Old Cassettes and Cigarettes

“No smoking on the bus, Avery!!”

“Kyle. We have been driving for six hours straight. I just suffered through the epic 20 minute battle of Austin and Kent fighting over who gets to play Toad on Mario Kart. You have not stopped moving since we left, and Caleb wont stop whining about his hair beginning to frizz. I‘m gonna smoke a cigarette before I kill somebody.”

It was only the first day of the tour, and Avery was already beginning to feel stressed out and cooped up in the bus. It was probably because they had been driving for so long and all the guys have been doing since the bus took off was wreaking complete havoc.

Avery flashed Kyle a dangerous smile and the platinum blonde backed away towards the bunks without another word. Caleb scoffed and frowned at what Avery had said about him, but he plopped down on the leather couch next to her and stole a cigarette out of the cardboard carton that rested in her lap.

He propped one of the windows open and the two sat quietly while enjoying their cigarettes. The rest of the bus seemed quiet for the next few minutes until Charlie, the driver, hollered back to the masses.

“We‘re gonna be stopping in about ten minutes to fill up!”

“Thank God,” Avery muttered to herself, tossing her cigarette out the open window.

“Hey Avery?” Caleb asked quietly, tossing his own cigarette out the window. “Will you straighten my hair?”

“Sure,” she said lightly. The two got off of the couch and headed towards the bathroom where Caleb plopped himself on the toilet seat. Avery began attacking his bright red locks with her hair straightener.

“So are you completely stoked to get this tour started yet?!” Caleb asked excitedly, bouncing up and down a few times. Avery let a quiet laugh escape from her lips.

“I am completely stoked to get off of this bus already, yes.”

Caleb rolled his eyes and looked forward into the mirror on the opposite wall. He watched closely as Avery played with his hair and fixed it the way he liked it. He closed his eyes after a few seconds and smiled to himself. He always loved it when someone played with his hair. Even if she was just straightening it, he loved it. It felt comforting and calming. He never said anything to anyone, but Avery was the only one who could style his hair just the way he wanted it.

The bus came to a stop a few minutes later and Avery let out a loud cheer as she bounded down the stairs to get outside.

“Yay!!” she hollered, kneeling on the concrete underneath her and placing her palms on the ground. She was happy to not be on the moving tour bus and was grateful to be on some steady ground.

The rest of the guys stumbled off the bus behind her and Kyle nudged her in the butt with his foot.

She quickly scrambled to her feet and playfully punched him in the stomach.

“Avery, will you buy me an iced tea please?” Kyle whined, slapping her hand.

“Hand over the money and it‘s done,” she retorted, beckoning for his cash.

He smiled happily and handed her a five dollar bill and she walked off into the convenient store of the gas station. Almost everyone else milled about outside of the bus for a while, while Charlie went about filling the tank with gas and checking the tires and such.

Austin zoomed past Avery on his infamous scooter and hollered when another tour bus pulled into the gas station lot next to them. Avery glanced at the bus for a second before she followed Austin into the store. He pushed himself down a few isles of the snack food, grabbing as much as he could while still navigating through the shelves on his scooter. Avery walked to the back wall of the store and scanned over the beverages in the coolers.

The bell on the door jingled and slammed shut as Avery picked out Kyle’s iced tea. A split second later, she heard an unbearable crashing noise and a loud shout came from Austin. He had fallen to the ground, taking a bunch of Pringles containers and chip bags with him.

Trying not to laugh and panic at the same time, Avery went to view the destruction, but was stopped as she almost ran into a tall, gangly boy who was hauling ass out of the store with Austin’s scooter slung over his shoulder. Avery quickly stepped aside as the boy rushed past her and the store owner ran over and began yelling at Austin.

Out of curiosity and confusion, Avery placed the iced tea down on the counter and walked outside just in time to catch the thief riding circles in the parking lot on Austin’s scooter.

“Prank War Round Two, bitches!” he shouted. Then he screeched at the top of his lungs making some weird bird screeching noise and high-tailed it to the other tour bus, scooter in tow. The rest of the guys just stood there watching, some of their mouths hanging open and laughs escaping their lips.

Before Avery could say anything to anyone, Austin stormed out of the convenient store and stomped over to the other tour bus.

“I‘ll get my scooter back you asshat!” he yelled, banging on the side of the bus. The blinds to one of the windows flew open and four faces appeared in the window a second later. All four of them wore an identical mischievous smile and Austin gave them all the middle finger before the bus began to drive away.

“Those little shits,” he muttered, walking back to their tour bus.

Dumbfounded, Avery followed behind him and got on the bus as Charlie and Robbie, their tour manager, rounded everyone else up.

“You totally got owned, Austin!” Jonathan yelled from his bunk. “I‘m thinking we need to have a pow-wow later to plan out some revenge, yeah?”

Austin nodded in agreement and plopped back down in front of the Xbox with Kent, who had not moved since the bus stopped.

“Who was that?” Avery asked, looking towards Austin.

“The douche bags known as members of All Time Low,” Austin grumbled.

Caleb laughed and elbowed Avery in the stomach.

“They‘re not really douche bags,” he admitted. “We just have this ongoing prank war with them since the last tour.”

“I see. And this is going to be going on all summer long?”

“Mhm,” he replied, fixated on his cell phone. He was probably texting Danielle. Avery rolled her eyes and turned her attention to Kyle, who was heading towards her with a smile.

“Where‘s my iced tea, girlfraaand?”

Avery laughed and threw Kyle‘s five dollar bill back at him. “Sorry girlfraaand, I kind of got distracted.”

Kyle stuck out his lower lip and sat down at Avery’s feet on the floor. Everyone began talking and filling Avery in on what had happened with the whole prank war thing on their previous tour. Avery was beginning to worry that she would be roped into round two of the prank war, but she had also promised Austin that she would help him get his scooter back.

Notes