blake

[november 11th, 2016]

as i roll over, i'm met with a pair of bright green eyes. despite me living alone, i close my eyes once more.

"mikey, go away." i groan, rolling over to face away from him.

"you haven't seen your big brother in almost a year, and this is how you greet me?" he laughs.

"what time is it?" i ask

"around 6:30," he informs

"unless waffles, taron egerton, or lil peep is downstairs, i'm not getting out of bed until at least nine."

"well, there are waffles. unfortunately, i don't know about the other two things."

i jump out of bed and run down the stairs, mikey right behind me.

"it. smells. so. good," i tell him.

"i'm glad you think so, because i messed up the first two batches, they were literally inedible."

"that's fine, you fixed it. assuming you used my waffle batter, you own me a new bag. when did you even get here?"

"about an hour ago, 5:30 or so. i put my stuff in your spare bedroom and cake down here to make breakfast," he stops to take a bite of his waffle. as he's chewing, he points his fork at my plate, motioning for me to eat.

i take a bit and wash it down with the apple juice that had been poured into my cup minutes earlier. "what do you want to do today?" i ask

"there's a music festival in town, it's near the boardwalk. we could go look around for a bit then go check out a few rides?"

"sounds good, what time does the festival open?"

"around noon i believe, so we have about five hours or so." mikey says as he gets up and grabs our cups and plates, taking them to the sink.

"so how long ago did you buy the passes?" i ask. "It had to have been before you got here." i say with a grin.

"about two months ago," he says turning around with a smirk. "i knew i would be in town, and this band i really like will be performing. i think you'll really like them."

"alright then, i'm going to get a bit of work done and then get ready. make yourself comfortable,"

i receive a thumbs up and a smile in return before i go upstairs.

sitting at my feet, i pull my notebook out of the drawer and turn on my computer. i've been working on a novel for a few months and i feel like i'm getting to the end.

After typing up a few chapters, i check the time and see the time is around eleven. i decide to take a shower.

grabbing my clothes and such, i go into the bathroom and brush hair. i do the rest of my shower routine and walk out feeling refreshed.

walking in to my room, i sit down and do my makeup. i don't really wear much makeup, if nay. just a bit of mascara, sometimes eyeliner, so it takes me about five minutes. I get dressed, then go downstairs, only to see mikey laying sprawled out of the couch watching what i can only assume to be john wick.

"good pick," i say as i jump over the back of the couch and land on him. 

"i only pick the best, now get the hell off of me." he tells. "we should get going soon, the traffic is looking a little slow today."

"alright, you can drive since i don't know where the festival is,"

"well it's a bit hard to miss, but alright," he replies with a laugh and walks over to the coat rack by the door. as i check and make sure i have everything i may need for today, mikey grabs the keys, and then we head out the door. right as we're about to leave the driveway, a car speeds by passed us, almost hitting the back of the car, which causes mikey to slam on the breaks.

"remind me why you decided to move here instead of, oh, i don't know, sedro? You'd have lived near me, and the traffic wouldn't be as bad. it's also safer."

"nowhere is safe mikey, you can get hurt doing literally anything. besides, daytona really isn't that bad, you're just used to the quietness of washington, along with the weather. we both know we prefer rain over sun, but here we are. in florida."

"still. you didn't have to move all the way across the country from me."

"you're right, i didn't have to move all the way across the country from you, but i did have to move all the way across the country from jason."

"blake, he's our dad."

"not a very good one," i grumble, ending the conversation. about ten minutes later, we get to the festival, and it's huge. as soon as we get inside, i get the gut feeling something is going to happen. good or bad, i don't know, but something.

first, we went to the center stage to see who was preforming. mikey didn't know who it was, and i only had one guess. as usual though, i was right. as we were leaving, i caught a glimpse of a sign on the side of the stage that said the performer's name, which happened to be 'mike's dead'. after that, we wondered around a bit more to check out some other stuff. we even, quite literally, ran into ricky horror while we we're at one of the merch tables.

"motionless isn't on the set list," i mumble to mikey.

"we play tomorrow," ricky told me and my brother. apparently i didn't say it quiet enough. "me and vinny wanted to check out some stuff, so we all agreed to get here a day early." he tells.

"oh, that's cool. i loved the last al-"

"BLAKE, THE BAND I WANTED YOU TO SEE IS ON STAGE RIGHT NOW WE NEED TO GO BYE IT WAS NICE MEETING YOU RICKY," mikey yells quickly, grabbing my hand and pulling me along with him to the main stage. as we're running, i look behind me and wave at ricky, who waves back with a very confused look on his face.

after dodging and shoving through many people, we finally make it to the stage to hear what mikey informed me to be the end of the song 'exit wounds'. up next is been the only song from this band i know, which is 'the worst in me.' the sole reason i know this one, is because for thirty minutes in the car, mikey played this on repeat. at least i know all the words now.

after 'the worst in me' had ended, they played 'glass houses', at least i think, i couldn't really hear mikey that well when he was talking. the singer's voice is hypnotizing, and i definitely see why mikey loves this band so much. i genuinely liked them, i sincerely hope they do more stuff in the future, but maybe something a little less sempiternal-ly.

once the band had left the stage, me and mikey agreed it was time to go to the boardwalk. we got elephant ears, sugar swizzle sticks, and we went on almost all the rides. all besides the rollercoaster. mikey refuses to get on it, and i have no idea why.

"mikey, we even went on the big swings and the drop, yet you still won't go on the rollercoaster? what the hell!"

"i don't like them! find someone else to go with you, because i will not  be getting on that rollercoaster with you!"

just as i was about to reply to him, a tall man with several tattoos and his hair in a bun walks up to us. 

"do one of you guys need someone to ride with? me and my friends wanted to ride but there was fie of us and i'm the odd one out," he says with subtle smile.

"yes! thank you! this guy won't go with me," i say giving mikey a glare.

"hey, what the hell, you know i hate rollercoasters!"

"yeah, okay. you sir!" i say, pointing to the familiar looking man. "let's go ride a rollercoaster!"

with a smile, he begins walking with me. "for future reference, my name is noah,"