I’ve broken bones… what’s his excuse?
"Hi Luke," I said hopping off the bus, seeing our driver having his dose of nicotine leaning against the black, metallic side wall.
"Hi Meg," He smiled, taking a drag as I pulled my own pack of blue Camel out from my sweatpants. We had stopped in a town I’ve never been to, because Luke needed his fix of rest. I understood the guy, once I drove to Las Vegas and had to take a break at least eight times, both because Bailey was drinking and needed to pee, and because I grew very sick and tired of the driving. "How are you guys doing back there? You all have been oddly quiet..."
"Well," I lit up the coffin nail, before taking a drag, "Bails and Chris are sleeping, Frank is writing something and Ian is crisscrossing web for a new job."
"Try suggesting craigslist," Luke chuckled, putting out the cigarette against the pavement, before placing the rest in his hand. Oh right, I had forgotten that this giant did that. It was odd seeing the guy just stand there, hovering a good foot above, holding whatever litter he had brought outside the bus in his hand and waiting for a good opportunity to throw them in the nearest trash bin.
"Already did that, and if I may add, feel darn proud of it." I blew out a gray cloud. For those who’ve been living under a rock or have not simply experienced the offering dimensions of craigslist – it’s a place for creeps of every kind to go to, throw a bunch of ad’s and watch the world burn. Once I saw an ad where a guy was selling his kidney for a fix of meth. That’s when I noticed the other, roadie buss pull up next to us. "What kind of people are we having this year besides the usual’s?"
"Two chicks, who works for the minimum and already are hating the glorious tour life," He smiled as if remembering something funny,
"Somebody told them there’s no shitting in the bus?" I grinned, seeing a simple looking chick get off the bus just to run for the nearest gas station.
"Exactly..." The poor gals, they must’ve thought this is some kind of a unicorn adventure with prince charming on every other corner, when the truth was - this is fucking hell and they are my minions.
I remembered when I got on the bus with the same fucking thought, but that sick seed I’d planted inside my head? Well, let’s say I removed it rather quickly after realizing not even headlining bands have such a privilege as shitting in the tour bus, tho we were lucky for being able to shower off the sickening stench of the tour as for every other mere mortal – they were lucky if they got a quick two minute shower every four days.
The cigarette traveled to my lips as I watched the other girl, a rather attractive brunette shoot me a dirty look. Really? We’re gonna dance this kind of a tango with you? Just because I’m not in my daily attire doesn’t mean I can’t rock these sweatpants, those flip-flops and my glasses like a true fucking superstar. "Who’s that?" I questioned as the girl went over to a bench, hands deep in the pockets of her denim skirt.
"That’s Madison, our new merch girl," Luke explained, before laughing off, "Your favorite kind."
"You mean a stuck up bitch with no moral standards?" I asked a little too excited,
"She’s writing a blog about the whole tour, a sort of journal of her experience."
"Is she now..." I fixed the glasses on my nose, this could get interesting and for a slight second I thought if I should get her off that hook, but figured what the hell. We are who we are and if she sees how Bails punches a certain dude, or Chris crawling his way to the bus after a night of drinking, or me rocking my sweats, then what the hell.
A very sleepy Chris peeked around the doorway of the buss, scratching the back of his head and in the same time letting out a long yawn. "Where are we?" Did I forgot to mention he was shirtless, ‘cause his abs were very much in my face and all over the place.
"Who the hell even knows…" I dropped the remainders of my smoke to the ground, before putting it out with my foot. "All I know we have to be playing in Seattle in little less than three hours." And another thing I noticed, Madison (was that her name?) was all over Chris and I wasn’t afraid to say she was eyefucking him very fucking much.
"Oh cool, so I’ll have time for another round of Alien isolation..." he yawned yet again, not even noticing the poor girl who was twisting and twirling on that bench just so Chris would notice her.
"Just keep it down, I think I’m going to lay down for a while." I said seeing how he walked out of the bus and headed towards the roadie house on wheels. "Where are you going?" He didn’t actually think of playing his charms on the girl, now did he?
"See if Lance is up for a game," He shrugged, shoving his hands deep down his pockets as he walked up the steps of the roadie bus, never once turning his head to even notice Madison.
_________
"Every night she seems to change her name, doesn’t matter who you really are," Paul got up on the riser in the front center of the stage, "Hey, there’s no mistake ‘cause I’m a hard time sinner with a bullet to waste, and I’ll break... these chains..."
As Paul sang into his microphone, I decided to go for a run over the stage, probably the worst fucking thing I ever came up with. See, it would be all bunnies and flowers if our venue wouldn’t be an outside stage and it hadn’t been raining shortly before our show. That’s first of all, the second? Well, the next thing I knew as I ran to stand by the pillar - somebody grabbed me from behind and I came falling over the edge, hitting my ribs against the hand rails that fenced off the chanting fans from the security guys and the band. The one thing I realized through the chaos was – every little drop of air had been hit out of my body as I came crashing in the group of security guards and my fucking band kept on playing.
"It keeps calling my name, I can’t turn it away... we gotta pay to play..." I didn’t understand nothing, but the fact that I was in enormous pain and someone was trying to get the guitar off me while I was laying on the wet ground. The screaming fans were piercing through my ears and someone who was trying to get me up got a painful kick to his balls, that’s all I had to say for the matter. It was really a motherfucker to breathe, so I imagined the view my band mates came to when they realized there’s no one to play the solo. That’s when the music stopped.
"Fuck..." I breathed, grabbing the aching side while realizing the crowd had gone hectic. There honestly wasn’t much I understood through the whole moment, I think I kept blacking out from the pain and I was grateful this was the show I decided to wear jeans so at least one downside was let out of the view – my downside.
"Hills!" I heard a familiar voice yelling out my name. I think I was gonna throw up and well, honestly... die. I shielded my eyes from the flashing lights all around me, while somebody pulled me up.
Jason’s POV
To see and hear those chanting thousands and watch how Bail’s rocked the drums, really left me a bit aroused. I couldn’t stand her acting like there was nothing between us, this endless theater of ‘Viper I fucking hate you’, but then again sneaking in my bunk every other night... To say she was driving me crazy was an understatement.
I realized we still had a show to play, so it was the wise thing to do when I shifted my attention from Bailey to Meg. This was a first I saw her wearing actual pants. Before she stepped out on stage, her eyes had gone wide when she realized how slippery the surface of the venue was and how flat was the sole of her boots.
Dev had disappeared in the middle of their show along with Kathy. Hell, I warned him - he told me he has that shit under control, but seeing how he couldn’t keep his calm even when his girl was out there and relying on him to be near, I obviously got mad when Meg had shot a couple of stares over to me, hoping to see Dev. But he did in fact return, with his zipper way down.
"Do yourself up, Knox," I hissed a tad disgusted.
All I heard was him whispering a single ‘fuck’, before somebody hit me on the fucking shoulder running out on to the stage at the exact same moment when Meg had moved extremely close to the edge of it.
In a blink of an eye she went flying over the edge along with the guy. My jaw dropped as my brain was trying to comprehend what had just went down here. I looked back at Knox, who seemed hadn’t noticed anything, just like Paul, before Chris cut the music, since there was no one to play the goddamned lead. Are you fucking kidding me? I slapped Knox over the shoulder, "What?" He frowned.
"Guys, be ready to take over," Jay, our manager notified, finally making Dev shift his attention to the stage. It was a goddamn chaos out there. I knew I couldn’t do anything since she had fallen over, I just hoped for her own sake she was in a safe distance from the fans.
"What the fuck just happened?" Scott exclaimed in the same moment when Chris jumped down – in the fan zone.
"Jason, get Zee!" I shouted to Santana, hoping to see Meg get back on the stage saying she’s just dandy. But somehow I didn’t have that vibe.
"Where’s Meg?" Ryan questioned and for his own sake, I hoped he was kidding. Well wasn’t this just the Murder City tour all over... And thank god, after some very uneasy moments, Meg came to our view, but she was pale as shit. Chris and one of the security guys were boosting her up. She got back to the stage in the same moment when her dad ran over here, pushing everyone out of his way.
"Honey? Meg, baby!" Zee came running over to her as soon as they placed her on the ground. She was conscious, but it didn’t look like she was filtering very much of what was happening around. Scott handed her a bottle of water. As for King? I didn’t really think he was down on earth at that same moment.
"I’m fine, dad..." She raised her hand to stop her dad from going in full blown panic. "I think I’ve broken all of my ribs... but I’m fine..." She took a sip, "Who was that asshole?" She tried boosting herself up and winced instantly.
"Can you play?" Paul asked, as soon as he was off stage, with a genuine concern over his face.
"Yeah, just give me a sec..."
"Jason," That was when Scott took me by arm and dragged aside.
"What are you doing, Corbie?" I frowned, but then he pointed off to Knox, who was standing aside the crowd surrounding Megan and didn’t look too good himself. He had turned his back on us, holding on to one of the back-up amps.
"He’s sweating like a pig, I’m not even sure he can play..."
I turned to Scott with a warning look, "If Meg can play with broken ribs, he’s gonna play with whatever acid in his fucking body."
"Viper..." I heard him moan as me and Scott moved closer, "Viper I don’t think—"
My fist cut him off, making him fall head first against the amplifier, "You have twenty minutes to clear your act, Knox..." the tour hadn’t even properly started and I was already fed up with his shit. It wasn’t a lie people told - tours brought the worst out of people.
I turned to head back and check on Meg, when in all reality, she was the one checking on us with a major frown over her face as her dad set her with a different guitar. It seemed like her eyes were glued to me and everything they told were pure disappointment. And confusion.