FicWad

I hopped into the car with my manager Jon as I finished my peach yogurt. I smiled politely at him and buckled my seat belt as Jon revved the engine and peeled his black SUV out of my drive way.
“Are you excited yet or still tired from the after party last night?”
“A little bit of both I think… speaking of which, what did happen last night?”
“I take it you drank more than originally planned? And I wasn’t there for too long, all I know is I heard you went to some party at Brendon Urie’s house. It was a bunch of people your age. Your friend Sarah took you home.”
“Right…Brendon. He’s in a band if I remember correctly?”
“Yeah, Panic! At The Disco to be specific.”
“Oh yeah that sounds about right. He was nice…”
I trailed off and my careless mindset subsided as it occurred to me we could’ve hooked up. I brought my fingers up to my neck and opened the car mirror to check for hickies.
“He has a girlfriend. Unless you hooked up with someone else, I think you’re good.”
I sighed deeply in relief. Hooking up with some guy I’d just met definitely wasn’t my thing, but mixing me and alcohol… anything could happen. I was just glad to know I didn’t have any marks for evidence.
“Alright we’re here. Their bus is over toward the left of the lot. I’ll grab your bags.”
“Thanks, Jon. I really appreciate you.”
We exchanged a warm smile and he playfully shooed me away to meet the guys. I thought about asking Jon who they were but why ask when I can just go meet them now?
I hopped out of the car and grabbed my purse. I tried and failed at my attempt to hold back a grin that made its way to my face as I almost skipped toward the bus. I looked up as I approached and FALL OUT BOY was painted in big words on the side. I think I’d heard of them before but nothing serious, still; they were a lot better known than me. I tried not to let the slight intimidation phased me as I nervously fixed my hair and took one deep breath before knocking on the door to one of the buses.
A boy with straight, dark, side swept hair answered the door after a moment. He wore a tight red shirt, black skinny jeans, and a brown beanie. He was tattooed, from what I could see, from his neck down. He looked at me thoughtfully for a minute then smiled a cute, toothy half smile. He reached out to shake my hand.
“Hey, I’m Pete. I think you’ll be staying on our bus… and by our, I mean me and Joe’s. Patrick and Andy are on their bus waiting to get the tank filled up.”
“I’m Alissa! And yeah that sounds good.”
“I know who you are. I think it’s time for you to take a tour of your new temporary home.”
He motioned me inside and stepped aside so I could enter the bus. I took a breath and nervously pushed passed Pete and entered the bus. He slid open the star wars inspired sliding brown door and I looked around, it was a brown and cream color scheme. There were two tvs in the front room and a cream colored couch.
“This is the front room where we just hang around and watch tv or whatever. It gets a little smaller though ‘cause the bus is slid out right now. So yeah that’s the front room…”
He trailed off as he led me into the next part of the bus; the kitchen. There were very basic areas; a sink, a fridge and freezer, a microwave; the essentials. As he showed me the other parts of the kitchen, I explored the area myself. There wasn’t much food in here except, you guessed it; the basics… with the exception of endless boxes of hot pockets scattered around the freezer.
We walked forward more and were surrounded by bunks that seemed to be inside of the wall.
“…and up there is Joe- “
He motioned toward a top bunk out of the four that surrounded us.
“I think he’s sleeping or listening to music or high right now so we’ll just let him do his thing.”
I nodded and looked around for a moment but didn’t want to intrude on anything and followed Pete further down the bus.
He opened the door to reveal a small bedroom with a queen sized bed, a small tv in the corner, and two nightstands on either side that were filled with random items and a plethora of books and sketch pads. The blankets and pillows where strewn about and it looked like someone had just got up from this are not too long ago. I longed for a moment to be snuggling up in that bed surrounded by pillows and blankets, but quickly shooed the thought away. I needed to stay awake, hell; I wasn’t even aware as to where I was going to be sleeping tonight… or for the next few months for that matter. All I knew is I certainly wouldn’t have minded it being in here with Pete.
“So do you like it? It’s not much, but it’s something.”
“Oh well I mean I have nothing to compare it to… if you didn’t realize I’m kind of new to the music industry.”
“I know, but I think you’re going to go far. I just have… this feeling about you. I don’t know.”
We exchanged a smile then turned our attention toward the bed again; the blankets were moving. Pete laughed and sat on the bed and pulled the blankets from the figure. It was a small brown and white bulldog. His face lit up when he played with the dog. I couldn’t tell which one was cuter at this point; Pete or the dog? (I was leaning toward Pete)
“This is Hemingway.”
“He’s adorable!”
“I know haha but he can be a real shit. Speaking of which, you might want to get into a habit of hiding your shoes around here. He’ll eat anything.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
We smiled. Pete stood up from the bed to face me.
“Well if you ever need anything like help with writing or anything in general… I’m here.”
He gave me a look and started to walk out of the room.
“You can sleep wherever you’d like. We try to rotate with the rooms and the bunks.. Joe’s girlfriend comes on the bus a lot and sometimes Patrick and Andy will come hang but for the most part I stay in the back room and Joe takes to the bunks.”
“I don’t really mind sleeping in the bunks at all. They look… fun.”
Pete gave me a worried look. I reassured him.
“No – honestly. I think it’ll be an experience.”
Pete laughed.
“Alright well again, if you need anything or want to switch rooms, you know where to find me. I’m going to go outside and talk to Patrick and my manager who I’ll introduce you to later while you get your stuff situated. Your bags are on your bed.”
He gave me a weak half smile and walked out of the room. He seemed like he had a lot on his mind, so I didn’t question him.
I walked into the hallway by my bunk and started unpacking my clothes and toiletries onto the bunk beside mine, I figured since Joe had all his shit on the bunk next to his, I’d mirror his example.
“Yo, you’re Alissa, right?”
I jumped, his sudden groggy voice that interrupted the silence startled me. I turned around to see a stoned Joe Trohman.
“Yes. And you’re Joe… nice to meet you!”
I tried to sound enthusiastic as I shook his sweaty palms. No offence, but it looked like he needed a shower… and soon.
“You too…”
He trailed off as he started climbing down from his bunk to further introduce himself to me. He wore dark blue and black plaid boxers and a white v neck t shirt. He smelled like marijuana, sweat, and morning breath.
“Uh, sorry… I just woke up. So when did you get here?”
“Its fine! And probably twenty minutes ago, give or take a little.”
I noticed him staring at my chest just as he noticed I saw him. He had a semi coming on which was not making it any less awkward.
The door opened and Joe and I turned to see Pete and Patrick staring at us in confusion. Yeah… this looked a little weird.
Patrick blushed and turned away and Pete chimed in.
“Well I see you two have already gotten to know each other pretty well!”
Joe looked down at his hard on and held his palms to cover the bulge and ran down the hall.
A muffled “Sorry! Uh – I just woke up. I’m so sorry!” came from the bathroom
“Nice going Joe… scare off this girl before she even gets to know us.”
I blushed harder and turned to Pete and Patrick. Patrick approached me.
“I hope you don’t think we’re all horny little boys now… I’m Patrick.”
Everyone laughed – even Joe.
“Hey, I’m Alissa. And nah it’s cool, I get it.”
“Alright thanks for being cool about it. I hear Pete got you all situated?”
“Yep! Where’s your bus? And where’s the other guy?”
“Our bus is on the other side of the parking lot and Andy is on the bus. We’re going to chill here later tonight but for now I think I’m gonna go back to my bus and hang. We’ll leave you alone to get situated.”
“Okay thanks again, guys!”
“No problem – we’re glad to have you.”
Patrick turned to walk out, Pete following behind. He turned to me before leaving.
“Me, too.”
He smiled sweetly then turned and hurried off the bus behind Patrick. I resumed folding my clothes and started smiling like a giddy little girl.
Joe walked out of the bathroom and apologized again at least a hundred more times and went back to sleep.
I decided to follow suit after I’d finished – I still didn’t feel too well and I guess I had time to sleep. I lay in the bunk and closed the curtain and fell asleep smiling at how excited I was for what was to come - or my lack of knowledge of what was to come. But it wasn't a problem.

I always liked a little mystery.