[[William]] Two Years Ago Today [[Beckett]][[15]]

"Callie." Alex whined, nuzzling his face into my neck. "It hurts."

"I know." I said, petting him. "It's called a hangover. You should be used to it by now. And by the way, remind me to kill you when you're not hungover."

"Dude!" Zack called from the "kitchen" in the bus. I heard a loud clang and Zack swore. He had been tripping and dropping things since the bus started moving, traveling to our first venue. "You're lucky! I bet Sisky's in hell right now. I wish you remembered how smashed he was last night!"

Suddenly, the bus screeched to a stop, pitching Alex forward and into my lap. Zack dropped another pot. "Damn it!" He shrieked. "My toe!"

"Alex!" I said, laughing. "Get your face out of my crotch."

It was this moment that some stupid person decided to open the door and stare, wide eyed and open mouthed at me. I laughed at their shocked expression before I realized who it was.

"Sorry, am I interrupting something?" William Beckett said from the bus's door.

"No." I said, maybe a little too coldly.

William stepped all the way in, closing the door. The bus started moving again.

"Sorry," He said, nodding to Zack. "I just wanted to talk to Callie?" He questioned hopefully.

"Fine." I said, pushing Alex off my lap. He had fallen asleep again, but I had woken him up.

"Cal!" He protested sleepily.

"I know Al." I said back, leading Will to the bunks. "You'll be okay. Zack, get him some more aspirin."

"Aye aye capp'in."

"Jack." I hissed. "Rian!" I shook both of them awake. "Get out." They both groggily obeyed, obviously noticing my short-tempered attitude at the moment.

I closed the curtain, and Will sat on one of the bunks. He had to duck his head, which looked really funny. It took all I had not to laugh.

"So," Will started. I learned he was one who tended not to beat around the bush. "Sorry. About last night I mean."

"Eh." I said, uninterested, picking a piece of lint off of my shirt near my belly.

"And about two summers ago, too."

I swallowed back a few tears, still looking down. "It happens."

"Yeah," He said, looking thoughtful. "But not like that. I shouldn't have taken advantage of you like that."

"It's okay Will." I said, shrugging. "I was drunk, you were drunk, we were a couple of kids looking for a good time."

"But I wasn't that drunk." Will said. "And it was way wrong of me to use you like that."

"What are you talking about? You were as drunk as I was. You had as many beers as I had." I argued.

"So what if I had as many beers? You weren't even legal yet. I was. I was used to drinking beers. I could, and can, hold my liquor better than you."

I sighed. The sad thing was, he was right. And I knew it. He wasn't nearly as wasted as I had been that night.

"Oh well." I said, trying to shake it off. "It doesn't matter. It's over. It's done with. End of story."

"But it does matter." William fought back, standing up. "I'm so sorry your first impression of me was like that. I behaved terribly, and I want to make it up to you. I want you to know the real me."

"William." I said. I didn't want the tears to come back. "It. Doesn't. Matter. I don't care if the first impression was bad. Honestly, I don't intend on spending that much time with you on this tour. It doesn't matter whether or not I know the real you."

"Yes it does!" He said desperately. "I want you to know the real me because I plan on spending time with you this tour, and I can't do that if you hate me."

"I-"

"And I know that wasn't you that night either." He interrupted. "I also want to know the real you. Because so far, I think the real you is fantastic." He swallowed hard, and continued. "And I'd like to see how the rest of you compares to how I think of you right now."
I stood there speechless for a few moments. But only because I feared that if I tried to talk, he would interrupt me again. So all I could do was nod.

"Can we start at the first venue?" He asked hopefully. "Maybe get some coffee or something?" He smiled. "Call a truce?"

I nodded again.

"Cool." He smiled. "So, why are you on Warped Tour anyways? And with All Time Low? You poor girl."

I laughed. "Alex and I met at that party, and again last year. We became pretty good friends but sort of lost touch. He called me a few weeks ago, just out of the blue, and asked me to be his merch girl for this year's tour."

"Neat!" Will said.

And so our long morning began.