Restoring Force

"And this," Alan waved at the giant tour bus in front of them. "Has been our home for the past 6 weeks."

I put a hand on the side, touching the cool metal. "Shitty deal, I'd hate being in a large metal death trap with the same people for 6 weeks. I'd probably shoot myself."

"Well the guys are basically like a bunch of stupid, loud, messy brothers to me. So it's not as bad as you'd think." He smirked. "Wanna meet em? I'm sure the buggers are around here somewhere."

I thought about it. And decided I could use some time away from Remmy anyways. "Hah. Yeah sure, hit me up." I replied pulling my dress down, feeling it may be a bit short for a bus filled with sex crazed guys.

Alan led the way to the door, and popped it open.

"Guys!" He called. No answer. "Fine!" He held the door wider for me and gestured inside, "After you Kitty-Kat."

I rolled my eyes at the pet name and put a hand on the handle, pulling myself up. The bus smelled musty, like dirty laundry, and food masked with cologne.

"I think everyone's in the back." Alan mumbled while looking around.

"Lead the way Hopscotch." I said following him through the front part of the bus, passing two cluttered tables filled with all sorts of fan merch. Fan merch? Yeah, you know what, sure.

Down the hallway we went by four or maybe five bunks, and a tiny bathroom, with a shower across the hall.

At the end of the corridor, there was a closed, wooden door, and when Alan opened it, I was overwhelmed with the strong stench of liquor.

There were four guys inside, three in which were drinking, and the forth (maybe drinking but I didn't know) was quietly playing Mario kart and laughing at some of the jokes cracked by the men drunk off their asses.

"Alannn!" One of them yelped, jumping up and grabbing a shot glass. "Where ya ben?" He slurred.

"Hey Tino." He stepped aside to take the shot glass, downing it and revealing me standing behind him.

One of them whistled, causing me to roll my eyes once again.

"What a bird!" A guy from the couch said, attempting to wink but blinking one eye then the other, making the rest of the them laugh. "Are yuh ol' enough ta drink, darlin?" He sputtered.
I smiled at him cooly. "Of course." I said. "I'm 23."

"Wow, Alan! Where ave ya ben hidin' this one?!" The other couch guy remarked, squinting at the two of us.

Alan looked at me and downed another shot, "Around." He told him.

It looked like the couch guy, who I suspected was Phil, had completely lost interest in Alan and was slowly leaning back into the cushions, trying not to fall over. Everyone was silent for a moment and watched Mario kart. I believe it was Austin playing and I couldn't quite tell if he was just a quiet drunk, uninterested, or sober and maybe a bit shy?

Alan poured another shot and offered it to me. I mumbled a thank you and threw it back. It tasted very much like cheap Vodka.

He sat down on the arm of a chair and patted his knee. I kinda just stood there and narrowed my eyes at him. If anything involving physical contact was going to happen tonight, I needed to get a lot drunker.

-

"No silly," I hummed, giggling. "It's pronounced, kath-er-ine, not 'cat-ring." I cried out, stumbling up off the floor, and making my way shakily over to the drink cart to pour myself another.

I lifted the bottle over my cup, but when no liquor came out, I was thoroughly confused.

"I think you should stop now." A rough voice said. "You've had enough."

I followed the bottle with my eyes, until I saw a large hand covering my own. I followed his arm up to his neck and his neck up to his nose, then to his eyes. Moving slowly so I didn't get dizzy.

"Austin! When'd yooo get here!" I asked him.

He looked frustrated that he was left babysitting me, but I hope he knew he didn't have to, I was perfectly capable of babysitting myself.

"You're sloshed, and I don't know what to do with you." He carefully pried the bottle from my hands and set it gently on the cart. "I don't want you dying on my watch."

I had gotten familiar with everyone in the short period of time, and when I looked around I saw that Alan had passed out on the floor, along with Aaron and Tino. Phil must've mustered up enough strength to drag himself to bed, because he was nowhere to be seen.

"So do you want a ride or something? Or are you just gonna bugger off?" Austin asked getting impatient by my slow reflexes.

Yes, I thought. A ride back to the hotel would be perfect considering I'm too drunk to drive and my best friend will start to worry about me if I'm not there soon.

My brain was too cloudy to form a reasonable string of words, so I ended up just saying, "I'll finna way home."

I took one wobbly step forward and dropped to my knees. Two hands shot under my arms and lifted me back up to my feet. It made me angry that I was so incapable, i've never depended on anyone in my life.

"Dammit!" I yelled, angry at myself for not being able to do even the simplest of things while under the influence. It wasn't even worth getting drunk tonight, Alan barely touched me at all, I was hoping for a little more excitement.

"Take 'er easy." He muttered.

"No I can do this, just lemme go and, I'll fuckin' do it myself." I spat.

His laugh dripped with sarcasm. "Sure you can."

He knelt down and put one arm under my knees, and one around my upper back, sweeping me up so I fell into him. He was carrying me.

He brought me through the wooden door, ducking to get underneath of it, due to his height. "PUT ME THE FUCK DOWN!" I screeched, pounding on his chest.

He ignored me and continued down the hall, careful not to ram my head or legs into anything. Which I guess I was kind of thankful for, but at the same time, no. I wanted him to put me down.

He basically threw onto one of the bunks. "Shhhh!" He exclaimed, reaching down to pull off my shoes, and grab a light blanket to cover my bare legs.

His voice was powerful and I found myself obeying his request almost immediately.
"Good god. Now stay here until morning, I'll give you a ride, since Alan is too incompetent to look after his own band sluts." He growled in that rough voice. Then added more quietly, probably only to himself. "As if you'll even remember this fucking conversation."

I watched him crawl into the bed across from me, before sleep anchored in my drunken body and I felt my eyelids droop closed.

-

"-stuff like this always becomes my problem!"

"Your problem!? How the fuck is she your problem Austin!?"

I woke up, startled by the yelling in the other room. In my disoriented state, I took a look at my surroundings, a small blue blanket covered my legs, and I was in some sort of cubby hole, or bunk.

"Every time you bring a girl you wanna screw back here with you, I'm always stuck cleaning up the fucking mess!" Austin said angrily.

"No one asked you to do anything for me, you dick! Maybe you should just stay out of my business!" Alan shouted back.

Austin's voice became calm all the sudden, an icy sound that made me shiver. "So when does it become my business? When she's buried six feet underground?"

There was a long pause, and Alan choked out the words, "That wasn't my fault." I could almost hear the pain in his voice. He backed off immediately, and I heard him turn away, retreating towards me. I pretended to be asleep when he went by, exiling himself to the back room.

Buried six feet underground. His words haunted me.

After a minute, I cracked one eye open, then the other, and looked around. The coast was clear, so I slid my feet onto the cool white floor.

I slowly stood up, my head throbbing a little, and searched for my shoes and backpack. There, underneath the bed, in a little pocket of things, they both sat awaiting my return. Picking up the heels with one hand, I swung my bag over my shoulder with the other.

The hallway opened to the front lounge, and then at the end, there was a doorway out of this nightmare. I picked my way towards the front of the bus.

Austin sat on one of the couches with his head in his hands. He shook it and put a hand through his hair, carefully lifting his eyes until he saw me quietly peering at him. He stood up abruptly, composing himself, "We should go."

I didn't answer and before I could stop myself I strode over to him, drew my hand back, and slapped him across the face harder than I've ever hit anyone.

His head turned with the momentum of the hit, I could tell he was shocked and I could already see a red mark appearing. "Don't you ever call me a 'band slut!'" I paused, gritting my teeth. "Especially when you don't know the slightest thing about me."

He didn't move for a minute, then turned to face me again, opening his mouth slightly and moving his jaw from side to side.

"Well, aren't you good at making friends." He said calmly, narrowing his eyes.

I glared back at him, before shoving my way past him and out the door, not bothering to put on the shoes in my hand.

Notes