Who The Fxck Is Jack Barakat?!

Part 32

*two months later, April 7*

"I don't want to say goodbye, what am I supposed to do without my best friend for almost two whole months?" Kaitlyn whines as she helps me to stow the shuttle to the airport with my bags and my guitar.

I roll my eyes at her. "K, I've been living in England for a year and you survived it, you probably won't even notice I'm gone."

"Nice try, globetrotter. Please keep me updated on how everything's going, send me texts as often as you can and I swear if Jack tries anything, I'll be over the pond faster than you can say Riots At Night" She promises and shows me her best karate move.

"Aha" I acknowledge her fighting skills and roam around my apartment one last time to make sure I didn't forget anything important. All seems to be okay so I close the front door and give Kaitlyn a pair of spare keys.

"Honestly, I understand why you want me to empty the mail box" She says and plays with the keys in her fingers. "But your damn cactus can go for months without water, that's ridiculous."

"Hey, don't speak like that of my cactus!" I defend Spike's honour. Yes, I named my cactus Spike. I bought him when I was drunk and somehow drunk-me thought that would be funny.

"It is a cactus! A cactus! The only reason why you have him is that other plants die because you always forget to water them!" She argues but has a point there. I only have one living plant in my house and that plant is Spike.

"Look at us, bickering like an old married couple" I grin at my friend and her little rant. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you, too, idiot" She replies heartwarmingly and opens her arms for a hug. I follow her invitation and place my head on her shoulder.

"What if I made the wrong decision by joining the band? What if he'll break me for good this time?" I wonder in a trace of insecurity.

Kaitlyn releases me and looks straight into my eyes. "He won't. And you know why? You're the strongest girl I've ever met. All the shit you've been through, yet you're still here. Don't let that bastard dance around in your thoughts, he doesn't deserve it and neither do you. You're far better than him, Liz, he won't hurt you again."

"Damn, you're better than any fairy godmother" I smile and she hugs me one more time.

"I know, I know. And as much as I don't want to let you go, you should get into the shuttle now, your flight won't wait forever" She nods towards the driver who nicely lets us have enough time to say our goodbyes.

"Alright, this is it then. We still have to pick up the boys on our way, fingers crossed we can fit all of our stuff plus us into the shuttle" I have doubts about the free space in the vehicle. "Okay, see you later alligator!"

"In a while crocodile" She answers quick as a shot and salutes. I don't know what that was for but I copy her gesture and eventually get into the shuttle to drive to the others.

A couple of hours later the five of us stroll with our numerous bags and instruments into the JFK airport to fly to the first stop of the tour in Dublin. It was decided that we would fly a day earlier than we theoretically needed to so we could get used to the time difference in Europe and much to our pleasure, explore the city. I've been wanting to go here for years but even during my England days I'd never been able to travel there, to say I'm excited would be an understatement. We make our way to the check-in counters, go through the security controls and after what feels like an eternity, we finally wait at the gate for the boarding.

"Which seats do you have?" Charlie asks, hoping he won't sit alone next to a stranger.

I look at the tickets of my brother and me. "Let's see, Mark and I have 17A and B, what about you?"

"18A" Noah points with his finger at the number on his ticket.

"18B!" Joe shouts as if he had won a million dollars on a game show, knowing that Charlie really is the loser this time.

"Great" The drummer groans and buries his face in his hands. "19A."

"At least you'll have a window to distract you" I try to cheer him up. "And who knows, Tay Jardine could be your flight companion for the next hours, although I would happily swap places with you in that case."

"First call for passengers of the flight EI 108 to Dublin" A female voice informs us from the speakers.

"Come on, roughly six hours in the air, you've had it way worse before" Joe reminds his band mate while fiddling with one of the straps of his backpack.

Charlie shivers, the memory still haunts him like a ghost. "Eight hours trapped between two smelly weird guys for our first show outside of Maryland, I barely made it out of that bus alive. Now that is an experience I definitely wouldn't wish to repeat!"

"But definitely one of your most legendary ones!" Mark gives the drummer a pat on the back. "I'm gonna tell Liz all about it as soon as we take off."

"Can't wait" I grin with an evil smile, Charlie doesn't seem to be keen on sharing the story.

"Come on friends, let's get on this plane!" Noah pushes us towards the last checkpoint. "Anybody else feeling the need to listen to as many songs about flying as possible later?"

"Ohhh yes! Jet Lag by Simple Plan is a must" I chip in with one of my favourite bands. "I mean it's not really about flying but Simple Plan, you know."

"What about Airplanes? That song Hayley Williams is featured on" My brother suggests, handing his passport to the airport staff.

"No one beats Hayley Williams" Joe is pleased about the choice of his friend and gets through the last border between the plane and the airport as well.

"Wait a second" Charlie suddenly demands and we all turn around in suprise to see what the rear guard wants. "Guys, this is it. Our first - and hopefully not the last - Europe tour we've ever done."

"Yeah, I guess you're right" Mark laughs. "First stop Europe, next stop world domination!"

"World domination sounds rather nice" Joe approves of the words my brother chose to use.

"Everything sounds rather nice for you, Joe" Noah reminds him but the singer doesn't pay attention.

"Whatever. But really, this is huge. This could help us massively to join the big leagues."

I smile. "Always aiming for the stars. I almost feel bad for being the freeloader."

"Don't you ever say that again!" Charlie commands me. "You're as much a part of the band as the rest of us. Furthermore you acquired the status of official unofficial member long ago."

"True! There were times when you were more passionate about this band than us" Noah chuckles and gives me an admiring glance. "You're a bit of the heart of the band that keeps us going."

"You mean like the spark Paramore mention in Last Hope?" Mark mocks his friend and winks at me.

"We should seriously stop making all of these band references on tour, our habit could get us into some awkward situations." Charlie recommends, not wanting to embarrass himself in front one of the bands we basically grew up with.

"But I have a PhD in band references!" I protest jokingly and am the first one to reach the plane.

"So, first Europe tour" Joe says meaningfully and we gather around him.

With combined forces we count to three and scream. "Here we fucking go!"