Preparing for tour isn’t as simple as some may think. There’s practice, packing, a little more practice, and making arrangements for all pets, bills, and everyday things that may need looking after. Most band members will tell you that it’s best to go ahead and get everything out of the way but being the professional procrastinator my mother raised me not to be, I always tend to wait until the very last moment.

This would explain the mountain of clothes, shoes, and makeup that littered my bed. “Ella, what is it that you always told me? ‘Why do tomorrow what you can do today?’ Something along those lines, I think. Anyway, why the fuck do you wait so long to pack? There are so many other things we could be doing right now,” Jack whined, watching as I moved around the room.

“Well, if you’d help me then maybe I could help you,” I suggested, wiggling my eyebrows in Jack’s direction. I swear I’ve never seen the boy move so fast.

With Jack’s help, I managed to pack my bags in record time. When the last zipper was pulled shut, Jack picked up the bags and tossed them off of my bed. “Now, I believe it’s time for sex!”

I laughed at Jack’s bluntness and shook my head as he jumped on my bed and attempted a “sexy” pose. He was always doing things like this and it never failed to make me smile. In our year and a half relationship, I’ve laughed more than I have in my twenty one years of life. Honestly, as much as I hate comedy, something about Jack’s sense of humor keeps pulling me in.

Growing up, I’d never really been that open. It took years for me to reveal even the smallest parts of my hidden self to my best friend. I’d always figured bottling it up and keeping questions at bay made things easier. It definitely didn’t.

After meeting Jack, I learned that a little humor and openness never hurt anyone. It just takes the right type of person to ask those uncomfortable questions, I suppose. Then again, it also helps when that person only sparingly decides to be serious…

“Ella,” I heard Jack call, breaking me out of my thoughts, “we don’t have to if you don’t want to. I mean, we could always go out with everyone for a pre-Warped celebration.”

I couldn’t help but smile at the concern that filled Jack’s eyes and laced his statement. Out of the three boyfriends I’d had in my life, Jack was the only one to ever pay attention to my feelings. It was nice.

In response to Jack’s statement I climbed on the bed and straddled Jack’s hips. “Oh, hush. You know you’d be whining for at least two hours if I didn’t sleep with you,” I joked. Jack rolled his eyes and leaned up to kiss me.

“I hate that you know me so well,” Jack grinned as he let his hands roam down my torso to grip my hips. I merely nodded in return and initiated my own kiss.

My hands traveled up Jack’s sides and over his chest and neck to his newly-dyed hair. I tangled my fingers in the black and blonde locks and smiled into the kiss. He laughed and pulled away before asking, “Why do you like the skunk hair so much?”

I shrugged as my lips found his neck. “It’s cute,” I murmured, nipping and sucking wherever I deemed fit. Jack didn’t argue my stance on the skunk hair as his mouth was, once again, pre-occupied.

I’d never been one for too much talking, especially not during sex. In another attempt to keep him quiet, my hands traveled down from Jack’s hair to the hem of his shirt and tugged. He happily pulled away from me and yanked the shirt from his body as fast as possible. I smirked at the sight and ran my fingers over his Jack Skellington tattoo.

“Ella,” Jack whined, sick of my tracing his tattoos, “if I wanted to be teased I’d go find Alex.”

I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out at him before reaching to unbutton his jeans. “Well, if you want me to stop I can. That way you can go call Alex and have him fix your little problem,” I said before beginning to palm the growing bulge in Jack’s jeans.

“Fuck,” he whined, bucking his hips to meet my hand, “don’t stop. You know I was just kidding.” I laughed and motioned for him to stand up, not wanting to keep on talking. He did as I motioned and shimmied out of his jeans. He tossed them somewhere on the floor in my room and fell back onto the bed saying, “My body is ready!”

I rolled my eyes again and slapped his chest as I straddled his hips. “No more talking,” I murmured. He nodded and pretended to zip his lips as he stared down at me. I smirked and started at the top of his chest and began making my way down, placing little kisses everywhere. I looked up at him as he gave an impatient huff when I reached his the waistband of his boxers. “Patience is a virtue, Jack,” I taunted as I gripped the waistband and started pulling it down.

Jack got fed up with the amount of time I’d decided to spend teasing him and reached down to rip the boxers off of himself. “You know, Ella, it’s not fair that I’m naked and you’re fully clothed,” Jack whined as he stuck out his bottom lip and widened his eyes to appear completely devastated.

I laughed at his expression and reached up to yank off the blink tank top I’d been wearing. My get low shorts received the same treatment and, of course, Jack reached up to complete the daunting task of removing my bra. I rolled my eyes, again, at the giddy expression he wore and slapped his hands away. “Hands off until it’s my turn,” I said with a laugh. He pouted but let his hands fall to his sides to grip the sheets.

I leaned down and heard Jack’s sharp intake of breath. And then I heard Aurora.

“Oh my God! Holy shit, this is gross. I can’t even believe it! My poor virgin eyes,” she screamed before running down the hall.

I felt my face get hot as the blood rushed to my cheeks. “Holy fucking hell,” I screamed, falling backwards on my bed, “don’t you ever fucking knock? Or bother to leave my fucking apartment alone when the fucking door is locked?”

Jack squirmed underneath me and cleared his throat, “While Aurora’s presence is a problem, I have another problem that you can easily take care of.”

I groaned and climbed off of my bed in order to search for my discarded clothes. “You know where the bathroom is. I’m sure there’s lotion or tissues of some sort,” I retorted, a little more than pissed off.

“Come on, babe, don’t even worry about it. I’m still good to go,” Jack assured, winking at me. “Besides, this has totally happened before. No worries.”

“That’s the thing, Jack,” I yelled, “this shit always happens! Whether it’s one of my friends or one of your friends, it happens all the time! How many times have we actually had sex without someone walking in on us? I mean, seriously. This is getting fucking ridiculous. I’m sick of it.”

Jack sighed and grabbed his boxers from beside the bed. He kissed me on the top of my head and pointed at my door. “I’m going to take care of this because, honestly, it’s fucking painful. When I’m done, we’ll talk this over.”

Jack closed the door behind himself and I took that as an opportunity to lock myself in my room and have a moment to myself. Aurora obviously heard the door close and took that as a sign to head to my room. I ignored her knocking and moved to stand at my window.

I stared at the lights of Los Angeles below and sighed at the sight. Living in LA and being in a band with my best friend was always what I wanted. I’d lived my life the way I wanted and now, I guess it was all catching up with me.

To say I was easily aggravated is an understatement. I’d always been a bit bipolar, literally. My mother, father, uncle, and maternal grandfather were all bipolar and it’s said to be hereditary. With that being said, I’d never been officially checked out but I’d been through more mood swings in my twenty-one years than a menopausal woman. Maybe that’s why I can’t keep friends…

I sighed at the thoughts that swirled my head and moved through the maze of things that littered my floor to find my medicine. I used to think too much. It kept me awake, made me more irritable than normal, even gave me panic attacks. So, they put me on crazy pills and it definitely helped. Now, I only take them sparingly but as I felt my chest start to tighten, I couldn’t help but reach for the bottle of little blue pills.

I swallowed the pill and tossed the water bottle on the bed when I heard the toilet flush and the bathroom door open and close. Jack’s footsteps were heard in the hall and a quick mumble to Aurora made me pause in the middle of the room. I didn’t even try to hear what he said, I didn’t care, I just opened the door when he knocked and told me that it was him.

Aurora, with her pink hair and neon Gaga-esque clothes, followed closely behind Jack. He stood behind me with his arms wrapped tightly around my waist while Aurora stood in front of me. “Sorry about that,” she mumbled, “but I have good reasons! There’s a kick-off party at Angels and Kings.”

“I got the same fifty texts from the same fifty people that you did, A. I really just wanted to hang out with my boyfriend and possibly, for the first time, have a nice night with him without getting interrupted by everyone and their goddamn brother!” I practically shouted as I brought my arms up to cross them over my chest.

“Ella,” Aurora whined, “I’m sorry, okay! Don’t be mad at me. You know I hate it when you’re mad at me.”

“This isn’t like me just being mad at you for no reason, Aurora. I’m mad because you, and everyone else for that matter, will never fucking leave me alone! You’re always here. You never knock and you never even care when my fucking door is locked! Today is the first time in seven years that you’ve actually stayed out of a locked room. Is it because you didn’t have anything to pick the lock with?” I stood, ranting until my blood pressure was more than likely hitting the danger zone.

“I’m fucking sorry for wanting to hang out with my best friend! I mean, damn. It’s been the two of us for so long that I’m just used to it, okay,” she attempted to guilt trip me.

“Oh my God! Stop being so immature. Just because I’m mad that you don’t respect my privacy doesn’t mean I don’t want to hang out with. It just means that I’m pissed off that you don’t respect our friendship and boundaries enough to fucking knock or even call me before you fucking come over!”

Jack gripped my waist a little tighter and leaned down to whisper, “Calm down,” in my ear.

Aurora let the tears fall freely from her brightly lined eyes as she moved to my doorway. “Fine, I guess I’ll just leave. I won’t bother you until it’s time to leave for Salt Lake City,” she whispered before hanging her head.

I watched her walk out of my bedroom without the slightest remorse. The only thing I felt was a bit of anger when Jack decided it would be a good idea to head to Angels and Kings anyway. I told him to go ahead and wouldn’t talk to him until he decided to leave.

I decided to spend the night drowning my sorrows in Jack Daniels, tequila, and vodka while watching Thor and countless stupid horror movies.

Fuck the world and most importantly, fuck Warped Tour.

Notes

This title comes from a really good song. Drinking Again by Corey Smith. I'll stop with the country soon, I promise. I can't help it.