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Lily walked around Old Navy, phone pressed to ear,
"Yeah Mom...I'm getting as many as I can.." she said, a variety of colorful a-shirts draped over her arm.
"Well you KNOW it's going to be hot...and you've never done a summer tour this long, so for once in your life, LISTEN to me..." her mother continued to lecture Lily on the importance of buying clothes in bulk,
"God knows when you'll have access to a washing machine, let ALONE a shower! Tell me again why you don't have that same bus? After all the records you've sold-"
Lily sighed, raising an eyebrow in consideration as she held up a light-blue skirt.,
"Uh, well, that was for a short tour..and warped is much longer..and uh.."
Lily paused, "Oh, this is cute..." she mumbled, running her hand over a leopard print mini,
"It cost too much..plus the rest of the bands were complaining about how we had the ONLY bus with a shower..." Lily frowned in disgust at a rack full of tube-tops made from what looked like towels,
"But, whatever...I'll be ok." she said with a shrug.
"I swear, after all the money you've made them, you'd think they'd at least let you keep the bus, I mean...a woman needs to keep clean.." her mother said, voice high, a hint of tension in her voice.
"Yeah.." Lily agreed, looking around her, "I know..."
A beep sounded in her ear,
"Oh, hold on a second, call waiting...Can I call you back?" she asked, quickly switching over to the other line as soon as her mother sighed heavily,
"Hello?" she asked, peering around the corner at another clothing display.
"Hey..Lily?" a voice asked.
Lily raised an eyebrow, staring down at the shirts draped over her arm,
"..Yeah?" she asked suspiciously, eyeing a colorful array of cheap foam flip-flops with a head tilt of consideration
"Heya, it's Pat from Reprise, how are ya?"
Patrick, aka 'Pat,' was a representative from the label and had called her, no doubt, because Matt was still in Hawaii and couldn't be bothered to call. She had received a post card from him a week earlier, stating he was learning to surf and that the food was terrific. Typical. Thus, she had to suffer the cheesy, almost transparent Pat...nice only because he had to be, and in such a fake way.
Lily sighed, "Uh...I'm fine, I'm uh..." she looked down at her selection,
"..shopping. How are you?" she asked, heading towards the cash register.
"Ok so uh..you know about the bus, right?" he began, ignoring her question.
He totally didn't give a fuck.
Lily picked up a small bottle of nail polish as she stood in line,
"Yes Pat, I know about the bus." she said, observing the purple, glittery lacquer.
"And uh..ok so...looks like.."
Lily heard papers shuffling as Pat took a moment to think,
"Uh..flight 211 on Wednesday, ok?"
Lily nodded,
"A-ok, Pat..." she mumbled, smiling at the woman behind the register as she took a step forward.
"Great..." Pat said, taking in a breath, "And Matt says to stock up on deodorant and he wanted to remind you to buy a swim suit."
Lily furrowed her brow as she dumped her shirts on the counter, gently placing the purple nail polish down before the cash register. She readjusted her purse, bringing it up higher on her shoulder,
"A swimsuit?" she asked, hand almost instinctively going to her stomach.
Pat shuffled through some papers. She could hear his hand running across a keyboard,
"Uh, yeahhh...he said you'll need it for shower stops..." he typed some more,
"...without your bus you'll need to shower at public places."
Lily sighed, placing her sunglasses over her eyes as she handed the cashier her check card,
"...Great...just great"
================================

Lily chewed her airline peanuts slowly, sighing as she looked out the window at the ocean, smooth and blue like beach glass. She exhaled through her nose and swallowed, staring blankly at the seat in front of her. Will was listening to his Ipod a few rows over, completely tuned out. Ryan was sleeping, and Adam was clutching a pen in his hand, intent on completing the crossword in front of him. Lily bent forward and grabbed her purse at her feet, unzipping it and taking out her cell phone. She played Tetris for a while until a blue screen popped up, informing her the demo was over and the full version was six dollars. Lily grumbled and shoved her phone, complete with game demos, back into her purse.
Minutes later, a voice blared out of the speakers telling them the plane was refueling and picking up more passengers, therefore an hour of delay was expected.
===================
Lily stood up and stretched, leaning backwards in a failed attempt to crack her back. She staggered into the aisle, standing before her band mates who remained seated; stretching between yawns.
"What do you guys want to do?" she asked, dressed in black work-out pants with white stripes running up the sides, a white tank top thrown on in the dark, and hair pulled up in a messy bun. A hooded black sweatshirt hung loosely on her arms, adjusting to the new arrival of summer heat.. They had been on the plane for hours, since 6 that morning. The circles under Lily's eyes were covered by large black sunglasses.
"Uh..." Will groaned, eyes small slits, "We could hit up the food court.." he said, pulling out the ear buds from behind his blonde hair.
Lily shrugged as they all grunted in agreement,
"I guess I am a bit hungry...those peanuts were pretty good though, huh?" she said sarcastically, voice lowering as a hostess shot a glare in her direction. Lily snorted and zipped up her sweatshirt,
"Lets go, you guys."
=============
The band scuffled lazily into the food court, almost zombie like. The long flight had taken its toll. Will immediately grabbed Adam and Lily's arms, guiding them forcefully to a brightly lit red sign, complete with a panda and chinese symbols. Ryan complained loudly and wandered off to Hot Dog on a Stick alone.
Will ordered a large mass of orange chicken, eggrolls and chow mein, balancing it all on his tray with a large soda in the upper corner. He sat down and handed Lily a plastic fork, stabbing a nugget of chicken with the weak utensil almost simultaneously. The fork bent under the pressure, causing Will to go at the chicken from various angles.
Ryan ate his corndog silently, dipping it in ketchup as he eyed the chinese meal.
Adam sighed as he ripped open a soy-sauce packet, pouring it onto a bed of rice,
"Only four more hours until Ohio.." he grumbled, mashing the rice from its round shape.
Will tilted his head back in bliss as he chewed slowly on a nugget of orange chicken,
"This is soo..good..." he mumbled, eyes fluttering.
He swallowed and took a sip of his soda,
"You know, I'm actually looking forward to Warped." he admitted, twirling chow mein around his fork,
"Even though it's going to be fucking HOT."
Lily held out her hand and Will transferred the soda,
"Yeah..especially in the durr-tey souf." Lily said, shooting Will a glare as he attempted to steal her piece of chicken.
Ryan ate his corndog.
Adam consumed his mongolian beef.
Will gobbled down his chow
mein, taking a moment to brush his hair out of his eyes.
Lily sipped Will's soda,
"So I'll have you all know," she began, putting her hand on the table for emphasis,
" I bought most of my warped wardrobe at department stores...or Old Navy."
Ryan brought his hands together in a silent clap, corndog in mouth.
Will and Adam followed suit.
Adam shrugged,
"I bought a couple shirts..brought some shorts from home."
"Yeah.." Will said, voice cracking as he swallowed a mouthful of rootbeer,
"I got a bunch of free merch in the mail..and uh.. I bought a couple shirts..."
Will ended with a shrug, shoveling more chow mein into his mouth.
"Yeah," Lily agreed, "Me too...I'll tell you guys about some of that later, but-"
"Hey," Ryan interjected, "I got some merch too! Just got some shirts and some shorts really..."
Ryan paused, placing the stick into the small cardboard box that came with the corndog,
"Pat called me and told me to get swim trunks.." he said with a raised eyebrow, biting his lip ring,"What's up with that?"
Will groaned, putting his hand to his belly,
"The bus is gone..he said it's a financial thing."
Adam hummed, " He told me it was because Madonna needed it..."
Lily laughed, "At least it's for a good cause." she said with a sigh, crossing her arms as the p.a sounded.
==================
Lily boarded the plane, walking through the aisle with a sigh. She grabbed her purse and took out her phone, frowning at the lack of missed calls.
"Noone likes me..." she mumbled under her breath as she made her way to the bathroom at the end of the plane.
As she walked back down the aisle, she noticed the plane was a lot fuller than it was before.
Suddenly, she felt hands at her waists, squeezing her, then pulling her back into a hug.
Lily eyes widened, hands automatically going to the arms locked around her body.
She looked down to see two tattooed hands....
"Lil-eeee"
Lily pried off the tattooed arms wrapped so tightly around her body and spun around,
"Bert?!" she laughed, throwing her arms around him in a hug.
"Hey sunshine, nice pants." he said, a bit muffled under Lily's tight grasp.
"Thanks!" Lily laughed, turning around and facing her band,
"Hey guys, Bert's here!" she said with a grin, hand to his chest.
"We know." Will grumbled, smoothing his visibly tousled hair.
Bert gave Will a wink,
"I already said my hellos."
Lily beamed, "So why are you guys on this plane..of ALL planes?" she asked, adding,
"Heyyyy Jepherz!", leaning over and punching him on the shoulder.
Jepha flashed her a grin,
"Well, our other flight was canceled for 'our protection'." he said with a shrug.
"Yeah!" Quinn piped in from a few seats over, "Terrorist suspect!"
Lily frowned, "Whaaaat?"
Bert shrugged, "Whaaat EVA!" he said with a grin.
Lily laughed as she smiled up at him.
Bert grinned and locked his arm around her side, pulling her tight to him.
An announcement over the p.a told them to be seated.
Lily sat turned in her seat, twisted slightly to talk to Bert who sat behind her. Her hands were gripping the back of her seat.
Moments later Bert dashed across the aisle and crashed into the seat next to her, buckling his seatbelt almost simultaneously.
Lily laughed, "Lets hope no one sits there, huh?" she asked as the engines started to rumble.
"Got any gum?" Bert asked as the roar of the engines became stronger.
Lily dug through her purse and took out a pack of spearmint gum.
She handed it to an eager Bert,
"There you go Rob...last piece, just for you." she said with a grin.
"Thanks Lilypad." Bert said, shoving the stick of green gum into his mouth with a wink.
The engines screamed underneath them...
Lily smiled at her hands in her lap..she felt something inside she hadn't felt in a long time..
She felt the fire.
===================
"Shit..you lost your bus to Madonna?" Bert mumbled,
"That fucking sucks."
Lily laughed hazily, "I ..know!" she sighed as the plane landed in yet another state.
The p.a beeped,
"For safety issues, we are picking up more passengers at this time. Sorry for the inconvenience, and enjoy your flight"
"Fuckin' terrorists.." Bert mumbled, widening his eyes.
Lily laughed softly, "Fuckin' terrorists messing up my flight."
She sighed, "Do you know how long we've been on this plane? Forever!"
Bert pat her hand softly, "Me too Lil..me too..it'll all be over soon.." he assured her, signaling the hostess over and asking her for trail mix,
"The kind with the yogurt chips in it..yeah, thanks."
Suddenly, the plane opened and passengers started to file in.
"Woohoo..." Will sighed from across the aisle.
"Can it, Butterball!" Bert hissed through clenched teeth, breaking into a smile as Will became frustrated.
Bert leaned across the aisle and stroked his arm,
"Just KIDDING Will, you know Rob loves the butter..you know it.." he said softly.
Will slapped his hand away and turned up his Ipod.
Lily hit Bert softly, covering her mouth to keep from laughing.
"What?" Bert asked innocently, "He knows I love him, don't you Will?"
Will flashed a rude hand gesture as more passengers filed in.
Bert and Lily burst into giggles.
Suddenly, Will took out his ear plugs, and looked straight ahead.
Lily followed suit.
There was Gerard, standing right in front of them..ticket in hand.
Bert froze.
Lily's lip trembled..face growing warm,
"H-hey Gerard." she blurted, fumbling to unbuckle her safety belt.
"..Hey." he said quietly, staring at Bert.
Their eyes remained locked in a cold stare as Lily stumbled over Bert knees, falling onto Gerard in a hug.
"Terrorists?" Lily asked anxiously, trying hard to get his attention.
She stood on her toes to block his view, "Huh?"
Gerard caught her eyes, "Yeah." he said coldly, stealing another glance at Bert,
"They were afraid of hijacking. And justifiably so."