Fluorescents

8

"Someone said they left together, I ran out the door to get her. She was holding hands with-"

The music plays in the background as I pace towards the door. My anxiety is rising and I'm worried to see who's behind it. Whenever there seems to be a knock on the door it tends to be him.

I finally reach the entrance and briskly pull the handle, no longer having the patience to keep myself from knowing who's hiding behind the it. As the door launches open I come into eye contact with the person. I let out the breath I wasn't aware I was even holding in.

" Sorry to bother you ladies, but we're leaving." Jack says feet away from me and I nod my head. He gives me a polite smile before walking away and returning to his bus. Finally, we're leaving. The assistants, the missing band mate and several other people have been holding us back from leaving all day and I'm glad and relieved that we're finally hitting the road. We initially were scheduled to depart at 10 and now it's 11 but we'd be late if we were forced to depart after 12. That was our limit. Leaving after 12 would cause a lot of problems not only with my boss but with the bands' labels and managers.

" Finally." Shay sighs when I make my way back to where she is standing by the CD player. She paused the song while I answered the door and I'm sure she's bubbling with excitement to show me the song she found on my mixtape that she enjoyed.

I watch as she fumbles with the CD player before finally reversing the song to its beginning. The funky beat begins to play and I find myself mindlessly moving along to the music. The music pours out and within a minute the bus is moving and so our the girls on the inside. Shay swirls in her spot steadily and rhythmically moving her body while the other girls do their own thing. Soon enough I find myself catching onto shays rhythm and moving along with her. Both of us in sync. She smiles at me and I smile back. I haven't known her for long but I am already aware that we're going to be close friends during this tour. Hopefully after the end of it our friendship will still flourish.

My mind travels back to the rude yet strangely kind band mate that I'm afraid will get in between our possible friendship. If he's going to be involved and around us outside of work, then I might have to rethink who I'm going to hang out with. He's absolutely infuriating and extremely confusing. He spent most of our time together being rude and attempting to intimidate me but then he began to act pleasant towards me. The idea that he simply felt guilty pops through my head but I set it to the side. He doesn't seem like the type to care of what his actions may bring. After Shay had slapped him he even went to the extent of placing a kiss on her cheek, that she definitely didn't condone. If he didn't feel guilty about practically sexual assaulting her I'm sure he didn't feel guilty about making several rude comments towards me. I'm planning on simply doing my job and doing my best to follow Shay's recommendation to stay away from him. If he's expecting to just come into my life and play his games with me I'm not going to give in and go along with them.

" I love this song." One of the teenage girls says as she dances along to the music. I'm sure she's not even aware of who the band is to begin with but she seems like she's having a good time and I can't argue and say that I'm not glad that we're all getting along. Sooner than later the song ends but we still stay standing, anticipating the next song. When the next song plays we continue our little party but several songs later and we're all tired and worn out.

" There's like nothing to watch." Shay groans as she skips quickly past every channel on the tv placed in front of the lounge area. Me and Clair sit beside her while the other girls found a place in the back to converse or be on their phones.

" Well at least look at what's on." Clair playfully complains in her spot before taking the control away from her and beginning to skim through the channels herself. Shay childishly sticks her tongue out at her before popping the lollipop, she found in one of the cabinets in the bus, back into her mouth. I laugh at their childish yet playful exchange and revert my attention back to the screen that's skimming over channels, now at a slower pace. Clair lands on a rerun of Keeping up with the Kardashians and I scrunch my nose in disgust, but decide against saying anything. Shay groans in her spot when she notices what Clair put on and I giggle at her response.

"Reality television is so stupid." She complains and I giggle again. Thankfully she has the same distaste towards the show and reality tv in general. Clair shrugs her shoulders before tossing the remote back to her. "Let's just watch Netflix." She chirps and I sit up in my spot to show my sudden interest in her recommendation. "What do you want to watch?" She asks and I ponder over what to recommend. I rarely watch tv but when I do have the chance or allow myself to step away from music I like to engulf myself in the pleasures of my favorite show-

" Orange is the New Black." Me and shay both say in sync. We both laugh at our unknown similarity in entertainment before she puts it on. Clair quickly becomes uninterested in the show and goes off to bed with the rest of the girls while me and Shay become quickly intrigued by every aspect of the characters and their lives.

" I love Daya." Shay gushes and I nod my head.

" She's ok, I guess." I shrug and she gazes at me as if waiting for me to continue on and explain my feelings towards the character. " I personally like Piper." I state and her mouth hangs wide open in shock. " She gets too much hate and I feel like she's just a misunderstood character."

" She's a pretentious bitch." Shay says and I laugh at her choice of words. " I'm serious, I mean she's over here tongue and finger banging Alex yet still expecting her husband to stay by her side like a little puppy dog." She scoffs and I nod my head.

" She's just misunderstood." I say and she laughs. We continue watching but soon enough we both lose interest. Shay scrolls through her phone and my mind strays off to thoughts about Matt. Should I call him? I haven't talked to him since this afternoon and I'm interested to know what he accomplished in the studio. I pick my phone up and look at the time before going to unlock it. 1:12. It's too late and it would be cruel of me to wake him at this time when I know how busy his schedule is during the early morning. I place my phone down and continue watching the show. As time goes by my eyes begin to shut and my head begins to fall. I pick up my phone and gaze at the time again. 1:49. I find myself desperately trying to stay awake. In three hours we'll be at our first destination of the tour. San Francisco.

" You should go to bed." Shay recommends and I weigh my options before agreeing with her and making my way to the bunks. She doesn't follow behind me and instead shuts off the show and the tv. Thank god she didn't continue watching without me. That would have been detrimental to our friendship.

I finally get to my bunk and climb inside. I was planning on staying awake till we got there in order to help escort the bands to their hotels but now my plans have failed. My hopes of seeming professional and making an impression have completely and utterly failed.

The buses movements suddenly stop and I feel my body graze the edge of the bunk. I mentally scold myself for deciding to chose the top bunk but steady myself into place. Another pit stop? How much gas do these buses consume? I pull the curtain to the window on my bunk and gaze out into the small gas station that seems to be in the middle of no where. I groan before lifting myself up and bouncing off my bunk. Shay doesn't take notice of me and continues gazing down at her phone in the buses lounge area. I make my way towards her, with the only source of light coming from her phone. On my way I decide to pull a small prank on her and scare her while she's hypnotized by her phone. As I stand behind her and prepare myself to frighten her, her phone makes a small ringing noise and a text pops up on her screen. Without thinking I gaze at it and read the words floating on the top of her phone screen.

Alex: I've made us some time, come to-