The line of teenaged girls was nearing an end and Butcher looked around at his sweaty bandmates. William’s face was red from the heat, and the fact that he was wearing his ‘signature jacket’ along with a stupid looking hat. The next on Butcher’s left was Mike, who’s black hair was dripping with sweat in the back. Michael looked perfectly normal, but maybe that was because he was wearing a short sleeved white shirt and was from Australia (it was apparently always hot there), which might have helped. Sisky looked tired, but that was probably because they had a hard time waking him up that morning.
The last girl in line smiled as Tony crossed out the “TAI” written on her hand, and then handed William the Santi CD.
“How are you today?” He asked her as he shook her hand and made her blush. Something about this girl drew Butcher’s attention. She was imperfect, but yet beautiful, and he was pretty sure he had seen her somewhere before.
“I’m good, and how are you?” She asked back to William.
“I’m excellent. I hoped you enjoyed Warped Tour today. Thanks for coming and supporting us!”
His response made her giggle a little. “Actually, I’m going to be here every day. I’m working in a band’s merch tent.”
By this time she had moved down the line to Mike who asked the next question. “What band is it?”
“Sofapunch. They’re a ska band that’s playing on SmartPunk stage.” She smiled as Mike handed the CD to Butcher. He didn’t say anything to her when he signed the CD, just wrote his name in his creative script and passed it down to Michael.
“I think I met them earlier today when we first got here. Aren’t there like 9 of them, or something.” He said in his Australian slang.
“Yeah. It’s really hard to keep track of them all, and most of the time they want to sit in the tent and meet fans, but they don’t really fit.”
By this point she was in front of Sisky, who started to ask her personal questions. “So, what’s your name?”
“Jamie.”
“And do you want to hang out later?” Butcher knew that she would be drawn to his cute personality. Every girl fell for William and Sisky. He thought this girl was going to be different, but obviously not.
“We’ll see how it goes” She smiled slyly and before she turned to walk away, winked at Butcher. Maybe she was different. He watched as Jamie walked around the corner and obviously back to her tent.
*****
It was the next day and Jamie was watching Sofapunch’s set from the tent. There were a surprising number of fans, and a lot of them knew the words.
“We’re going to do a meet and greet immediately after this set at our tent” Alex said as he pointed in Jamie’s direction.
She turned around to the other girl that was working with her, who happened to be Mat’s (the guitarist) girlfriend. “I love how they tell us that they’re going to have a meet and greet.”
“I know” Ashley said in response to Jamie. Their tent had been fairly busy all day, so Jamie didn’t have a chance to get away and see some of her friends. The set had ended and the crowd started to disappear, most appearing at the merch booth. But then Jamie saw a group of young girls circled around a familiar brown, curly haired guy. Butcher was signing autographs and taking pictures until he could get away. Before more girls could gather, he turned to watch Jamie at the booth, but to his surprise, she was watching him. She smiled and waved, and Butcher took it as a sign to go to her.
He walked over to the booth and was thankful that the band had showed up so Jamie could take a little break and talk to him. “Hey, it’s good to see you.” She said to him.
“Good to see you too.” He was taking his time taking in her red/tan skin and blonde curly hair.
She noticed that he was staring at her extremely sun-burned chest and arms. “Does it suck that I got sun burn on the first day of tour. At least it’ll turn into a tan.” Jamie paused and waited for him to say something. “So, can I tell you something honestly?”
“Yeah, go ahead” He responded.
“I thought you’d be more charismatic. You always seem so fun in videos and stuff, but then you didn’t say anything yesterday. I was kinda disappointed since you are my favorite.”
“Can I tell you a secret?” Butcher asked before taking a sip of his water and leaned in to her. “I’m really shy around new people.”
“Can I tell YOU a secret?” Jamie asked as a response and he nodded it. “I get nervous and really shy around people I like and usually never say the right thing.” At that moment, Eric turned around and wrapped his arms around Jamie’s waist.
“I need a new sharpie, honey” he whispered in her ear. She smiled and went into the drawer and got one out for him. “Thanks” he said before he turned back to the now backed up signing.
“Doesn’t look like you have much trouble with him” Butcher said to her.
“We’re not an item. These are my nine best friends. Not boyfriends. Oh, so I went to hang out with you guys last night, but you were already asleep.”
“I’m an early riser. And I need sleep.”
“I’m an early riser too, but I’m one of those freakish people that can live on like 3 hours of sleep and then be energized for the rest of the day.”
Butcher took that as his cue to ask her to hang out. “Do you want to spend some of your freakish awake time with us tonight?”
Jamie laughed and smiled. “Only if you’re awake. I want to see that funny personality.”
As she finished her sentence, Butcher came over and kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll see you tonight then.” She couldn’t help but smile for the rest of the day at the up-coming night.
*****
It had taken some convincing for her to get out of helping clean up. But she figured there were 9 guys to do it, and they didn’t have that much stuff. She made her way to the bus to put on a not-so-sweaty shirt and meet The Academy Is and what looked like Cobra Starship, who were hanging out in the parking lot. After changing into a green, loosely fitting green shirt and running her fingers through her un-manageable hair, she was ready to meet up with them.
They were drinking and having a good time when she arrived, but Jamie wasn’t shy, so she fit right in. Sisky grabbed her a drink and immediately started hitting on her. Jamie tried to not rudely blow him off to go find Butcher, but she couldn’t see his head in the small crowd.
Butcher, meanwhile was inside the bus, pacing around. He was truly nervous but he didn’t know why. He had had his fair share of girls, but he was anxious about messing this up. He could see out the window as Sisky tried to hit on her, but her eyes scanned the crowd and he presumed she was looking for him. Sisky said something and pointed toward the bus and Jamie slowly approached. Butcher didn’t want any evidence of what he was doing, so he decided to walk toward the door and meet her half way down.
“Hey,” She started as soon as she saw his face round the corner in the bus, “I was just coming to look for you.”
He shyly smiled and walked down the steps. “You look good tonight.”
“Thanks” Jamie responded as Butcher put his arm around her and led her to where there were two groups throwing a football back and forth. The football was quickly approaching Jamie, who was not ready to catch it. She was thankful when Nate jumped in it’s path and caught it perfectly.
Nate turned and smiled at her and held out his hand. “I’m Nate. From Cobra Starship.”
“Jamie, I’m working for the band Sofapunch.” She could feel her cheeks burning up with embarrassment. Jamie was used to the attention, but not from people she barely knew.
“Well, Jamie, why don’t you throw the ball back.”
Nate held out the brown leather ball but Jamie had to decline. “I’m really not that great at sports” she said with disappointment, but she couldn’t help but smile at his childish grin.
“Well, I’ll show you.” He said as he stood close behind her. Jamie could feel his breath of the back of her neck and his arms touch the back of hers. She had an intoxicating feeling as he showed her step-by-step how to throw the ball. “I think you’re ready” he said after a couple of minutes.
By this time, the other group of guys had lost attention and started talking amongst themselves, but Jamie took no notice. She threw the ball, perfectly, and it hit William right in the head. Her mouth dropped in surprise and everyone around her was laughing.
“Oh my god, William, I’m so sorry” she called over to him.
He was playfully rubbing his head and laughing, “Don’t worry about it. I’m fine.”
The scene was disrupted when Butcher yelled, “It’s freakin’ scooter time.” Jamie realized that he was headed right for her and Nate and she jumped out of the way just in time. She had just realized that she hadn’t even spend time with him, and he was why she was there.
By this point he had taken off his shirt and stopped the scooter. Jamie walked over to him and stood closer then necessary. “Sorry about the football thing.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry for. You’re just making friends.” Butcher tried to cover his jealousy, but he could see her connection with Nate. “Do you want to go in the bus.”
Jamie was tracing his chest tattoo with her index finger. “I don’t sleep with someone on the first date.”
“This was a date” Butcher asked.
“No, but you can take me on one tomorrow.” She responded and walked away.
Butcher was in awe. She told me she didn’t know how to handle guys. But she was perfect.
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