When Worlds Collide
Chapter 8
By: Bella
"Benji, wake up. We overslept!" Benji awoke to the sound of a certain frantic wife of his. He smiled as he watched her run around the room cleaning up and running in and out of the bathroom trying to get ready as fast as she could.
"We're late! Why are you just laying there, we have to hurry!" she exclaimed with a mouth full of toothpaste and a toothbrush in her mouth, making her words muffled.
"Good morning to you too," he said getting out of bed and kissing her on the cheek as she continued brushing her teeth. She smiled, causing her toothbrush to fall out of her mouth and land on the floor.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" she cried, picking up her toothbrush and throwing it in the trash can. She rinsed her mouth out while Benji proceeded to get dressed. She exited the bathroom while putting her belt on and noticed Benji on the ground with his butt straight up in the air. Of course, she couldn't miss this perfect opportunity to playfully kick him right in the ass.
"Ow!" he pretended to be hurt, and rubbed his butt. She laughed.
"I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist kicking that cute and kickable little ass of yours," she said innocently. "Now, what the hell were you doing?"
"I can't find my sock," he complained. "I remember taking off this one," he started, holding up one of his dirty socks. "But I don't know where the other one went. If I remember correctly, you helped with that one and threw it over here somewhere, you wild woman you."
"Oh yeah," she said remembering the events of the previous night with a grin. She then helped him search for his missing sock.
"Found it!" Benji said proudly, as he pulled his sock out from under a small table in the corner of their room and began putting it on.
"Good God, don't you ever wash those things?" Tristen said with a disgusted face as she noticed that they were not the same bright white that she was certain they must have been when he first got them.
"Once in a while," he said with a laugh. "C'mon, you know what it's like to live on the road. Don't tell me you change your socks everyday."
"Actually, I do. I bring like a hundred so that I never run out. The same goes for underwear. It's called good hygiene, sweetie," she said, shaking her head.
"Well, maybe I like smelly socks and underwear," he protested, sticking his tongue out at her. They both laughed.
"Oh sure. That's it, as your wife I vow to buy you an infinite supply of socks and underwear for you to take on the road so that you will never have to wear the same pairs of socks and underwear on any one tour without having been washed ever again. No husband of mine will be wearing the same pair of underwear for days… that's just wrong," she said as she grabbed her purse and made a once around the room to make sure that they hadn't forgotten anything.
"OK, if you insist. But just so you know, I prefer boxers," he sighed as he grabbed her hand and kissed it and led her out the door.
---
Tristen dragged Benji onto her band's tour bus, hoping that her bandmates would be there so that she could introduce them to him. He met them and they were surprised, to say the least, that they were "dating."
"Just think how shocked you'd be if you knew I married the dude," she thought to herself. She was hoping that they would get along with Benji, since they would definitely be seeing a lot more of him. She hadn't thought about the consequences if they decided that they didn't like him. Luckily, they seemed to get along well. Benji took her to meet his bandmates as well, and thankfully she got along well with all of them too.
Soon, it was time for Pacifica to perform. Benji walked Tristen backstage, but then reluctantly decided to watch the show elsewhere so that he could "get the full experience."
"Good luck, babe," he said, kissing her. "I won't be able to keep my eyes off of you."
"Stop making me nervous!" she said, playfully pointing away for him to leave.
Pacifica finished their set, and Benji had been impressed by it. He was regretting not signing the band when he had the chance. He didn't think that she knew that he was with one of the labels that didn't offer them a record deal that day, and he didn't plan on telling her either. After Pacifica had exited the stage, Benji ran to find Joel so that they could leave before Tristen came looking for him and found him. Joel was with Billy, so he asked Billy to find Tristen and tell her that he had forgotten about prior commitments that he had made, and that he would find her when he got back.
"Where are we going?" Joel asked as Benji led him to the van that traveled with them and hopped in to the driver's side.
"Well, it's interesting actually. I've sorta got something to tell you…" Benji started.
---
"Billy!" Tristen shouted, spotting Billy walking backstage toward her.
"Hey, great job out there! You guys were really good," he said.
"Thanks. Do you know where Benji is?" she asked.
"Yeah, I just ran into him and Joel. They had forgotten about a prior commitment that they had with… a radio… radio show, yeah that was it," he laughed nervously, wondering what in the world he and Joel were doing and why he was lying to his girlfriend for him. "He told me to tell you that he'll find you afterward."
"Oh, OK," she said, disappointed.
"Do you and the rest of the guys wanna hang out with us for a while?" he suggested, noticing that she looked a little bummed. "Me, Paul, and a couple of roadies are gonna decorate some unsuspecting tourmates' buses with beautiful posters of yours truly. It'll be fun, and if you do a good job I just might be a nice guy and let you mix a Pacifica poster in there now and then to spice it up a bit!"
"Yeah, I'm in!" she said, excitedly. She went to tell Trevor, Matt, Casey, and Will all about the devious plan.
---
It was about 15 minutes until it was Good Charlotte's turn to perform, and Billy and Paul were getting nervous because Benji and Joel had not yet returned.
"They knew that they had to be back by 8, right?" Paul asked Billy anxiously.
"That was the impression that I got," Billy said, shrugging. Just then, they ran backstage and over to Billy and Paul out of breath.
"Where the fuck have you guys been?" asked Paul. "We didn't think you'd make it back on time."
"You'll find out. I hope you don't hate me. You like Tristen, right?" he asked Billy and Paul.
"Yeah," they both said, confused as to why he was asking.
"She kicks ass. She and her band helped us with tour bus trashing duty since some people who shall remain nameless …"
Paul interrupted, pretending to cough while shouting "JOELANDBENJI!"
"…bailed on us," Billy commented.
"Damnit Benj! You made me miss the tour bus trash!" Joel complained.
"So sorry," Benji playfully faked concern as he patted his twin on the back.
---
"Well guys, this is our last song for tonight," Joel said sadly to the audience. "We had a great time, and we hope that you've enjoyed yourselves as much as we have!"
"But before we leave you guys with a song, I have some important business to take care of," Benji said. "Would Tristen McFaron please get her beautiful self on stage right now!"
After a few moments, Tristen peeked out from behind one of the curtains and reluctantly waved at him. Seeing her reluctance, he walked over and dragged her onto the stage.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce you to my favorite girl in the whole world!" Benji stated with a smile and the crowd cheered.
"You know, I really love this woman and I want to spend the rest of my life with her. And although we've discussed marriage before, I realized that she's never actually gotten a formal proposal…" he began, as her eyes got wide and she covered her mouth with her free hand. Still holding onto the other, he got down on his knee, which caused the crowd to roar so loudly that he could barely be heard.
"Tristen Rose McFaron, you would make me the happiest man alive if you would do me the honor of being my wife. Will you marry me?" he asked reaching into his pocket, pulling out a small black box, opening it up to reveal a beautiful, platinum, princess-cut diamond ring, and looking up at her and winking.
"Yes!" she tried to shout above the noise of the cheering audience, but all Benji saw was her mouth open wide. Luckily, he could tell that what she had shouted had been "yes," and he slipped the ring onto her finger. She jumped up into his arms and they hugged for a few moments.
"I love you so much, Benji," she said into his ear.
"I love you too, Tristen," he said back.