"Mmm, how long has it been since we last kissed like that?" Ian asked. We had been walking in park together and were now sitting under the shade of a tree.
"Forever," I mumbled, leaning against him. He put his arm around me and rested his head on mine.
"This band thing is taking over our lives," he said.
"Wow, I never expected to hear those words come out of your mouth," I said. He chuckled lightly.
"I can't believe we're finally almost done with the album," he said. I nodded.
"A year's worth of hard work," I said.
"It took forever, but it doesn't seem like it when you look back," he said.
"I'm so excited to finally actually travel to places that aren't in the West," I said. We sat in silence for a few moments. "What do you think Paul's going to talk to us about tomorrow?" I asked him. He shrugged.
"Plans for the summer probably. God, I really hope we got into Bamboozle. That would be the best thing in the world. We'd be able to tour with all of the bands that we want to be like. Having all those people there to coach us and give us advice would so awesome," Ian replied.
"All Time Low, Good Charlotte, The Maine, Cobra Starship," I listed.
"And a hell of a lot more," he added. I felt myself smiling, imagining how great it would be to tour with bands like those.
~~~~~~~~~~
"Good news!" Paul said, rubbing his hands together. We all immediately lit up. It was always reassuring when Paul was in a good mood. That meant that we weren't going to be drilled for something stupid. "
"We...got into Bamboozle!" he exclaimed. I let out a squeal and the boys looked at me and laughed.
"No way?!" Liam exclaimed. Paul nodded vigorously, obviously excited.
"The line-up is great. It's all the great current pop-punk bands. And guess who you'll be opening for?" he asked.
"Who?!" I asked, gripping Caleb's arm tightly.
"All Time Low!" he said. We let out shouts of excitement. It would be so awesome, opening up for a popular band like All Time Low. And we had already opened for them in Arizona, so we knew them.
"Aside from that, we're still editting the album. I want to release the album after the tour, that way you can build up a bigger fan-base and hopefull that'll boost the album sales. Unfortunately, with the internet today, lots of kids are just downloading music illegally instead of actually buying it. Hopefully you guys can win over some loyal All Time Low fans," Paul said once we calmed down. "Also, I got you guys an interview with Kiss FM. You're going to talk to the guys over there and also play an acoustic version of one of your songs," he continued.
"Sweet. Everyone listens to Kiss FM," Camron said.
"Right you are. And that's what's so great about it. Right now we're in the middle of getting you guys popular. All of this publicity is to boost sales for your first album. If we get a good rating for this album and you guys make a good name for yourselves out there, it'll be perfect and even easier the second time around," Paul explained. We nodded. "Now, Vanessa. You may want to think about making a signature style for yourself, something that other girls can look up to. Being the only girl in the band, you stick out, and that's a good thing and we want to play off of that. Your hair is a good start. But you might want to think about changing your wardrobe a little. It's a little too...tom-boyish," Paul said, turning to me. The boys snorted with laughter. I sent them a mock-glare. "Other than that, I have nothing else to say to you guys. The tour starts June 15th, so be ready and packing. We're getting a tour bus!" he exclaimed.
"You know you're legit when you get your own tour bus," Ian said, smirking.
We all left the studio, talking excitedly about the coming summer. I couldn't stop beaming. It was as if a smile were plastered to my face forever.
~~~~~~~~~~
"HELL no," I said, grabbing the skirt Mae picked out for me and putting it back on the rack.
"Why not? It's cute!" she said, picking it back up.
"Mae, it has flowers on it! Does that say punk-rock to you?" I asked. She rolled her eyes and put it back again.
"Fine. But this is what Paul meant by you being a tom-boy," she said. I glared at her. "Don't give me that look. How many skirts do you own?" she asked. I opened my mouth and then closed it. I didn't have any. "Point proven," she said.
"This," I said, picking up a white racerback tank with navy blue stripes on it. "This is cute," I said. She pursed her lips.
"Yeah, hold onto it," she said. I smiled gleefully at her approval.
"We're going to be performing outdoors mostly over the summer. I want something easy to wear and breezy," I said when she picked up a lightweight peacoat style coat. She rolled her eyes and handed it to me.
"We're not only shopping for the tour. We can get other stuff, too," she said. "Paul gave us $2000 to spend on you. I intend on using all of it," she added.
"What would I even wear this with?" I asked, holding the coat out.
"You just wear a plain shirt underneathe it and a pair of dark skinny jeans. Voila! It's an outfit," she replied.
"Hmmm. You know, it's a good idea that you're going into fashion design. You really have an eye for this sort of thing," I said, jogging slightly to catch up with her fast pace. She gave me a half-smile.
"You're getting good at kissing up," she said, pulling out a black vest with gold buttons on it. I cocked my head to the side looking at the vest.
"I'm not really a fan of the buttons," I said. She threw the vest at me anyway.
"This is cute," she said, pulling out a navy blue dolman top. "And its light. Oh gosh! If you pair it with like a feather necklace and..." she kept going, running around the shop pulling out accessories. That was basically how the rest of the day went. I bought a whole new wardrobe with the money that Paul had given me. We used up all of it, just like Mae wanted.
~~~~~~~~~~
I was exhausted when I got to Caleb's house that night.
"Why are you so tired?" he asked, when I yawned for the fifth time.
"I went shopping with Mae," I replied. Camron laughed.
"That must have been fun," he said. I rolled my eyes at him.
"She has really good choice in clothes. I'm just not a girly girl type. I'm good with a band tee and some jeans," I said.
"Which is exactly what Paul meant when he called you a tom-boy," Ian said. I threw a pillow at him and he caught it, laughing.
"That's a nice outfit you're wearing right now though," Liam mentioned, nodding at me. "Mae's idea?" he asked.
"I actually picked out the jacket myself," I said grinning widely and running my hands over the red fake leather jacket I was wearing. Ian put his arm around me and I relaxed against his body.
"Paul emailed us a picture of our new tour bus," Camron said, moving over to the same couch Ian and I were sitting on. He held his laptop on his lap and pulled up a picture. I smiled.
"Sickest...!" I whispered excitedly, leaning in to get a better look at it. It was a red, black, and white tour bus. Then I sat up, an expression of realization washing over me.
"What?" Caleb asked, seeing this.
"I'm going to have to share a bus with four boys," I answered in a robotic voice. The boys burst into laughter and I buried my face in my hands. "Nooo!!! This is going to be torture!" I whimpered into my hands. I felt Ian's hands rubbing my back soothingly, although I knew he wasn't trying to soothe me.
"It's ok. We'll lay some ground rules. And also, there'll probably be more guys on the bus. Our crew's probably travelling with us," Liam added. I glared at him.
"Not helping," I hissed. They all laughed again.
"Well, that's what it's like to be the only girl in the band," Camron said. I leaned back against Ian again.
"You guys can't be gross! Shower everyday. No disgusting bodily functions. No sex in the bunks with whorish fan girls-" I began listing.
"What? Way to be a party pooper," Liam joked.
"Speaking of pooper, no pooping on the bus," I said. They all laughed at me.
"You're such a girl," Ian said.
"Well, what have you been kissing for the past 6 and a half months?" I shot back.
"She got you," Caleb said, slumping in his chair and throwing his hood over his crazy mane of hair. Ian threw a balled up napkin at him, which Caleb swatted away.
"I'm going to come up with a whole list of things you guys aren't allowed to do while I'm around on the bus and then post it in there," I announced.
"So if you're not on the bus, we're free to do whatever?" Liam clarified, smirking. The others laughed again and I shook my head and rolled my eyes at them.
"The only people we're going to have to worry about having sex is you two," Camron pointed out, gesturing towards Ian and me.
I blushed slightly and Ian extracted his arm away from me, clearing his throat. In the six months that we had been in a relationship, we still had not slept together. We never even had time for a proper second date, so it wasn't that big of a deal. It didn't seem like we had been together for that long because we had been so busy with the band and me with finishing up my degree. Now that I had more time on my hands, I was realizing more and more how much our relationship was suffering.
"Well that made the mood awkward," Liam muttered.
"Let's go out. I'm bored," Caleb suggested.
"Where?" I yawned. He raised his eyebrows at me.
"You should probably go home and sleep. You're not going to be much fun if you're half asleep," Ian said. I pouted, but agreed. I was in no state to go hang out into the late hours of the night.
"G'night, boys," I said, standing up.
"I'll walk you to the door," Ian said, also getting up. The boys wolf-whistled as we walked upstairs.
"HILARIOUS," I yelled once we reached the top.
"IMMATURE," Ian shouted at the same time. We grinned at each other and walked outside.
The nighttime summer air was cool and a soft breeze was blowing. I leaned against the driver's door of my car. Ian reached down and tucked a strand of my still-short hair behind my ear. He leaned down and kissed me slowly and longingly.
"I miss you," he whispered against my lips.
"I miss you, too," I replied, kissing him again. When we pulled away, we were both slightly breathless.
"Good night, Ness," he said softly.
"Good night," I replied, smiling. I opened the door to my car and got in. I waved as I backed out of the driveway and drove off into the night, the ghost of our kiss still on my lips.
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A/N: Yayayaya!! They're going on tour! I can't wait to write about their tour life. It's going to be so much fun. I'm going to put in a lot of my favorite bands, because they are the ones they're touring with.
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XOXO