“Char!!!” I screamed running towards her and throwing my arms around her neck. Her blonde curls danced around my face as we hugged, jumping up and down with excitement.

“Oh, Rae! I missed you so much!” She declared happily pulling away so we could look at each other.

“You’re literally going to have so much fun here!” I said excitedly grabbing her duffle bag that had been forgotten in the dirt and leading her into the bus area.

“Ugh, those securities guards made it so difficult for me to get in here!” She exclaimed shoving hair out of her eyes exasperatedly.

I giggled and turned to her, “Char…they have to keep out the crazy fans…”

We walked along, talking and catching up. I pointed out some of the buses that belonged to bands she knew of as we made our way to All Time Low’s bus. She complained about the heat the entire way, which was very typical for Char.

“Here we are!” I declared proudly as we rounded the corner and appeared outside the bus.

We made our way on the bus and Char sat down on one of the couches grabbing a bottle of water from the side compartment as I went to the back and placed her duffle bag on the extra bunk that would be her’s while she was here.

I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket as I made my way back towards the front. A smile crept upon my face when I saw “Austin Carlile (: iMessage” I slid my finger across the screen to open his message.

“What are you smiling about?” Char asked smoothly.

Austin: We play in 30 mins. Any chance you’d want to watch side stage?

Watching Of Mice & Men play their set side stage sounded unbelievably amazing at that moment. But Char had just arrived and I knew she wouldn’t appreciate being dragged off to see a set list of music she wasn’t a huge fan of. Besides, we had limited time to spend together and there were plenty of chances this summer for me to watch Of Mice & Men play.

Me: Char just got here :( Rain check?

Austin: You owe me one Jones ;)

I plopped down on the couch opposite Char with a huff.

“You didn’t answer my question…” She was picking away at her nails, patently waiting.

“I just got a text from Austin.” I explained sitting up more and pushing my hair out of my face. “He wanted me to go watch his set.”

“Oooo!” Charlotte sat up, suddenly interested in what I had to say. “Are things heating up between you two?”

“He friend zoned me…”

“What? Don’t be ridiculous Raegan…” She rolled her eyes and fell back against the couch with a wave of her hand.

“Don’t you think I’ve already completely over analyzed every little detail about everything by now? I’m not being ridiculous Char! It’s the truth!” I grumpily crossed my arms over my chest, trying to prove my point to her.

“Tell me everything!” She said throwing her hands up.

Sighing I launched into the entire story. I told her every detail from the tap on my shoulder, to that fucking smile, to the note in my pocket, to the bathroom, to surprising him, and every day I had spent with him since.

“Can I meet him?” Char asked excitedly as I wrapped up.

“Charlotte!”

“What! Look, if you let me meet him, then I can see how he acts around you and tell you for sure if you’re really in the friend zone or if you’re just stupid.”

I begrudgingly agreed to let her meet him. I knew that Jack and Alex had planned a big shin dig for all the bands that night on and off our bus. Austin was bound to show up.

And sure enough he did.

Char and I were squeezed into the tiny bathroom on the bus; she was attempting to finish curling my hair. Both of us had a good buzz on and were extremely giggly. Rian had cranked the music a long time ago so we had to scream to hear each other. Finally, she finished and the two of us tumbled out of the tiny room when the door opened. We made our way to the front of the bus where the crowd of people was. I could see Austin over everyone else; he was standing near the door. I took Char’s hand and led the way through all the people, pulling her towards him.

“Austin!” I yelled to get his attention once I was standing in front of him.

“Rae!” He said excitedly pulling me in for a hug, careful not to spill his drink on me. “I was looking for you!”

“This is my best friend Charlotte!” I said gesturing towards her. “Char, this is Austin!”

“It’s great to meet you,” Austin said reaching over me to hug Charlotte’s hand.

“You too!” She replied.

Everyone spent the night drinking away and dancing. Austin mostly just mingled with people but I kept catching his glances at me. Alan had taken a liking to Charlotte and kept trying to grind on her, to which she pushed him away disgustedly. Jack came up and danced with me while he had a boa wrapped around his neck. He was dry humping me which was making me laugh hysterically and I kept pushing him away, but in my drunken stupor it was very difficult. I finally broke away from him and made my way outside to see Austin was sitting in a chair next to Charlotte. They were chatting in hushed voices and stopped once I was close enough to hear.

“Hi!” I said smiling brightly. “What are you guys doing out here?”

“I came out for a cigarette.” Char explained. “And I asked Austin if he wanted to come chat.”

“Have you seen Alan?” Austin asked me standing up. He was visibly intoxicated, but then again we all were.

“No, I haven’t seen the ginger in a while.” I explained as Char lit up another cigarette.

“I’m going to go find him. You girls want another drink?”

“Yes please!” We both said in unison. I took the seat that Austin had vacated and watched as Char inhaled and exhaled.

“You’re not friend zoned…” She said breaking the silence that had surrounded us.

“What?” I asked looking over at her.

“You’re not in the friend zone.” She said taking another drag and examining the tip of her cigarette.

“How do you know?”

“He was getting jealous watching you dancing with Jack. I could see it in his eyes. So I asked him to come out here.”

“And…”

“He asked if you and Jack had a history…”

“What’d you say?” She was slowly killing me only giving me pieces of information slowly.

“That you guys fucked once a really long time ago when you were both shitfaced, but that was it.”

“Charlotte! You swore we’d never speak of that again!” I said feeling extremely angry at her all the sudden.

“Well, it’s the truth. You did fuck Jack.”
“Yeah, once. It meant absolutely nothing though!”

“I told him that. He didn’t seem too concerned about it. I told him you guys were both like gonzo that night and were so out of your minds. I told him how you guys never even spoke of it and that it wasn’t anything to worry about because it was literally like four years ago.”

“Ugh, I can’t believe you said that.”

“Well now we know he does like you.” She shrugged putting out her cigarette. If looks could kill, she would have been dead right there in the chair she was sitting in.

“Here you go, Rae.” I looked up to see Austin standing over me, solo cup in his hand waiting for me to take it.

“Thanks…” I said smiling awkwardly at him as he handed the other to Char.

“Did you find Alan?”

“Yeah, he’s like all over some merch chick or something and told me to leave him alone.” Austin said with a laugh.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The night wore on and before we knew it, we had bus call in about an hour. I was about to climb back onto the bus when Alan came running up to me wearing his tiger suit.

“Rae, can you please come help me get Austin out of the port-a-potty.”

“What?” I asked exhaustedly.

“Austin’s in one of the port-a-potties and he won’t get out unless you’re there.”

I pushed a hand through my hair and nodded my head. I had sobered up a lot in the last few hours. The last time I had seen Austin he had been cheering heartily during a game of beer pong. I followed Alan towards the area where all the port-a-potties were lined up. Austin was sitting on the ground outside one of them, his back against the door, fast asleep.

“Austin, man. Wake up.” Alan said shaking him slightly.

“Hmmm?” Austin said opening his eyes.

“I got Rae, come on. You have to get on the bus.”

“Raegan?” Austin asked looking up at me.

“Come on, dude…” Alan said helping Austin to stand. I reached out and grabbed Austin before he toppled over and slipped his right arm under my shoulder. Alan did the same with his left arm, and we began our slow, steady walk towards the buses.

“Raegan….” Austin said smiling to himself. “Did you really have sex with Jack? Because that’s what your friend told me…”

“Yeah…” I said awkwardly as we walked.

“Do you like him?” Austin asked.

“No, Austin.” I said shaking my head. Alan was trying to pretend he wasn’t a part of this conversation as much as possible.

We rounded a corner and made it to the bus. Phil opened the door and Tino jumped out to help us carry Austin onto the bus and into his bunk.

“Where’s Raegan?” He kept asking trying to turn around to see where I was as Tino took my place under his arm.

“I’m right here.” I said following them as they placed him into his bunk.

“Raegan…Raegan…Raegan…” Austin said from his bunk. I walked over and tucked him in.

“Rae, I really like you…” Austin said staring right at me. I felt my throat get really tight. I couldn’t deal with his drunken confessions right now.

“I like you too Austin.”

“Will you be my girlfriend?”

I looked down into his brown eyes and felt like I wanted to cry. If he had been sober and not drunk off his ass I would have said yes in a second. But I knew he wasn’t even going to remember this in the morning let alone mean it right now.

“You’re drunk, Austin…” I said shaking my head. “Go to sleep and text me when you wake up.”

I shut his curtain, hearing him start snoring quietly not even a second later. I made my way out into the front lounge feeling numb. Alan was standing near the sink and Tino was sitting on the couch.

“You okay?” Alan asked.

“Yeah.” I said nodding. “He asked me out…”

“I heard…” Alan said.

“Just have him call me tomorrow or something, please. Night guys.” I said giving both of them a slight wave and heading for the door.

“Hey, Rae?”

“Yeah?” I said turning back to see what Alan had wanted.

“Thanks for helping me get him.”

“No problem.” I said with a sad smile. I turned on my heel and made my way out into the warm summer night and towards my bus.