𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘌𝘔𝘗𝘛𝘠 𝘗𝘈𝘙𝘛𝘚 𝘖𝘍 𝘔𝘌 - HOZIER

XII

Vivienne sucked her teeth, already annoyed about the close proximity of the bus, and even more by the bunking situation. On top of it all, she had spent her day trying not to think of Andrew, but it seemed she could never escape him. "I'll take bottom. Save his back."

Gwen giggled. "Alright, then. The master bedroom is being used as storage since Andrew refused to take it, if you want to put your things in there. We're all just splitting the two bathrooms with our toiletries." Gwen gave a pat to Vivienne's upper back. "Enjoy settling in, you dork."

Vivienne gave a light smile as she walked off, her face immediately dropping with a sigh when she was out of range. She watched for a moment as Gwen bee lined for Ivy, striking up a conversation quickly and forgetting about Vivienne within a moment. She was sure that was becoming a stable pattern in her life, and that Andrew had done the same. He found her interesting for a moment, but moved on within a night.

Vivienne pushed the unhealthy thoughts to the side as she unzipped her duffel. She opened the blackout curtain to her bunk, replacing the plain white pillow cases with her own green satin ones and putting just a few of her many stuffed animals onto the mattress. On the back shelf she placed the few things she had that were truly important to her; her Gameboy she still used from middle school loaded with a pokémon fire red cartridge, a sun faded polaroid of her at her high school graduation, two slips of mall photo-booth photos she took with her sister a few years apart, her drumsticks, the keys to her bike, a pair of headphones, and the book she was currently reading; a crinkled copy of dante's inferno. In an almost comically tiny drawer next to the shelf she dumped a lanyard with her house keys, her glasses, and a few cosmic brownies she didn't want to go bad while she was gone, and wasn't at all objecting to taking with her.

She pulled back out of the bed and knelt onto the floor as the bus came to another stop. She pulled open the bottom drawer and shoved rolls of her clothes while the band mates behind her greeted Andrew onto the bus. She put her mind to organizing her clothes in a neat order into the small space allotted; shorts to the left, then bulky pants in the middle, then shirts and dresses to the right. When satisfied she turned back to her bag to zip it up. As she sealed in the few more books and  hair care products she had left, she made sure to ignore the light footed steps approaching behind her.

"Bunk mates?" Andrew questioned with a teasing tone, watching as Vivienne pulled herself to her feet and picked up her bag by the straps.

"I wouldn't call it that, maybe like a prison cell for me." Vivienne kept her back turned, and Andrew could almost see the wall she built between them. He found himself quickly missing watching her face twist with playful grimaces and her words reflecting any sort of emotion besides disappointment to him; but he knew he was the only one to blame.

He exhaled at her avoidant behavior, and Vivienne was quick to continue. "Don't get huffy, I was nice enough to give you the top bunk."

With that she pulled open the door to the master bedroom, slipping in and closing it behind her with no care to the man standing in sorrow behind her. She couldn't find herself caring for his emotions at the moment, as it couldn't be even a fraction of the pain he had put her through in the last day alone.

Vivienne turned from the door to find a sight that gave her the first true smile for the day: her motorcycle, sitting pretty and rested on pegs in the storage room, surrounded by half empty bags and extra equipment. The driver had picked it up hours before while Vivienne was in the process of deep cleaning her apartment to distract from the stress, so she hadn't even noticed it gone.

She grabbed her toiletries and then added her own bag to the pile, running a ghosting hand along the seat of her bike. She imagined all the cities she could ride it through, all the late nights she could escape at hotel rooms by just taking off silently, all the life she would have on this tour and the excitement she had yet to feel. The idea of the new experiences was invigorating, but terrifying at the same time, but at least she had her bike.