Waiting (David Schmitt Fan Fiction)

Vans Warped Tour.

The one time once a year when all those young adults hopelessly submerged in the world of punk music and various other sub-genres could escape their lives and gather together under the scorching hot sun from eleven to nine to see their favorite musicians and, to some kids, literal life-savers, and sing and dance and crowd-surf and just have some freaking fun until they return home that evening to take a cold shower and crawl under the covers and nostalgically dream of the day's events until next summer's tour.

Except it's far from a punk rock wonderland when you're stuck behind the All Time Low merch tent every day for hours on end, taking orders from teenage girls smothered in neon face paint and bad tattoos, some patient, some not so.

In all truth and honestly, Alex, Jack, Zack, and Rian are fantastic guys and some of my best friends, that's how I had gotten the job as their merch girl. I'd known Jack since middle school and when I mentioned to him that I was looking for a job in merch or touring one day over Skype, he was quick to jump on it and the band hired me last year during the Gimme Summer Your Love tour.

And the fans weren't bad either, this band meant the absolute world to them and I understood exactly how it felt. It was just the occasional over-confidant sixteen year old girl who pissed me off and hey, doing this job every day for three months in the suffocating heat and oceans of people drenched in sweat and the sweet scent of freedom makes a person a bit of a grump now and then.

"Um, can I have that one please?" a guy asked, one hand pointing to the many All Time Low t-shirts behind me, the other wrapped around his scowling girlfriend.

"Which one?" I asked, making it apparent that I was annoyed by his use of "that one". Was it really so difficult for these kids to say the number of the sticky note stuck on each of the shirts?

"That one" he repeated, motioning his pointer finger again at whichever dang shirt it was that his girlfriend wanted.

"Seriously man, just say the number, there's people waiting", I wasn't usually rude, but I was getting really fed up.

"Eight", he mumbled.

"Size?"

"Small"

"I'm an extra small" his girlfriend scoffed and, sighing, I turned around, pulling an extra small #8 t-shirt out of the monsterous pile of carboard boxes behind me. The couple paid for the merch and left without even a small thank you, and I continued selling merch to some much nicer customers, all in a hurry to get their stuff and continue on with the day's festivities.

I loved my job, I really did. It was great getting to tour all over the world with some of my best friends, but we were in Las Vegas, Nevada and it was over nintey degrees and I had been working for four hours and I desperatly longed for a break, having gone through three water bottles already.

"Dillon, you wanna take my place?" I shouted behind me to Dillion, the other ATL merch guy who was on a break at the moment, lounging on a fold-out chair in the back of tent, "I really just need to rest a moment." 

"Yeah, sure thing!" He set his Monster drink down and got up, coming to take my place at the booth. "You take a break for as long as you want, we don't need our best merch girl passing out." We laughed and he patted my back as I grabbed another bottle of water and left the tent, eager to explore the area and check out some performances. I had made friends with a lot of the bands on this tour, but hadn't really gotten the chance to see a lot of sets.

I found my way over to the big inflatable sign displaying set times, and saw that We Are the In Crowd was playing the Tilly's stage in half an hour. Since Tay, the lead vocalist, was dating Alex, I had gotten to know her pretty well this summer, and decided to head over to support her. 

When I finally twisted through the crowd and ended up at the Tilly's stage, a handful of fans were lining up, eager to see WATIC preform. I decided I should go back and wish Tay and the rest of the band some good luck so I flashed the security guards my pass and they escorted me backstage.

"Valerie!"

At the sound of someone calling out my name I looked to my right to see Tay Jardine, dressed in a camoflague t-shirt and denim shorts, run over and engulf me in a hug.

"Haven't seen much of you around lately, what brings you here?" she laughed, taking a sip from her plastic water bottle.

"I came to wish you guys good luck!" I exclaimed and Tay gave me a quick hug.

"You're literally the sweetest thing ever" she replied just as Jordan Eckes, We Are the In Crowd's guitar player, appeared behind Tay, playfully swinging an arm around her neck.

"Valerie, right?" he greeted me and released Tay, flicking ashes from his ciggarette and taking another drag.

"You remembered my name this time" was all I could say in reply to Jordan before I felt someone grab my shoulders from behind and I yelped, turning around to see Alex standing there, laughing in a Blatimore Ravens football jersey. Probably backstage to duet with WATIC on the song Kiss Me Again.

"Jesus Christ, Alex, grow up!" I playfully punched him in the arm and he rubbed it, mocking an injury.

We chatted a bit more then Tay, Jordan, and their bandmates headed on stage, leaving Alex and I to watch from the side.

"Hey I'm gonna go walk around" I said to Alex after they performed a few songs, "I'll be back in time to hear Kiss Me Again, okay?"

"Sounds good, catch ya later."

And with that I dived back into the never-ending sea of Warped Tour-goers, doomed to a fate of being swallowed up by the profane shouts and flying cans of energy drinks and flyers. I adjusted the red bandana tied into my long locks of light brunette hair that were pulled into a messy bun and wandered around for a bit, taking in all the events surronding me. This really was a fantastic place, the only place that ever felt like home to me, honestly. Whether it was when I would come here in high school to see my favorite bands, or this year when I was working, it always amazed me. 

When I got back to the Tilly's stage, just in time for Alex's duet, I ducked backstage again to watch from the side. Alex and Tay were adorable together, singing and moving around and just being the perfect couple onstage.

And then I felt an impact on my back and was on the ground.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry" a voice said and I looked up to see a young man, probably in his early twenties like me, reaching his tattooed hand down to help me out. He pulled me up and I brushed off my shorts.

"It's okay" I said and looked up at him again. He had dark hair that matched his deep brown eyes, and both his arms were filled with tattoo sleeves. He looked oddly familiar, in a denim vest and black jeans ripped at the knees. Probably from one of the bands on the tour.

"Seriously, I didn't mean to" he replied, looking embarassed at having knocked me over.

"No really, I'm seriously, 100% okay" I assured him. He smiled in return and we stood there in silence for a moment, awkward practically dripping in the space between us.

He was cute.

"I'm David" he said, "I just came by to grab a guitar pedal that got mixed up and put by this stage," he held up said guitar pedal,  "I swear I had no intention of attempted murder on a pretty girl, I was just in a hurry" he laughed.

Yep, really, really cute.

"I told you I was fine!" I said, "And I'm Valerie by the way."

"Well it was fun meeting you and, um, almost running you over, sorry again", David blushed, "but, I need to go, got a show to play," he smirked and left the stage.

I looked down and saw that my knees were scraped up from the fall I had taken.

What the hell, I shrugged, it was Warped Tour, bound to happen sooner or later.