Luck Isn't Everything.

The second Kellin pulled into the alley behind the venue so we could unload; I bolted out of my seat and slid the door open. I could hear All Time Low inside doing their sound check. The guys who I assumed were Pierce the Veil were in front of us, unloading their van.

“Give me a hand, eh?” Justin elbowed me lightly and nodded towards our U-Haul.

“Sure,” I said and climbed in so I could hand the guys our equipment.

“Hey!” A tall, lanky dude with black hair shouted as he walked towards us, followed by a guy a bit shorter than him with brown hair. A grin spread across my face. It was Jack Barakat and Alex Gaskarth.

“Need a hand?” they asked and began lifting things.

“Yeah, that’d be great,” Jack answered, introducing himself and the rest of us, “I’m Jack by the way. That’s Justin, Gabe, Fiona, Jesse, and Kellin,” he pointed to us, “We’re Sleeping With Sirens.”

“Sweet, nice to meet you guys, I’m Jack, too,” he laughed, “and this is Alex. We’re from All Time Low. That dude over there with the drumsticks is Rian, and the guy on the skateboard is Zack.”

“Yeah, we’re uh, big fans,” I spoke and smiled. They returned the smile and continued to help us unload.

“Hey! Long time no see!” a short, thin guy with long hair, shouted and headed our way.

“Vic!” Jack exclaimed and went to give him a bro-hug.

“Hi, you must be Sleeping With Sirens,” Vic extended his hand to us.

“No, I sleep with teddy bears,” Gabe answered him laughing. We all cracked up and introduced ourselves. The rest of Vic’s band showed up and introduced themselves as Mike, Tony, and Jaime.
“So you guys are coming out with us to party tonight, right?”

“On the first night of tour?” I asked, skeptically.

“Of Course! We have to start this tour with a big-“ Alex started, but Jack cut him off.

“BANG!!” he shouted.

“Don’t mind him,” Rian said, “he’s always like that, you’ll get used to it.”

“Already am, I wasn’t lying when I said big fans. I feel like I already know you guys, which is probably really creepy and I’m gonna shut up now,” I rushed. Everyone turned to stare at me and laughed.

“It’s okay,” Rian said, giving me an apologetic look. I smiled and made my way inside the venue so set up our merchandise. The show would start in about two hours and I wanted to make sure I had everything I needed.

While the guys set up on stage, I was closer to the entrance setting up my tables. I couldn’t help but keep looking up at them and smiling. We were living our dream. I began to remember what it was that made fall in love with Justin. It was the way he devoted his entire self whenever he picked up his bass. It was that sparkle in his eyes, that wide smile, and his dedication. When we were younger I would go over to his house, sit on his bed, and pretended he was giving me a personal concert. It was little things like that, that I knew I would never forget.

“This one goes out f-“ Vic yelled into the microphone before getting interrupted by a group of five guys who walked in. They were pretty stunning. “Can we help you guys? We’re in the middle of sound check?” Vic called into the microphone.

The guys looked up at him and smiled. “Carry on, we’ll wait ‘til your sound check is over. They told us to go ahead and start off, but no one mentioned anyone being on stage already, our bad.” A guy with a spikey hair said. “We’re Abandon All Ships by the way.”

Before Vic even got to open his mouth, Oli strolled in with his band mates. “Oliver?!!” I called out from the other side of the room. He turned around and a huge grin spread across his face. I dropped the shirts I had on the table and ran to him and the rest of the guys. “What are you doing here!?”

“Martin, here,” he pointed at the guy who had introduced Abandon All Ships, a band I had never heard of, “called me up last night and told me that there were two band openings on a tour nearby and we didn’t want to pass up the opportunity. I had absolutely no idea it was the tour you were on.”

Before I could even talk, Justin walked up to us and placed his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him. “Hey.” Vic and the guys finished their sound check, and the AAS guys got on stage.

“Oh, hey. What a small world, isn’t it?” Oli asked awkwardly.

“Yeah, yeah. Great to have you on tour, man. Ironically, we were just talking about how odd it would be touring together. Guess fate decided we should find out,” just let out a stiff laugh.

“Yeah, yeah, man. Anyways, the guys and I have to go unload,” he smiled apologetically and walked off to the rest of his mates.

“What was that, Justin?” I turned around to face him.

“Nothing. I was just greeting him.”

“Jus-.”

“I panicked, I’m sorry. I’ll make it up to you, I promise. Let’s finish setting up, alright? I have sound check next.”

We walked back to my post and I finished organizing everything on my own, because Justin and the guys were called up for sound check quickly after. This was going to be a long winter break.

Notes