Burned at Both Ends

1. Problems

"Ricky, wake the fuck up!"

I blindly reached out my arm and lifted my middle finger.
But I felt a familiar hand grab my wrist and attempt to pull me out of the bunk.

"What the fuck?" I grumbled, sitting up.

"We've got a busy schedule today, 'Coon." Ryan. I knew it.

"But I'm tired." I whined childishly.

Ryan was about to say something, but he stopped.

"What?" I asked.

He grabbed my sides and picked me up, pulling me out of my bunk.

"Hey, stop!" I squealed.

Ryan laughed. "You squealed."

"Thanks, Captain Obvious." I grumbled.

"Aww, is Ricky not a morning person?" Ryan teased.

"No." I stated bluntly and walked away.

~~

Ryan is a little fucker, I'll give you that. But he does whatever he can to help people.

I remember one time at Warped Tour, really early in the morning before anyone arrived, we all decided to get up and look around the place.

"Quite the set up they've got here, huh?" Ryan thought aloud.

"Yeah, it's got to take months for them to set up." Chris said.

Me, not paying attention, walked over to where we would be preforming that day.
I walked around, examining behind the stage, and then the actual stage.

The guys were right next to the gates, and I could barely see them by that point.
I pulled out my phone and looked at the time.
7:32am.
Shit, the gates opened at 7:40am.

Panic set in, and I hurried over to the gates.
Well shit, the guys weren't there anymore.

I ran back to the bus, looked around, and nobody was there either.

Okay, my hands were shaking now. Not because it was cold, but because I was panicking.

I ran back to our performing spot, looked behind stage, no one.

I ran to the gates again. Nobody. I checked the time.
7:39pm.

I could already see people lining up behind the gates.

Fuck.

I ran back to the bus, hoping that was my best bet and the guys would come back.

"Rick?"

I turned around and Ryan was right behind me, looking confused.

"Where the hell were you guys?" I asked.

"We were talking to some people who help set up this whole thing [Warped Tour]. Where were you?" He asked.

"Looking for you guys! Where's everyone else?"

"Getting ready, dork." He chuckled.

My hands were still shaking and I needed to calm myself down.
I sat down on the floor and buried my head in my hands.

"Rick, you okay?" Ryan asked.

He sat down next to me and put his arm over my shoulder.

God, sometimes I fucking hated being on tour. This was the first year I'd ever performed at Warped Tour since I joined the band and I already hated it.
But times like this, when somebody tries to help me out or calm me down, I don't really mind.