The Best Deceptions (Want You Bad sequel)

Chapter 2

It's all starting to kick off now, my loves. The next two chapters are the ones that made me want to write this sequel in the first place. I am so excited to share Natalie and Louis' journey with you. Thank you for reading!!

Meetings are never fun. Before joining the band, I had never been in one, but as the years have gone by, I've developed a deep dislike of them. They started out being fun and I loved taking in all of the information, and then once we started having our little scandals, we had more and more meetings, and they became more of a nuisance. During the recording of our latest album, we had quite a few meetings with our management team and the record label, and those meetings were honestly some of the most tedious meetings I had ever been a part of. Now we were at our final meeting before tour starts in a couple of days, and I was trying to stay positive about it, however it marks the first time all of the members of Silent Playground have been together since the day Delia walked out of our apartment when I came back from Vegas. She had come back the next day to collect her things and had officially moved in with her boyfriend. I had seen Garrett and Chase since then, but none of us had seen Delia.

I looked up from the notes I had been taking after Rick cleared his throat. Tammy had been the one talking for the majority of the meeting, but the way Rick cleared his throat meant that he was about to talk, and the tone of the throat clear meant that we may not like what he had to say. I glanced at Garrett, who also looked worried.

"Alright guys," he started speaking after looking at each of us, probably to make sure we were all paying attention. "As you all know, each show will have two or three local acts opening, and then Devoted is playing, then you, and then Dashboard Confessional." I nodded in excitement. Dashboard had always been one of my favorite bands, and we were actually co-headlining this tour. The opener touring with us, Devoted, was a pop rock outfit from Northeast Ohio that our label had recently signed. Aside from some small conversation on social media, we didn't really know much about them. "I think you all know that this is their first tour. Since that's the case, the label has decided that in order for them to be as comfortable as possible, they will be in a tour bus. Now," Rick folded his hands in front of him. "This is where I would like you all to listen before you react, please."

Garrett chuckled. "Fuck, Rick, way to be ominous."

I reached over and swatted his arm. "Shush Gare."

Rick rolled his eyes before speaking again. "We will be travelling in the same tour bus as Devoted and their manager. It's a larger bus, so the sleeping area has six bunks on either side of the aisle, and then the back of the bus has a small room with a queen bed. The door to the room locks, so if anyone needs any personal space, they can hang out in there for a bit." Glancing around, Chase was wearing a poker face, Delia looked pissed, and Garrett was chewing on his lower lip and looked worried. I was only concerned that I would feel too cooped up being around so many people constantly. "I am aware that having so many people in one bus isn't the ideal situation, but that's why there will be ground rules that everyone will agree to. Aside from the obvious, longstanding tour bus bathroom policy, are there any other rules that you would like to place?"

Chase leaned forward slightly. "I'm gonna guess that sharing the bus is non-negotiable?" Rick nodded. "In that case, people need to respect other people's snacks. There can be communal snacks, but if don't eat someone's personal stash."

Rick nodded. "That's one of the rules the other guys wanted."

Delia spoke up next. "Clean up after yourself. Quiet when other people are sleeping. And since Nat and I are the only girls, I feel like it doesn't need to be said, but just in case, don't be creeps."

Rick made a couple notes. "They had also said the first two. I'll make sure their manager is aware of the last one, but believe me DeDe, if anyone says anything out of line, I will not tolerate that." It was quiet for a few moments. "Anything else?"