The Understudy (hiatus)

Chapter Six - Daniel

After five minutes of Kyle apologising again and again, I finally decided to forgive him. I don't know why, it was the same routine every morning: I'd wake up, feel like I'd been dragged through the burning flames of hell, manage to convince myself that today is a new beauty and things were okay, go downstairs and then, like clockwork, be harassed by Kyle's awfully loud and positive mouth. Tyde found it awfully funny, I can still picture her toothy grin that I managed to catch a glimpse of as I ran up the stairs. She looked so beautiful when she smiled.

I have to stop thinking about Tyde like that. I'd known her for twenty-four hours and, already, I was noting the little details about her. Let's be cheesy, all I could think about was her smile and the faint little dimple that protruded her left cheek, and her eyes, those icy eyes, they were all I could see at the moment.

What the hell was happening to me?

I left Kyle upstairs and walked downstairs, glancing at Tyde again, but she seemed to be sleeping with her headphones in like she did yesterday. I wasn't surprised, she must have slept a maximum of five hours last night. I went upstairs to bed with the rest of the guys at around half eleven and Tyde said she was staying downstairs a bit. She was on her laptop and I noticed she had a soundwave file open, so I guessed she was editing a song and wanted to finish it. I awoke at two o'clock after having the first out of three nightmares that occurred last night, and she still wasn't upstairs. I looked quickly downstairs and she was just sat on the sofa, staring, no laptop out or anything. Just awake and staring. I crept back upstairs, unnoticed. After the second nightmare, which was around four o'clock, Tyde had got into bed. Whether she was sleeping, I don't know, but by five o'clock (when I'd had my third nightmare) she was lightly snoring in her bunk. Goodness knows what time she'd woken up, it was half ten right now and Kyle got up around ten o'clock, so she'd either got up at the same time or before that.

Maybe she had insomnia or something?

I walked over to the kitchen part of the bus and flicked the kettle to boil. At the sound of switch, Tyde stirred and fixed her eyes on the kettle. She took her earphones out and stretched lightly.

"Do you want anything?" I asked her, and she nodded.

"Tea, two sugars please," She smiled as she stood up and stretched.

"Coming right up," I said, reaching to grab two mugs from the overhead cupboard. I smiled to myself like an idiot, because I had the same amount of sugar in my tea as Tyde did. Something was really wrong with me, perhaps it was just the sudden company of a very beautiful female? Who knows.

"Thanks Dan," She said softly, walking past me and placing her hand on my shoulder lightly as she did so. She opened up a cupboard that I had no recollection of existing, and pulled out two small tubs of tiny pills. She extracted two from each tub and lined them up on the side. By this point, the kettle had boiled and I was just finishing Tyde's cup of tea. I handed it to her and finished my own. I turned around and saw her swallow the last pill and wash it down by taking a huge gulp of the tea.

"Two are anti-hystermines and two are loratadines, if you're wondering," Tyde informed me, as we both took sips of our tea.

"Oh, I wasn't wondering...well, I was but you know...like...I didn't...I need to shut up," I rambled, and Tyde chuckled. I laughed, in spite of myself, with her.

"It's fine, everyone that I tour with eyes me up really weird when I take my tablets, so I just like to say what I'm taking, the last thing I want is for people to think I'm a drug addict. If I don't take these, my allergies and eczema will give me some stick," Tyde grinned again.

"You don't strike me as drug person," I exclaimed. I really wouldn't think that Tyde took drugs, she just didn't look like the type.

"Looks can be liars," She sighed, leaving the kitchen area and flopping herself down on the sofa.

"What?"

"Nothing, just...don't assume people don't take drugs because they look healthy," She mumbled.

"Are you saying you take them?" I asked, and she looked over at me.

"Taken...smoked in fact. Past tense. My early teens weren't very bright, and it was only weed. It's not as if it was illegal. Just forget I ever said anything, okay?" She stuttered, fixing her gaze away from me.

"If you want me to, I'll forget. I don't hold it against you, like you said - it's only weed...you could do a lot worse. As long as it isn't a regular thing..."

"Don't worry, it's not,"

"Then that's fine with me. Conversation forgotten," I nodded, draining my cup of tea and washing it in the sink.

"Thank you," She whispered, and I looked up.

"What for?"

"Understanding. It's a rare thing,"

I smiled lightly and dried my mug, placing it back in the cupboard. I walked over to Tyde and sat down on the same sofa as her, but way up the other end. If I got any closer, I'd probably start sweating. Not nice, or attractive.

"What about you?" She spoke up after a few moments of silence.

"About me?" I echoed, looking over at her.

"You ever taken anything? or smoked anything?"

"I'm a bit of a social smoker," I admitted, rubbing my forehead. "If I'm with people that are all smoking, I'll smoke with them but it's just tobacco. No weed or anything,"

Tyde nodded, looking down in thought.

I felt like I'd accomplished something. I'd managed to have a good conversation, a deep one in fact, with Tyde with no sarcasm or awkward moments.

Maybe I'm getting the hang of this, I thought. Tour was going to be just fine, as long as I didn't reveal my feelings.