Walk With Me

Arin looked around before stepping into the bus. This is really a dream come true. Being on the road with the big guys. Back in the days when he was a roadie, he didn’t have the chance to ride in the same bus as them. And he was just there to lift things up, handing over their guitars and stuff like that. But on this tour, he will play!

He will play A Little Piece of Heaven, Beast and The Harlot, Afterlife, Seize The Day and Buried Alive. While Erika will play Nightmare, So Far Away, Bat Country, Welcome To The Family and God Hates Us. So ten songs altogether.

Matthew even requested Erika to play piano on their extra song at the end of the show, Fiction. Arin will be playing the drums in it. He’d seen Erika on piano and he was amazed. She was as good on piano as she was on the drums. Arin couldn’t help but saw a little bit of Jimmy in her.

Erika had finally become comfortable around him. She finally treated him as her friend and he was glad there were no more awkward moves between them. But Arin actually liked being awkward around her. He wanted to be more than just her friend. Although he knew, that Erika had her eyes on Synyster Gates. But then again, who doesn’t? It was fucking Synyster Gates, all girls will drop to the floor at the sight of him.

Zacky and Johnny were smoking and discussing something in front of the baggage trunk from under the bus. Arin looked at them intently. Both of them were so helpful to him, he couldn’t thank them enough. They kept telling him and Erika that they weren’t looking for another Rev, they wanted someone with originality and can blend well with the rest of the band.

“Yo, Arin. You’re ready?” Matthew came from behind, putting his arm around his shoulder. Arin turned and immediately saw Erika had arrived together with Brian and Michelle.

“Yeah. Always, man.”

“Nice. Let’s get in.”

The bus was huge and long. From the front door, there was a kitchen, consists of a few small cabinets, a counter, a small fridge and a microwave. They didn’t have stove because obviously you can’t cook in here. Not far from the kitchen, there was a long couch with a table in front of it.

Arin knew that the interior would be like this because roadies have pretty much the same bus.
Next to the couch there was a hallway, and each of its sides had three bunks on it. The bunks were quite small, but spacious enough for someone as big as Matthew to fit in. Zacky went past Arin and immediately put his stuff on the top left bunk.

“Always take the top bunk.” He said to him. Arin shrugged and just settled on the middle bunk below him.

“So Erika, as the only girl in this band, I give you the privilege to take the top bunk on the right.” Matthew bowed politely to Erika with his hand pointed to the bunks.

“Gee, thanks. But I don’t wanna climb and let you guys see my panties.”

“Aww man!” Johnny huffed as he was putting his stuff on the right middle bunk.

“Another time, Johnny boy.” Zacky chuckled as he was already in his bunk.

Matthew shrugged at her and took the top bunk above Johnny, putting his aviator there as a mark. Erika took the bottom bunk, and she instantly realized that it was exactly opposite Brian’s. She sat on the edge of it, watching Michelle and him speaking in a low voice. He was smiling sweetly at her and she was laughing.

Erika smiled to herself without knowing. Her eyes went up and immediately locked with Arin who was watching her from his own bunk. Arin knew she had a crush on Brian. She had told him everything since they were friends now. So, she just shrugged and stuck her tongue at him. Arin couldn’t help but smile.

“Guys, what are you doing? We’re not even on the road yet and you guys are getting ready to sleep? Come on!” Matthew clapped his hands and slapped Zacky’s leg as he was already lying inside his bunk.

“Let’s drink first!” Matthew walked towards the fridge and they just scrambled out of their bunks to follow him.

“Uh but I don’t drink-” Erika called from behind them but they didn’t hear her.

“Come on, one drink.”

She looked up. Brian stood tall in front of her, while his arm wrapped around Michelle.

“Come on Erik…don’t let mama down!” Michelle pulled her hands up and she was forced to get up.



The bus was about to move and they were saying goodbye to Michelle as she wasn’t going to be on the road with them.

“You’re not coming with us?” Erika asked when she was hugging her tightly.

“No, honey. Can’t leave Pinkly. She is spoiled as fuck. If I left her for just a minute she will bite the hell out of everything. But Val and I will come to your first show in LA.”

Erika laughed a little after they parted.

“I’m nervous.”

“Oh sweetie, don’t be! You’re amazing. To be honest, I like you more than that skinny guy.” Michelle whispered at the end of her sentence and made Erika giggled. “But he’s cool too, whatever.”

“Girls, enough saying goodbye yet? The road’s waiting.” Johnny cut in suddenly.

“You’re so fucking jealous, Johnny. Piss off.”

After that Michelle pulled Brian into an embrace and kissed him passionately that Erika felt a bit embarrassed to look at them.

“Here we go, here we go. Yeah baby, let that tongue in. Yeah lick it, lick it harder!” Zacky mocked them and everyone laughed including Brian. Zacky winced when Michelle slapped him on the shoulder, before she finally went off the bus.

After a minute or so, the bus suddenly moved and they were waving at Michelle outside. They went back to the couch again after that with beers on their hands, murmuring randomly.

“You okay?” someone said from behind Erika. She gripped tight her untouched bottle of beer and turned. It was Arin. He drank from his bottle casually and watched her.

“Yeah, I’m good. You?”

Arin raised his eyebrows at her. “I’m not the one who’s having a crush on Syn.” He whispered to her ear then calmly made his way towards the guys.

Erika felt shivers went down her spine.



“Ay! That’s not fair! You used help!”

“Bite me, Johnny!”

Most of them were drunk except for Erika because she didn’t drink at all. It was already midnight and the bus had stop moving. They were parked in LA, just beside the venue that they will be playing tomorrow. Right now Erika was playing Street Fighter on Xbox with Johnny, while the other guys had already asleep in their bunks.

“Screw this, screw you! I’m going to bed.” Johnny got up and drunkenly walked out of the game room. At the end of the bus, they had a small game room with TV and everything and just beside it, was a bathroom. Erika laughed softly watching Johnny stumbled in his walk but finally found the way to his bunk.

She got up too eventually and cleared up the mess that the boys had made. Well, being the only girl in the bus, she felt obliged to do that.

“Want some help?”

She stood up straight and quickly turned around.

“Arin! I thought you were sleeping.”

“Can’t sleep. Want any help?” he offered again.

“Sure. You guys made a hell of a trash when you eat huh?” She babbled as she picked up empty boxes and containers of Chinese food around the room. Arin helped too.

“Yeah, we’re guys. What do you expect?”

“Well, I expect at least some hygienic self-conscience or anything. I eat too, but not like a bear.” At that exact moment, while bending down picking up thrashes, she decided to turn around and glance at Arin but that decision made her heart stopped.

Arin was directly in front of her as he too, bent his skinny body down to pick up trash. Their faces so near that Erika can felt his warm breath on her cheeks. Arin’s eyes shot straight into hers. He kept glancing over her lips too. Hoping that this situation could go into something more than just picking up trashes.

“Uh, I should go to bed.” Erika blushed, but suddenly drew back. She went out of the room and left Arin alone in it. Arin calmly stood up straight as he was done cleaning. He chuckled to himself and let out a heavy sigh.

******************************************************************************************************

Erika set her alarm at 5 in the morning, intentionally because she wanted to have the bathroom all by herself. Without having to fight with the guys over it. The sound check and stage rehearsal won’t start until 11 so she figured the boys will be up at probably 9 am.

But that was the thing. She didn’t even have hangovers, yet she was the one who was up at 9. She slept off past her alarm and woke up with a sudden jolt. She sat up straight, forgetting that her bunk was quite crammed and her head immediately hit the ceiling of Johnny’s bunk above her. She groaned in pain and rubbed the top of her head.

“Easy there, tiger. Nightmare?”

She looked to her side. Brian was in his bunk, dressing up himself in a black leather jacket and a white V neck tshirt in it.

Still rubbing her forehead, she nodded. “Am I late?” she asked as she saw no one else in the bus beside her and Brian.

“Nah. They went for breakfast.”

Erika raised her eyebrows. “Why aren’t you too?”

He stood up from his bunk and leaned down to her. “Because I was told to be your babysitter.”

Her face flushed in pink. “I don’t need a sitter. I can handle myself.”

“Not that I doubt it, but-” he paused, for quite a while. Probably searching for the right answer. “- it was Matt’s idea.” He scoffed and stood up straight again. Erika frowned but she gathered her things and went into the bathroom to shower.

Brian inhaled deeply. There was no way he’s having these thoughts. Not right now. Not when the girl is younger than him and shared his depressed feeling of having lost a friend. But yet he was pacing back and forth in front of the bathroom with the sound of her singing in the shower.

Actually it wasn’t Matt’s idea for him to stay in the bus, and wake the girl up. Well, Matt did ask him to wake her but he decided to stay and wait for her to wake up naturally. He had thought deeply about this. He loved Michelle, they’re getting married 3 months from now. There was no way he’s having second thoughts.

And now he understood completely why Matthew didn’t want to hire Erika in their band. They might fall for her.

Damn it. I’m not falling for her. I’m just…interested. That’s all.

When they met at the graveyard he hadn’t thought of anything like this. He hugged her with the intention of sympathy. Plus, he had always hugged his female fans before. Like a thousand times. He didn’t feel anything. But when she was pushing him away, it made him realized that what he did was wrong. Why the hell he did it, he didn’t even know.

“Fuck it.” He pushed away those thoughts and brought himself out of the bus before anything confusing happened.

Notes

A/N: the tour began :)