In The End

When I wake the next morning, the bus has stopped moving and it's too hot. I throw the blankets off of my body and look for my cell phone. It's still plugged in where I left it last night, and I take it with me to the bathroom. I do my business and wash my hands, then decide I should take a shower. I head back out to my bunk and rifle through my duffel bag till I find a pair of clothes. Since I'm meeting my future parent-in-laws, I decide to keep it casual with light makeup, and I'll let my hair dry naturally. I take all my belongings to the bathroom, and start my shower. When I finish, I towel dry quickly, and dress in a Gotham Batman hoodie, a pair of black, ripped leggings with a pair of dark denim jeans. I put on my black Chuck Taylor's and a black beanie before sliding on the pearl ring and crescent moon necklace Andy bought me. I apply my makeup and then clean up my things before returning to my bag, where I depost all my stuff.
I check each of the bunks to find all the girls are still asleep, and since we had an open bunk, Will took that one, and he's asleep, too. I take my laptop out to the table and set it up along with my phone, a notebook and pens, my guitar and my headphones. I had a tune in my head while I showered, and I wanted to write down what I could before I forgot. With the wave of my hand, a panel slides back, and I press a few buttons and the top of the bus begins to open. Thank God it's silent, I don't want to wake anyone up. With my things in my hands, I climb the stairs to the top of the bus and set everything up. When I check the time, I notice it's 6:30 in the morning and the sun should be coming up anytime. I decide to make myself coffee while I wait, and when I get back up to the top of the bus, I notice the morning chill is starting to wear off.
Opening my laptop, I plug in my headphones and plug in my guitar to the amplifier, which is plugged into the program on my computer. When I find the correct setting I want, I strum a few chords and write down a few lyrics.
I'm a punk rock prom queen
Brown paper magazine
Hotter than you've ever seen
Everywhere and between
I'm a ten ticket thrill ride
Don't you wanna come inside?
Five star triple threat
Hardest of the hard to get
No one's little red corvette
Ain't seen nothing like me yet
I strum something else before I stop the recording and save it. I put the pen in my mouth and grab my pick so I can practice the part I just wrote. When I think I've got it down perfect, I record a better version of it and save that. I get ready to start on the chorus, but my cell phone rings and I stop to pick it up. "Good morning." I greet Andy. He says good morning back, and God, do I miss his morning voice. "I know it's early. I had a tune stuck in my head, so I'm writing and recording part of what I had in my head so I wouldn't forget." I inform him. He laughs and I hear a little cat's meow in the background. "Awe, give Crow some love for me. I can hear him. Oh really? Well, tell him I miss him right back." I giggle as I hear Crow cry again, and then Andy cusses as Crow headbutts him in the face.
"It's not finished! The first verse is barely written and it only has a rough vocal and chord job done. Okay, fine." Andy demands to hear the new material I'm working on, so I decide to play it for him. I lay my phone down and put it on speaker while I unhook the headphones so he can listen to it clearly. "Okay, here it goes." I play the bit for him and stop it before hooking everything back up and taking him off speaker. "You like it? Thank you! Yes, I'll let you know when it's finished." I say. While Andy fills me in on his plans for the day, I make my coffee and idly wonder about his parents. "Hey, I'm a little nervous about meeting your parents. What if they don't like me?" I say. Andy just laughs. "Babe, don't worry. I've talked to them already and they are both super excited to meet you. My mom is so thrilled that we are getting married, and my dad can't wait to meet his future daughter-in-law." He says. I nod my head, though I'm aware Andy can't see it. "Okay. I just don't want to screw it up and make them hate me or something." I confess. I can practically see Andy rolling his eyes on the other end of the phone. "They won't hate you. They'll love you, I promise. They bought tickets to tonight's show and they'll meet you backstage afterwards. You'll be fine. Call me after you talk with them. I'm going to find food and feed Crow. I love you." I tell him I love him, too, and I hang up.
I stir my coffee and take another sip when I hear groaning from the bunks. "What time is it?" I hear Emerson ask. I check my phone and then yell back to her. "It's 6:45. You should get up, and come help me!" She mumbles something to me that I don't catch, but then I see her get out of her bed, and head to the bathroom. I head back up to my guitar and everything and put my headphones back on. I strum through the first chorus of the song I was working on and wait for Emerson to join me. I'm halfway through the first chorus when I see Emerson coming up the stairs, and she's just in time to watch the sun rise with me. We sit back an enjoy our coffee in the quiet while the Ohio morning sun rises, and then I go back to working.
"It took 6 whole hours
And 5 long days
For all your lies to come undone
And those three small words"
I hum the words to myself with the tune I imagined, but it's a little rough. Emerson takes my headphones and plays it from the beginning. "Wow, Raven, this is awesome. Where did this come from?" I set down my guitar and turn to face her with a shrug. "I couldn't sleep last night, and when I got up to take my shower I had this tune stuck in my head. The more I thought about it, the more it came to me. I figured I better write it down before I forgot." Emerson smiles and nods. "Let me go grab my stuff. I have somewhat of an idea for the chorus." She hands me back my headphones and leaves to grab her guitar, amp, and computer. Once she comes back and has everything hooked up, she has me play the first verse again. As I play, she fills in with the rhythm that she's making up on the spot. "I think I have an idea for the words for the end of the chorus, if you're interested?" She asks. I smile and hand her the pen and my notebook.
"It took 6 whole hours
And 5 long days
For all your lies to come undone
And those three small words
Were way too late
'Cause you can't see that I'm the one"
She hands them back to me and I look them over. "This is great, Emerson. So, how would it go?" I ask her. She explains it to me and writes down a few chords and I strum it a few times to make sure I've got it down before I press the 'record' button on my laptop. When it finishes recording I play it back and all we can do is just smile. It sounds incredible. We high five each other, but stop giggling when we hear someone else coming out from the bunks. "What's going on, guys? All I hear is laughing every couple minutes." Gemma says, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Oh, sorry. We are writing a song, and it's coming out great. Wanna hear it?" I ask. She gives me a smile and nods before climbing up to the top of the bus and taking a seat next to me. I plug my headphones into the jack on my laptop and hit the play button for her.
"Holy shit, guys! This is sick! I love the chorus and everything. We should call the Pavilion and see if they'll let us come set up for the day and just write until our show tonight." She suggests. I shrug and look at Emerson, who agrees. I don't have to meet Andy's parents till after our show, and none of us had any plans for the day. "I'll go get Scarlet up, who wants to get Jenae up?" I ask. I look down to the first floor of the bus and smile when I see Jenae is already awake. "I'm good!" She calls up to us while heading for the bathroom. I get all of my stuff tore down and put back where it belongs, and then I head to the bunks, where I find my best friend asleep. Only Scarlet could sleep through anything. "Scarlet, wake up. Get ready. We are going to go to the venue early and see if they'll let us use the stage to write for the day." I grab her shoulder and shake her. She groans in her sleep and begs me to leave her alone, but I don't. "Get up!" I yell next to her head. She groans again and finally rolls over to get out of bed.
Deciding to keep the outfit I had on, I grab everything I'll need at the venue and then I call them. "Yes, hi. My name is Raven, and I'm the lead singer of one of the bands playing tonight's show at the Pavilion. I was wondering if there was any possible way my band could come in early and write for the day?" It's silent for a moment while the woman checks the schedule and finally she gets back to me. "Perfect, we will be there shortly, thank you!" I hang up and tell the girls it's okay. About 45 minutes later, we are knocking on the door to the venue and being led inside. The girls set up their equipment while I set mine up, and I get ready to go. While I'm hooking up my laptop to the soundboard, the door opens and Set It Off's drummer, Maxx Danziger, comes in. "You ladies are up early! What's going on?" I wave him to the back and greet him with a hug. "We are actually doing a writing session. I started writing a song this morning, but our bus isn't big enough for all of us to write, so I contacted the venue and asked if we could come in early and write." He nods his head and sits on the stool next to me. "Need any help?" I open the recording program on my computer, and walk him through how it works. "I just need you to record and stop, play, pause, all that stuff. Do you mind?" He gives me a smile and takes my laptop. "I think I've got it covered, let's hear it!"
I play the intro, first verse and chorus a few times for the girls, and they catch on right away. After perfecting the first part, I grab my pen and paper and start writing the second verse down. "I think I've got something. Listen to this.
"I'm your late night head rush
Ace high royal flush
Red velvet orange crush
You just don't impress me much
A glossy, double cover spread
Opened up inside your head
A black cherry paradise
Half the sugar, twice the spice
I don't wanna treat you nice
Come on baby roll the dice!"
Starting from the beginning, I play all the way through the verse I just wrote, and the girls come in like they did on the first part. When we finish that verse, we go right back into the chorus, and then the chorus again, then the song finishes. "Well? What do you guys think so far?" I ask. In all honesty, I'm pretty excited about this. It sounds pretty great to me. "I love it!" Emerson says. Gemma and Jenae both agree, and Scarlet nods her head with a smile. "What do we call it?" Jenae asks. Gemma bites her lip, but comes up blank. Emerson and Scarlet are both silent, and I am stuck in thought. It's silent for awhile, until I hear a male's voice. "How about '3 Small Words'?" Maxx suggests. I try it out, and it fits. "I love it, it fits nicely. Thank you!" I say to him before writing the name down so I don't forget. "One more time from the top?" I ask. Everyone agrees and Maxx gives us the thumbs up to tell us he's ready to record.
We finish fairly early and decide to call it good. While the girls tear down their equipment, I call Andy and let him listen to the song. As usual, he's very pleased with it and thinks it'll be a great addition to our record. We still have so much to do for that. For the rest of the day, the other bands and ourselves drive around Columbus and go sight-seeing. We didn't do much, since we had to get back in time for rehearsal, but it was fun while it lasted. It was good for us to get out and see things. I uploaded the pictures to my social media sites, and then our band is called to come in and get ready for tonight's show. Our sound-check goes smoothly and before I know it, we are playing our show that night.
As we come off the stage, I'm greeted by a man and woman who just smile at me. "You must be Raven?" The woman asks me. And then I see it. Andy looks just like his mom. "That's me. You must be Chris and Amy?" The smile and bring me into a group hug. "It's finally good to meet the girl who has captured our son's heart. We've heard so much about you." I smile as I hug them back. "Thank you, I've heard so much about you as well." They offer to take me out to dinner so we can talk and get to know each other more, and I accept. I fill them in on everything about me that I know, right up until a week ago when I left for tour. Even though Chris is a quiet man, he's so kind and sweet. Amy is funny and just as smart, and so beautiful. I feel really comfortable with them and they make me feel like part of the family. I promised Amy she could come out to L.A. and help me plan for the wedding and Chris just smiled with a roll of his eyes, claiming that this was too much girl talk for him.
After being dropped off at the bus, I bid them goodnight and they head back home. I call Andy and let him know how everything went. He tells me he knew they'd love me and I had nothing to worry about, but now it's my turn to roll my eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I know that now. They were really great. I think we got along great and I can't wait for the wedding. Your mom told me I can call them mom and dad, too." I say with a laugh. Andy laughs at that and takes a drag off his cigarette before telling me he loved me and goodnight. I tell him the same and I head back into the venue to finish watching Of Mice and Men's show, which is spectacular. When the night comes to an end, I'm exhausted from the autographs and pictures, but it was a perfect day. I couldn't imagine it being any other way. We got a lot done with the song as well, and our show was incredible. It's time for sleep and I don't fight sleep when it comes this time. Our next stop is in St. Paul, Minnesota, but we have a day off in between and the girls want to spend it watching movies on the bus, which I am totally okay with.

Notes