Mornings. He wasn’t much of a morning person, but today he felt unusually not cranky. In the bus, it was impossible to sleep in. In the small space of the tour bus, there’s always somebody around to talk too loudly or cause something to fall over. But today, it felt good that his sleep was uninterrupted. The bus wasn’t moving. Maybe everybody else was out for food. It felt good to wake up on his will.He reached from under his pillow and felt for his wristwatch. He looked at it. 9:30 AM. The fact that he wasn’t moody about being up at that time of the morning was weird to him. He had crashed to sleep much earlier than everybody else did. He wasn’t in the mood in getting too drunk from last night’s ritual after-show party. He just laid in his bunk and next thing he knew, he was waking up. He climbed out of the bunk and found one of his shirts on the floor. He picked it up and slung it over his shoulder before walking out into the living area of the tour bus.
After sliding the divider close and turning, it was only then he realized that he wasn’t alone in the bus.She was sitting on the couch, her legs folded under her. Next to her was her mobile phone. Her hands were around a coffee mug and her eyes staring blankly out the window. By the time he was looking at how her eyeliner had smudged under her eyes because she was probably too wasted last night to take the make-up off, he scolded himself for staring like that. He was staring at her again, something he has been avoiding to do, something he should avoid doing. But he couldn’t help it. If watching someone while nobody else is watching was an art, he’d be the master of it. Despite the fact he’s trying not to do things a mentally stable person normally would not, its like he has the sixth sense of being able to know when’s the safest moment, second, or even split second to indulge himself of her sight. That sense is telling him that this time is a good time.
She looked like she was still wearing her bed clothes; she was wearing her really short Invader Zim boxers (one of her favorites judging by the fact he had noticed that she has other pieces in different colors). She paired the cartoon boxers with Chuck’s shirt, the material somehow covering her legs and the sleeves pushed up her shoulders because it was too big for her. The looseness of Chuck’s shirt on her made her look like she lost some weight. Maybe she had and the shirt was stressing on it more… he wasn’t sure. Touring can get really exhausting, even if you were just someone who got tagged along and didn’t play with the band. Her cheek bones and jaw line were slightly more defined.He put a pause on watching her at that moment. If he’s noticing how she seemed thinner, then that must mean he hasn’t been watching her like he used to. Maybe he has been getting good at avoiding staring at her.
“Hey, Seb.” Her voice broke his thoughts in pieces and almost made him jump. She smiled at him before taking a sip of her coffee. “Is it a good morning?”
Before he could reply, he gave a small laugh for the structure of her question. It wasn’t a secret how he wasn’t a morning person. He then remembered that he was half-naked in his boxers, so he hastily started to put his shirt on. “It is a good morning, Lucy. Isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is.” She replied with a laugh.
Now that she knows he’s around, Seb knew better than continue watching Lucy. He distracted himself by getting his breakfast. He walked towards one of the cupboards and reached for a coffee mug. He then poured himself some coffee and put 2 blueberry Pop Tarts in the toaster. He drank some of the coffee as he waited for the treat to be done. When the toaster’s bell rang, he took a plate and placed the blue, warm pieces on it. “Pop Tart?” he asked as he sat besides her, fighting the urge to sit close. He placed the plate on his lap.
“I’ll have a half, please.”
Seb handed his coffee mug to her while he broke one of the Pop Tarts in half. It was warm and blue-and-white filling’s fruity scent got to him. He handed her the bigger half and she gave him his coffee.
“Thank you, but I liked the smaller half, you know.” She said looking at her half.
Sebastien took the smaller half and took a bite greedily. “No, you look like you haven’t been eating well. I’m getting you off the tour diet.” He joked.
Lucy laughed and took a bite of the Pop Tart. “What tour diet?”
“Don’t tell me you love the food they serve us.”
“It’s fine, as far as I’m concerned.”
“Well, if you like it so much, how come you look like you haven’t been eating well?”
Lucy rolled her eyes at him. “Yeah, and be fat? No thank you.”
Seb widened his eyes. “You’re not fat, Lucy, and there's nothing wrong if you were. You even look like you can’t be fat.” He laughed at her, pushing her playfully. “That’s ridiculous, you know.”
“Well, it’s not when there’re always girls around. I’m not losing Chuck on tour.”
Seb stared into his mug and watched dark brown liquid swirling inside. It was the first time Lucy and Chuck were together on tour. They’ve been together for more or less two years, but Lucy finished school just last year. Seb figured the tour crowd really got to her. “Are you serious?”
“I don’t know.” She replied after sighing deeply. “I just didn’t know tour would get me so… errr—“
“Jealous?” Seb filled in for her.
“Yes. Exactly.”
“Oh, Lucille.” He said in frustration. He shifted so that he was facing her. “Look at me, Lucy.”
She did what he said and looked up to him as though questioning.
“Chuck isn’t going to leave you for some random girl he meets after a show.” Seb said, looking in her eyes briefly. “You should know that.”
Lucy just looked away, her eyes going back to whatever it was beyond the window. “They went out for breakfast at the McDonald’s down the street.” She muttered a few seconds later.
“Chuck only agreed to your idea of being on tour because he knew how much you wanted to be with him, you know.” Sebastien said. He felt it was sort of random, but he knew it will fix her up a bit. Her attention was no longer at the outside. “He told me you guys fought about it when you told him you wanted to go on tour.”
“What do you mean?” Bree asked.
“He knows how hard it gets on tour.” Seb answered.
“’He knows’?” she repeated. “He brought someone along before me?”
Sebastien shook his head. “Don’t think like that,” he said then laughed softly, but shook his head to take it back when he saw she didn't find humor in their conversation. “Lucy, all the time I’ve known him, he’s always focused on this band. It's everything he's go. Until you. We love being on tour, but it has its lows. He's seen what tour does to people but since he knows how much it means to you, he brought you with us.”
Lucy's eyes shifted to him, like she was looking for a loophole in what Sebastien had just told her. “You talk like you know what it’s like.”
Seb smiled at her. “I do. My last girlfriend and I grew apart on tour. In a matter of weeks that were supposed to keep us close, we grew apart. Being around each other too much was too much for us.”
She looked at him as if she was apologizing. “Don’t worry about it, Lucy.” Sebastien told her. “I’m okay. And don’t let the tour fever get to you. Tour ruined my last relationship, but it doesn’t mean it’s going to do the same with yours.”
She smiled at him and didn’t say a word. The silence allowed Sebastien to finish his Pop Tarts but it was broken when Lucy's phone started ringing.
“Chuck?” She said after bringing the device to her ear. “Uh-huh… He’s up…” She put her hand on the receiver end of her phone and looked at Sebastien. “Hey, Seb. Chuck’s asking if you want something from McDonald’s.”
“Nope, I’m good.” Seb replied.
“He says he’s good.” Bree told Chuck. “… Does half a Pop Tart count?” Sebastien heard Chuck laughing loud through the phone. “Well,” Bree continued. “Get me a Happy Meal, then… Get the Hello Kitty, Chuck… Hurry up… We have to get to the hotel. I want to use a real bathroom.” This made Seb laugh but it turned fake when he heard her say “Bye, love.” before hanging up.
TO BE CONTINUED.
I wrote this a long time a go. I'm having trouble writing [again] and reading this makes me wonder what's happening.
