Put Up Or Shut Up

Coffee Shop Soundtrack

(I can keep a secret if you can keep me guessing. The flavor of your lips is enough to keep me here, keep me here)

I was waiting for the guys to turn up in the Dunkin' Donuts as Alex ordered us some caffeinated drinks, with it being 7:30 in the morning on our first day back at Dulaney as Juniors. We'd all agreed to meet here and head to school together as well as having a catch-up of what we'd got up to, because for the last week and a half of the holidays we'd all gone and done our own things.

Alex and I had spent a lot of time together going on dates or just hanging out on the beach, at the harbour or at each other's houses. After touring for a few weeks at the start of summer break, we'd gone to a few Warped dates and seen Simple Plan, The Early November, Yellowcard and Good Charlotte as well as other bands. I was sitting down at a window table staring out onto the quiet streets of York Road as only a handful of people were up. Some were walking their dogs, others doing their morning run and ofcourse, there were people heading to work in their cars already looking stressed and the day had only just begun.

I looked over to the trees on Willow Avenue, and I swore for a second I saw someone I recognised standing on the corner. I blinked for a second, thinking it was Cory but I just closed my eyes and shook my head before looking back, and the figure was still there. I stared at them, assuming I was giving them direct contact, but I couldn't see who they were properly through the dirty windows and the cars passing by. The guy looked like Cory, but I knew he couldn't be here because he'd gone to college somewhere on the west coast. My heartbeat increased and a sense of panic came over me, so I tried to take some deep breaths and tell myself it wasn't Cory, it couldn't be.

At that moment, Alex sat down next to me and put the Vanilla Latte on the table, snapping me back to reality and where I was. I turned to Alex smiling, kissing him softly before leaning into his frame and taking a sip from my drink, the warmth filling my body on this cold August morning. I looked out over to Willow Avenue again, and the figure was gone. Alex put his arm around me, rubbing his thumb up and down my arm softly before groaning as we saw Rian's car pull up, Kara in shotgun and Jack with Grieco in the back followed by Zack's car parking next to it infront of us. I chuckled as I saw Jack jump out full of energy as always while the others looked pretty tired and Jack wasn't lifting their moods.

Rian and Jack ordered the drinks while Kara, Grieco and Zack came and sat with us, yawning before laying their heads on the worn plastic table as if they could go back to sleep right there. Alex nudged me and gestured for me to look in the direction of Jack and Rian, and sure enough, Jack was harrassing both Rian and the lovely lady behind the counter asking them what donut he should get. Alex and I giggled and watched as Rian glared at Jack before he got a box of six random ones and walking over to the table with them and two drinks while Rian paid and brought the other two over, handing one to Kara.

Jack set the box of donuts on the table before taking a big sip out of his hot chocolate, then taking a random donut out of the box, taking a huge bite out of it. By the look on his face, it didn't taste good with his hot chocolate, so he put it back in the box, guzzling more on his hot chocolate and taking another donut and doing the same with that, getting the same reaction and making everyone on the table laugh. After trying each donut, he settled back on the first one and offered his rejects to us and we all just shook our heads. Zack looked at his watch before groaning and getting up. "Time for me to go, see you guys at practice later." He shuffled past Rian and Kara's giggle-session, grabbing his black coffee and heading out the door, but before he could get out, Jack being Jack decided to shout from the top of his lungs "Love You Zacky!" Making Zack go red, dipping his shaking head as he headed to his car, getting in and glaring at Jack before driving off. I looked at my watch after finishing my Latte and saw it was 7:45, giving us fifteen minutes to get to school. Wide-eyed, I nudged Alex, pointing at my watch and he cursed under his breath. "Uhm, guys it's quarter to...time to head off." They all groaned, finishing their drinks and almost running to Rian's car as Alex and I headed to his car and we went to start our Junior year.

*****

After our first day of Junior year was over, it was time for band practice at Rian's. Grieco went home with Rian and Kara, while Jack rode with Alex and I so we could pick up the gear on the way. When we arrived at practice Rian and Kara were nowhere to be seen, but Grieco, Matt and Zack were eating the contents on Rians refirgerator on the couch in the living room. When I asked Matt where they were, he nodded in the direction of Rian's bedroom shivering and warning me not to disturb whatever they were up to. I sighed and made the guys go downstairs and set up, while I checked to see if anyone else was home before shouting from the top of my lungs outside Rian's bedroom door. "Robert Rian Dawson! If you do not get your ass downstairs to practice in the next 5 minutes, we will make your life hell on each and every tour for the rest of this damn year. So hurry the fuck up and stop doing whatever you're doing in there!" I laughed as I heard a loud thud come from the other side of the door, as well as a lot of movement and shuffling before Kara appeared, flattening down the dress she was wearing and heading to the basement. Rian came out a few minutes later looking red-faced and flustered, glaring as he passed me down the hall to the stairs, while I just chuckled.

As well as doing some covers and original songs today, we were also planning the next tour/trips around Maryland during the weekends and holidays as well as writing some new material for when the guys hit the studio of Emerald Moon records in the next few weeks. They decided on doing an album to follow up the EP they did over the summer, so they had original songs to play as well as covers when they went on the road. They already had some songs written, so it as just choosing which ones to record, which is why they had played a few infront of Matt, Grieco, Kara and I today and planned to do a local gig this weekend to see which ones went over the best with the crowd. Tour-wise, they decided on doing some gigs around Maryland to get the buzz up, and then maybe after Christmas break go back to some states they'd been to before, like Pennsylvania.

Time went by fast and before we knew it, it was after 9 and time to go home. After dropping Jack home, Alex and I went for food at Quiznos before heading home. Alex stayed over at mine 'til around midnight, where we watched some TV and he played me a few songs, giving me butterflies as he smiled and sang each word perfectly to me. We were lying on my bed talking when his mom called and told him it was time for him to come home, so he begrudgingly got up and put his shirt back on with his hoodie and grabbed his stuff, planting a kiss on my lips before he left. Seen as the guys were spending this weekend writing songs, I wasn't going to be seeing much of them so Kara and I were going shopping and I was spending as much time as I could with Alex afterschool.

The guys took the band very seriously, and although it wasn't their number one choice for after high school (well, it was for Alex) it meant a lot to them. They would take advantage of every oppertunity they got, whether it was opening for a band in Maryland or recording something at Emerald Moon Records. When we were at Warped, the guys had brought along some guitars and did shows in the parking lot to gain fans, and even some bands took interest in them. One band in particular that seemed to like the guys was Amber Pacific, who gave them their management's contact details and told them to hit them up so they could maybe be the opening act for some of their tour when they were a bit older. The look on the guys' faces when that happened...their faces just lit up. Ofcourse, it was a major talking point for a good few weeks and the card was placed in Matt's care, as the guys had appointed him their Tour Manager.

The only thing that worried me was if they did blow up and grow more and more, choosing to follow this dream instead of going to college is what would happen to us. Kara and I would go to college while they went and toured the world, making people fall in love with their onstage dick jokes and personalities as well as the lyrics. What if we got left behind? I shook my head. I couldn't think of that now, there was a year before that sort of thing was likely to happen anyway, so I would just savour the time I had with them now instead of worrying about the future.