Illuminated Silence

22

The drive to tour bus depo was reasonably short, yet set a mood of unsurity amongst the group on arrival. Stellar gazed up in wonder at the huge buses that would hold them for however long they would be touring for, although the boys had a grumpy attitude toward the 'moving cages'. Grabbing her luggage, she followed them to the bus labelled 'My Chemical Romance" , which lay next to the team bus. Opening the door, Frank rushed past her and off to the left, followed by Mikey and Ray. "Fuck off Ray! I call top!" She heard the short man holler. Rolling his eyes, Gerard led her to wear the boys were fighting over the bunks. Mikey already sat on one of the top Bunks, long legs daggling down kicking at frank anytime he came near. He really looked like he'd had enough of all their shit.

Ray beat frank away with a pillow, fighting for his spot uptop, making the others laugh. "Frank just stay down there! I don't care if it makes you feel tall!" He grumbled. Frank didn't let up, and had to be tackled by Bob into one of the bottom ones. He then shut the curtain on him, earning a lunch to Bob's stomach. Stellar rolled her eyes and dumped her stuff under the spare bunks that was next to Gerard's, before sitting down in the tight space. The boys eventually stopped their banter and froze, poking their heads out at a tattoed guy watching them unamusedly from the small seating area. How long he'd been there, they didn't know. He cleared his voice, staring at her almost angrily. She shrunk back slightly, picking at the Threads on her jeans. "Gerard and Ray. Can I speak to you for a moment please? Outside. Alone." The man got up and exited the bus, causing the boys to look at each other quietly and shrug. Gerard bit his lip and followed Ray out, closing the door behind them. Stellar jumped up and tiptoed behind Frank who was going to spy, listening behind the door where they were standing outside. She shoved him over a bit and put her ear to the door.

"Who the hell is she? You can't bring random bimbos on tour guys. That's not how it works."   The mans voice.

"She's not some random bimbo! She's my friend. plus she has no where to go."  Gerard hissed.

"Oh I didn't realize you were picking up the homeless now. Perhaps we should set up a plus one plan for the whole band, the whole crew. Hell, how about we just throw parties in there!"

"Jesus Christ why are you being such a dick? We had a spare bunk anyways. I thought we could give her a job or something. Its not that big of a deal."

The man sighed loudly. "I really have almost had it with you lot. I may not like it, but you guys make me money so I suppose I'll let it slide this time. Next time though, well there is no next time. Get your act together, we're leaving in ten. I'll send Cassie over later. Surely the girl can do freaking make up."

"Thanks." Ray said.

Frank and stellar scampered away from the door, running back to the bunks as if nothing happened. A moment later they heard footsteps approaching and the door open, before Gerard and Ray re entered the bus looking pissed off, but trying to hide it. Ray flopped on to his bed and gerard unzipped His suitcase to get something before going into his own.

"What'd Dave want?" Mikey called down.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it. " Gerard said.  "Wake me up when we get there. Bye," He shut his curtain hurriedly. Mikey frowned down at the closed material, eyesbrow furrowed. He then looked down at Frank, sharing a knowing look. "Gerard..."

"Night."

Ray mouthed something at them before closing his own curtain. Stellar looked at them confusedly, slightly concerned at their behavior. Frank stood up as Mikey dropped down, both walking toward the kitchen. "Cmon Stel. We have TV!" Frank said enthusiasticly, grabbing her hand.

"Uhm, okay." She said as she was dragged out the door and plonked on the couch. "Erm, am I missing something here?" She said cautiously.

Frank bit his lip and snuck a glance at Ray before shaking his head vigorously. "Huh? No! Why would you think that?" She eyed him suspiciously as he smiled widely. He was a terrible liar, but she was only just meeting them and she wasn't going to call him out on it, so ignored it for now. Mikey shoved a bowl of chips at her and sat down and restlessly flicked through the channels, before settling On texting rapidly, with frank doing the same. And after three Episodes of keeping up with the kardashians and endless mind wandering, she got up and stretched. "Be right back. I'm going to the bathroom." Frank looked up and nodded before resuming whatever he was doing. She padded over toward the bathroom which was situated past the bunks, slipping through past Rays soft snores and sticking out hand. After cleaning herself up in the sink- while also annoyedly noting there was no shower- she turned the light off and exited the bathroom. Just as she was about to leave, she jumped in fright as something hit her foot lightly in the near dark. Picking it up reluctantly, she felt around the small circular bottle, and studied it through the sliver of light shining through the gap in the door.

Codeine.

She studied the bottle further and saw it was issued to Gerard. She frowned. Is that what he grabbed before? Maybe he had a headache, which could explain why he had gone to bed early, yet he had been fine earlier. She crept back past a sleeping Ray toward Gerard's bunk, slightly crouching near the curtain which separated them. "Gee?" She whispered. She heard a slight clink inside as he moved around. "Gerard?" She called a little louder. She pulled the curtain back slightly, revealing the raven haired mans dark eyes staring back at her. His pupils seemed a little bigger than usual and when he spoke, his breath reeked of alcohol. "What?" He said hoarsely.

She took him in, quite taken aback. "Oh. Um, you dropped these. " His eyes lowered to the bottle if pills she was holding before he reached out drunkenly and snatched them, shoving them under his pillow. "Gee... are you okay?" She said hesitantly. He avoided her gaze, instead turning over toward the wall. "I'm fine. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to sleep." She frowned at him. "You never were asleep. Plus we're almost there and if you sleep now, you won't later."

"Just–leave me be Stellar. I'll make small talk later."  She nodded even though he couldn't see, standing up and pulling the curtain shut.

What had she unknowingly got herself into?