Alex woke up after Annabelle had fallen asleep again; even with her head pounding, bundled in his arms, it was hard not to. Alex smiled, looking down at her stunning features. He contemplated untangling himself to go get breakfast, get the day started. But this was too nice, he knew he needed this. An image of Lisa suddenly uncovered itself in his mind. He scowled, shaking it from his head, and burrowing his face into Annabelle’s hair. She was far more lovely than his ex-girlfriend and watching her, and breathing her in, quickly dispelled any stray thoughts of the latter from his brain. Annabelle groaned slightly, her eyelids fluttering open. She blinked at his chest, and then met his eyes. A soft smile crept onto her face. He smiled down at her. Her smile grew steadily into a cheeky grin.
“So.” She raised her eyebrow slightly, and he shifted uncomfortably, knowing what was to come. “Just couldn’t keep away from me?” She made a slight movement, nudging the hard-on just slightly. Shit, Alex thought. He was praying she was ignorant of it, but it would be hard not to be. There was no easy way out of this, his wit, once again, was at a loss. Alex blushed, chuckling slightly,
“I-I guess that’s right.” He tried to continue the joke, but he had an air of uncertainty in his voice. Annabelle blushed as well, suddenly embarrassed, and the morning comfort the two had experienced earlier was broken.

Alex crawled out first, so Annabelle could get out. By now her throat was parched, and as lovely as Alex was, even the singer could not distract her from her need for water. Annabelle pulled down her t-shirt, feeling awkward, and passed the singer, trying not to glance at his crotch, and into the kitchenette. No one was in there, she decided everybody else was probably still asleep because the bus was still moving. While she sipped water, she watched scenery pass; fields, the occasional group of cows, sheep, crops. The sky was beautifully blue outside, she was sad she was missing the morning.


Alex soon joined her after he went to the bathroom and changed, calming himself down. They kneeled on the couch, their thighs touching, with their elbows on the windowsill as they looked out. Alex realised how refreshed he felt, although this was the earliest he had woken up all tour; an untroubled sleep was all it took. He must accidentally sleep with the girl more often. Alex didn't know how Annabelle felt about knowing about the morning glory. He was not sure how experienced the girl was in that particular area. He assumed that she had dealt with guys before, considering her air of sophistication and her extreme beauty. He was wondering what to say to her when she spoke.
“Hey, look, it’s you.” Annabelle pointed out a particular large black and white cow. Alex feigned a glare at her.
“Yeah, well...” He tried to find a worse insult in the scenery, but resulted in poking her ribs instead. She squirmed away, giggling.
“Don’t tell me you’re ticklish?” 
He grinned evilly, finding his one-up.
“Don’t.” Annabelle warned, “If you do, I will thrash and kick you in your pretty face.”
Alex just raised an eyebrow. She thought he was pretty. Well of course she did, all fangirls did. It affected him all the same.
“Hm,” He pretended to think, “you haven’t convinced me.”
He pounced, only for a second realising how blatantly he was flirting.

Annabelle bit her lip to stop herself from screaming, and tried to get off the couch. Her leg tangled underneath her and she face-planted on the ground. Alex caught a glimpse of white underwear, something caught in his throat, before she hurriedly pulled down the t-shirt. He sat on her, and started tickling her sides. His fingers flicking haphazardly across her prominent bones.
“No, no, no, no, no!” Annabelle whispered hoarsely, bursting with laughter. “Stop! Please, stop! I can’t breathe, seriously! Stop!”
“What the-”
Alex snapped his head around to see Jack standing in the doorway, his eyebrows disappeared into his hairline. Alex grinned nervously.

“Sh-she’s really ticklish...” He offered. Alex knew he was already in the deep. He felt heat surge into his cheeks. Jack narrowed his eyes for a moment, that look which let Alex know he was not off the hook, and shrugged and sloped into the kitchenette, finding a container of ramen.
“Hey!” Alex protested, “That’s mine!” He climbed off Annabelle, who had not stopped squirming underneath him, and who was still spluttering although Alex had stopped tickling her. Jack sent him a pointed look and smiled deviously.
“It’s the last one, too.”
“That’s not fair!”
To Annabelle, who had now recovered, and was sitting and watching, it sounded like the frontman was about to cry. She couldn’t see his expression; his back was turned. She quickly left the scene with the excuse of needing to change clothes.

Alex and Jack glared at each other for a very long moment before Jack cracked a smile. He walked over to Alex and slapped him on the back.

“I know.” Jack smiled, winking and pouring freshly boiled water into the ramen container.
“Know what?” Alex asked, sitting at the table. Jack looked at him incredulously, he didn’t speak until he settled down opposite Alex with the noodles.
“Don’t play innocent with me, muchacho.”
Alex widened his eyes innocently.
 “I promise I didn’t use your deodorant again.”
Jack sighed. “No seriously-”
Just then Rian walked in. “Mornin’”
Jack grunted, and Alex felt like slamming his fist against the table. Who knows whether Jack would still tell him now that Rian was here. Jack slurped noodles nonchalantly. Annabelle appeared, wearing jeans and a sweater. Alex’s chance of finding insight flew from the room.

Annabelle spent most of the morning editing and sorting photos which she had taken over the past few days; she was supposed to compile a presentation for her peers when she went home. Matt peeked over her shoulder as she was playing around with a photo of Alex. He smiled, raising his eyebrows.
“I’m impressed.” He chuckled as she started.
“Thank you.”
“I’d totally hire you if you weren’t such a little’n” He winked. Jack waddled over.
“I wanna see!”
Soon the whole band was crowding around the girl, being taken through photos which she had snapped.
“I like that one!” Alex pointed a particular shot of himself out. “I look like a golden God”
The group laughed.
“New DP?” Zack asked jokingly.
“Oh my God, deffs.”

***

Winnipeg, as Annabelle found once she got out of the car, was very small. It was different to the other cities. There was more of a coolness in the air, although it was heading for Summer. The greenery was different as well, maybe the birds sung louder; she wasn’t sure. Either way, it was lovely sitting by the river, with Jack, Alex and Emery(much to Alex’s dismay), nibbling a late lunch. It was after the soundchecks, and they had some time to kill before the show. They sun was sinking and it painted a golden hue across everything. The four of them were not talking, just enjoying the light, the sounds, the peace. Occasionally Emery would ruin it, and Alex would grunt at him in return, until he eventually gave up.

Alex had decided this would be a fantastic make-out spot. He glanced furtively at Annabelle, who was lying on her back, hands behind her head, staring at the sky. Jack’s hoodie was draped over her, as she had complained of being cold, although, in the sun it was warm. Emery was hunched over his iPhone, playing some sort of game, and Jack was leaning back on his hands, also staring at the sky. He pointed something out. Alex looked up, realised that they were cloud spotting. A dinosaur loomed above a duckling, and a fire-breathing bunny hopped across the sky. Alex smiled.

Alex’s phone suddenly started buzzing wildly in his pocket, and Rihanna screamed through the silence. He jumped, fumbling for the device. Annabelle and Jack turned to watch him, pausing in their game. Matt’s face was frowning from the screen at him.
“Hello?” Alex greeted.
“Hey, time to come back.”
“Sure.” Alex hung up and looked at the screen, the photo of his manager disappeared. “I really need to change that...” He muttered as he pocketed the phone. Everyone was staring at him. “Matt made his photo ID a picture of him really angry. So it would frighten me when he calls...” He explained.
“I can see it worked.” Annabelle snickered.
“Yeah, that or Ri-Ri does the trick.” He winked.
“Is it time to go back?” Emery asked. Alex spared him a glance.

“Yeah.” He paused, “I might stay a while.” He gave a pointed look to Jack. Emery looked at them, obviously not picking up what Alex wanted. Annabelle raised her eyebrow, getting it.
“Oh,” Emery said. “Uh, well, I guess I’ll wait for you guys.”
Alex almost yelled in frustration. Instead he pulled up a clump of grass. He squinted against the lowering sun.

“Actually,” Annabelle said, smiling fleetingly at Alex, before settling her gaze on Emery. “Can you take me back now? I’m really cold.”
She was actually enjoying herself cloud-spotting with her new friend, but she had noticed the look Alex had gave Jack. She decided to do Alex a favour. Again.

Emery regarded her, and a smile crept up onto his face.
“Sure.” He stood up and dusted himself off. Annabelle did the same and offered the hoodie to Jack, who told her she could keep it for the walk back. She smiled gratefully and pulled her arms through the sleeves, wrapping it around her tiny frame, it fell to her knees. Annabelle collected their rubbish before following Emery away from the two boys, chucking the litter in a nearby bin before falling in step with the guitarist.

“So, how long have you been playing guitar?” She asked, trying to break, what she felt was, an uncomfortable silence.

“Since I was, like, uh, fourteen?”
“And how old are you now?”
“Twenty-two.”
Annabelle nodded, making a face at the concrete, and swinging her arms slightly. She wondered what was so important to Alex; what they were talking about. Could it be a boyish discussion of last night, this morning. What would Alex say to Jack about waking up with her. She began to wonder about the differences in the information boys share with boys and girls share with girls. Perhaps Alex was not talking to him about her at all. Though she sort of wished he was. To put her mind to rest, she concluded it was probably band stuff. Emery watched her, she was really very attractive. He liked her body, how vulnerable she seemed.
“And you’re, what, sixteen?” Emery said, breaking her chain of thought. Emery already knew her age, the young photographer seemed to be the talk of tour, but he asked anyway.
“Yeah, I am.” Annabelle nodded again, sucking her teeth, and sighed. She glanced at Emery’s greasy hair and sniffed. This would be a long walk back.