Categories > Celebrities > Fall Out Boy > Of All the Gin Joints in All the World
“Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy” Patrick yelled into the microphone as the stage lights began to flicker to life. Standing up on the rising in the back (one of the awesome perks of working with the band is the access to free drinks and the VIP section) I looked down on top of the mass of human bodies screaming for the band to begin. I remembered my first concert for a moment in a club like this, some random band my friend had dragged me out to see, I had no idea what to expect. No seats just a large room with some VIP balconies and masses of people trying to push to the front. I still didn’t see the appeal.
The rest of the band came out and the screams got louder as Pete walked up to his mic, “How’s everybody doiiinnnnnnnnn?!” He let out a laugh and nodded off to Andy who started off the set. After a couple of songs with no breaks the music stopped but the fans continued to scream. The boys laughed and smiled as they threw out some t-shirts and autographed tennis balls into the audience.
As they were rehydrating Joe was sharing a random story from one of the tours about some crazy person who tried to jump on stage and streak before being tackled by one of the security guards. The moment the story was over Pete leaned into his microphone and had a wicked grin on his face, “I have something I wanna say,” he said, shooting a look over to a skeptical Patrick. “Would you guys humor me as to ask for some advice?” Pete asked the audience (of course they agreed. With screams.) “Thought you would say that,” he said jokingly as his eyes searched across the balconies, stopping on me for a moment before he turned his attention back to the crowd. “You see,” he began, “there’s this girl,” (insert AWWWWWWWWs and BOOOOOOOOOs from the crowd here) “but for some reason she wont give me the time of day. Am I not charming enough? I mean, what does a guy need to do to get the time of day? Not even the time, I just want the day of the week!” The crowd went a little crazy with screams of ‘Pete I’ll give you the time of day!’ and ‘I love you Pete! You don’t need anyone else!’ which made me laugh a little – but I was worried where he was going to go with it. “Anyways,” he said laughing a little, “She’s here tonight and I figured that it would be a rather grand gesture if I made it clear that I am very persistent and won’t take no for an answer,” before the boys in the band could react he hit a note on the bass and nodded over to Patrick who took the hint and began to go into the song ‘America’s Suitehearts’.
After the concert and the signings and the meet and greet the boys were finally ready to leave. I arrived onto the bus after everything was accounted for and Pete was sitting on the couch, “So?” he asked quickly.
“So….what?” I asked confused as I slid off my jacket.
“What’d you think?”
“The show was great, good job.” I said avoiding what he obviously was referring to.
“Not that, about my little speech. I saw you were out when I was speaking…”
“Oh that,” I said and grabbed a beer from the fridge, “Still no.”
“Thought you would say that,” he mumbled, “pass me a beer?”
I passed him the one I was holding and grabbed another, “You didn’t think it would be that easy to win me over, did you?”
“Of course not,” he said sipping his beer, “But damn if I did that for any other girl it would be a done deal.”
“My point exactly,” I said sitting across from him, “I’m not here to be some tour fling who will regret it the next morning. I’m not looking for what you’re offering. You’re wasting your time.”
Pete looked a little pissed but got over it a moment later, “You are being very difficult. You know,” he said with a smile, “that only makes me want to try harder. It’s my time to waste anyways, right?”
I let out a sigh, “I suppose it is, but don’t expect me to be changing my mind any time soon. And no funny business – I don’t feel like having thirteen year olds trash talking me on MySpace because you have an issue with not getting what you want.”
“Deal,” he said putting his beer in a cup holder and lying down on the couch, “goodnight Zoe.”
“Night Pete,” I said walking back to the bunks. It was nice having the first section of bunks because the boys snored, it was nice having a very soundproof barrier between the bunk rooms. Kevin and I had shared the bunks (there were two bunks per section, Joe and Andy were in the second section and Pete and Patrick in the third) so now I enjoyed a section the size of my apartment bathroom to myself. I flicked on the light and saw a sunflower on my pillow with a note attached ‘Sweet dreams – Pete’
I let out a sigh, it was sweet and even though part of me wanted to walk back out there and tell him thank you and kiss him I reminded myself that he was only interested because of the chase, he didn’t know a thing about me.
!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!
The next morning was nice. The boys were drained and sleeping in and I ventured outside of my bunk to see if there was any coffee available. I threw a jacket on over my tank top and PJ bottoms and smiled as I saw the Sunflower lying on the other bunk. I closed my door quietly as not to wake up the guys and noticed Pete was still sleeping on the couch, right where I left him. Tip-toeing I managed to find a Starbucks Frappacino in the back of the fridge. I sat down next to the window and brought my knees up to my chest as I stared out of the window. I wasn’t quite sure where we were but I knew where we were going – New York City.
I heard some grumbling from the couch across from me and laughed as Pete began to wake up – he did not seem much of a morning person. “Good morning sunshine,” I said with a grin.
“Morning” he said sitting up, “Why are you so chipper?”
“There’s no coffee but I saw some more Starbucks in the fridge.”
“Hrmph,” he mumbled and I couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Augh,” he mumbled again, leaning his head down on the window, “I don’t feel so hot.”
“It’s called a hangover, I’m sure you’ve had them before,” I said rolling my eyes a bit. The boys partied pretty hard in the green room after the show, “Next time don’t drink so much.”
“Hurumph,” he grumbled. “I don’t ever get hangovers, this shit sucks right here. I feel like my brain is slowly imploding and my stomach is full of razorblades…” He let out a low moan and pressed his hands to his temples.
Letting out a sigh I stood and went to my bunk to grab some aspirin and a bottle of water. “Take these,” I said handing him the pills. “Drink,” I ordered. I sat down next to him on the couch and gave him the water bottle.
“Eff my life,” he said and leaned his head against my shoulder.
“You’ll feel better soon,” I said reaching my arm behind him to try to grab him a pillow to take my place but as soon as I grabbed it he got comfortable by lying down on the couch, using my lap as his pillow. I sat with the pillow in my hand feeling to sorry for Pete to move him from my lap. I let out a deep breath and put the pillow behind my head and stared out of the window, resting my hand on Pete’s back. Every once in a while he would let out a little moan (let this teach him not to try to out drink everyone in the room…at once..) and unconsciously I would trace figure eight patterns onto his back which made him more relaxed.
I stared down at him as he slept and wondered how someone could have two completely different sides to their personality. There were moments where Pete was just like the annoying douche frat boys from college and other times he was completely different. I couldn’t pinpoint what exactly made him switch from one to the other.
Never in a million years would have I pictured the scene in my head. I was in a dream job for a new marketing graduate, on a tour bus for a famous band, with a hung over Pete Wentz using me as a pillow. The more I thought about it the more I realized that I could have a good thing with Pete if I gave him a chance, but what if it went wrong? I couldn’t pull a Kevin and magically get a job across the country – I would have to stick it out awkwardly working closely with Pete. Something told me this was not a dilemma my ‘pro’s and con’s lists’ could fix.
The rest of the band came out and the screams got louder as Pete walked up to his mic, “How’s everybody doiiinnnnnnnnn?!” He let out a laugh and nodded off to Andy who started off the set. After a couple of songs with no breaks the music stopped but the fans continued to scream. The boys laughed and smiled as they threw out some t-shirts and autographed tennis balls into the audience.
As they were rehydrating Joe was sharing a random story from one of the tours about some crazy person who tried to jump on stage and streak before being tackled by one of the security guards. The moment the story was over Pete leaned into his microphone and had a wicked grin on his face, “I have something I wanna say,” he said, shooting a look over to a skeptical Patrick. “Would you guys humor me as to ask for some advice?” Pete asked the audience (of course they agreed. With screams.) “Thought you would say that,” he said jokingly as his eyes searched across the balconies, stopping on me for a moment before he turned his attention back to the crowd. “You see,” he began, “there’s this girl,” (insert AWWWWWWWWs and BOOOOOOOOOs from the crowd here) “but for some reason she wont give me the time of day. Am I not charming enough? I mean, what does a guy need to do to get the time of day? Not even the time, I just want the day of the week!” The crowd went a little crazy with screams of ‘Pete I’ll give you the time of day!’ and ‘I love you Pete! You don’t need anyone else!’ which made me laugh a little – but I was worried where he was going to go with it. “Anyways,” he said laughing a little, “She’s here tonight and I figured that it would be a rather grand gesture if I made it clear that I am very persistent and won’t take no for an answer,” before the boys in the band could react he hit a note on the bass and nodded over to Patrick who took the hint and began to go into the song ‘America’s Suitehearts’.
After the concert and the signings and the meet and greet the boys were finally ready to leave. I arrived onto the bus after everything was accounted for and Pete was sitting on the couch, “So?” he asked quickly.
“So….what?” I asked confused as I slid off my jacket.
“What’d you think?”
“The show was great, good job.” I said avoiding what he obviously was referring to.
“Not that, about my little speech. I saw you were out when I was speaking…”
“Oh that,” I said and grabbed a beer from the fridge, “Still no.”
“Thought you would say that,” he mumbled, “pass me a beer?”
I passed him the one I was holding and grabbed another, “You didn’t think it would be that easy to win me over, did you?”
“Of course not,” he said sipping his beer, “But damn if I did that for any other girl it would be a done deal.”
“My point exactly,” I said sitting across from him, “I’m not here to be some tour fling who will regret it the next morning. I’m not looking for what you’re offering. You’re wasting your time.”
Pete looked a little pissed but got over it a moment later, “You are being very difficult. You know,” he said with a smile, “that only makes me want to try harder. It’s my time to waste anyways, right?”
I let out a sigh, “I suppose it is, but don’t expect me to be changing my mind any time soon. And no funny business – I don’t feel like having thirteen year olds trash talking me on MySpace because you have an issue with not getting what you want.”
“Deal,” he said putting his beer in a cup holder and lying down on the couch, “goodnight Zoe.”
“Night Pete,” I said walking back to the bunks. It was nice having the first section of bunks because the boys snored, it was nice having a very soundproof barrier between the bunk rooms. Kevin and I had shared the bunks (there were two bunks per section, Joe and Andy were in the second section and Pete and Patrick in the third) so now I enjoyed a section the size of my apartment bathroom to myself. I flicked on the light and saw a sunflower on my pillow with a note attached ‘Sweet dreams – Pete’
I let out a sigh, it was sweet and even though part of me wanted to walk back out there and tell him thank you and kiss him I reminded myself that he was only interested because of the chase, he didn’t know a thing about me.
!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!
The next morning was nice. The boys were drained and sleeping in and I ventured outside of my bunk to see if there was any coffee available. I threw a jacket on over my tank top and PJ bottoms and smiled as I saw the Sunflower lying on the other bunk. I closed my door quietly as not to wake up the guys and noticed Pete was still sleeping on the couch, right where I left him. Tip-toeing I managed to find a Starbucks Frappacino in the back of the fridge. I sat down next to the window and brought my knees up to my chest as I stared out of the window. I wasn’t quite sure where we were but I knew where we were going – New York City.
I heard some grumbling from the couch across from me and laughed as Pete began to wake up – he did not seem much of a morning person. “Good morning sunshine,” I said with a grin.
“Morning” he said sitting up, “Why are you so chipper?”
“There’s no coffee but I saw some more Starbucks in the fridge.”
“Hrmph,” he mumbled and I couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Augh,” he mumbled again, leaning his head down on the window, “I don’t feel so hot.”
“It’s called a hangover, I’m sure you’ve had them before,” I said rolling my eyes a bit. The boys partied pretty hard in the green room after the show, “Next time don’t drink so much.”
“Hurumph,” he grumbled. “I don’t ever get hangovers, this shit sucks right here. I feel like my brain is slowly imploding and my stomach is full of razorblades…” He let out a low moan and pressed his hands to his temples.
Letting out a sigh I stood and went to my bunk to grab some aspirin and a bottle of water. “Take these,” I said handing him the pills. “Drink,” I ordered. I sat down next to him on the couch and gave him the water bottle.
“Eff my life,” he said and leaned his head against my shoulder.
“You’ll feel better soon,” I said reaching my arm behind him to try to grab him a pillow to take my place but as soon as I grabbed it he got comfortable by lying down on the couch, using my lap as his pillow. I sat with the pillow in my hand feeling to sorry for Pete to move him from my lap. I let out a deep breath and put the pillow behind my head and stared out of the window, resting my hand on Pete’s back. Every once in a while he would let out a little moan (let this teach him not to try to out drink everyone in the room…at once..) and unconsciously I would trace figure eight patterns onto his back which made him more relaxed.
I stared down at him as he slept and wondered how someone could have two completely different sides to their personality. There were moments where Pete was just like the annoying douche frat boys from college and other times he was completely different. I couldn’t pinpoint what exactly made him switch from one to the other.
Never in a million years would have I pictured the scene in my head. I was in a dream job for a new marketing graduate, on a tour bus for a famous band, with a hung over Pete Wentz using me as a pillow. The more I thought about it the more I realized that I could have a good thing with Pete if I gave him a chance, but what if it went wrong? I couldn’t pull a Kevin and magically get a job across the country – I would have to stick it out awkwardly working closely with Pete. Something told me this was not a dilemma my ‘pro’s and con’s lists’ could fix.
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