FAVOR | Awsten Knight

0.5

Val's eyes snapped open when a sudden jolt shook her body. She pulled her arm out from under her pillow and used it to find her phone, which was somewhere lost in her sheets. Once she had a hold of the flat object, she brought it to her face. The light from the digital screen stung her eyes in the darkened bunk.

The bus had been on the road all night. Val assumed they had made it to their next location, Charleston, due to the studdon stop. It seemed like they weren't going to be moving again any time soon.

8:17am the phone read.

Assuming by the quietness, every one else on the crew bus must still be asleep. Val took this as her aputinty to slide out of her bunk to go get some coffee.

If she was going to be on her feet all day coffee was a necessity.

She quickly pulled some clothes out of her suitcase and headed to the bathroom to get ready. A good thing about having woken up early was that she didn't have to wait on getting into the bathroom.

Her outfit consisted of her favorite gray hoodie, black leggings, and a pair of converse. Considering it was November, it would be quite chilly out.

And that it was.

The slight wind hit Val's face as she snuck off the bus, making sure to stay as silent as she could to not wake anyone else up. They were parked on the side of the venue along with the other buses. She stepped onto the main street and began her walk to the nearest coffee shop.

It wasn't long until she stumbled upon a cafe. The bell above the door dinged as she entered.

It was quite cute inside with a few tables and chairs with plants scattered throughout. The air was filled with the scent of coffee, which was heaven to Val's nose. She joined the short line of people at the counter and glanced at the menu ahead of her.

While trying to figure out what to order her thoughts got interrupted by the head of red hair in front of her. Jeez it seemed like everyone had dyed hair these days. She glanced from the top of the man's head to his back. He took a step forward and started his order. Val instantly recognized the green hoodie he was wearing.

It was a Waterparks tour hoodie.

He must be a fan! Though she couldn't remember selling something to someone with hair like that last night. Plus what would he be doing here if he went to the Atlanta show? It was puzzling. He took a glance to the side after speaking to the women behind the counter. Val took this as her chance to spark up a conversation. Assuming she probably wouldn't see this person again, she might as well.

"Are you a Waterparks fan?" she spoke up gesturing to his hoodie.

The man turned his body slightly to look at her. This allowed her to get a full look of his face. He looked kind.

He looked down at the article of clothing on his torso. A chuckle escaped his lips, "I guess you could say that... I work for them."

Val straightened her back, shocked at this information. Then a small wave of embarrassment hit her. She pushed it away quickly though.

"Woah really? Me too, I'm in charge of merchandise," she spit out probably too intensely. The man with red hair looked amused but before he could say anything Val started up again, "my name is Valerie but most people call me Val."

The man reached for her hand that she extended while speaking. "Well Val, I'm Jawn. 'M not surprised we haven't met yet though, the first few days of tour are always hectic."

"Here you go sir." the woman behind the register interrupted, handing a tray of 4 drinks and a paper bag to Jawn. He took them, thanking the girl, and stepped aside. Turning back to Val, he spoke.

"You go ahead and order. I'll wait for you so we can walk back to the venue together. Yeah?"

Val gave a smile and a nod then proceeded to step up to the counter.

It didn't take long before she was handed her coffee as well as a bagel. She turned and spotted  Jawn sitting at a table by the door scrolling on his phone. Val secretly hoped that this could be a future friendship. She just needed to be confident in herself. She took a deep breath and started walking

She stepped up to his feet, "You ready?"

He looked up from his phone before sliding it in his pocket and standing up.

"Yup" he said, popping the 'P'. The duo headed out of the door with another ding coming from the bell above.

"So," Val started, trying to attempt small talk, "what exactly do you do for the band?"

"Oh, I'm the guy's photographer!" he smiled. Try to hold the tray of 4 drinks in his hand stable.

"No way! That must be fun," Val said intrigued, but also trying to keep in pace with Jawn's long steps, "not much talent is needed for selling merch but what you do takes real talent."

Jawn chuckled. "I guess so yeah. I've been friends with the band for years so I've had lots of practice," He turned his head to look at the girl walking alongside him "while on that, how did you get this job? It's nice seeing a new face, the rest of the crew just usually comes back for every tour."

A long exhale along with a head shake came from Val.

"Well my friend, Noah, was supposed to to be doing it but of course he over booked himself so I took the job for him," she laughed at the memory of Noah basically begging her to take it, "I honestly knew nothing about the band, I still kinda don't, but im glad im here."

"Well we're glad you're here too, it'll be a great 4 months." Jawn smiled.

The rest of the pair's walk consisted of more small talk along with Jawn's basic rundown of the band. Val learned there were three of them; Otto who drums, Geoff who plays guitar, and lastly Awsten who sings and plays guitar. From watching them last night Val connected the dots that Awsten was the one with green hair that she ran into. She even told the story to Jawn, he laughed and gave a 'that sounds like him'.

Soon enough their feet had led right up to the street where the buses were parked. Jawn started to reach for the door handle of one of the many buses.

Val stood awkwardly not knowing what to do, Should she say bye now? It was hard to tell what the next step for this little 'hang out' - If you could even call it that - was.

Before Val could spit out a goodbye, Jawn stopped and turned to her.

"Come on, you should meet the guys" he said nodding his head to the door, "they are all awake anyway so it should be fine."

Meet them? Her (basically) bosses? As in just walk on to their bus?

Val took a deep breath before stepping forward, "Okay."