The Opportunity of a Lifetime

Chapter 7 (Pete's POV)

"What are you doing still up?"

I glance up from my laptop to see Cheryl walking into the "living room" of the bus, wearing a baggy T-shirt that says "I'd rather be sleeping" and gray sweatpants that hang low on her hips, rubbing her eyes. My heartbeat starts picking up, and I mentally smack myself. She doesn't like you like that. Stop getting yourself worked up.

"Can't sleep," I mumble, watching Cheryl walk over to the refrigerator and get out a can of Mountain Dew. She cracks it open, taking a sip from the counter and glances up at me.

"Why are you staring at me?"

Shit. Just play it cool, Pete.

"I, uh, I'm not."

Real smooth, dumbass.

She just rolls her eyes and walks towards the couch I'm sitting in, plopping down next to me.

"Watcha doin?" Cheryl asks curiously, grinning at me.

"Just tweeting about the popcorn incident from earlier," I respond, chuckling to myself.

"I can't believe you burned five bags of popcorn in a row." She laughs softly, which is a sweet sound, let me tell you. Her eyes squint slightly, and her dimples show when she laughs.

"Well, you know they burned because I'm just so hot."

She almost chokes on her soda and she slaps me. I grip my arm where she hit me, pretending to be shocked and hurt.

"How could you hit me? You're going to ruin my perfect complexion!"

"You cocky son of a bitch!" She laughs again, which makes me smile. We sit there silently for a few moments, but its not really awkward. Comfortable.

"So, where do you live?" I ask out of sheer curiosity.

"About four hours from Virginia Beach. A town called Strasburg."

"I've never heard of it."

"Its a pretty small town. Not much goes on there," she explains with a frown on her face.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"Sometimes I hate living in such a boring place. Nothing exciting ever happens."

"I'd rather live in a quieter place. It gets really chaotic and loud in bigger cities. Its not as fun as you think, trust me."

"Why not?"

"There are a lot more people to judge you and start shit with you, it isn't a great place for kids in my opinion, a lot of robberies and crimes go on, stuff like that. I always wish I could get away and just press the pause button on my life just for a little while, but you can never rest when you're famous and in a band. You just have to keep going and going," I ramble.

"Is that why you went on hiatus? Because you wanted a break from all the buzz?"

"Partly, yes. We also disagreed quite a bit. Folie à Deux caused us to argue a lot. All of us wanted different things. I can't recall a song we recorded that didn't result in an argument. But the songs that were created by the biggest disagreements seemed to be the most memorable ones. I Don't Care and America's Suitehearts were big ones."

Cheryl is staring at me, seemingly interested.

"What song do you relate to the most from your newest album?" She asks, shifting on the couch to get more comfortable.

Looking away thoughtfully, one comes to mind. "I'll have to say Jet Pack Blues because the woman in the black coat symbolizes temptations and issues, how "she's" always hanging around and begging for me to come back to her, or to give in to all my temptations-"

I feel something fall on my shoulder and glance down, seeing that Cheryl had drifted off to sleep, her head laying on my shoulder. I smile at the peaceful expression on her sleeping face, all her worries temporarily forgotten. I wish I could keep it that way, so she wouldn't have to deal with with whatever she's been going through all her life. But I can't.

"I can't take away all your problems, but I can promise to help you through them," I whisper. Feeling my eyelids droop, I lay my head back on the pillow, drifting off into a dreamless sleep.