I woke up in the morning to my brother yelling in my face that 'Jack, Alex Zack and Rian' were downstairs. My brother was adorable; he was only 4 -years-old but he was clever for his age. Apparently he had the reading skills of a 7-year-old.
I quickly showered and got dressed but didn't bother to look tidy. I was going to be in a bus for the next 48 hours and there would be everything I needed on there.
As soon as I walked downstairs I was crushed by a familiar lanky body. I hugged Jack so tightly I think I might have nearly killed him. I wanted to cry but I didn't. I smiled and kept my arms around his shoulders and he kept his hands around my waist. Jordan always said that I and Jack should get it on but it was just the fact that we were best friends and I never wanted to jeopardise the relationship I had with him. I never wanted to lose Jack as a friend; I could talk to him about anything and everything, he always understood and gave me the best advice. I really treasured our friendship.
'I've missed you so much,' Jack said when he finally let me go. 'You don't know how much I've missed you. I'm so glad you're staying with us.'
'Yeah, he hasn't shut up about you all tour,' Alex said, who stood up to greet me. I kissed him on the cheek when he hugged me which made him blush. Lisa, his girlfriend, didn't mind, she was a really nice person and let me get away with it.
'Zack!' I jumped on the biggest guy there. By big I meant really buff and the guy that worked out nearly every minute of every day. I rest my head on his shoulder as he gave me a hug. People would think that because he was so big he'd crush you but really, he was probably the gentlest person on that tour bus. Rian was the quietest but did greet me when I'd got to him. Rian was amazing, and it was hard to think that fans of the band could ever forget him. I never wanted to think of Rian as the last member of All Time Low, it wasn't fair just because Jack and Alex always got more attention than the others.
'How's it going?' I asked Rian, who'd moved up one the sofa to make room for me between him and Zack.
'It's going good; we've got everything ready in the tour bus. Jack and Alex have even got off their lazy asses to tidy it up so it's spotless.' Alex and Jack both scowled at Rian.
Mom was in the kitchen making them all coffee.
'Your clothes and toiletries are already on the bus. I packed it for you last night and don't worry, I haven't forgotten anything like you would.' She said, handing me two cups of coffee for the boys. The black one was for Rian and the milky one was for Jack.
After I gave Zack and Alex their drinks, the boys' tour manager Matt Flyzik, assistant tour manager Matt Colussy, lighting director Jeff Maker and merchandise manager Vinny Vegas came into the house and they all stayed for lunch and football matches on the Xbox.
'Guys we better get going, we've got to go to Dublin and according to Google Maps, it's gonna take about 8 hours. It's 7:00pm now so if we leave, it'll be 3:00am when we get there. That's if the traffic is flowing and there aren't any disturbances and we need to get some sleep. We'll have tomorrow and the day after when we get there to do sound check, make-up, clothes, stage and tuning. And because it's you guys, that WILL take two days.'
Flyzik was panicking. Flicking backwards and forwards through pages of notes, he wanted to get the boys on the road ASAP. I looked at the boys in approval of Flyzik's instruction as they got up. I kissed my mom and my brother goodbye and followed Jeff into the tour bus.
The tour bus was massive, kind of like the tardis in Doctor Who. It looked small on the outside but it was big on the inside. We went up the staircase to which lead to the front of the bus where Vinny was going to drive for the first shift. I turned and saw I was standing in one of the 2 living rooms. The whole bus had a marble floor. There were leather sofas and a massive TV with satellite and different versions of their CD's in different languages were piled on the floor. The kitchen was next, with food stuffed in the cupboards and fridge and opposite was the bathroom. I move towards the back of the bus and peeked into the eight bunks that were on each side of the bus. The first four were for Vinny, Jeff, Flyzik and Colussy, and the last four, the furthest to the back, were for Zack, Rian, Alex and Jack. The bunks were big enough to fit two people, not that they needed to for any reason. Jack had one of the biggest beds in the tour bus, much bigger than any of the others' and they were jealous. Once, Alex tried to pretend to fall asleep in Jack's bunk so he could steal it. Knowing Jack, Alex didn't get away with it. At the back of the bus was the second living room; there were more leather seats and a table where laptops and paper lay piled sky high. A 56" TV was mounted on the wall and under was an Xbox and a stack of DVD's were next to it. There was a cupboard each side of the TV for everyone to put their stuff in. It wasn't the first time I'd been in the tour bus, but I was amazed like I'd only seen it for the first time.
Someone poked me in the back and I spun around.
'You can share my bunk if you want, I don't mind. Your stuff is in the cupboard and toiletries are in the bathroom already. I took liberty of tending to it myself.' It was Alex who'd followed me to the back of the bus. It felt awkward, just the two of us after what happened. It wasn't so bad when I was around other people; it was just when the two of us were alone.
'Well actually,' I said, cautiously, 'I was planning on sleeping on one of the sofas instead of invading your privacy.'
Alex sighed and gave me an awkward smile, 'Look I know what happened hurt you and upset you, but I promise I won't do it again. You know what I'm really like and I wasn't like that.' Alex stepped closer to me, close enough that I could feel his breath on my neck when I turned my head away from him. Before I could say a word, Alex's head snapped up fast and he walked away. It turned to look at him and saw Jack who walked towards me and put his hands on my shoulders.
'Did he do anything? He didn't do anything, did he? Dick,' Jack muttered the last part to himself and looked away but I forced him to look back. Jack was the only other person who knew what had happened excluding Alex and I.
'He didn't do anything, Jack. All he did was apologise, like he's done 500 times before,' Jack's arms dropped back to his sides. 'But its fine because I'm not gonna let him make me feel awkward this tour. This tour is about All Time Low and not just Alex because it's about everyone who's involved and he's not going to ruin it.'
I seemed to have had Jack convinced, so we went back to the front of the bus where the rest of the guys were sat watching the TV. I had no idea what they were watching; they'd managed to get American TV over here so I didn't recognise it. I sat down next to Jack who put his arm round me. Rian said we acted like a couple but we always denied it.
Vinny spent the next two hours driving before he swapped with Jeff. Zack offered to take over but Jeff refused; he said that the boys 'needed their sleep' ready for first day of tour. Vinny managed to scrape some food from the fridge before Jack raided it after. The boys were stuffing their faces with popcorn because it was "popcorn night" on Tuesdays and were watching Insidious. Alex and Colussy spent their time tweeting their reactions to everyone, Flyzik and Rian were in the back playing Mario Karts and I was sat with Jack who was actually watching the film. Zack had gone to bed early, which was normal for him – he was the only guy who had any sense about rest.
After the film finished, and Jeff had swapped with Colussy, I decided to go to bed. Alex offered for me to share his bed again but Jack glared at him and said that I was going to share his bed. I tried to argue against sharing a bed but Jack made it clear that he wanted to share with me. I went into the bathroom, showered and changed into my nightclothes. Jack had already changed and was lying in the bottom bunk with his laptop.
'Scooch over,' I said, gently pushing his across. He moved out of the way to I could get closer to the wall, still sitting up with his computer while I tucked myself under the duvet. I glanced over at his Twitter page and saw some messages which he quickly replied to and closed down.
'Who was that?' I asked and at the same time yawning.
'Getting grief from the ex-girlfriend. She just won't leave me alone with all the abusive texts and messages,' he said, shutting his laptop down and putting in a drawer under his bunk.
'Get a restraining order,' I laughed, being half-serious. I'd been in contact with his ex, and she was not a nice person.
'I'm seriously considering it,' he replied, 'she's such a pain in the ass.' Jack moved so he was lying down and facing me.
'Let's not think about it, eh?' I said, poking his nose and smiling.
'Hey, leave my nose out of it,' he said, putting on his best angry face. 'I'll try not to. I don't want her to ruin the tour with her stupid texts.'
'She won't, trust me. I'll put her in her place. Now go to sleep, you need to be up early in the morning.'
I think Jack fell asleep before me, purely because I could hear him breathing heavily on my head as I pulled him closer to me. The problems with his ex were obviously playing on his subconscious mind as multiple times he woke up in the night.
I managed to sleep okay though. It was my birthday tomorrow, my 18th so I'd be able to drink in the bars with the guys. That was what I was looking forward to tomorrow the most.
I turned over to face Jack again and sighed. Tomorrow was going to be amazing and I wasn't going to let Alex Gaskarth ruin it.
Looks like Jack wasn't the only person with problems on his mind; conscious as well as subconscious.
