There was a knock at the door.

I quickly turned off my camera, placing it next to me on the bed. The door slowly slid open and Jake peeked his head inside.

"Settling in okay?" He asked. I nodded as he slid the door open, leaning on the doorframe.

"Yeah, it's nice back here. We had this bus last time so I figured you'd have plenty of room."

"Thanks again." I said "You really didn't have to do this. It's actually kind of ridiculous." I laughed. He shrugged, his cheeks starting to blush.

"Really, it's fine. It's one less thing that Josh can take over."

"The walls are a bit thin though" I said quietly, giving him a smirk. He looked back at me wide-eyed for a minute, I'm assuming understanding what I meant. His cheeks blushed even more.

"Yeah.. well.." He finally managed, looking around the room again. He stood back away from the doorframe, avoiding eye contact. "We're not too loud. Josh snores sometimes but, other than that, you should be just fine."

I nodded and put my camera back into my bag.

"You get anything good yet?" He asked, slowly making his way back into the room. He leaned against the back wall, looking down at me, awkwardly picking at his nails to keep his hands busy.

"I think so." I said, taking my camera back out to show him. "Wanna see?"

He nodded and sat down next to me on the bed.

"I don't get how you guys do it, but you manage to look great even when you're lugging bags out of the back of a van." He smiled.

"I think it has little to do with us, and a lot to do with the fact that you know how to do your job. I've seen your stuff, it's really good. That's why I picked-"

"What's going on here?" Josh was now leaning in the doorway, staring down at us with a smirk. Jake backed away and looked back up at his brother.

"Nothing." He said quietly "Jess was just showing me some of what she got so far."

"You're making me look good, right? Just like we talked about?" Josh asked, plopping down on the bed next to me, tilting the camera towards him to see. I saw the smile slowly fade from Jake's face. I was getting the feeling that this kind of thing happened a lot between them.

"Oh, yes, perfect." Josh said, taking the camera from my hands. I started to feel antsy. No one ever touched my camera but me. I watched him closely as he quickly flipped through.

"Look at these, we look so cool. This tour is gonna be great." He said without looking up from the camera.

"Aw, look at Jakey." Jake reached out for the camera.

"Let me see.." he asked, but Josh moved away.

"It's fine, you look great, Jakey. Even she can make you look good." Josh laughed, finally handing me back my camera. I took it and quickly put it back into my bag. Jake sighed.

Josh rolled off the bed and leaned back on the doorframe.

"So the guys and I were talking about going out tonight to celebrate before the tour stars. You should definitely come with us. It'll be fun. We can all.. get to know you more I guess." He laughed. Jake turned to me.

"Yeah, I was gonna ask if you wanted-"

"So you should come." Josh said, cutting him off and flashing me a big smile. I couldn't help but smile back.

"Sure. That sounds fun. What do you guys like to do?" Josh looked over at Jake.

"Fill her in, I'll go get the rest of the guys and we'll head out soon." Josh walked out, sliding the door closed behind him. Jake sighed again.

"Is he always like this?" I giggled, turning back to Jake. He gave me a half smile and shrugged.

"You get used to it I guess. But um, yeah. I was gonna ask if you wanted to come out with us tonight. It's fun. We really just go to a bar or two and hang out since there's not much time to go out once the tour starts. If we want to do anything, everything pretty much has to come to us."

"Well, that doesn't sound too bad either." He laughed.

"I guess, but it's just nice to do normal things. Sometimes I miss it."

"Oh, don't tell me you're jaded already. You guys are just getting started." He smiled, shaking his head.

"Absolutely not. I'm just.. I'm a simple guy. I like a quiet night out with a few people. That's.. not what happens on the road. You'll see once everything get's going. Every outing is a big ordeal. So I kinda look forward to the night before every tour." I smiled looking up at him. He had light brown eyes that were so kind, so easy to get lost in.

"I get what you mean. I'm not much of a partier either." I said. He smiled.

"Great, then we can ditch together and head back once they get too crazy."

He was staring back now, tracing every inch of my face with his eyes. I could feel my cheeks start to burn. I turned away, getting up from the bed.

"Yeah, so, um.." I said, looking around. I grabbed my bag, tossing the strap over my shoulder.

"We should get going then?" I asked. He looked down breaking the stare.

"Uh, yeah. They should be ready. Here.." he reached out and slid the door open for me.

"Thanks." I said, peeking up at him. He was still looking back.

As we pull up to the bar, Josh opens the door of the van.

"Here.." He says, holding his hand out. "Let me help you." I smile.

"Oh, thanks." He flashes me one of his big smiles as he wraps his arm around my shoulder.

"This'll be nice. We'll all get to hang out before the real work begins." I turned my head to see the rest of the guys trailing behind, Jake closing the van door behind everyone.

Josh pushed open the door of the bar and guided me inside where I was met with the overwhelming scent of smoke and beer. It was dark, but cozy. He lead us to the back like he had been here a million times. I wondered if this was one of their regular spots.

"Alright, shots?" He said, looking around at the rest of the group as they trailed in behind us.

"Shots!" yelled Danny. They all nodded in agreement. I plopped down into the middle of one of the couches as Josh went up to the bar.

"Don't worry, he's harmless." said Sam as he sat down in one of the adjacent chairs. I looked over at him as he motioned to Josh. I nodded.

"Oh, yeah. He seems.. friendly."

"Especially when he likes you, which it seems like he does." Danny and Sam laughed amongst themselves; I guess this was something Josh did a lot. I could feel my cheeks burning already as I looked over to see Jake, who was now helping Josh carry the shots over to where we were sitting.

"Here you go." Josh said sweetly, handing me a glass. He sat down next to me on the couch, our legs touching. Jake sat on the opposite side of me and leaned over.

"Don't feel pressured to drink everything he hands you, it's fine. You can just hand it off to me." He whispered in my ear. I smiled, peeking up at him, giving him a subtle nod. He smiled back.

Josh held his glass up into the air and the rest of the boys did the same. I followed.

"Here's to getting to do what we love with the people we love every day. To new cities, new music, and most importantly, new friends..." as he tilted his glass towards me and smirked. They all gave a muffled yell in agreement and took their shot. I did the same.

It burned all the way down.

It wasn't long before the room started to spin, and the once overbearing stench of smoke began to feel comforting. I had lost count of the empty glasses that filled the coffee table in front of us, considering the waitress had already cleared it once before. I was starting to regret not listening to Jake sooner. He leaned back over to me.

"How you holdin' up? You okay?" He whispered in my ear. I felt myself start to lean in his direction, gently grabbing onto his arm. He quickly caught me, holding me up.

"I probably should've listened to you." I whispered to him. He nodded. I looked around and it seemed like the rest of the guys were fine. I underestimated just how much they could drink. It made me wonder what life on the road was going to look like.

"How you doin', mama?" asked Josh, now stretching his arm around my shoulder and pulling me closer. Jake quickly let go, his smile fading.

"I'm fine." I lied. His eyes looked sleepy, but he still managed to flash me his big, toothy smile. It looked good on him. I reached over, putting my hand on his leg to catch my balance. He held me up.

"Good to know you can hang." Josh said, putting his other hand on top of mine. "Otherwise it would be a long 3 months for you." I felt my eyes start to get heavy as I looked back up into his. His hair fell loosely onto his face, his cheeks were flushed from all the alcohol, or so I'll tell myself. I didn't take him as someone who would get easily flustered by getting too close.

The night soon faded into a blur. I remembered flashes of bellowing laughter, clanging glasses (tell me I didn't do more shots), and gentle touches of Josh's fingers slowly moving up and down my arm.

I knew my burning face wasn't from the alcohol.

"I think we should head back." I finally heard Jake say. He stood up and started collecting the glasses from the table. I looked up at him, his eyes equally sleepy but he effortlessly glided across the floor without a single stumble. His hair fell messily into his face, and I wanted nothing more than to run my hands through it. When he came back, he caught me staring, but his eyes darted to Josh's hand slowly making his way into mine, intertwining our fingers. His face dropped. He pushed the hair out of his face and started making his way to the door. Josh finally got up from the couch, keeping our fingers interlocked and guided me through the crowd of people. My hand felt nice in his. He was warm, his thumb gently rubbing the top of mine as we made our way through the parking lot back to the van.

"Can't wait to see how you guys feel tomorrow." said Sam, as he opened the driver's side door and hopped inside. Danny climbed into the passenger's side and slammed the door behind him. Jake opened the back door without a word, sliding all the way over to the other side. I followed closely.

After Josh climbed in, he shut the door behind him and moved closer to me.

"Told you you'd have fun." He said sweetly, slipping his hand into mine again. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jake turn away to look out the window. Before everything went dark, I felt my head get heavy as I laid it on Josh's shoulder.