“Hey. Hey. Hey. HEY!” I jumped and sat straight up, looking around wildly and banging my head on the roof of my bunk.
“What?” I spat at Pat , my British accent coming out strongly, as it normally did when I was pissed. I instantly felt bad; Pat was like a puppy dog. Adorable, and impossible to stay mad at. He was unfazed.
“Come outside. It’s storming. And it’s really pretty.” I was automatically tense.
“Pat, I hate storms.” He grinned at me. “But it’s so pretty!” I gave in. He was giving me puppy dog eyes. I COULDN”T resist. “Fine.” I got up and quickly slid on my flip flops and a hoodie; I wasn’t necessarily sure whose it was. Pat led me outside, and when I heard a crash of thunder, I may or may not have whimpered. I closed my eyes and blocked my ears, which is probably why I didn’t hear Josh come up behind me and touch my shoulder. I spun around and relaxed a bit when I saw him there. “Hi.” I said quietly, wincing when I saw lightning light up the sky.
“Why are you out here if you’re scared of storms?” he asked. “I was asking myself the exact same question.” He laughed.
“Pat was right. It is pretty.” I looked around at the rain pouring down and grinned a bit. Until I heard the next huge crash of thunder and jumped out of my skin.
“Come on. Let’s go inside.” Josh took my hand and guided me into ATL’s bus.
“Charlotte Marie Barakat!” I woke up with a start a couple of hours later to my brother screaming my name.
“What?” I asked drowsily, curling deeper into the warm pillow. “What do you think you’re doing?” “Riding my pet unicorn to Hogwarts. What does it look like I’m doing?” I heard a distinctive snort of laughter that I recognized to be Zack.
“Well, it looks like you’re-” but Jack was cut off by Alex coming into the lounge from the kitchen, and grinning when he saw me.
“Leave her alone. She’s 18 now; she can do what she wants.” Rian said. I heard Jack muttering indistinctly as he walked away.
“Thanks Rian!” I called after his retreating back. I wonder what that was about? I sat up and stretched, looking around and turning bright red when I saw what Jack had been pissed about. Sometime after Josh and I had finished watching Pokemon on Netflix, we had both fallen asleep and I had ended up using his chest as a pillow.
“Oh god, I’m so sorry!” I exclaimed, backing away and bumping into a wall. My face was completely red, and I was grinning and frowning at the same time.
“It’s no big deal. You talk when you sleep, did you know?” Josh sat up and smiled when he saw my face. I turned even more red, if that was possible, when he said that. “What did I say?” “Just something about wanting a peanut butter and banana sandwich, and something about someone named Josh.” His eyes were twinkling and he was grinning like the Cheshire Cat. “Well, you talk in your sleep too.” Now it was his turn to turn red and frown. “What did I say?” “Oh, mostly things I couldn’t understand.” He looked relieved. “Except for one word. Charlie.” He turned red again. I smiled and laughed. He stood up. “Well I guess I should be going. Ian and Matt are probably wondering where I am.” I glanced at the clock pointedly. “It’s 4 am.” He looked around. “Well, I have to go anyway. Bye.” He grabbed the hoodie that I had been wearing, which was his and for some reason on our bus, and swept out the door.
“I don’t understand it, Cass.” I leaned my head on my arm and sighed for what seemed like the millionth time. “Me either. Guys can be really STUPID sometimes.” She patted my foot and stretched. “Do you wanna go get some food with me and Jared, Kennedy, and Zack?” she asked, evidently deciding to change the subject. “Sure!” I perked up. I missed hanging out with Zack; lately he had been to busy hanging out with some skanky merch girl to spend time with me.
“Zack, you’re so weird!” I laughed as he started skipping down the sidewalk towards the little café we were going to. “But you love me anyway.” he replied, smiling. “Not getting a big head, are we?” “Not at all.” Cassadee rolled her eyes at our banter and turned back to Kennedy and Jared. “She doesn’t understand us.” I remarked, pulling my hair into a ponytail and joining him in his skipping.
“AND THERE WAS AN ALLIGATOR, AND A WALRUS, AND THREE MEN DIED WITH AN AXE, A HATCHET TO THE FACE.” I busted out laughing at Zacks rendition of Alex’s little show from a couple of tours ago. I joined in; “I’M MAKING A FUCKIN SPEECH! GET THE FUCK OUT!” Zack cracked up laughing and grinned at me. “I’m sorry!” he defended. “I have ANGER ISSUES!” he yelled, causing Cass and I to burst out laughing again. Jared and Kennedy came back to the table with our coffee and shook their heads at us. “I honestly DON’T want to know.” “No, you don’t.” replied Cassadee seriously. Zack and I grinned at each other.
“This could wrap around my whole body.” Jack remarked from onstage that night, holding a bra around his head and grinning. I laughed, shaking my head at his immaturity. John walked up behind me and tapped my shoulder. “Yes?” I said as I turned around. I froze when I saw him standing there with pieces of celery stuck up his nose. “Wha-” I was about to ask what he was doing, but stopped as I realized I most likely didn’t want to know. “Never mind.” I shook my head again and turned back around, nodding my head to “Shameless.” I heard John chuckling as he walked away.
“Do you mind if we slow things down a bit?” Alex asked the crowd a couple of songs later. They screamed. “Good, cause you don’t really have a choice. This song is called Remembering Sunday, and I‘m going to bring out Jack‘s wonderful sister Charlotte to help me out.” I walked out on stage, smiling slightly and waving around. Alex had pleaded with me just this morning to help him out with this, and I had agreed, however reluctantly.
As Alex was singing, I swayed softly from side to side and waited for my turn.
“I’m not coming back
I’ve done something so terrible
I’m terrified to speak but you’d expect that from me
I’m mixed up I’ll be fine
Now the rain is just washing you out of my hair
And out of my mind
Keeping an eye on the world
From so many thousands of feet off the ground.
I’m over you now
I’m at home in the clouds
Towering over your head.”
The crowd screamed even louder as we finished the song, and we smiled at each other as we hugged.
I impulsively kissed him on the cheek and he frowned jokingly. “Did you get lipstick on me? I don’t want that shit.” I giggled as I waved bye to the crowd and walked off stage left. “Awesome job!” exclaimed Josh as I set my microphone down and sighed happily. “Thanks?…” I replied, wondering why he was talking to me. “Hey… I’m really sorry about last night.” He looked down at the floor and shuffled his feet. “I just got freaked out.” I laughed a bit. “It’s alright. I just felt like it was my fault. It wasn’t, was it?” He smiled at me. “It’s not.” “Thank god.” He held out his arms and put on his puppy dog eyes. “Friends?” I laughed and stepped forward to hug him. “Thank you.” he whispered into my hair. “For what?” I asked, pulling back and looking at him, confused. “For being such a good friend.” I smiled at him. “Anytime.” “JOSH! QUIT DOING WHOEVER YOU’RE DOING AND HURRY UP!” called Mike. He chuckled. “I got to go. Bye.” I waved, grinning.
