Motionless Love

1

Ah, Warped Tour. One of the most fun tours I've ever participated in. My name is Hallie Cooper, though you would probably know me better by my stage name, Hallie Homicide. I'm the front-woman of Ring of Smoke, along with the other members: my best friend and drummer, Kelcie Morgan; my two guitarists, Keith Smith and Olan Davis; and my bassist, Tommy Grant. This is our third year in a row playing Warped Tour, and I speak for all of us when I say that we're thrilled to be here.

I stepped off the bus into the bright summer sunshine, closely followed by Kelcie. "Why does this tour always have to be so damn hot?" I whined, thinking of how quickly my pale skin tends to burn.

"It's a summer tour, Hallie," Kelcie replied, chuckling. However, the smile was quickly wiped off her face when she saw whose bus was parked right next to ours. "You've got to be kidding me." I looked up at the Motionless In White tour bus. See, Kelcie had been broken up with by Chris Motionless only two months before, and the hurt was still fresh for her.

I started to express my sympathy, but before I could, the door to their bus opened and Ricky "Horror" Olson stepped out. He seemed surprised to see us, but that surprise quickly turned into a smile. "Hallie!" Over the year that Chris and Kelcie dated, I had developed a pretty close friendship with the guitarist. Ignoring the sour look on Kelcie's face, I stepped forward to give Ricky a tight hug. "I haven't seen you in ages," he said.

"It's been much too long," I agreed, pecking his cheek. Before Chris had left her, Kelcie had spent half her time trying to get Ricky and I to go out, but I just didn't see him that way.

"As a matter of fact, it's been about two months..." He gave Kelcie a brief sidelong look, which she undoubtedly caught.

Before I could reply, Kelcie grabbed my arm. "We really have to go, Ricky. We're supposed to meet someone." She didn't give him a chance to answer before she started pulling me away between the buses.

"Who exactly are we meeting?" I huffed, annoyed at being tugged away.

"Anyone but that asshole," she said snappily.

"Ricky isn't an asshole just because Chris-"

She cut me off. "Don't even say his name, I don't want to hear it."

"Fine." I shook my head. "While we're going this way, let's find the Pierce The Veil bus. I haven't seen Vic and the guys in almost a year." She nodded her agreement, and we set off for the PTV bus.