Security

Three

October 14th, 2012

MASON

The tour had finally started, and it was my first night attempting to get some rest on my unstable mattress in the stuffy bus.

Suddenly, we went over a huge bump and I was jolted off of my makeshift bed and onto the ground next to Dan's. I groaned and rubbed my head where it had smacked against the floor before rolling onto my back and sitting up.

"Mason?" Dan called, poking his head out of the opening to his bunk area.
"Ugh, yeah?" I grimaced.
"You alright?"
"Yeah, I'm good." I managed a laugh as I glanced around at the rest of the guys, who were still sleeping soundly in their bunks. "How the hell do they sleep through that?"
Dan chuckled.
"No clue. I guess they got used to it. I never did. I hate the feeling of all the bumps."
"Yeah, me too."
We both laughed again.
"Want to come in here? There's a little bit more room than the tiny space they made for you." He offered.
I was about to object until we went over another huge bump and my overly-packed suitcase went flying into me.
"Yeah, I'll join you." I nodded quickly and took Dan's hand as he helped me through the small space into his bunk that was inconveniently located in the lower compartment of the bus.
"Be careful when you wake up. You have no idea how many times I've hit my head on the ceiling." He warned jokingly, using his phone light to find where he'd been laying before and pulling the blanket back over him.
"There's an extra one next to you somewhere if you need it."
"Thanks. I appreciate it." I sighed, snickering and lying down beside him.
"No problem. G'night."
"Night."

It was a bit awkward being in such a confined space together, but it was better than getting a concussion from luggage crushing me.

I pulled the spare blanket over me as protection against the frigid air that currently filled the bus. This job wasn't terrible, I guess. It was way more enjoyable than investigating murders, that was for sure.

-----

I opened my eyes slowly to see the sunlight creeping through the bus windows in the main area. I glanced down at Dan, who was no longer just a disembodied voice in the pitch black. His arms were crossed over his chest, but his head was resting slightly on my shoulder. He was still sleeping, so I gently moved out from under him and replaced my shoulder with a pillow to avoid waking him.

Unfortunately, that didn't go quite as planned when I sat up abruptly and whacked my head once again, this time on the low ceiling.

"Damn it!" I cursed, holding my hand to my forehead again.
"I told you not to do that." Dan mumbled, stretching and leaning back on his elbows, laughing drowsily before sitting up much more carefully than I had. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." I cringed, nodding in embarrassment. "Want breakfast or something?"
"Um, yes?" He replied, chuckling.
I laughed, crawling out of his bunk and stretching, sighing in relief as I felt my stiff back cracking.
"You got it. How are scrambled eggs?"
"Sounds alright to me."
"Good, because that's all I know how to make."
He sniggered and followed me into the small kitchen on the lower part of the bus. I wondered how hard it was to drive that massive thing.

It was still pretty early so it was just the two of us awake. It was easy to tell Dan was still as tired as I was, but we would have to get ready for the first show of Bastille's current tour in only an hour or two anyway, so there wasn't much sense in going back to sleep now.

"You know, I feel so rude. I just realized I never even really asked you about yourself."
Dan told me.
I shook my head, laughing as I set the two plates down on the table. He nodded in thanks and I smiled.
"It's no big deal, really. You guys have been super welcoming to me and that's really awesome. I'm not very interesting anyway." I joked.
"Ah, come on. I'm sure that's not true."
"How do you know?"
"I don't. That's why I'm asking you to tell me about yourself."
I rolled my eyes, but laughed again.
"Alright. I'll tell you about my boring self if you tell me some more about you."
"Deal." He grinned, reaching out for a handshake.
I couldn't help but chuckle as I shook his hand. At least he was easy to talk to. It made things a little less awkward.

I told Dan about growing up in Philadelphia, going to Bucknell University and earning a degree in criminal justice before working as a police officer there, then in Detroit, and then, finally, a detective in the LA Police Department. He told me about his family in South Africa, how his parents moved to Britain to escape apartheid, and how he and his sister grew up in London. He told me he went to Leeds University in England as a film major, but decided later on that he really wanted to be a musician after all and changed his mind. He said he went solo for a while before Bastille came along.

I was somewhat surprised at how interested he seemed in my average upbringing in the urban outskirts of Philly considering his own far more interesting background, though I assumed he was just trying to be nice. I appreciated it either way.

-----

DAN

It had finally come time for the show that night and I had to admit, I was nervous.

This wasn't anything new to me, obviously, but I knew that Mason being hired as our new security guard rubbed some of the fans the wrong way. Luckily, most supported her new position as part of our crew like we did. They were obviously the more intelligent people that valued the logical evidence pointing to her innocence.

The rest of the band was waiting for me in the main backstage area, but I kept to myself for one more minute, pulling back the curtain toward the end of the stage just enough so that I could see out of it.

There was already a clear disturbance in the frontmost row of the audience, two fans arguing with another larger group of  fans next to them, and as I read the words on the signs they held, I understood why.

'MASON WELLS WILL KILL YOU' the one sign read. The other was hard to read as the boy held it at his side, but I could easily make out the word 'murder' through the crowd.

It wasn't hard to tell that the two groups of people were having some sort of dispute, the two fans with the signs seemingly on the losing end.

I thought about going out and trying to break it up, but I knew that it wouldn't end well. However, before I could think about anything else, the guys were calling me over to start the show and I was instantly being pulled away from the curtain by Woody's grip on my arm.

"The show's about to start, mate!" He told me, leading me back to the others. "What were you looking at, anyway?"
"Uh, n-nothing. Don't worry about it." I faked a smile and gave him a friendly nudge. "Good luck, alright?"
His concerned expression faded and he smiled back at me.
"Thanks, man. You too."
We finally got the signal to go onstage and I took a deep breath. This was going to be a long night.

A/N: first off, don't know if Dan's background info was accurate lmao. I really don't know why or when his parents came to England I just kind of made that up because apartheid was occurring in South Africa during when they probably would have graduated college and I think I read one time that's when they moved there...? I really don't know. If I could ask Danny Boy, I would ahaha. Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed! I know it's a bit slow again because they're just getting to know each other, but just wait! I promise it'll get more interesting :)

I also just wanted to take a quick moment and thank my readers! I don't want to sound emo here or anything, but sometimes life gets us all down and we get stressed and shit kind of sucks, but even when I was having some real issues with life, school, etc., writing this story has kind of been an escape for me, so that's pretty cool and though I don't know all of you personally, you all seem like awesome people and even just the few nice comments and favorites I get on these chapters from y'all seriously make my day, so thank you :) you guys are great. Have a wonderful day, amigos!

Oh yeah, also the song doesn't really lyrically have to do with the chapter, it's just kind of a mellow song for background music. It's called Morphine by The Ninjas :)