With Cobra playing five shows in five days, in five different cities, everyone on tour barely had time to breathe. There was a constant air of tension and anxiety backstage, as well as before and after shows. Gabe was suffering from vocal strain and, much to my pleasure, on vocal rest any time he wasn't on stage.
He had, however, started carrying around a dry erase board, writing obscene and rude comments everywhere he went. The boys spent the entire first day of the board's existence drawing phallic-shaped images in various colors, shapes, and sizes. I was convinced they were all thirteen years of age.
As I was organizing extension cords to be packed and put away, I felt a tap on my shoulder. Gabe stood there, in all of his flannel-wearing glory, and held the dry erase board up. He was sporting a pitiful pout, and when I read the board I discovered why.
I think I pulled a muscle in my dick… care to rub it out?
I gave him a look, not even bothering to answer.
"Someone needs to take that from you."
He wrote something quickly.
His messy handwriting read, But then I couldn't pester you all day.
"What a shame," I sighed.
Everyone's going out again tonight, he wrote quickly.
"Yeah, I know. I think I'm gonna stay in, I'm pretty tired," I answered, leaving him onstage alone so that I could get a shower in before all the hot water was gone.
"Guess who's off vocal rest!" yelled Gabe, running up the steps of the bus.
"I'm sure your voice coach would love to have you screaming like that," I said smartly.
"I'm sure your voice coach would love to have you screaming like that," he mocked me in a high-pitched voice, one I was almost certain sounded nothing like my own.
"Mature," I muttered, looking over the magazine Victoria had picked up at a gas station a few hours ago.
"So where are we going tonight?" asked Victoria, looking around expectantly.
"Let's go to that place we went during Warped, shit what's it called…" Nate frowned, failing to remember the name of the club.
"Oh yeah! It's that place where we met those twin blondes, right?!" Gabe high-fived Suarez at the memory.
"Maybe we'll get just as lucky," laughed Nate.
Victoria piped up, "You guys are disgusting." I nodded in agreement.
"Whatever, let's get wasted," said Ryland.
Everyone left the bus around 9 that night, after begging me to join them and finally giving up. I was going to enjoy having the bus to myself, I had a hot date with my Netflix account and the ice cream in the freezer. I was also going to take full advantage of the bedroom in the back, which we only used for guests and special occasions. Basically, if anyone was hooking up with someone they got the room. The queen bed was definitely calling my name.
After an episode and a half of Gossip Girl, I heard someone come onto the bus, and quickly paused my computer so I could listen.
"Emma?" I heard someone call.
"Back here!"
In seconds, Gabe's face appeared in the doorway, smiling tentatively.
"Hope I'm not interrupting anything. I'm not really feeling partying tonight."
"Gabe Saporta not in the mood to get drunk, I thought this day would never come," I laughed, taking a spoonful of ice cream.
"Ha ha," he replied sarcastically. He stood there a moment, and finally I broke the silence.
"You wanna join me? You can watch my girly shows with me if you want," I offered. He quickly jumped onto the bed, pulling off his shoes and pants within seconds.
"Whoa, now," I laughed, pretending to cover my eyes.
"Shut up," he smacked my arm playfully. "What's the lineup tonight?" He motioned to my computer screen.
I pressed play, and before I had a chance to explain a thing at all, his face lit up.
"You watch Gossip Girl?! Oh my god, this is literally my favorite show. Chuck and Blair are perfect," he gushed. I looked at him in amusement as he watched the screen eagerly. I couldn't deny that Gabe was handsome. His dark features were complimented by a beautiful head of hair. His eyes sparkled when he got excited, and it was adorable how he spoke twice as fast when he talked about something he was passionate about, namely music.
"I can't believe you watch Gossip Girl," I giggled. "Victoria refuses to watch it with me."
"Right?!" he began excitedly. "Everyone else in the band makes so much fun of me. Whatever." He pretended to do a hair flip, causing me to roll my eyes.
His phone buzzed, so I waited while he dug it out of his pocket and looked at the brightly lit screen.
"I gotta take this," he apologized, smiling quickly at me. I couldn't help but listen in to his side of the conversation as he stood just outside the door in the hall.
"Hey, is everything okay?"
"Yeah, I guess so…" He seemed so reserved, so quiet, on the phone. He didn't seem himself.
"Okay, look I'm kind of busy, so I'll call you back tomorrow," he sighed. I couldn't help but smile that he was getting off the phone just to watch television with me. But that didn't overpower my curiosity for who was on the phone. It had definitely affected that Gabe that they called.
"Okay… Okay, bye."
"Okay," he smiled brightly as he entered the room again, "All set."
"Everything cool?"
"Yeah, yeah, it's all good," he nodded, punching my leg. "Press play, fool!"
I could tell he wasn't telling me the truth, but I didn't want to press my luck and continue asking him about it. I spent the next two episodes trying to figure out what could possibly be wrong with Gabe, he finally took notice of my lack of interest and asked if I wanted him to leave.
"No!" I said a little too quickly. "No, I just have a lot on my mind right now, that's it. I'm sorry, I'm all here now, promise." He looked at me skeptically, but smiled and didn't ask any more questions.
The episode was paused, giving us both a chance to stretch for a moment.
"I'm kind of tired of watching this," he admitted, and I gave an internal sigh of relief.
I nodded, "Yeah, me too. So… what now?"
"Well," he smirked, "There are only a small number of things we could possibly do back here."
Smacking his shoulder, I let a small laugh escape. "You perv," I said with a shake of my head.
"Alright, seriously, what do you wanna do?" he sat up.
I thought for a moment, and then an idea popped into my head. "There was an ice cream place down the street a few blocks, wanna go check it out?"
Within five minutes we had both gotten dressed and were ready to leave the bus. We were talking about flavors of ice cream as we walked, and it had turned into a semi-heated debate about which was the best.
"Whatever, you are so wrong," he laughed. I looked up the sidewalk, noticing a small group of men standing at the mouth of an alleyway. They had taken notice to Gabe and I, and were watching us as we walked. Just as we were moving around them on the sidewalk, one grabbed my hand while another wolf-whistled.
"You lost, sweetheart?" he chuckled.
"No, I'm fine," I pulled my hand from his grip, heart beating a million times a minute.
The man didn't try to grab my hand again, and had seemingly backed off. Until Gabe quickly stepped in front of me defensively.
"Hey, why don't you back the fuck off?" he said, and for a split second Gabe actually scared me with how fierce he had become.
