Nicholas Petricca : Next In Line

Chapter 1: coming up for air

Cassie is in her bedroom blasting Misterwives while packing for tour when she gets a call from Nick.

Nick - "Hey, just wanted to call and let you know that we're meeting at the buses around 9:30 in the morning!"

Cassie - "Cool, can't wait!"

They talk for a little bit and then hang up. She's so excited, she's met the band several times and they've started to become friends. The opening band is Misterwives, she's never met them, but she's a huge fan!

Next morning:

8:30 - She gets up and gets ready. She sees she got a text from her ex, Sam saying that he's sorry and wants to get back together. She just ignores it and finishes getting ready.

9:00 - She walks out of her apartment.

9:15 - She arrives at the buses.

Only the crew members as well as Mandy and Etienne are already there. She goes over to one of the crew members, Dani, and says hi! Then Mandy walks up to the two of them with Etienne.

Mandy: "Hi, you must be Cassie. I've heard so much about you. My name is Mandy and this is my husband and fellow band member, Etienne!"

Cassie: "Hey! I'm such a huge fan of you guys, you are seriously talented."

Etienne: "I've seen a lot of your pictures and you're quite talented yourself."

Cassie: "Aww, thank you!"

9:20 - Nick arrives and walks over to the group and hugs Cassie.

Nick: "I'm so excited that you're coming with us."

Cassie: "Yeah me too, I know this is going to be a lot of fun!"

Mandy: "I'm super excited, I have a feeling that we're going to be good friends."

Cassie: "I would love that. You are honestly a huge role model to me."

9:35 - Everyone else has arrived and are almost ready to get on the buses.

9:40 - Buses have left and are heading the first destination of the tour, Cincinnati.

Cassie gets another text from Sam.

Sam: "Please don't ignore me. We can work this out."

Nick can tell that Cassie seems to look a little stressed.

Nick: "Is everything okay?"

Cassie: "Yeah."

Nick: "You know, you can talk to me about anything."

Cassie: "Okay, umm.. my boyfriend, I guess ex-boyfriend, cheated on me and now he's texting me wanting to get back together. Wow, I can't believe I told you that, I haven't told anyone about this."

She starts to cry and Nick gives her another hug, then she rests her head on his shoulder.

Nick: "It's good to talk about stuff like this, it's not something you should hold in. I'm sorry that happened to you. Things will get easier in time, I promise."

Kevin: "Hey is everything alright?"

Nick: "Yeah, we're all good. What's up?"

Kevin: "We were wanting to know if you guys were hungry. We're going to stop and get breakfast."

Cassie: "Oh my god, yes! I'm starving."