Fanfiction: Safe and Sound (Part 2)

Casts   : Jenna Mcdougall (Narrator), Whakaio Taahi, Matt Gravolin, Cameron Adler, Jake hardy, Matt Best.
Setting : Sydney and Salt Lake City.
Author : Me

Tomorrow I'm going to fly to the States for The Warped Tour. Everybody says that it will be intense. I need to sleep early today. But I just can't. I'm not sure I'm stoked or afraid, everything seems alright, but I need to expect the worst to happen, just to prepare my self. It's 7 pm, I'm ready for bed to have a nice deep sleep. Cameron will pick me up tomorrow morning. I can't be late. He's going to be freaked out. But he's a chilled dude though.

Just before I dive into my fluffy blanket, my cell phone vibrates. I'm about to ignore it but it keeps vibrating. Well, it must be something important, I guess. I grab my cell phone, and yes, it's Whak. I sigh. What the hell is he doing, calling me when I'm about to have my last long sleep before the hectic tour. I tap the answer icon on the screen.

 "Well, dude, I really need to sleep now," I say.

"I just want to remind you, Cameron will pick you up with a Taxi at 6, don't forget your passport, ticket, make sure you have your breakfast first, don't be late or I'll kill you," he says.

"Six? Whakaio, at six? You're a dead man! I'm the one who's gonna kill you now," I say.

 "Whatever Jenna, we can't be late."

"Alright. Since I have to wake up really really freaking early, I need my sleep now, okay, dude?"

 "Okay, then. See ya," he says.

He's about to end the call when something hits my guts. "Whak, I'm afraid," I say.

He sighs. "You're not. It's gonna be fine. You're just nervous."

"Really? We're gonna be on the road for like, all summer long, around somebody else's country, different cultures, with a lot of strangers. How if we get sick, or mess things up? Plus the whole idea of the crowd won't like us, and stuffs, it's killing me. And I'm gonna be homesick," I say.

"Well, you're not gonna be homesick. I'll make sure you won't. It's not our first time there. And I don't care if those Americans won't accept our music, that's fine. We do what we like, just, don't listen to them," he tries to calm me down.

"At least they'll adore our accent, haha," he chuckles.

I laugh lightly. "Haha, yes they will."

"Okay. See you at the airport, Jen," he says.

"Bye, Whak. You're gonna need some sleep too."

"Yes I am. Bye," he says. And he ends the call.

I sigh and put my cell phone back to the table next to my bed. I know that I'm not supposed to be afraid. I have the boys. They will always be by my side all the time. And Whak will make sure that I'm safe all the way around.

I admit that I think Whak is like my own keeper, my guardian. The first time I knew him, he was like this crazy boy, he was a total dork, haha. Then I got to know him. We talked a lot. I've been a friend of Cameron for like, eight years, and I met Whak like, 4 years ago. But there's something different about him, it's like we were made to be best-friends. We always have the same point of view of things, we write songs together, he completes my melody, I complete his. Just perfect.

And I know that I need to kill all of the thoughts in my head now. Close my eyes and drive to sleep. But then, again, my cell phone vibrates. What the hell is Whak doing? I wonder if he's actually afraid too, or he just forgot to say something. I grab my cell phone hesitantly, not sure if I actually need to answer it.

But then I see it's not Whak's name on the screen, it's Matt. I hold my self for a while, wait for my cell phone to stop vibrating. But it won't stop, and then I know I have to just answer it. Maybe he just want to say something casual, like, "goodluck" or "be safe". He's still my boyfriend anyway.

"Hello, Matt, what's up?", I say casually.

"Hi, Jen, how are you?", he replies.

Something inside of me speaks, what does he want actually. "I'm fine. Thank you."

"I'm kinda missing you here, Jen. You're off to The states tomorrow, eh?", he asks.

 "Yes I am," actually I just want to end this call because I really need my sleep now. Talking to him is just wasting my time.

 "Okay, then, you're going to have so much fun there," he says.

I roll my eyes. "Duh, I will. What do you want Matt?"

There is a long pause and then, "Well Jen, actually, I need you to be a guest vocal in one of my band's song. Is that alright? But since you're off to the States, maybe we're going to wait. If you don't mind," he says.

"We'll talk about that later okay. I'm not really into this stuff right now. I just want to focus with my own band. I'm going to give you an answer when I come back. Alright?"

I can hear he exhales hard. "That's fine. We'll wait."

"Good, then. I need to sleep, Matt. See you, okay?", I say, trying to end the conversation.

"But Jen, how long this break will last? I can't stand it anymore. I love you, Jen," he says.

I dive into my blanket. Try to built a brief, simple line in my head, I really want to tell him that I don't want to think about this romance and stuff. "I just don't know. I'll think about it later. I'm not sure. And I need to sleep now."

He sighs. "Okay. Good night. Have a nice dream. And good luck. I love you-"

Before he continues, I end the call. I don't need those sweet stuffs.

I stare at my room's ceiling. Another evidence, I think to my self. I'm trying so hard to believe him, but it's just getting clearer that he's just using me after all this time. How can he just asked me to be a guest vocal in his band's song when we're still in the middle of a break? Why didn't he just say sorry to me, or say something to make me sure that we're gonna be alright? Why?

***

It's early winter in Sydney. No snow, just cold winds and rains. I can see Cameron's Taxi stops in front of my house. I'm ready to go, but I'm gonna need his help to bring the luggage downstairs.

I open my window and shouts. "Mate, I think I need some hands here!", I shouts to him.

He raises his head and look at me. "Okay, I'm coming." Cameron goes upstairs and help my with the luggage.

We get into the Taxi and drive away from the Sydney suburbs to the airport where Whak, Jake, Matty and our manager, Ben are waiting for us.

 The last time I saw the Sydney Airport was when I got back from the last Australian tour. It was like a month ago. I'm kinda like the place though. It's bright and busy. Makes me feel alive. And I can see Whak waves his hand to my way. He's wearing a black boxer and a grey T-shirt. He doesn't look like someone who's going to have a 24 hours flight. It's time for me to be mad at him.

"You're not wearing that, are you, Whak?! You can't!", I shout loudly.

"What?", he says.

"It's a 24 hours flight you cannot wear a boxer!", I say firmly.

 "It's gonna be hot when we arrive there!", he insists.

"Look at Jake, he's wearing a pair of jeans!", I point my finger at Jake. The dude grinds innocently.

 "Because he's a virgin!", says Whak and then he giggles.

"Hey!!! Does it really have anything to do with that?", shouts Jake from behind. "And I'm not a virgin! I told you!".

 Whak laughs. "Just saying, mate!", he says.

We all laugh. And at this point, I know that I love my boys. I realize that I have missed them so much during the whole month off. I'm going to give all my best for them this Warped Tour season. I don't want to miss any moment with them.

Our plane takes off at 7am. We are all seated close to each other. I sit between Whak and our manager, Ben. Jake, Matty and Cam sit in the row in front of us. We got nothing to do so mostly we spend our time watching movies on the screen in front of us. I'm dreading this 24 flight. It makes my muscle stiff and my back hurts. I try to talk to Whak and Ben, but they all are so sleepy so the conversation doesn't last long.

We arrive at the United States the next morning at 9, and what funny is, we're still in the same day when we went here. The whole jet lag thing hits me right in the face. Suddenly I feel sick and so sleepy. Our first destination is Salt Lake City, Utah. It is burning here.

We're all collected in a hotel, and tomorrow the Warped Tour will be started, we're going to sleep mostly on the road all summer long. So I'm not gonna take my last sleep on a real bed and a building for granted tonight.

Our room is a suite. Well, it's not as fancy as you think but it's big enough for the six of us. After we put all of our stuffs in the room, we're herded to the hotel restaurant to have our first ever Warped Tour breakfast.

The restaurant is already crowded. So many other bands have arrived earlier than us. We have met some of them before, but have never really talked to them. We have our breakfast, and after that, we get back to the hotel room. We're absolutely jet-lagged and exhausted. It's better for us to just sleep and rest because we know that hard days will come and Warped Tour is not a joke. We don't spend much time talk to each other. We go straight to bed and sleep.

***

It's already late afternoon when I wake up, and I'm starved to death. Jake, Matty and Ben are still asleep. And I can't find Whak and Cam anywhere. They must have been gone somewhere to get some food. Agh, I hate them. I need some food right now. So, I decide that I'll go outside by my self. Maybe there's a store nearby. I don't know. I grab my jacket, but I realize that it's not winter outside, it's a burning summer. So I put it back and go outside on my flip flop.

Hell, summer in America is hell. It's so hot, my head is spinning from the heat. I'm not kidding now Warped Tour is gonna be really really intense. I can see there's a 711 about 500 meters from here. So I walk slowly to the shop. I can see so many other band members are strolling along the streets, some are familiar, some are just strangers. Maybe it's gonna be good to make some friends here, but my belly doesn't agree with that now. All I need now is some food.

 "Hey, Jenna! Where are you going?!", somebody shouts from across the street. And I know it's Whak.

I turn to him. "I'm going to get some food. I'm starving!", I shout to him back. He stops and crosses the street. Cam is behind him. Holding a big bun of 711's bread. My stomach rumbles.

 "Give me some Cam. I'm starving to death!", I say to Cameron pleadingly. He keeps chewing the bread.

"No. I'm starving too." He turns his back at me and enjoying the whole bun alone.

Whak laughs. "Well, I'll walk you to the shop. I forgot to buy some ciggs for Ben. Is it alright, mate?", he asks Cameron.

 "Okay. I'm going back to the hotel room then. It's boiling out here I can't stand it," Cam says. And then he leaves.

 We walk to the shop together. Have nothing to talk about, so we just look around and enjoy the weather. I'm sweating badly under my black T-shirt and Jeans, and Whak looks just fine. I think the idea of wearing boxer makes sense here. But can he just put some outer pants on? Doesn't need to be jeans, maybe cargo shorts or something.

"Hey, I heard that there's a nice music store a around here. It's an old one, you know. They sell vinyls and stuffs. Are you interested to go there later?", Whak asks. I raise my head and look at him. "Interesting. Okay, then."

We buy some food at 711 and a box of cigarettes for our lovely manager. And then we walk straight to the music store that Whak has talked about earlier.

 "I can't believe you're still wearing those jeans in this kind of weather," he says.

"I don't know. I just woke up and starved to death. All I can think about is just how to get some food. Haha," I giggle.

"You're screwed then. Are you sure we don't need to go back to the hotel room first -so you can take off those excruciating jeans- before we go?" he says.

 I shake my head. "No. I'm just fine, mate. Haha." And then we continue to walk.

Salt Lake City is an interesting place. It's not that big actually, but I love it here. The air is so clear. There is one big relief of mountains surrounding the city. We can see it hiding behind the buildings.

"I think this is the place," he stops and examines the store behind us.

 It's an old store in an old building, with old school rock posters on the front glass windows. I can see some number of racks and shelves full of old cassettes, vinyls and some modern Cds from the outside. I know it's gonna be awesome.

"It's awesome, Whak. Let's go," I grab his hand and pull him into the store with me.

We're starting to get busy with piles of old school recording products. I find some old Beatles records, Janis Japlin, The Ramones, and many more.

 "Look Whak, it's Fugazi!", I say enthusiastic.

He stands up and takes a look at the record in my hand. "Wow, rare stuff. Take that, Jen," he says. And he goes back sitting on the floor, stroking his eyes all over the rack in front of him.

"What are you looking for?", I say.

 He raises his head. "I don't know. It's like I want to buy everything. Haha."

I laugh and then sit next to him on the floor. It's kinda weird though, sitting on a music store's floor. I doubt that it's allowed in many other stores actually, but I think the shopkeeper doesn't care.

"Have you ever think about it, Whak? Someday, like, in 30 years, we both will be old as fuck, and where do you think our music will go?", I say lightly.

 He stops staring at the records and looks at me. "Well, why are you asking me that question? You know I'm not good at deep thinking and stuffs, haha."

I smirk. "I just want to know. Do you think it's going to be last? I mean, us. Will this moment ever happen again, in like 10 years? You know, just hanging around with you on the floor in a music store."

"I'll make sure it will, Jen," he promises.

 "Is that a guarantee or what?", I say.

 "You can take my word. When we have enough money, and rich as fuck, I will bring you back to this country, this very place. We'll sit here together again, in the same position," he says reassuring me.

I smile wildly. "And, how if we won't be rich as fuck forever?".

 He looks me in the eyes and smile. "Sell my house maybe.. or my guitars."

"Your wife will kill me then," I say.

He laugh. "Well, I don't know what to say about that. Hemm," he pauses to think. "I'm not gonna marry anyone then."

I nudge his elbow and laugh. "You're silly!".

We laugh together, looking at each other eyes. I love this guy. He's my best friend and I'm not gonna leave him anywhere in my life. So I stop laughing and lean forward to kiss his cheek. It's a friendship kiss so I think it will be just fine.

 I lean back and say, "Thank you, Whak."

He frowns. "Thank you for what?"

"Everything. I don't wanna be emotional and sappy here. And you hate that, don't you?", I say.

 He smiles. "Yes, I hate that. Haha. Let's just finish our business here, tomorrow's a big day!". He stands up and go to the cashier. I grab my Fugazi record and follow him.

 "Give me that record," he says in front of the cashier table. "I'm paying tonight."

"No. I don't want you to pay. I'm going to owe you. I don't want to do your laundry, forever!"

He chuckles. "You're not gonna do my laundry. We're going to be rich as fuck in the future, you can pay me then."

"But if we're not gonna be rich?", I ask.

 He grabs the record from my hand and hands it to the cashier. "Well, you just have to stay the same and never leave. That will pay."

 I'm just speechless. All I can do is smile. He's my smile machine.

 He pays everything and give me the bag with the Fugazi record inside.

"Let's go!" he says. He takes my hand and get me out to the store. "Tomorrow is the first day of our first ever Warped Tour. How do you feel now? Still afraid?", he asks in our way back to the hotel.

 "No, I'm not afraid. I'll be safe and sound."

 "Sure, you will."

(End of part 2)