𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐍

006

CHAPTER SIX
𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊

"so this is our tour bus!" ace excitedly exclaims as the four members of heatstroke stare at the middle bus between another tour bus and truck for instruments/equipment.

"no fuckin' way!" brett mumbles, mouth wide open.

"we somehow managed to convince gareth to let us share a bus with you guys instead of just him and some random staff members, only on the condition that him and michael can stay on it as well to keep us all in line," ace chuckles, referring to both of our strict managers, "although majority of the time gareth gets sick of our antics and ends up on the staff bus, so we will all probably end up alone."

"this is so bloody sick! i thought we were gonna be stuck on some small shitty little bus," brandi mumbles in astonishment at the luxurious black bus in front of her.

"eh, being in one of the biggest bands in the world has it's perks. anyways lets get inside and dibs the bunks before the rest of the boys get here," ace suggests, heading towards the entrance of the bus.

as they all step inside their jaws drop again, first thing they're greeted with are a set of beds, one on top of the other which brandi thought was strange.

"gareth always makes sure to get a bus with a seperate set of bunks at the front so he doesn't have to put up with us, so him and michael will sleep there," ace informs the group, noticing their weird stares at the odd placing of the beds.

looking past the first bunk there is a pretty spacious living area consisting of a make shift kitchen, a four seated table and a leather couch. walking through the area they reach the tight spaced hallway with their beds, two double bunks on each side resulting in eight all up.

immediately brandi runs to one of the very back bottom bunks, throwing her stuff into it and calling dibs. jax had just happened to tip her off the night before, telling her the very back bottom bunks were always the best.

"just a warning, i would suggest not taking the bunk across from brandi, if jax doesn't get a back bunk he'll have fit," ace can't help but groan at the image already forming in his head, showing his hot tempered band mate throwing one of his infamous temper tantrums.

"noted," jordan mutters before throwing his stuff up onto the bunk above brandi. a smile forms on the young girls lips, glad that she would be stuck with jordy above her.

-

everyone was now seated somewhere on the bus, the vehicle finally hitting the road a few minutes ago in head of their first destination, which was going to be a fourteen hour drive to portland, oregon.

[ a/n: just a quick note, i'm not from america so i'm just going by google on how long it takes to travel between cities, feel free to correct me if it's wrong :) ]

all the boys had finally settled into their bunks after a good half hour of arguing. jax was of course across from brandi, rikki choosing the bunk above him. brett had chosen the bottom bunk on the front left, wes being above him and ace being across from him, meaning raz was across from wes.

brandi currently sat in her bed, sticking a few polaroids and posters against the wall of the bunk to make it feel a little more homely since she was going to be spending the next three months living on here, minus the hotel stops.

suddenly she feels the firm bed dip beside her, turning around to see jax now sitting down next to her, watching has he picks up one of the polaroids she was yet to stick on the wall, "i like this photo of you, you look real pretty," he says, reffering to a photo of her and jordan from when they first moved to LA.

"drunk already, mannix?" she gently chuckles, noticing the slur in his tone as she takes the photo from between his fingers and adds a piece of tape to the top of it.

brandi didn't believe he was just drunk, in fact she knew that he was high on something, whether that be his usual cocaine, marijuana or ecstasy pills or something much worse. she wasn't completely sure how true it was but she'd heard from rikki a few weeks ago that he'd started doing heroin, something she swore she'd never touch. that would turn out to be just another lie she'd have told herself in months to come.

"maybe," he shrugs, "but that doesn't change the fact that you look pretty in the photo, well not just the photo, y'look real pretty now too."

she just laughs again and shakes her head. she knew his game, he was trying to charm her, something that even the most stubborn part of her could admit he was very good at.

a strand of her long, blonde locks wraps around jax's long finger, twirling it around while she continues to work on her wall and ignore his actions.

"you excited for the show tomorrow night?"

brandi simply nods, "bit nervous but yeah, excited more than anything."

"you know i can't stand you sometimes—"

the blondes eyebrows suddenly furrow in confusion, he'd just gone from telling her how 'pretty' she was too saying he couldn't stand her, she knew she shouldn't be surprised by his quick mood swings by now though.

"i cant stand you al—" quickly before she can get her words out jax's finger pushes up against her lips.

"ah ah, let m'finsh babe. was gonna say i cant stand you sometimes but i really want you to do well tomorrow. not just you, the boys as well."

to say brandi was surprised by his words was definitely understandable. jax was never nice for no reason, yet what he had just said seemed to be genuine. not because he wanted to fuck her, not because he wanted a bump of the coke she was doing, but because he genuinely wanted to see them do well.

"what's up with you right now, you're never nice for no reason," her arms cross over her chest, cocking an eyebrow suspiciously.

"piss off, can't you just accept that i—ah shit," jax pauses for a moment as he nearly falls backwards off the bed, his drunken state showing through, "that i want you to do well? you really don't know how to accept a bloody compliment do you?"

"shut up, i'm not a narcissistic dick like you that loves having compliments thrown at me all the time," she spits, "but thank you, i mean it, thank you," brandi finishes with a small appreciative smile.

jax pushes himself out of her bunk, nearly tripping over nothing in the process, "anytime, kid," he gives her a nod, before disappearing somewhere further into the bus.