Just Before You Go

It was early and I was beyond tired. The party had dragged on for far longer than I was willing to participate in. I’d fallen asleep in the back yard against Johnny’s shoulder while the rest of the stragglers drank and smoked and embraced their lives. When I was awoken by the sunrise, my back was aching something fierce. Jimmy and Brian were both passed out in the outdoor lounge chairs, their feet in the water. I could only imagine how pruned their toes must have been.
They’d woken in a panic and Brian had raced home in a frenzy. Jimmy was grumpy, as he often was first thing in the morning. He slammed doors and stomped his heavy feet as he moved around the house gathering his belongings. My bags were packed and sitting by the door already, having been ready to depart since I’d moved out of my house.
Jimmy was less organized, though. His brain was always scattered and he had to work extra hard to catch up with everyone else. His demeanor would never show if it stressed him out, he was typically so happy-go-lucky that it felt like nothing really bothered him. Except me. I bothered him, and after having yet another argument about Blair the night before, I was willing to admit I was in the wrong.
I loved him enough to become introspective, carefully dissecting my inner workings to find where the clog was. Past relationships. That was very obviously my clog—fool me twice and all that. Maybe I was just desperate not to be made a fool again. I’d ignored my ex’s cheating for so long that it had nearly broken me when I finally confronted that demon. Now I was convinced that Jimmy was too perfect, I was convinced that something had to be wrong.
The only thing wrong, though, was the problem I was creating for us. The irony plagued me.
“We should go,” Jimmy finally grunted to me, wiping the sleep from his eyes.
It was the plan to catch a cab up to Matt’s house and board the bus from there. It was a little early for a casual stroll, but at the time that we’d made the plan, it seemed ingenious.
“Okay,” I yawned, reaching down to pull my bags up by my hips.
“I’m too tired for this,” Jimmy smirked, shifting the weight of his own bags.
He gave his house one quick last look and then nodded for me to lead the way out. The street outside was quiet, illuminated in soft morning light. Huntington was a quiet place; it was peaceful and serene, even on the busiest streets. It was something I knew I would long for during the long months away. But I’d hardly travelled at all in my life and I was becoming increasingly giddy to get on the road.
We walked slowly, Jimmy still half in a daze.
“Question,” I said to break our silence. “Haven…Does their bus follow yours? Do they take their own route?”
Jimmy shrugged, “It’s different all the time…Usually we try to keep everyone together but it doesn’t always work out like that. Usually our bus is late…Through no fault of my own, obviously.”
“I don’t believe that for one second,” I grinned.
He laughed tiredly, a yawn catching at the back of his throat, “There’s been an instant or two where the police have delayed my arrival…No big deal.”
“No getting arrested this time,” I insisted playfully. “I don’t have the money to bail you out.”
“Larry has a whole account specifically for that purpose,” Jimmy smirked down at me.
I groaned, “Of course he does.”
“So,” Jimmy declared, sounding a little more lively. “When we get on the bus, I say we go straight to sleep.”
“Deal,” I nodded enthusiastically.
“The lounge chair has put a permanent knot in my spine,” Jimmy pouted at me.
I concurred, “I slept in the grass, dude.”
“Oh yeah,” he laughed. “You win.”
We rounded the corner and could already see the gigantic black bus parked just outside Matt’s mansion. Brian and Johnny were loading bags into the back.
“We’re late,” I said anxiously.
Jimmy shrugged.
“You’re late!” Zack called to us as we approached.
“I’m worth it,” Jimmy winked at his friend as he dramatically strutted by, moving his hips theatrically from side to side.
Johnny appeared from behind the bus and smiled at me, extending his hand to take my bags.
“I can do it,” I told him stubbornly.
He scowled, “I bet you can. But I, Aria, am a gentleman.”
With a subtle laugh, I handed over my belongings and watched as Johnny disappeared with them. He was the only one in the group that didn’t look run over by the freight train of fatigue.
“There’s my boyfriend!” I heard Jimmy’s voice ring out. “I woke up and you were gone! You didn’t even leave me your number!”
Brian groaned, rubbing at his temples with a grimace on his face, “Not today, Jimmy.”
“Are…Are you breaking up with me?” Jimmy gasped, clutching his chest. “I thought what we had was special!”
“Jimmy,” Brian grunted, pursing his eyes shut tight.
His face read migraine.
“What?” Jimmy squealed, stepping within inches of his best friend. “You think you can just spend the night with me and then never see me again? You’re a pig, Synyster Gates! A pig!”
Brian’s eyes shot open and he glared up at his friend, “Shut. The fuck. Up.”
Jimmy cackled, rustling with Brian’s hair before skipping off into the house. Brian leaned himself up against the bus and lit a cigarette, wincing audibly as the smoke hit his lungs. I couldn’t help but smile a little; I’d never seen Brian down and hurting.
I leaned up beside him, “Not feeling so well?”
“I think I drank an entire brewery to myself last night,” Brian whined, flicking the ash from his cigarette. “I’m still fucking drunk.”
I tried not to laugh at his expense, “I hear ya.”
Jimmy was screeching about something inside. Brian’s jaw clenched.
“Can he ever be fucking quiet?” he growled. “We really need to find his fucking off switch.”
“I don’t think he has one,” I smirked.
Brian widened his eyes with a grim nod, “I know.”
Matt emerged from his house, swatting at Jimmy with one hand and holding two bags in the other. He looked more lively than anyone—but he’d skipped out far before any of us had finally passed out from exhaustion. So, I assumed he’d had a good night’s sleep, and probably not in a lawn chair or a yard.
“Okay, ladies!” Jimmy called loudly, clapping his hands together a couple of times.
Brian winced, taking one last puff of his cigarette before flicking it out into the road. The guys began to file toward the door of the bus, and I noticed that I was the only girl.
“Where’s Claire?” I asked Brian curiously.
“She’s flying out in a couple weeks,” he told me.
Disappointment. I was still hoping he and Blair could make it work—and by make it work, I mean make it passed civil pleasantries.
“Oh,” was all I said.
Matt and Jimmy called to their bandmates as everyone began to board, “Let’s roll it, kids!”
Brian was shaking his head at them like you wouldn’t believe. I followed Brian aboard and Jimmy followed me. Brian headed straight for the bunks and loudly pulled his bunk’s curtain closed. Everyone else scattered around the bus, some falling onto the couches and others into the small table. Zack pulled his hat over his eyes and rested his arms across his chest. I didn’t understand why he wouldn’t go to his bunk but it didn’t affect my life so I didn’t ask.
“Bunk,” Jimmy instructed me lowly.
I wasn’t sure where to go really, so I followed Brian’s tracks. Names were scribbled onto white tape for convenience. Jimmy’s name was written beside a bottom bunk, which Jimmy scoffed loudly at.
“Johnny fucking Christ!” Jimmy shouted with a devious grin. “In what fucking world would you get a top bunk? You’d need a fucking ladder to get into it!”
Johnny yelled some indecencies back.
“Hey,” Brian hissed, popping his head out from behind the curtain. “I can appreciate that Johnny is way too fucking short to get into a top bunk; but can you shut the fuck up? For the love of god, Jimmy. Please. Please shut the fuck up.”
Jimmy smiled, patting his friend on the head, “Anything for you, Bri Bri.”
“Oh for fuck’s sakes,” Brian grumbled, slipping back into his bunk.
Jimmy ripped his name from the wall and plastered it over Johnny’s. He nodded triumphantly at his work and then urged me to get in. I was shorter than Johnny, so the switch was inconvenient. Nevertheless, I made it into the bunk without much difficulty.
The sheets were scratchy and I made a mental note to go and purchase new ones. The blanket was fine enough for now and I was pleasantly surprised to find the bunk was equipped with a little TV and a personal lamp.
“Luxurious,” I said to Jimmy with a smile.
He furrowed his brows at me, “Weren’t you raised rich?”
“For a bus,” I clarified.
“Glad it impresses you,” he smirked. “I don’t want to hear any complaints about it over the next eight months.”
I knew I couldn’t deliver on that deal so I refused to accept it. Instead, I burrowed into the pillow and closed my eyes. Jimmy slipped under the comforter and pulled my head into his chest.
Not long after, the bus lurched into motion and we were on our way. The guys were talking quietly in the front of the bus still, disrupting only occasionally by Brian’s begging for silence. It only made them louder.
As I drifted into slumber, I heard another bunk’s curtain pull closed—I assumed Zach had enough of the hijinks and had retreated to the comfort of his bunk. Without Jimmy in their presence, though, the noise was completely tolerable.
The sound of Jimmy’s peaceful breathing lulled me straight to sleep.

Notes

Poor Bri.

xx