Warped Love

Chapter 4: Meeting Katie

Jace and Tony went into the tour bus and Jaime soon followed. Naturally, Autumn went in after them. I sat in one of the lawn chairs outside of the bus with Vic and Mike. “So I see that your friend is still determined to get Jaime” Mike said. He drew in a long drag before throwing it on the ground and stomping it out. I nodded, “Yeah. I told her to use Jace to make Jaime jealous.”

Vic laughed. “There is no way Jaime is leaving Katie.” I smiled at them and nodded again. “I know, it’s all part of my plan to get those two together.” Mike looked slightly impressed and stood up. “Sneaky, sneaky” he said before walking into the bus. Vic stood up next and put his hand out toward me. “Shall we?” I smiled and grabbed his hand. “Where are we going?” I asked while standing.

“The bus. It is really hot out here” He looked up at the sky and then back down. I agreed and we walked into the bus. Tony was playing on his guitar, Mike was getting some chips, and Jaime was talking with Jace and Autumn. Jace and Autumn were glued to each other and I smiled at how natural it looked. “We’ve got about an hour before we go on.” Vic said from the couch. I sat next to him and Mike came and sat next to me.

“Looks like your plan is working.” Mike said nodding in Jace’s direction. I nodded and smiled. “Sneaky” he said again. “Hey, so did you guys want to hang out after the show or…” Tony asked. I looked at my brother and Autumn and we all said, “sure”. The door to the bus opened and in walked a small girl. She ran to Jaime and hugged him. ‘This must be Katie’, I thought. Jaime kissed her and I knew that I was right. She smiled at everyone and said ‘hey’. She seemed so… sweet. Jaime hugged her from behind and it was obvious that he hadn’t seen her in a long time. That must suck. Rarely being able to see your boyfriend because he’s always on tour… she deserves an award or something.

Someone knocked on the bus door and yelled that the guys were going on in five minutes. “Let’s do this!” Mike yelled. He pulled his shirt off and I was confused. Why do they do that? What’s the purpose of taking your shirt off before you go on stage? I wasn’t really complaining because well, I like the view. The guys walked out of the bus with the rest of us following behind them. Jace and Autumn were ahead of Katie and I. Jace and Autumn’s hands were intertwined and I felt so bubbly inside. Maybe now they’ll finally see that they actually like each other.

“So, Jaime, huh?” I said trying to make small talk. For whatever reason, I felt compelled to talk to her. She played with one of the many bracelets on her wrist and smiled. “Yeah, isn’t he great. We’ve been dating for almost one year now. Well, what about you? Mike and Vic?” she asked with a smile. I gave her a confused look and she giggled. “You can’t tell? Oh my God, they were both practically drooling over you in the bus!” That’s it. She’s crazy.

“You’re insane” I said laughing it off. She put her hands up in surrender and shook her head. “Fine, whatever, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Even though the girl is clearly crazy, she is actually a pretty cool person. By the end of the show we were exchanging crazy fangirl stories. “You snuck on their bus? Oh my God, I have a question: Is he as awesome as he seems?” I said. She nodded her head and smiled. “Yes, yes, yes!!! Andy Biersack is so funny too! When I snuck on their bus, I thought that one of them would get mad or something but they didn’t. In fact, he drove me home afterwards and we exchanged numbers. We’re pretty close friends now” she said. I stared at this girl in awe and gave her a high five. She was the perfect amount of wild. Now that I knew her a little better I could honestly say that her ‘sweet and innocent’ look was totally fake! “Well, what about Ashley Purdy? Crazy or no?” I asked. She nodded her head and laughed. “Do not ever go near those two when they’re playing with fire.”

“Why were they playing with fire in the first place?” I asked. She shrugged and said, “I don’t know. Why did Andy eat paper? There’s never really an answer with those guys, just more questions.” We both laughed and I told her about the time I bargained with a security guard just to get backstage to an AA concert. “What did you bargain?” she asked. I was ashamed to say it but I did anyway. “I flashed the guy, and he let me stay backstage for an hour after the concert.”

“Are you serious!? Wow! I would not have had the guts to do that. Well, did you get to meet Danny?” she asked. I nodded and then smiled at the memory. “My favorite guy is still Ben, though. He is just so... I don’t know. He’s awesome.” Katie nodded and she asked me a few more questions about my brother and Autumn and things like that. She laughed when I told her about Autumn’s random crush on Jaime. “She seems to have moved on” Katie said. She nodded in Jace and Autumn’s direction. They were laughing and walking around together. They continued walking, not even noticing us. Katie and I talked a little more and it was starting to get dark.

I looked around us and didn’t see anybody. We’d been talking for so long that everyone had left us. “I guess we should go find everybody.” I said.

“Trust me, if I know those guys as well as I think I do, they’ll be somewhere eating something.” Katie grabbed my hand and pulled me toward one of the large white tent structures. There were a bunch of people there and a bunch of food everywhere. “Ha! I told you!” Katie said pointing in the direction of the guys. We started walking in that direction and Katie stopped me just before we were at the table. “If you still think that I’m crazy, just pay attention to the guys right now. Okay?” she looked at me with a sly smirk and I nodded. Katie went and sat on Jaime’s lap and I sat across from Mike and Vic. As soon as I sat down, Vic smiled at me. “Vic you might want to stick your eyeballs back into their sockets” Tony said. Vic quickly looked down and I looked at Katie. She had a triumphant look on her face and then discreetly motioned toward Mike. I didn’t understand that one. Mike wasn’t even looking at me.

The conversation died down a little bit and Mike turned and faced me. “So, Hayden. What do you do?” he smiled and everyone looked at me. I told him that I worked part-time at a restaurant and I took online college courses. Mike hung on to my every word as if they were in short supply and Katie chuckled.

“Not so ‘crazy’ now, am I?” she said.