Spoon part 5

"Rrrroad TRIP!" Luther yelled as he stuck his fist out of the window by where he was sitting on one of the couches on the bus, pumping it in the air as the bus finally started. Kevin plopped down on the couch opposite Luther and I slung my duffel bag over the side of the couch and sat down next to him, breathing a heavy sigh. Joel sat down in the single large arm chair that sat in front of the "wall" which had the two large beds on the other side. Kevin and I shared one and Luther and Joel shared the other. If they knew I was a girl, I'd probably get one for myself, and the three guys would share the other. But they didn't know, and so I lay next to Kevin every night and heard his snores too close to my ear. I was just relieved that it was Kevin and not Joel I had to bunk with. Kevin was a noisy sleeper-snoring louder than my dad and sometimes muttering to himself- but being that close to a shirtless Joel would not help me get the sleep that I desperately needed if I was going to make it through another tour. Luther pulled his fist in and closed his window, then crossed the couch and leaned over the side, flipping the mini fridge open and searching for his drug- Pepsi. The fridge was stocked with all of the band's addictives- Luther's Pepsis, Kevin's Subway sandwiches, Joel's Sour Patch Kids and, surprisingly enough, peaches, and my ice cream. All together, we had a reasonable amount of food to keep us on a regular teenage-guy diet. Of course, I was actually a teenage girl, but perhaps with all the faking I was doing, my body had adjusted to the male tendencies, too.

I lay in bed that night, next to Kevin, and listened to the breathing of the three guys. I wondered vaguely if my breathing, female, was noticeably different from theirs. I got out of the bed and walked stepped out by the arm chair. I stepped around it and pulled open the door of the tiny bathroom. The bus pulled to a stop at a red light and as it started again, I locked the bathroom door and took off my clothes, letting out out a sigh of relief as I took off the chest-hider. I stepped into the shower and let the water cover me, not quite hot enough but satisfying none the less, and scrubbed at my long hair, relieved to let it out, to leave the wig by the tiny sink. I stayed in their for a while, or at least a while for a tour bus shower, before I heard the knock on the door. I jumped, immediately covering my chest and pulling my hair back. "Jackson? You in there?" Joel's voice called in. "Yes," I answered quickly, forgetting to use my British accent. I cleared my throat and said, with more English-tone, "Yes, I'm in the shower."

"Ok, well, don't stay in there too long. I gotta go to the bathroom, and you're gonna use up all the water." I coughed, "'Course. I'll just be a minute." He said nothing in response and I quickly turned off the water, slipping a clean pair of underwear on, along with my chest-hider thing, wrapped a towel around myself, and tugged my wig back on, fixing it so that it wouldn't fall off and splashing it with sink water as quietly as possible so that it looked like I had just showered with it. I stepped out of the bathroom, clutching the towel to myself in a way that I hoped didn't look to girly, or could at least pass as another "English Guy Thing". Joel nodded at me and stepped into the bathroom. I grabbed my duffel, threw on an oversized T-shirt and sweat pants, and went back to the bed in the back of the bus, hoping I hadn't also woken Kevin or Luther.

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