A Defining Mistake

Chapter 5 - See You Again

A mountain of clothes sat on the floor of her dressing room and in the middle of it all, sat Ada. From the mountain of clothes, she was throwing different items of clothing into three piles: yes, maybe and no. Beside her sat an alarmingly small brand new duffel bag. The criteria for the yes pile was strict, the clothes had to be compact, didn't need ironing and able to go with everything, especially the three pairs of shoes she was taking with her. Somehow, the pile was still three times the size of the duffel bag she had and she wasn't even half done. Exasperated, Ada sat in the pile of the clothes with her head in her hands.

"I'm going to have to take a bigger bag," Ada said to herself. "They're just going to have to get over it."

She'd been warned by Jordan that there was only a small luggage space on the tour bus that had to be shared amongst the four band members, ten crew members and now Ada. He'd given her a recommended bag size of 35 litres and when she'd gone to buy one, a bit unsure how big 35 litres actually would be, she had been shocked at the small bag she was expected to squish her life into. Positioning the bag on top of the fabric mountain, momentarily wondering how and why she had accumulated so many clothes, Ada whipped out her phone and sent a photo to Jordan with the caption:

'Is this enough clothes for tour?'

Setting her phone aside, Ada attempted to continue eliminating clothes. When her phone vibrated, Ada picked it up quickly only to feel a brief stab of disappointment when it was a text from Ashley, asking if she could come over. Ada sighed and pulled her suitcase from the bottom of her wardrobe. Her phone vibrated again and Ada held her breath, trying to control the leap of hope. This time it was Jordan and he replied with an eye roll emoji. Ada laughed, setting her phone back down, a little disappointed that it wasn't a text she could properly reply to. She began stuffing as many clothes as she could in the duffel bag and then the suitcase, just to see how much she could fit in there, when her phone vibrated again.

Jordan had sent a second text: 'don't think about bringing a second suitcase' accompanied with a laughing emoji.

She replied quickly: 'I've got to bring all my camera equipment yet!'

After being out of the country for nearly three months, Ada had only just gotten back into a routine with her YouTube videos. She and Sabrina had recorded extra vidcast episodes to keep her channel updated while she was away and she had an agreement with RealiTV to upload a compilation of Am I Enough? best bits video each week. During her appearance on Am I Enough? her subscriber count had soared and was still climbing steadily, well into the millions. Now that she and Sabrina weren't on speaking terms, she had lost a co-host which would have ordinarily been tricky to navigate but now that Ada was going on tour, she had a plethora of co-hosts available. So many in fact that she could rotate with a different one every week for about three months. Failing that, Jo and Alyx had already volunteered their services and together they were the perfect duo, banter bouncing off the two of them easily and in a way that anyone could join in. Perfect for a YouTube channel.

Ada also figured that other opportunities for videos would come to mind as they travelled around the country. A day in the life of not just her but the band and crew members, how to keep busy, beauty and fashion tips and general travel vlogs or Q&As. The biggest issue that she would face, was finding a quiet moment to record when everyone wasn't hungover or when the bus wasn't jerking around.

-x-

"You're crazy," Ashley shook her head, laughing slightly. "You met these guys what three days ago and you're going to go on tour with them? That's nuts."

Ada just beamed and said nothing. "You've been a fan for so long, it probably feels like you think you've known them forever, I get that," Ashley continued, as Ada knew she would. "People say that to you all the time."