The music industry was no place for a child, let alone a girl like Kathleen. Yet despite her arbitrary seizures and a looming threat of an abusive relationship weighing on her shoulder, her band had managed to become one of the biggest names in punk...
There was a shared silence that carried out on the bus ride to San Antonio. Everyone seemed occupied with their own lives, too busy to bother to interact with each other. I was curled up on the long leather couch, taking these few hours of silence to try to pick up reading again. I used to love reading when I was younger, but as time grew on, I had dropped the habit. Now, with all the hours of driving ahead of me, I had decided to take up the hobby again.
"What book is that?" Spencer asked me absentmindedly. He sat at the small table, his chin resting in his hands as he scrolled through his Facebook timeline on his computer.
"Mosquito Coast." I had answered, putting down my book to look at him. He didn't bother to look back.
"Cute." He said, his eyes still glued to his computer.
I wanted to get his attention, of course, but it was hard when all I could wear was my black leggings and my massive navy hoodie. My knees were still scraped up from the night before, and bruises blemished my arms. Spencer had yet to notice, so maybe it was for the best that I kept my body hidden. I focused my attention back to my book before I saw the light of my phone screen flash with a notification.
@awsten followed you
The Instagram notification lingered on my phone before it went back to sleep, but I couldn't stop myself from investigating. I unlocked my device and pressed on the notification.
Awsten had quite a few followers. Seventy-thousand. I was impressed. I began to scroll through his feed, only to find that his blue hair was definitely very recent. Around the beginning of May, it had been bright pink, and before that it was a bleached blond. Searching back far enough, I found his natural brown hair, which appeared unnatural on him. His social media revealed him to be quite the character. He had an interesting sense of humor, the kind that made me smile and breathe a bit louder than normal. Occasionally Spencer would glance over to me with a look of mild confusion on his face before turning back to his laptop. I did not want to become a stalker, but there were things I wanted to know.
He was single, but was in a relationship that year. He had one sister, and seemed to have a good relationship with his family. Despite the lack of a full-length album, him and his band did seem to acquire a pretty solid fan base. I decided it would be appropriate to follow him back.
Searching through Awsten's instagram, I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. I was longing to relive the night before. It was the most fun I had had in years, and I wanted to feel like that every night. I wondered if their journey to San Antonio was as boring as ours. Eric was sleeping, Noah was in his bunk on his phone, and Brandon was caught up with his work. I wanted to get off the bus and find something fun to do, but it wasn't that easy. I slipped my phone back in my pocket with a sigh, only to be met by another notification.
@awsten tagged you in a post
I opened my phone again, smiling when I was met with the photo he had posted. It was hard to make out that it was me, and I didn't even know that he took it, but there I was. I was in a parking lot, close to the venue but far enough to start having fun. I was just messing around, I didn't realize that he had taken a photo. But I liked it anyways.
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