Waiting (David Schmitt Fan Fiction)

Chapter Two

After another long, hard, exhausting, but somehow beautiful day of working, I stripped myself of the sweaty tank top that had stuck to my skin and the dirty denim shorts clouded with dust and changed into a nice comfy set of cotton pajamas, brushed my hair, and crawled into my bunk (there, unfortunatly, aren't a whole lot of showers taken on Warped Tour)

It was a few days after my run in (literally) with David, and since then I had seen him around a few times, but only from a distance, not close enough to go back and say hello. Something about him was just so intreging and I was dying to just talk to him a bit more, learn what band he was in, what his interests were, how many times he's done the tour before, how he was enjoying summer on punk rock boot camp.

And hey, the guy had called me pretty, give me a break.

Deciding I needed my sleep for the following day's demanding job, I allowed my weary eyes to fall and quickly drifted off into sleep with the sound of the air outside at the bus windows as my only lullaby.

But that didn't last long because it seems like as soon as I slipped away, I was brought back to reality again with sunlight leaking through the windows and ice cold water decending down my face and soaking my hair, clothes, bunk, everything.

"Jack Bassam Barakat, oh my God!" I shouted after jumping out of my bunk, enranged at the liquid seeping everywhere. Jack was standing in the hall in a pair of dark shorts and a "JAGK to the Future" t-shirt, holding a now empty plastic water bottle and laughing like the madman he is.

"Oh, you used my full name, guess you're my mom now" he joked, "except I've never had to dump a bottle of water on my mom, only on Alex's"

I glanced down at my purple tank top now soaked with water and tossed my also-wet pillow at Jack, hitting him in the head.

"What the hell was that for?" I half-shouted, half-laughed at him.

"Sleeping Beauty here wouldn't get up, so I found the quickest solution" he tossed the bottle in the air and caught it again in his hands, "Time for work, Val."

"You'll always just be the same little kid I met in sixth grade, won't you?", I smiled. That was one of my favorite things about Jack, one of the reasons we had become such great friends in school even though he was always a couple grades ahead of me; he always held on to his youth, as immature as it is.

With a smirk he replied, "The same little kid but with more knowledge on sex and booze" and I slipped into the back of the bus to prepare myself for another day behind the merch table.

You know, after cleaning up the huge freaking mess Jack had made.

~~~~

"This is not what it is, only baby scars. I need your love like a boy needs his mother's side"

After working all afternoon it was beginning to creep into the last few hours of the day but that was a-ok with me seeing as I got to spend those few hours wandering around the grounds and flinging myself into the crowds of various bands, some I favorited, and some I had never even heard of beforehand (or at least before Warped started).

But Of Mice & Men, that was a great band I had loved previously and I was overjoyed to find the time to hit their set, especially when they began playing the song Second & Sebring. Chanting those lyrics in sync with the sea of people surronding me at every possible angle and direction had almost an enchanting, moving, definatly emotional effect to it.

"This is not what it is only baby scars, I need your love like a boy needs his mother's side"

I then started to shake uncontrollably out of the blue, right there in the middle of the cheering crowd. Those words were bringing terrible flashbacks to my memory. I tried my best to put them aside and focus on Austin, the lead vocalist, moving about the stage, but I felt dizzy and was actually a bit happy when the set ended and the crowd scattered, departing from the Kia Soul Stage.

I found a place to sit on dry grass and buried my head in my knees.

"Valerie, Valerie, listen to me"

"But-"

"Don't cry, Valerie, don't cry""

That night years ago played over and over in my head. No, I couldn't think about that right now. I needed to get my mind off of the memories that were reserfacing like ghosts in a graveyard. I needed to go find another band to watch preform as soon as I felt completely balanced again. I promised I wouldn't let that one night ruin my whole life.

Kia Rio mainstage.

I had no idea what band was playing next, but there was a fair amount of people gathering there so I squeezed my way towards the front and prayed it would be someone with good enough stage presence to make me forget everything.

Some people in situations like this get drunk to forget. I did the same. I just got drunk off of the overwhelming rush of a blanket of people simotaniously moving in time to the music pounding from speakers as you witness people on stage living their life's dream instead of alcohol.

Same thing, right?

From what I picked from the chatter around me, the band playing next was called Breathe Carolina. The name definatly was familiar, you couldn't work at Warped Tour without hearing it, but I really knew nothing about the band or what kind of music they were.

"Sorry if this sounds weird, but I really like your shirt," a short blonde girl maybe a few years younger than me with snakebite piercings complimented me, motioning towards my black button-down tank top printed with white skulls.

"Oh, thank you!" I said, the stranger's compliment catching me off guard.

"Haha, no problem," she chuckled, "hey were you working at the All Time Low tent or is there another girl with the same shirt around here?"

"Guilty" I joked, raising my hand, "yeah I grew up with the guys and have worked for them for a while now"

"That's frickin awesome, man" the girl said, "I've never been a big fan of them, but that's like my dream job. Being able to tour around with a band like that. That's what I want to do when I get out of high school. Senior year this fall, oh boy. I'm nervous like hell. Oh, I'm Melissa by the way"

I was really beginning to like this Melissa girl.

"Valerie," I said.

"I've always loved the name Valerie. So, how long have you been a Breathe Carolina fan?"

"Oh, wow, you're going to hate me for this but I don't know a single thing about them. Just enjoying my free time and checking them out," I admitted sheepishly.

"Oh man, you're in for a treat" Melissa laughed, "these guys are fantastic. This is my third time seeing them live, they're my favorite band." She motioned to her black t-shirt cut into a muscle tank which read, "Breathe Carolina" on the top and "Hell Is What You Make It" on the bottom.

"They're really that great, huh?"

"Oh yeah, I guarentee you'll fall in love with them by the end of their set"

and that's the last thing Melissa said before the music began and the enormous crowd eruptted into a volcanic mass of cheers and shouts.