The Life Of A Franz Ferdinand Reference

23

The next night, at 10 PM, I was backstage. None of us knew what could possibly happen out there. Especially Rowan. She was concerned with seeming human. Cassiopeia had the health potion ready.

"This has to be the riskiest thing I've done in a while. I haven't been out of Deliria in... Forever!" Cassiopeia's eyes sparkled with something between frightened and excited.

"At least you don't have to fake your identity." Rowan hissed from inside her oversized hoodie.

"You can just go over to the bus whenever if you don't feel safe. I could walk you there if you want." Strawberry suggested kindly.

"Yeah... Thanks. You guys should do the thing soon. The guys are onstage in 5 minutes."

Alex gave Cassiopeia his phone so she could set a timer.

"Okay... Nick, when I tell you, chug the health potion. Then Alex, start the timer. Go out there and play as fast as possible. We wouldn't want any problems. Alright... 3...2...1... GO!!"

Nick chugged the potion and Alex set the timer.

"Okay you have... 59:58.57.56. Uhm... Just go." Cassiopeia quickly ushered Alex onstage first, as usual.

About the tour bus, Rowan said that Cassiopeia messed around with alternate universes and somewhere, there was a very confused version of Strawberry, the guys, and I without a bus somewhere near Ohio.

59 minutes later, Alex's phone went off in the middle of Can't Stop Feeling, which was ironic, because technically Nick stopped feeling for that one hour. Alex was 50 feet away and I was backstage, so how did I know his phone went off? Microphones exist. Strawberry slowly face palmed and I giggled at this silly situation. Cassiopeia bolted over to Rowan, who was sitting in the dark corner.

"Hey Ro! Do you think Nick could last an extra 2 minutes?!" Cassiopeia asked frantically.

"I'm sure he'll be fine." Rowan smiled kindly.

Strawberry couldn't stop laughing at the extremely loud buzzing noise. I would have enjoyed this hilarious public humiliation, but we were 2 minutes over the limit for the health potion. After those silly and painfully long two minutes were over, we all decided to rush out to the bus as fast as possible while Cassiopeia and Rowan returned to HQ for the night.

Strawberry and I found the guys backstage and we planned our exist strategically. Nick said he felt fine. I was a bit hesitant to dash off into the darkness while the health potion could backfire at any second, but I unwillingly agreed. Strawberry opened the backstage doors to the cold September air.

Once back inside the bus, I knew what was coming. Bunking up jokes. Although it was pretty much settled at this point, I would have to go through more stupid jokes. I didn't even care, because it's not like all 6 of us didn't fall asleep together on a beanbag chair the day before. Yep, all 6 of us... All 5 of us...

Where's Nick?!

"Hey, did anyone see Nick come back from the concert center?" I asked.

"Nah, maybe he's talking to fans. He always does that and makes us all late for everything we usually have after shows." Paul shrugged and continued heating up pop tarts as a celebratory snack. 6 pop tarts.

"This isn't okay. I'm gonna go find him." I zipped up my hoodie and hurried towards the door.

"I'll go with you, Glas. Cities can be dangerous." Strawberry added and followed me.

"Let's just go, come on."

Remember that the further north you go, the colder it gets. Also remember that it's September now and starting to get really cold at night. Strawberry and I only had our hoodies and skinny jeans. This couldn't be good.