My eyes snapped open at the sound of something clatter loudly to the floor across the room. I sat up, startled and groggy. Searching around, I eventually settled my sights on the culprit. Gabe stood near the bunk area, staring at me with his jaw slightly agape, his hygeine products, which I assume he brought out of the bunks with him, scattered at his feet. I furrowed my brows, pushing myself up slightly, confused. He looked incredibly uncomfortable.

“Are you okay?” I croaked, my throat dry, my eyes half shut with sleep. I felt a strange heaviness on my shoulders that I didn’t recognize. He stared unblinking for a short time before nodding.

“I’m running out for a bit,” he mumbled, abandoning his things on the floor, hurrying to the front door.

“Gabe?” I was more awake now, finding his actions increasingly strange. The door shut quietly behind him, and I went to push off the couch to follow, to make sure he was okay. But instead of the cloth I expected to feel, I felt a firm surface, another body. I swerved around, seeing Jeremy cozied into the corner of the couch behind me. The more I came to, the more clear the situation had become. We were slumped together in the cushions, wrapped up in my blanket, his arm thrown over my shoulder. The dvd title screen was playing on a loop in the background. My stomach twisted in knots. This was a lot to process just waking up.

“...Jeremy?” I whispered, trying to wake him. His face scrunched and he moaned softly in his sleep, his arm lifting around my neck and pulling me to his chest. He nuzzled his head into my hair and sighed contentedly. My eyes were wide, my heart racing. I felt like I was going to explode, my body temperature soaring. I was blushing all over. “Um, Jeremy,” I said a little louder, my voice cracking. He slowly stirred.

He looked down at me, staring for a few moments with a blank look on his face, before he flinched, sitting up quickly, releasing me from his grasp.

“Casey?” he questioned gruffly, sleep heavy in his voice. His hair and clothes were disheveled, and he swallowed, looking around at his surroundings.

“I think we fell asleep during the movie,” I blushed, finding it hard to look him in the eye. He nodded slowly, digging in his pocket for his phone. It read 1 o'clock. He stared at it for a short while before looking at me blankly.

“Are you hungry?” he asked. I sat for a moment before nodding, the awkward nature of the situation lessening the longer we sat. “Do you want to get lunch?” he questioned, sleep heavy in his voice. I felt my anxiousness dissipate as I looked him over, groggy and tousled, and began to giggle, my hand raising to mouth as I tried to hold it in. I had never seen him quite so ruffled. So Jeremy wasn’t a morning person. He looked me over, raising an eyebrow. “Are you laughing at me?”

I shook my head, despite the obvious fact that I was, laughing harder as I looked at his narrowed eyes, scrutinizing me with disbelief.

“You’re laughing at me?” he was still for a moment before lunging at me, tousling my hair. I shrieked, falling backwards with him reaching over me as his fingers began running up and down my sides, tickling me.

“I’m sorry,” I giggled, “You look ridiculous.” I said between gasping laughs.

“You look pretty funny yourself…” he laughed over me as I squirmed violently beneath him.

“Jeremy!” I shrieked, trying to escape his grasp, grabbing at his hands, my face turning red with laughter. Letting up a bit, he smirked down at me and I tried to suppress the big grin spreading across my face, but to no avail. I heard the door pull open and my eyes snapped over. Dan stood in the entryway, looking very perplexed, and a momentary silence settled over the room.

“What… are you guys doing?” he said slowly, raising an eyebrow. Jeremy sat straight up and I bolted out from under him. Grabbing his sleeve, I leapt off the couch, pulling him along behind me, heading for the door.

“Going to get lunch,” I tried to avoid eye contact with Dan as I walked past him. Just as I pulled the door open I heard his voice from behind me.

“In your pajamas? With no shoes on?” he sounded pleasantly amused, much to my dismay.

“I’ll wait outside,” Jeremy had the faintest hint of a blush spreading across his face as he descended the steps, pulling his jacket on, disappearing from my sight. I was hesitant to turn around. Knowing Dan, I would never hear the end of this.

“What was that?!” he whispered giddily, hopping along at my side as I made my way to the back of the bus.

“Nothing! We were just…”

“Just… What?”

“Just… We fell asleep during the movie, and… Look you came in at a really weird time and it’s hard to explain,” I sighed, shaking my head. He wiggled around me while I dug around in my duffel bag for a change of clothes.

“Right, a “weird” time,” he said, using air quotations. I rolled my eyes and stepped into the bathroom, shutting the door in his face.

“Are you sad you couldn’t keep up your tickle fight?” he chortled on the other side, and I pulled on my clothes quickly, worried I would keep Jeremy waiting.

“Leave me alone,” I groaned as I stepped out and he was still there. I headed towards the bus door, but was stopped short when Dan jogged past me and stood in my path, blocking my way.

“You can’t be upset with me for too long, since I got you out of hot water with Shae,” he grinned.

“What? How?!”

“I told her how terrible you felt for making us worry… And that you maybe said you would do everyone’s laundry for an entire month…” he looked away from me, staring around at anything but my dumbfounded face.

“Are you kidding me?” My mouth gaped and I stood, stunned.

“Oh, come on, you know Shae. She holds the worst grudges. You weren’t getting out lightly anyway! I’m just trying to keep the peace around here,” he rambled.

“We can talk about this later,” I sighed, sidestepping past him.

“Oh, scared to keep loverboy waiting?” he teased and I swerved to look at him.

“Shh, he might hear you!” I whispered, panic clear in my face.

“It’s fine, Case, he can’t hear me. Have fun on your date,” he grinned cheesily, hopping off to the back. I stared after him, a little awed at how ridiculous my best friend could be. Shaking my head, I stepped out of the bus, looking around to see Jeremy leaned up against the black metal beside me.

“Hey,” I gave a small, unconvincing smile. He pushed off the bus, taking a few steps towards me.

“You okay?” he gave me an inquisitive look and after a moment I looked down at the ground.

“Everyone’s being a little… off today. Did you see Gabe out here anywhere?” I searched around, but he was nowhere to be seen. Jeremy shook his head as well.

“Come on, you’ll feel better once you’ve eaten,” he said as he stepped past me, tugging on the corner of my hoodie as he did. I smiled to myself at the small gesture. It felt like we had finally broken down the massive wall of awkwardness that stood between us for so long. He still made my heart beat like crazy, and my head spin, but at least I could have a normal conversation with him now. It felt surreal, just walking casually beside him to get some food. I thought back to a month ago when we first met, when I plowed into him outside of this very bus.

I jogged a few steps to catch up to him and matched his rhythm as we walked side by side.

“What are you in the mood for?” I asked, shoving my hands into my pockets.

“Uhh… what’s around here?”

“...What city are we in?” I pulled my phone out of my pocket, searching for places nearby.

“Denver,” he shivered. February had just set upon us, and the area we were in was blanketed with snow. I heard it crunch beneath my feet and regretted not bringing a heavier jacket. Jeremy looked me up and down as I shivered slightly. “Here,” he said, removing his black jacket and turning to face me. He circled his arms over me, gently placing it on my shoulders, his hands lingering at the base of my neck for a moment.

“What about you?” I said as I began to take it off, shaking my head in refusal. It was my own fault I didn’t think about the weather outside.

“Wait here,” his nose and cheeks were pink, his breath turning to white clouds in the freezing air. He turned, jogging a bit over to his bus. He disappeared behind the door momentarily before re emerging with another jacket, already pulling it on. “Better now?” he rubbed his palms together in an attempt for warmth. I nodded hesitantly.

“Thank you,” I finally relaxed into the warmth of his coat. It was baggy on me, reaching to my mid thighs. He really was much taller than me. I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to salvage any of my own body heat, and I could smell his scent, drifting up to tickle my nose.

“The closest place is a cafe. They have soup,” I breathed, shaking despite the jacket, staring down at my phone. “It’s a seven minute walk.”

He nodded, his face hard set back into his usual expression, quickening his pace. I did the same, somehow keeping up with him this time. We talked a bit on the way, sometimes about the tour, sometimes about our homes, and what our lives were like when we weren’t travelling.

“What’s your family like?” he asked as we approached the cafe, a bell jingling above us as he held the door open for me.

“Thank you,” I smiled, walking into the glorious warmth inside. “My family is small. It’s just me, my brothers, and my dad.” We approached the menu and ordered at the register, searching around a bit and finally settling on a seat in the far back corner. The restaurant was quaint and cozy. There were small, wooden circular tables with wicker chairs beneath them. Little potted plants lined shelves on the ceiling, and the table had quiet, unassuming white flowers in the middle. Soon enough they brought our food. For me, a hot chocolate and a chicken sandwich. For Jeremy, a steaming bowl of potato soup.

“How many brothers do you have?” he asked as we began eating.

“Two. Ryan and Joey. We’re pretty close but they’ve been busy lately, so we haven’t talked much these past few months. Ryan works for my dad at the recording studio, and Joey is a mechanic. One time me and Ryan snuck into Joey’s office at the shop and covered everything in pictures of David Hasselhoff. Literally everything. He was finding them in hidden places for weeks,” I smiled at the memory. “What about you? What’s your family like?” I asked as I held the big mug of hot cocoa in both hands, the warmth permeating through them, sipping at the sweet liquid occasionally.

“Kind of big. I have an older sister and a younger one. Lindsay and Katie. Lindsay has kids, and Katie just graduated high school. I also have a ton of aunts and uncles. Family holidays are a madhouse,”

“I can hardly imagine that,” I laughed. “Our holidays are pretty quiet.”

“Oh my god, there isn’t a quiet place in the house during Christmas,” he chuckled, and began gesturing with his hands as he talked, abandoning his soup for the time being. “Everyone is crammed into the front rooms. There’s a ton of little kids running around, everyone’s talking over each other. And the food! There’s so much food I’m surprised we manage to eat it all, but we do, every time. The guys drop by to help with that, though,” this was perhaps the most I had ever seen Jeremy smile all at once.

“I can tell your family is important to you,” I said, and he looked at me for a moment, his face softening.

“Yeah. They are. I miss them... when we’re touring,” he looked down, his excited energy dwindling. I frowned.

“I understand. Touring can be really hard. Despite how fun it is, and how much more fulfilling it is than any other job I’ve ever had. It’s not easy to leave your family and friends.“ He looked up and locked eyes with me as I said this.

“It makes it easier when you have such amazing people by your side,” I was taken by surprise at his reply, almost choking on my cocoa. I sputtered a bit, coughing into a napkin as I set the mug down.

“Are you okay?” he cleared his throat, looking down at his bowl with brows furrowed. I nodded into the tissue. A stillness settled over us until I heard my phone ringing, shattering the silence. I looked down at the device, confused.

“Speak of the devil…” I mumbled and Jeremy lifted an eyebrow at me. I hit the ‘accept call’ button and raised the phone to my ear.

“Baby sister!!” a loud voice boomed through the receiver.

“Hey, Ryan.”

Notes