Without The Bitter (A Mayday Parade Fanfic)

Chapter 1

"Thank you guys so much!" Derek yells breathlessly into the mic.

Listening to the screaming, I walk off stage and handed my guitar to the tech off to the side of the stairs. I follow the rest of the band as we try and make it outside. We try making it outside to the bus, and we get stopped by countless fans, and I agreeingly take pictures and sign autographs. Jake comes up behind me, and places his hand on my shoulder, giving me a cute smile as I turn around.

"Great job tonight, you really killed it," He smiles.

"Thanks man, you too," I smile back.

We finally make it to the bus around 11, and we all sit in the main part of the bus, talking with the driver, and the merch guys. Derek walks toward the beds, and pulls his phone out of his pocket, and the rest of us get quieter so that he can talk.

"Hey baby, we just finished in Cali," He says, breaking out into a huge smile as he talked with his girlfriend, Lauren. "Is she still awake?" He asks.

He smiles bigger as he gets put on the phone with his baby daughter, Grey. "Hey baby girl! I can't wait to see you! I miss you so much! I love you, goodnight!" He smiles into the phone. "So, I should be home by Friday, its a long drive. I'll call you all the time, I promise. I miss you guys. I can't wait to see her and Bailey. And you, especially you. Alright babe, night. I love you," He says and hangs up.

There's finally a knock on the door from the stage techs, letting us know that the equipment is all loaded up and ready to go. With Derek off the phone, we all start talking and joking around. The bus starts up, and we head off to find some food. After about a half hour, our driver pulls off into the parking lot of some fast food chain. We all go inside and get food, and then hurry back to the bus. We all end up sitting around our table, eating and going over our best and worst parts of the show. Jake sits across from me, and smiles at me occasionally. Damn he is so cute sometimes, I think. He's going to blow our secret! I pushed my cowboy hat further down on my head, to try and cover up my eyes from the rest of the guys. I push lightly at his foot, and give him a look that says, You're going to blow it, stop! I smile, though, and he pushes my foot back. All of the guys think something's up already, and he's making this so much harder.

"I'm going to bed," He says, looking at me, before sliding out of the booth. A chorus of 'goodnight's' and 'good job tonight' follows him out of the room.

"So Brooks, what’s going on between you and Jake?" Alex asks me.

"Nothing, why?" I ask, confused.

"Oh, come on. You guys act like you're dating. I mean, we'll support you, but you have to tell us first," He says.

"Oh, no. We're just best friends. Nothing is going on between us," I say.

"Oh, sure. You guys hug each other all the time, you act all cute together, it’s obvious," Cabby says from across the room.

"We act like that because we're best friends. We're not dating, we just act like this," I say.

"Okay. I mean, we think this is normal, we were just making sure something else wasn't going on," Alex says.

"They're like Alex and Jack from All Time Low," Derek chimes in.

"But everyone thinks they're dating," Alex argues.

"But they're not. And neither are we. We're just really close. Let them think we're dating. We can have a friendship like that," I say, hoping I can end the conversation soon. I hate lying to the guys, but this would make everything weird.

"Okay. Really close," Alex repeats after me.

"Come on guys. So we act like we're dating, it’s no big deal. I love him like an older brother," I say.

"But you share a bed with him," Alex says.

"Yeah, because we only have four, and we're really comfortable with each other, enough to sleep together on tour. Guys, nothing's going on, okay? I'm going to bed," I say, slightly angry.

They nod and drop the subject, and I'm able to slip away without any more comments. Jake had closed the door separating the pairs of bunkbeds from the main section of the bus, and I do the same and shut it behind me.