sorry for the delay, but here's the next update!
The news spread like wildfire. By morning, the surprise performance was all people were talking about on Facebook, Twitter, the Pub, and all Forums.
“Tomorrow night is gonna be awesome!” Keith yelled as he dove into the FF5 bus. Opening the door to the bunk corridor, he jogged over to the fridge, grabbed a soda, and walked over to the couch on the other side of the bunks…and quieted down immediately.
Cash was sleeping soundly on the fold-out couch, curled against Sol’s chest, who was sprawled on the cushions, a remote in one hand and a DVD box in the other. On the boy’s other side was a deep impression, clearly from someone who had slept beside them all night.
“Let’s go outside,” Josh's voice sounded from behind. Turning, Keith saw the bassist standing there with a turkey sandwich in one hand and a can of Cola in the other. “There’s food outside if you wanna join for breakfast.”
“Food?” Keith’s ears perked at the word. “I’m good with food. Food. Yes, take me to your food,” Keith agreed quickly and, with a final glance at the sleeping forms, followed Josh outside.
“You sound like an alien,” Josh commented, casting a side-long glance at the blond. “’Take me to your leader’ and all that.”
“Food IS the leader,” Keith replied casually, as though it was the most natural thing in the world.
“Sandwiches in the lunchbox over there, sodas in the cooler, chips and fruit on the hood,” Josh explained with a smirk, pointing out each of the items in question that were laid out around the hood of the truck. Derek was already digging into the tour breakfast, tipping a bag of chips back to get all the crumbs out.
“Goo’ mo’nin’!” he called around a mouthful of chip fragments. “He’p yo’se’f!”
“Hush, Chappy, the kids are still sleeping,” Josh teased in a soft tone.
“I heard that, brother,” Sol grumbled as he joined them, rubbing sleep from his eyes and yawning widely. “Who in their right mind would wake up before noon while on tour?”
The guitar players simultaneously raised their hands. “Figures,” Sol chuckled. “Any turkey sandwiches left?”
Josh shifted guiltily. “Sorry. Just got the last one.”
His older brother stared. “Didn’t we order five of ‘em?”
“I was hungry! And Chappy ate three.”
“Sure, sure,” Sol sighed. “I swear we’re the walking, talking, singing ads for The Hungry Musicians. All we do is eat, sing, play, drive, and sometimes sleep. Oh, and you’re addicted to that game, what’s it, COD.”
“So? It’s a cool game,” Josh protested, taking the final bite of his sandwich.
Sol shook his head. “Team Fortress is way better.”
“Boys, be quiet, or you’ll wake Cashy,” Jacob yawned and stretched as he appeared, leaning out the window of the bus. Even at this hour, his hair was lying perfectly, the newly-cut lengths fuzzing at the tips but still looking stylish. On either side of him, Nathan and Xanadu looked like monsters with their hair sticking up in all directions, and Sol looked no better.
“Mornin’ to you too, drama queen,” Sol smirked, gulping a can of soda in one go.
“Nafatha! You’re up before 3 in the afternoon!” Josh crowed. “What happened?”
“I smelled food,” came the exhausted reply. “You’d better hope it wasn’t in vain.”
“Here!” Derek threw him a pack of chips and a soda can. “Think fast!” he added, pitching an apple.
The oldest singer was watching this with amusement, twirling the soda can in his hand until he spotted a trash can a few meters away.
“Shark tank says I make this,” he said with a half-smile.
“Shark tank says it falls short!” Derek grinned, coming over to watch.
Turning, Sol executed a basketball-shot at the trash can, but the crushed can somehow managed to hit it right down the middle of the crease and now balanced on the rim.
“Aww, c’mon, now who wins?” Derek complained. “Technically, you didn’t make it…”
“But I didn’t miss either!”
“You didn’t get it in the trash—”
“Nor did it fall out!”
Keith and the men on the bus watched the exchange with amusement, but something was bugging him.
“Shark tank?” he asked.
“For the Tourantula tour, we all wore tank tops with animals on them,” Josh explained. “Soli had a Great White on his and we all wanted to wear it, so we would have these contests that would come up from nowhere and the winner would get to wear the shirt. Derek and Soli mostly won ‘em. I had my tiger tank and I was fine with that until Soli decided he wanted to wear it sometimes too, so we just started sharing that one as well.”
“That’s…kinda gross…” Keith crinkled his nose.
“Oh, don’t worry, we did our laundry,” Josh laughed. “Mr. Drama Queen wouldn’t let us get away with just dumping our stuff anywhere; anything not in its place gets added to the ‘Rejects’ pile, and once it’s there, it’s gone for good.”
“Hey y’all, look what I scored!” Derek suddenly yelled from across the field. He and Sol had agreed to neither would wear the shark tank that night, and now he was bringing out a one-litre bottle of “Lotsa Cola.”
“What is that?” Keith immediately asked, but Josh's eyes were already glued to the bottle from behind his aviators. Derek noted the look and started backing away.
“Naw, man, c’mon, I got it—”
“Chug it, chug it!” Jake and Sol cried simultaneously.
Grinning, Josh opened the bottle and tipped it back while Keith stared, fascinated.
“Now THAT is how we do it in the South,” Jacob laughed.
Less than a minute later, Josh tossed the empty bottle in the recycling as well, knocking the soda can in.
“Oh! It’s in! I get the shark tank!” Sol whooped, but Derek was right on the argument. Keith was ignorant to this entire exchange.
“…wow…” The surfer gulped in awe at the bassist. “I thought I ate a lot, but dang, you beat me! Most I got was three of those cans!”
“FOOD!”
The men turned as two little whirlwinds, one from each bus, rushed by them and attached the food and beverages. In seconds, most of the items laid out were rapidly disappearing down hungry mouths.
“Easy there, rock star!” Sol laughed, lifting his son into his arms. Cash grinned at him with bright eyes, biting into a sandwich Josh had saved for him from Derek's starving stomach that morning. At their feet, Daniel dug into the cooler and handed the younger boy a box of apple juice.
“Um…do you like these or Caprisuns?” he asked tentatively.
“These, thanks!” Cash beamed down at him, the wind ruffling his shock of blond hair identically to how it tousled Sol’s, the absolute image of a mini-me…save for the hair color.
“So, you guys have a concert tonight, right?” Keith asked.
“Yep, matinee at the park and then an evening show at the music hall,” Sol explained, setting Cash on his shoulders and opening a bag of chips for himself.
“Can we come?” Daniel piped up eagerly.
“Well…y’all might not like ‘em,” Sol said wistfully. “I’m pretty sure y’all don’t listen to the stuff we’re gonna play.”
“But we liked that song you guys played last night!”
“Glad to hear, but our new album is different. It’s got more of a modern feel to it, so…”
“Try us,” Keith said decisively. “You sat through our concert even though you said you were in the bus, but I saw you in the curtains watching. The least we can do is go to your shows, or at least one of them.”
“Well…sure, I don’t see why not,” Derek nodded slowly. Then his grin widened. “I hope you like watermelon.”
* * *
the chugging:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzhIREsMWIwthe shark tank:
27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lkww6btfbL1qdvw6do1_500.jpgso, he has another one of these but as a tank top. i cant find it right now, but imagine this image on a blue tie-dye tank top. JAWS!!!
enjoy the update! we might not post for a while since we're both swamped with hw.