward group hug. I watched as they all ran out on the stage and the crowd went up into a roar. I danced to the songs and smiled when Alex dedicated Damned If I Do Ya to me for the second time on the tour. The first time it was confusing, I didn’t know what he wanted from me and why he wanted to make amends to me so fast. This time I understood that he was just happy that we’re friends again, and it was so nice to finally be able to have an old friend back.

When they ran back out from the stage, I managed to sneak out of the venue with Vic. We went onto his bus and I raided the fat kid drawer, grabbing a ton of candy and going to watch a movie with them in the back of the bus. I sat between Vic and Tony and we were pretty quiet until Tony spoke up. “So what happened to that Jake guy?” He asked.

“He left me at the party last night after he said that we weren’t going to work out.” I shrugged it off and Vic pulled me into a hug.

“Oh wow, I’m so sorry.” Tony rubbed my arm. “I didn’t think that you two wouldn’t actually work, I was only joking when I said that you guys wouldn’t be able to date.”

“It’s fine,” I smiled and I was actually almost honest with what I said. “Zack, Alex, and Jenna all made me feel a lot better about that asshole today.”

Vic smiled and continued to hold me in his arms. “I’m proud of you girl, you deserve so much better than that.”

“Thanks Vic!” I smiled and kissed his cheek. “I’m just so happy that I’m friends with everyone on the tour now, it’s great to be surrounded by good company.” He and Tony both smiled at that and we continued to watch the movie and I chowed down on the candy in front of me.
Later that night I fell asleep on Vic and had one of the most peaceful rests of my life. I was at peace with the whole Jake situation and I had an entire posse of people behind me if anything ever happened again.

I was shaken awake by none other than Jaime. “Good morning hun.” He smiled and pulled me off of Vic so he could get up. I watched as Vic walked over to the bathroom and I leaned onto Jaime.

“Good morning,” I mumbled and stretched.

“So since you fell asleep here, you’re kind of trapped with us for the day.” Jaime frowned a little but soon his dimples were showing again. “I hope you didn’t plan on doing anything important on your bus this morning.”

I shrugged and got up off the couch. “Not really, it would just be nice to be able to lounge around in some sweats though.” He got off the couch and returned in a few moments with a pair of gray sweatpants and a black keystreet tee shirt.

“Thanks Jaime!” I smiled.

“No problem, but if they’re too big then you can just pull the drawstrings in the pants.” He nodded and left me alone to change. Then I walked out in my new clothes and watched a bunch of movies with the guys, it was some much needed bonding time for us and it was a truly great day.

Notes