Come for Me

Chapter 6

The band had two days in Florida. One was a show, the next was an off day. The concert had been the night before and Hunter invited her dad, her stepmom, and her two sisters - her full blooded sister and her younger half sister. According to Hunter, she didn't see these relatives often and didn't talk to her older sister since she'd moved to Florida to be near their dad. Hunter also said this older sister was autistic, but you couldn't really tell unless you talked to her. Her younger sister, who was only twelve, just seemed happy and enthusiastic. Both of Hunter's parents had a fair amount of tattoos, which made sense since Hunter's dad was a tattoo artist. He was who Hunter had gotten most of her tattoos from, and she'd gotten them all for free. It was obvious how happy Hunter was to see them all again.

The next day, an off day, Hunter left the TYI gang a while to go be with her family. She looked pretty happy when she left. It made Chris smile. Hunter had obviously been worried about her brother recently, so the fact that Hunter was out and about and having a good time was really good to see.

A while after Hunter left, Chris noticed Blake standing outside, cell phone in the air. Chris steps outside MIW's bus.

"Hey."

"Hey." Blake says, eyes remaining on the phone.

"What are you doing?"

Blake gives up and huffs before looking to Chris, "Trying to get some signal. There's no reception here."

"Welcome to the struggles of being in a touring band."

Blake laughs, "I guess. How do you guys do this so much and not get bored our of your minds?"

"Oh, we do. You just get used to it."

Blake nods, "I guess I'm still a little new at this."

"Well, since you appear to be bored, are you much for video games?"

"Yes!"

"Are you?"

"I am a total gamer."

"Then can I interest you in a game of Halo?"

"Is that a trick question?"

Chris smiles, "Then come aboard."

Chris and Blake go into MIW's bus.

"Are the rest of your band gamers too?" Chris asks.

"They'll play once in a while, just not as much as I do. Alice is usually watching anime or drawing, Hunter is usually writing or watching Xena, Reed is almost always playing with her hair and makeup, and Mara is either too busy with tour manager shit or her usual Mara antics to play."

"Mara's a scary one, isn't she?"

"Don't accept any food she offers you."

"Why?"

"Especially if she offers you any 'chips'. You would puke."

Chris blinks, "I'll take your word for it."

"You'll also probably wanna say no to any meat she cooks. And don't get on her bad side. And don't argue with her. Ever. I mean, she pulled a knife on you just because we wanted to pay for pizza. Can you imagine what she'd do if you actually pissed her off?"

"Note to self: Don't piss off Mara."

"Mhm. She's also the prankster in the group."

"Really?"

"They toured with New Years Day before I joined and pulled a ton of pranks. Like, their band filled the girls' frosting cans with mayonnaise, so Mara filed their bus with laughing gas."

Chris blinks, "I'm not sure I have a response to that."

They sit down in front of one of the large TVs.

"Wait, before I give you gaming access, I must as you an important question." Chris asks, "Which is better, play-station or Xbox?"

"Xbox, duh."

"Correct!"

x

The guys and Blake hung out all day and had a lot of fun. Blake fit in with them in a special way, like with TYI. Blake easily fit into a lot of places, but was especially happy to fit in with the band that TYI was touring with.

They took a break from gaming  for a few minutes and Blake browsed Instagram a moment. Hunter had posted a picture of herself and her family together, all of them smiling.

"Hmph." 

"Something wrong?" Chris asks.

Blake sighs, "I know that Hunter didn't necessarily have the ideal childhood growing up, but she gets along really well with her family now. I mean, look at that." Blake says, showing Chris the picture that Hunter had posted, "I don't know, I...I guess I'm a little bit jealous. I've never really had that with my family. I mean, I guess the girls in my band could be considered my family now; they certainly feel like it, but...I'm sort of scared for what it's going to be like once this tour ends. I'm still not sure where I'm going to go or stay. I'll probably move in with one of the girls; I wouldn't go back with my parents."

Blake looks down at the picture again.

"Everyone else in my band has pretty good parents and siblings." Blake continues, "Reed complains about her sisters a lot, but we all know she loves them more than anything. Mara's parents were strict, but they were still good, and Mara still keeps in touch with them and with her sister. Alice has some rough patches with her family, but it's still not as bad as it could be. And Hunter...Hunter has four parents. Four. All of whom love her dearly, and if you include all of the people in Hunter's life that could be considered siblings, she has eight. Eight! I guess I've always been kind of jealous of the girls."

"Why?" Chris asks.

"Have you seen them, Chris? Every single one of them is completely beautiful in their own way. They're all gorgeous, they're all smart, they're all sexy, they're all super confident and sure of themselves - I just kind of feel like I'm the black sheep of the band."

"What's wrong with being the black sheep of the band?" Vinny asks tugging on his Bull's jersey with a smile.

Blake gives a small smile as well, "I never said there was...I just have never fit in anywhere, and even in the places where I feel I fit in more than anywhere else in the world, I still feel like an outcast."

Chris shrugs, "You're unique, Blake. Think about how boring the world would be if everyone were the same. There'd be no variety; nothing interesting. You're interesting; it's why the girls in your band picked you to be their bassist. And, not that I saw much of her, but you seem a lot more reliable than that Sierra chick they originally had playing for them."

Blake's smile grows, "Thanks."

"No problem. And hey, for what' it's worth, even if you are a black sheep, you're the prettiest one I've ever seen." Chris says.

"Hey!" Vinny exclaims.

A/N: Trash filler chapter. Uuuggghhh. These chapters will get better soon, I promise!

xoxo, Scissorhands.