If these sheets were the states, and you were miles away,
I'd fold them end over end to bring you closer to me,
Because I don't sleep at all without you pressed up against me,
I settle for long distance calls, I'm lost in empty pillow talk again...

“Dude, what do you think they’re talking about?”

Mark stared blankly at Landon, looking annoyed and maybe slightly bored. “I don’t know, man...does it matter?”

“Of course it matters!” Landon hissed back excitedly. “This is Jo we’re talking about.”

“He does have a point.” I quietly interjected, keeping my gaze on my phone where I’d been staring at for the last hour or so backstage. Readjusting to tour live sans Jack was...weird, to put it lightly. I mean, sure, when it all boiled down it was still a ton of fun. Hell, in some ways, playing shows as a band had only improved in the fun department thanks to us re-finding our sound and everything.

As for all that time off stage? Well let’s just say I was having a hard time doing anything but keep myself glued to my phone, waiting for the instant Jack contacted me. Like now, for example.

I could practically feel Mark’s bored frown upon me. “And what point would that be?”

I glanced up from my phone and opened my mouth to respond, only for Landon to pipe up once more. “Come on, when was the last time you ever saw Jo this happy? Just talkin’ to a guy, flirting up a storm--”

“It’s been a while, but--”

“Exactly!” I threw up an excited hand in the general direction towards the couple in the distance dripping with sexual energy that anyone with eyes could see. “I mean, hell, as long as I’ve known her, Jo’s been the Ice Queen when it came to any guy showing remote interest in her and now she’s known this guy for what, a week and suddenly they’re attached at the hip?”

Landon and Mark shared a dumbfounded look before Landon asked, “Uh, isn’t that how you and Jack were when you first met?” He raised a brow. “You know, love at first sight and all that crap?”

Well. He had me there.

“We weren’t that bad...” I shrugged despite this.

He just rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure.”

“We really weren’t.”

He just laughed, having known despite my denial that Jack and I were that bad. Hell, the behind the scenes in Straight to DVD was enough to see that Jack and I were inseparable even when I was busy working my ass off for Matt. Sure, by that point we’d already begun dating and well on our way to falling in love, but that version of us wasn’t really that far off from when we first met, either. According to Anna, I was giving Jack googily eyes the second we met.

Though I’m not completely sure what googily eyes look like exactly, I’m pretty positive I wasn’t giving them to Jack. I remember a lot of feelings during that first meeting. Excitement. Nervousness. Shyness. Embarrassment, thanks to Anna. But nowhere do I remember feeling flirtatious, believe me.

“Anyway,” I gave a pointed glare in Landon’s direction. “My point is, Jo deserves to be happy.”

“Of course she does.”

“Yeah, a happy Jo is a happy band.” Mark quipped with a light smile before adding carefully, “We’d just prefer it if we didn’t have to suffer through the rest of the things that go along with--” he cleared his throat. “--a happy Jo.”

I raised a brow. “What, you mean like--”

“The constant kissing, the “I love you’s” every five seconds.” Landon explained almost too quickly. “The annoying way you guys have to stay in constant contact--”

“Thought about this a lot, have we?” I muttered, while the drummer went on his rant filled with annoyance towards love, apparently...

“The sneaking off to secretly have sex even though everyone knows you’re doing it.” Landon continued to list, adding a shiver for added effect. “The sounds one might hear during said secret sex sessions...” He even dared to glance at me when he said this, knowing full well that Jack and I had been caught doing that very thing before.

“Okay that happened one time.”

Mark snorted. “Chris, I hate to break it to you, but it hasn’t been one time.”

I paled, eyes wide in horror as my head snapped towards him. “What?”

He shook his head, daring to smirk as he explained, “Yeah, you know last tour when we shared a bus with All Time Low?” I nodded. “I know you’d wait until it was like one in the morning to sneak into Jack’s bunk and have sex while you thought everyone was asleep.” He shrugged as if I’d made some innocent mistake. “We weren’t.”

“Weren’t we talking about Jo?” I deflected, not really wanting to get into this with my band mates.

Landon nodded, dark eyes turning back towards something I never thought I’d witness: a giggling Jo, laughing at something Josh, the drummer of Twenty One Pilots, said. “Yeah, this is kinda freaking me out...” He muttered, looking on the verge of disgust. “Did you even know she could giggle?”

“It is a strange sight.” I laughed, happy to see my friend so comfortable with a guy, for once. I mean, she hung out with guys all the time but this...this was different. She wasn’t holding up a shield to mask her true feelings to keep people on edge and at a distance to avoid getting hurt. For once, she was acting open, honest and, dare I say it, like a normal girl.

...it was a bit scary.

“Strange?” Landon choked a laugh while I shrugged innocently, finding my description of the sight in front of us pretty accurate. “Chris, it’s like watching Wednesday Addams flirt with...well anyone, really--”

“You don’t have to watch, yanno.” I countered with an eye roll before glancing at my phone once more. No new texts.

He deflated with a whine. “I don’t know why...I can’t stop. It’s mesmerizing. It’s an explosion waiting to happen, I just know it.”

I frowned. “What, you think she’ll break Josh’s heart?”

Landon’s eyes widened in disbelief. “You don’t?”

“Just because they’re polar opposite doesn’t mean this’ll end badly. And personally, I think a guy like him could be good--”

He shook his head stubbornly. “No, this will be far from good, I’m telling you. They’ll be will-they-won’t-they for a while, and when he wants to move onto something more serious, she’ll break his heart. Jo’s a lone wolf, and from what I’ve heard, he’s far from a friends with benefits kind of gu--oooh hey, Anna! What’s up?”

My head shot up as I looked over my shoulder to find Anna walking towards us with a cheery smile on her face. She’d begged to join me on tour for the millionth time and, after my conversation with Jack over my fears returning to touring life, we both decided bringing along someone not in the band would be good for me. Granted, I would’ve probably preferred Madison tagging along, but Anna was good too. “What’re you talking about?” she asked as she plopped down next to me, looking thirsty for gossip.

“Uh, nothing.” I replied quickly, eyes darting back towards the phone in my lap. The last thing I needed was Anna to gossip. It was like giving an alcoholic moonshine. It wouldn’t end well. Not to mention, the poor girl had a crush on the very guy we’d been talking about. “I’ve just been waiting for Jack to call, ‘s all.”

She scrunched up her nose in an ‘is that all?’ manner. “God, you guys can’t spend five seconds alone, can you?”

I let my left hand fly up in front of my face, wagging my fingers a few times so the light could attract the sparkling diamond on my ring finger. “We’re engaged, what do you expect?”
“I’m just teasing.” Anna shrugged with a laugh, turning towards Landon and Mark. “So what’s up?”

“We’re spying on Jo and Josh.” Landon muttered, eyes still glued on the scene playing out in the distance.

Anna’s cheeks flushed at the mention of the blue haired drummer. “Jo and...Josh?” She cleared her throat. “Really?”

“It’s nothing, Ann.” I quickly assured her while simultaneously glaring daggers at Landon.

Mark, clearly a bit more insightful than our band mate, added softly, “Yeah, they’re just friends.”

“Really?” She asked, hopefulness in her voice.

I nodded. “Yeah, we were just spying on them to...” My voice faded, turning to Landon for help.

“...to plan the next tour prank?” He finished with an unsure half-shrug.

Anna, thank God, didn’t notice his tone. “Ooh, a prank? I totally want in.”

It was just as I was breathing a sigh of relief that my phone buzzed and the call I’d been waiting for all day from the love of my life was finally coming in. “Okay well you guys have fun planning, I’ve gotta take this.” I pointed down at my phone as I shot up, seconds away from walking out of the backstage area we’d been occupying.

“Say hi to Jack for me.” Anna waved me off, attention too focused on something as awesome as a prank to be bothered.

I just laughed, taking my time exiting the small club. I waited until I got onto the currently empty tour bus to answer the phone, making sure to answer the call with video. “I never thought I’d say this, but I kinda wish this tour was just over already.” I sighed heavily as I mumbled towards my phone’s camera. We both had a good three weeks left on our committed schedules and though I had been surprisingly having a bit more fun than I expected, I still missed my man like crazy. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, playing shows with Tyler and Josh have been great. They’re great show men and really sarcastic, funny dudes, but--”

“It’s not the same, I know.” Jack finished for me, looking spent as his image peered forward, the reflection of the screen bouncing off the lenses of his thick rimmed glasses. “Believe me...I thought when and if we ever got the chance to tour with Green Day, I’d be all over that shit. You know, partying with the guys and being on cloud nine and all that, but after our first week out it just kinda seems...underwhelming?” He scrunched up his face at the preposterous thought. “Fuck, that sounds crazy.”

“It does a bit, yeah.” I chuckled as I wiggled myself into my designated bunk on the bus, just in case someone decided to walk in on my private conversation with my fiancee. Not that I expected anything to get too personal or otherwise sexual at two in the afternoon, but with the group of people I hung around, I could never be too careful. Especially since, according to Mark, there were now things that quote, ‘haunt his nightmares’ thanks to Jack and I's apparantly failed attempts at getting some alone time on the bus. Dramatic reaction aside, I wasn’t about to let such a thing happen again.

“It’s been annoying Alex, I think.” Jack added as an afterthought, glancing up away from the screen for a second before looking back at ‘me’ and our virtual conversation.

“Alex, get annoyed with you?” I rolled my eyes, having known only a few times when Alex got visibly annoyed at his best friend. Those times were thankfully few and far between, and I highly doubted he’d get something like that under his skin. “Now you’re just being silly.”

He shrugged, not completely convinced. “Eh, I don’t know, Sally. I’ve been playing the shows, sure, but ‘lex and the guys can tell I’m not quite there.”

My eyes widened, knowing exactly what that meant. For musicians like us; especially one as energetic and engaging as Jack usually was, being ‘not quite there’ was far from a good thing. “It’s not because of me, is it?”

He was silent, pursing his lips as he glanced up, gaze sheepish. “I--” He paused as he gave a heavy sigh. “I worry...” He said softly.

I paled, feeling worried myself that I was the one that made Jack’s mind be elsewhere. I mean, I repeat, I missed him like hell, but to phone in performances like that was never something I’d known him to do. “Jack, I told you, I’ve been good. Jo and the guys are looking out for me and hell, even Anna is on tour with us so I promise, I’m in safe hands.” I carefully observed Jack’s worried gaze on my screen. “I haven’t had any episodes, no hallucinations, no nightmares, nothing, alright?”

“Would you tell me if you did?”

Pang of guilt aside, I was a bit hurt by his question despite my record of keeping things like that secret. “Of course I would.”

“...okay.” He sighed, my words probably only a little bit of comfort. I knew that until we were both in the same country, in each other’s arms, nothing I did could truly calm those waters. “Well, I guess if Anna’s with you I shouldn’t worry.”

I smirked, the both of us knowing just how my younger cousin acted in a touring environment. You know, completely bat shit psycho crazy.

...I mean that lovingly, of course.

Which was why I teased, “Well you might wanna worry a little. You know the kind of shit Anna can do on one day of touring, that crazy stalker. Imagine a whole tour’s worth of that.”

Jack let our a light laugh. “Who does she have her eye on now?”

I rolled my eyes. “Josh, you know, from Twenty One Pilots--by the way, did you realize you two share the same birthday? Like, the exact day, apparently.” He shook his head while I continued, “I didn’t either until Little Miss Obsessive told me...but anyway, she’s been in love with him since they met first day of tour, and I’m pretty sure she’s convinced she and him are going to be the next me and you.”

“Who knows, it could happen.” Jack just smirked, wagging his eyebrows up a few times.

“You aren’t serious. Josh and Anna?”

“Why not? Don’t you want her to find love?”

I scrunched my nose, “Well, yeah, of course. But there’s no way she’ll end up with a musician. She can barely separate you being a part of the family and you being Jack Barakat, guitarist for All Time Low. How in the world would she handle being in a relationship with someone in a band?”

He tilted his head to the side. “...maybe you’ve got a point.”

“I know I do.” I nodded vigorously. “Trust me, Josh and Anna are not gonna happen and besides, Josh clearly has his eye on someone else--”

Considering the limited amount of females on tour, it only took a second for Jack to make the connection to what I was implying. “Don’t tell me...”

“I know, right? It’s about time Jo set her eyes on someone.” I paused, realizing they hadn’t actually done anything that would warrant the beginnings of a possible romantic relationship but still, it was enough to get me excited. “And the more I think about it, he’d be perfect for her. He’s quiet, sweet, funny and quite the gentleman, actually--”

“Are you sure you’re not the one with the crush?”

I locked my jaw shut for a second, only relaxing it when I realized Jack’s query was all in jest. Still, I felt the need to assure him. “What? No, I’m just saying he’d be a good match for our spunky Jo, that’s all.”

He nodded. “You might be on to something.”

“I am on to something.” I replied confidently. “You should see the way he looks at her.”

“So is this what you’ve been up to while I’ve been away? Playing matchmaker?” Jack chuckled in amusement over my enthusiasm at the mere idea of Jo and Josh together.

I had to correct him. “First of all, they’re not together officially. They’re still in that weird not-friends-but-not-lovers stage. And secondly, I had nothing to do with this. I’m just enjoying it from afar, is all.”

“Yeah, well...I wish I was there to watch this train wreck of a romance with you.”

“I wish you were here, too.” I sighed, blinking a few times before I added with a frown, “And what do you mean ‘train wreck’? You just said I was onto something. Don’t tell me you think the two of them is a bad idea--”

He winced. “I don’t know, I mean I know Jo, alright. And as long as I’ve known her, she’s been attracted to bad ass guys. You know, the kind that just scream trouble the second you see them.”

“Like Wyatt?”

He nodded. “Yeah, like Wyatt. Most of the other guys weren’t as bad as that, but point is Jo’s never been with a guy like Josh, and...I don’t know if she could handle someone as mellow and, well, good as he seems to be.”

“Jo seems to be handling him just fine.” I shrugged. “I mean, she’s hanging out with him almost all the time and laughing and smiling and shit. Jo. That has to be a good sign, right?” I peered at the camera with a hopeful gaze.

Jack just sighed. “Let’s hope so...”

Our conversation faded for a moment, the two of us thinking about our dear friend. Then, licking my lips, I decided to lighten the mood. “Oh! I heard from Cass." I told him happily.

“Yeah?”

I bobbed my head. “She’s inviting us to visit her on the Voice next month. It’ll actually be the same week as your friends Darryl and Kendra’s wedding so it lines up perfectly with our schedule, if you’re interested.”

“I’m down if you are.” He shrugged, the idea of going to a show as huge as the Voice oddly not phasing him. Then again, we’d be going to support one of our closest friends who had already made it to the top five, so I guess a bit of perspective was in order.

I smiled, resisting the urge to squeal. There were few shows I watched now a days, but the Voice was definitely one of them, even before Cass auditioned. I was a bit of a fan girl, I admit. Team Blake FTW. You know, now that Cass was on the Country super star’s team. “Great. I’ll tell her we’re in.” I paused for a second, willing myself to shoot Cassadee a message right that moment, I was that excited.

“Awesome. Can’t wait.” Jack matched my enthusiastic smile when suddenly a knock behind him caused him to frown. He looked over his shoulder, his attention towards someone off screen. Then Jack cursed, giving me an apologetic pout. “Crap. I gotta go. Talk to you tomorrow?”

I nodded, forcing my smile to stay despite feeling saddened that he had to leave so suddenly. Chatting with him was always the highlight of my day, after all. Nothing against playing music with my close friends, you know, doing what we loved, but Jack would always have that beat. “Of course. Love you.”

He blew a kiss towards the screen. “Love ya too, Sally.” Then, too soon, the screen disconnected, leaving me alone once more.

I sighed to myself, raising myself up out of the bunk as I slowly began the journey back inside the club where I’d perform later that night. Then the next night, in a different city, in a different club I’d do the same thing, going through the motions until the tour would finally come to an end and I could see him, be with him in person. That’s not so bad, right?

I could do this.

Just three more weeks.

Just three more weeks until I’d be in his arms.

Notes

Filler, filler.

I apologize, but the next chapters will be more exciting :)

Opening lyrics are obviously by ATL. Don't forget to rate/review/subscribe. I love you guys and I'll try hard to get another chapter out by next week!