Saving Rose

Road Trip

*Formerly called California* This kind of cuts off at the end, since I wanted to publish this as soon as possible. enjoy :)

Jaime's POV

When I wake up, the first thing I do is shift over, as quietly as possible, to check on Rose. She's still fast asleep, her mouth slightly open, showing off her soft pink lips. A strand of hair is draped across her face, so I carefully lean over and brush it behind her ear. Her breath slightly catches, and I pause, waiting until it goes back to normal a few moments later to leave. I don't want to wake her up when she's sleeping so peacefully.

I slide the sheets off of my body, making sure not to uncover her at all, and step onto the ground. Last night, just before I left to go to my bunk, she grabbed my hand, and pulled me into her bunk. Then, she gave me an innocent smile, before falling asleep. I will never understand her.

I close the curtain to the bunk as I take gentle steps towards the kitchen area. Once I'm far enough away, I walk normally, which is much more comfortable. I don't bother pulling on pants; the guys are used to each other not decently dressed. I bet Rose would be a bit mad, but wouldn't really mind. She'd get over it. I'm sure she's enjoy the view, anyways. But she wouldn't let you know that.

I stretch, yawning deeply, then open the fridge. I scan the shelves, only mildly interested in breakfast. Eventually, after mulling over the idea of just having eggs, I end up with just a glass of cold milk and a cookie from last night's potluck. As I'm eating, I pace the bus. We're supposed to head out of the venue at 7, so I check my phone, which I left on the couch last night. It's 6:32. Our driver, also the guitar tech, Matt is still sleeping. He's hardly around, since he usually stays in a hotel for the night. When he's not sleeping at the hotel or setting up and tuning the guitars, Matt's usually doing something active or drinking. He runs a lot, wherever he can around the area. We often take him to the bar when we go, since he loves his alcohol.

Him and Rose met right after we met her, and they've made small talk whenever he's around. He's a really nice guy. I think him and Rose went running together a few times. She's pretty active, and he offered to let her tag along. I'm sure she can run further than I can, but I know I'm stronger than her. She's so small and skinny, which gives her a disadvantage. I've heard that she kept up perfectly fine, though.

I hear a shuffling noise and swivel around, only to find Vic walking up. His hair is messed up, probably just as much as mine always is. It's sticking up all over the place, but his first priority is food. He mumbles a 'good morning' and grabs a bagel, tearing into it like an animal. He opens the blinds in the kitchen, letting sunlight stream through the small window. "Hey," I say, watching a few people run around, playing football. I recognize Danny, Sam, and Ben from Asking Alexandria, Matt Nicholls from Bring Me The Horizon, Rian from All Time Low, our Matt, surprisingly, Tino and Alan from Of Mice & Men, and our Mike.

"When did Mike wake up?" I ask Vic, raising my eyebrows. I'm impressed. Mike rarely gets up early. Especially when he's out late drinking. Vic peeks out the window, noticing for the first time that Mike's not on the bus.

"I don't know. I didn't even hear him leave or get up at all!" Vic exclaims with a startled chuckle.
I know he doesn't like it when Mike sneaks out, since it's usually to get drunk. It's okay this time, though, since he's only playing football. It's funny how protective Vic can get over his little brother.

"Yeah, me neither. We have to leave soon, so do you have everything packed up and in the bus or equipment trailer?" I ask him, double checking that everything is ready so we don't leave anything behind when we leave for California.

Vic quickly scans the bus, then nods. "Matt must be all ready too," Vic assumes, since Matt's playing football instead of packing things.

"Okay," I reply, then walk over to the living room area, where the acoustic the band shares for just messing around is sitting next to the couch. That's the only thing I can think of that we don't always keep on the bus, and it's here. I think we're all ready.

Just in time, too, since Matt and Mike burst through the now open door, panting. I shush them, pointing to the bunk area. "Rose and Tony are still sleeping!" I say in a hushed voice, almost whispering. Mike shrugs innocently, and Matt just politely nods, getting himself a cup of coffee.

"We lost the game." Mike sighs, still making sure to be quiet. Vic smirks a little, then covers it up with a light cough when Mike fake glares at him.

"Hey, at least I did better than you would," Mike teases, and Vic sticks out his tongue.

"Because I am a true Mexican. I play soccer." Vic pouts, crossing his arms defensively. I just roll my eyes at the brothers and check my phone. It's now 6:46, so I think it'd be okay to leave any time now.

"Hey! I'm your brother, and I'm JUST as Mexican as you are!" Mike says defensively. It goes back and forth, like a tennis match, and quickly gets annoying.

I put my phone back in my pocket and wait until there's a break in the argument. "Ready to leave?" I ask everyone else, and they shut up and nod, before going back to the argument. Matt gives me a thankful smile from the kitchen. He doesn't like it when he has to get in the middle of an argument to ask the band something. Now, he knows that it's okay to start driving. Sometimes, I feel like I'm more of an adult than the others. All of the other times, I know I can be extremely immature. Oh well. It is more fun to act like a child. You enjoy life more that way.

Matt slowly pulls out of the venue, now empty except for the remaining buses. Everyone is on their bus now, and either ready to go or already driving. The people driving the trucks with the equipment trailers, with stuff like the instruments, amps, and tents, left at 6:30. The guitars, percussion, and my bass are all in the same trailer as our amps and the Pierce The Veil merch and signing tent. Our stuff barely fits every time, but at least it does.

Vic decides to go back to sleep, since he's still tired, so he leaves Mike and I in the living room. We decide to play video games, since there's not much to do. He picks the game, Black Ops, a zombie shooting game basically, and we start playing.


Rosie's POV

When I wake up, the first thing I do is stretch my arm out, looking for Jaime. To see if he's still sleeping. He isn't. The other side of the bunk is cold. I open my eyes and groan at the bright sunlight streaming in from Jaime's window in his bunk across from mine. He's not there either. Each bunk has a window, but we rarely open them. This is a good example of why.

I roll onto the floor lazily, looking in the other bunks. Vic and Tony are in their bunks, but that's it. The others must be awake already.

I grab clean clothes, which happen to be some white denim shorts and a soft All Time Low shirt, then go to the bathroom with all of my necessities. I get ready quickly, and put my hair in a loose side braid for today.

Once I'm ready, I walk out into the living room. Jaime and Mike are playing a video game. It looks like Black Ops, pretty much my favorite game, so I stop to watch. Jaime's doing a little better than Mike.

Suddenly, I remember where we're going today, and I, sadly, end up squealing in excitement. I must've startled the boys, because Mike pauses the game immediately and they both turn around and stare at me, wide-eyed. I think they thought I got hurt or something, because Jaime stands up, saying in a worried tone, "what happened?"

I laugh at his startled expression, and he relaxes, noticing that I'm fine. "We're going to California!" I exclaim with a huge grin, still laughing, and Jaime and Mike laugh too.

"Why am I the only one this excited?" I question, putting my hands on my hips like a little kid.

"You know, baby, we're all from California," Jaime explains, causing me to stick my tongue out. It sucks being from Arizona. I wish I was born in California, but whatever. At least I lived close to CA so I could visit often.

"Yeah, 'cause you guys were lucky!" I say, then go look in the refrigerator. I settle on a bagel with cream cheese and strawberry jelly. The best you can get when you're on tour usually, with a bunch of guys.


An hour later (still Rose's POV)

As Matt drives, I stare out the window, listening to music through my earphones. After a couple songs, a song comes on that's totally relevant as to where we're going. I cheerfully unplug the earphones and turn the volume up all the way, singing along loudly. I know every line. It's the song California, by Never Shout Never. I just love how he sings Californ-i-a for some reason.

Jaime and Mike stare at me strangely for a while, then go back to their game. They think almost nothing of it. I sing louder, giggling, trying to annoy them. I look out the window as we pass a few cows, giddily throwing an empty plastic cup in the guys' general direction. "Cows!" I nearly shout at them, and they glance outside, then roll their eyes and go back to their game. I smile and stick my tongue out at the back of their heads, then turn my iPhone off as soon as the song is over.

I wander over to my bunk, and search through my stuff for a book. I like to read. A lot. It's been too long since I've read a good book, and I'm sure I have at least one with me.

I guess I don't, though, after almost half an hour of going through all of my possessions. Groaning, I go over to Mike's bunk, knowing he has a few Harry Potter books. Luckily, I don't have to awkwardly go through his stuff for long, finding the first book underneath a shirt. I hope that shirt was clean. I grab it, avoiding touching the shirt, which kind of stinks, and dart out of the bunk room, trying not to wake Vic and Tony.

I do a running jump and land on the couch that the guys aren't on, squirming until I'm comfortably surrounded by pillows. I immediately start reading, skipping right to the story.

A few pages in, Mike walks over to me with a suspicious smile. "That book looks awfully familiar..." He muses, and I ignore him, smiling and returning to the book. I am NOT giving it back until I'm completely finished with it.

"I couldn't find any of mine," I mumble, not paying much attention to him. He just laughs, ruffling my hair and messing it up.

I swat at him, after fixing my hair quickly, and he grabs it and licks it. "Eww!" I practically screech, jumping up, and he smirks at me.

"Jaimeee!" I pout, and Jaime just gives me an innocent smile, walking over and kissing my cheek.

"Sorry, babe, but there's nothing I can do about it. Book thief!" He says jokingly, and I just sigh, sinking back into the plush couch.

Jaime's POV

After Rose goes back to reading Mike's book, which I'm not really a fan of, we go back to our game of Wii tennis. I mean, what's the big deal about that Harry dude, anyways? Wizards aren't even real! It's stupid. I don't get why so many people like it. It's 100% fake, and each book has pretty much the same general plot. Booooring.

I lose to Mike after three tough tennis sets, and frown. He triumphantly pumps his fist, doing a quick dance to celebrate. If I didn't know him very well, I'd think he was drunk. I stick my tongue out at him, making an obnoxious noise. Rose looks at me with a scolding look, like an old librarian or something, and I shut up. I don't want to be on her bad side today.

"Ha!" Mike cries out, pointing at me. I give him a confused look. "You're so whipped!" He laughs, and I cross my arms. I'd have to agree with him on this one, though. It's true.

I get a glimpse of the scenery outside, trying to figure out where we are and when we'll get to California. We're only going to be playing a few miles away from my parents' house, so I want Rose to meet them. Mr. and Mrs. Fuentes live about 45 minutes away from the venue, in the same direction as mine, just further, and Tony's parents live a little over an hour away, but in the opposite direction. I guess Tony's parents are in Mexico right now, though, visiting friends and family. Tony said they could miss this show, since they've been to so many others, but they still took some convincing to leave. Tony was a little upset about it for a while, but didn't mind that much.

I know that we're all getting together at the Fuentes' house one night for a barbecue, which is the perfect opportunity for Rose to get to know everyone. Well, except for Tony's parents, but I'm sure she'll meet them eventually. I'm pretty excited to see them again, and for them to meet Rose, since I haven't told them about her yet. I haven't told her yet, either. I just hope they like each other, and that my mother doesn't embarrass anyone. She tends to do that.

"Hey" Mike shouts, right in my face, and I look away from the window. Mike and Rose are staring at me expectantly.

"What?" I snap, raising my eyebrows at him. He plops down on the couch, turning off the television and putting the Wii remotes away.

"We'll be there in an hour," Mike tells me, as he picks a couple things up and puts them away, "and we were thinking of going out to eat when we get there. Any suggestions?" He asks, and I shrug, thinking. There are so many good restaurants in this area of Cali. I can't decide on any specifics.

"I don't care. It's hard to narrow my choices down to under, like, twenty," I say, checking my phone for the time. 11:30. So, we should arrive at around 12:30, if we stay at this speed. Lunchtime. Well, maybe a little later, because of the expected traffic in the city. We're going to San Diego, which is apparently Rose's favorite place in California. SD has some of the best places to eat. So much variety. I'm hungry already. I can't wait.