Matters of the Heart (Marianas Trench/Josh Ramsay)

Chapter 5

(November 12th, 2010)

Becca awoke to the bus turning sharply as it parked into a gas station to fill up. All this movement is going to take some getting used to she thought. She yawned and stretched her tired muscles before sitting up in the bunk. Although the beds were certainly long enough to fit her 5'3 frame, Becca was pretty sure the mattresses were thinner than she was.

She heard people getting up and talking outside the bus, and knew she'd have to get up soon too. She sighed, and took a minute to rest her eyes once more before she got up. Two weeks had passed since she had agreed to Johnathan Simkin's offer of writing for the band's blog. And so far, Becca had to admit, she was impressed. The guys got up early, promoted, promoted some more, performed, met with fans, and then piled back on the bus to the next stop. Radio shows, talk shows, random channel interviews, she felt a little guilty for assuming these guys partied all night long- far from it.  As far as she could see, all they did was work, work, and work.

When she finally decided to get up, she hopped off the bunk and put on a navy blue pullover sweatshirt, a dark blue pair of jeans, and headed to the main area of the bus.

"Good morning, sunshine" Katie, the band's lead stylist and make up artist, greeted her. "The bus screeching to a halt like a banshee wake you up?"

Becca smiled at her sarcasm. "What time is it?" She mumbled, nodding gratefully when Katie handed her a cup of coffee.

"Four in the morning." Katie laughed at Becca's shocked expression and shrugged her shoulders, "That's tour life for you. Want to go into the store? Might as well fill up on snacks while we are here."

 Becca agreed, and she listened to Katie ramble on about the events of the next few days while they walked. Becca decided that Katie must have been on tour for too long- there's no way anyone else would be this chatty this early in the morning. She laughed to herself at the thought. With auburn hair, fierce green eyes, and an attitude that went on for miles, she was as spunky and bright as one could get. There was a wit and charm about her that Becca just loved.

 The people in charge of 604 records had decided it was best that she live on the bus with Katie and the other girls on the team. As Marianas Trench picked up in the music ratings and their fan base, so did the paparazzi. No need to add fuel to the fire and create rumors of her dating someone in the band. Not that she minded- she had no intention of dating anyone in the band and didn't really want the extra attention that would come with it. And so far, everyone had been really nice to her, Katie especially.

 They were waiting in line, food in hand, when she heard a voice behind her. "How's tour life treating you, Miss Becca Stevens?"

 She turned around and saw a pajama-clad Ian smiling down at her. "Hey Ian, good morning." She returned his easy smile. "So far so good. Haven't gone crazy yet, anyway." She winked at him.

 He laughed, "That's a good thing. And I wouldn't worry just yet, you don't have to be concerned about going crazy until you've been with us as long as Katie has. Now THAT girl's gone crazy." His eyes nodded in Katie's direction, a Cheshire cat smile on his features.

 Katie only rolled her eyes as she placed her food on the counter to be scanned. "Oh please. The only kind of crazy I get is when I get crazy up in your ass Ian. Just wait until I get ahold of that curly mop tonight that you call hair."

His smile fell, and Becca had to stifle a chuckle at the look of horror that crossed his face. "Hey now, come on, let's leave the hair alone. Katie bear, you know I love you. Kat-Katie!"

 She listened to them banter their way out the door and shook her head. Katie had mentioned when she first arrived there would never be a dull moment around here.