BLOOM • awsten knight

71

MARCH 2019

"Where's Awsten?" Jawn's eyes scan the lounge, as he re-enters the bus.

"I think he's in his bunk," Otto shrugs. "He's been in there for like, almost two hours."

Jawn frowns, before making his way down the bus, and stopping at Awsten's bunk.

"Awsten?" He taps against the curtain, and after a moment, it's pulled back.

"Yeah?" Awsten looks up at him, after moving his headphone away from his ear.

"What're you doing?" Jawn asks, leaning his head inside to peer over his shoulder.

Awsten's laptop screen is the only thing illuminating the dimly lit bunk, displaying the tracks for the new Waterparks album, Friendly Reminder.

He takes his headphones off, and sighs, running his hands over his face.

"You're gonna drive yourself crazy if you keep listening to it," Jawn comments. "You'll end up hating it, because you've listened to it so much."

"Maybe I already do," Awsten mumbles, and Jawn's eyes widen.

"You what-?"

"Okay, no, I don't hate it. That was bad phrasing," Awsten shakes his head. "I just don't- I still don't feel it," he holds his hand over his chest, as his eyebrows dip together. "Move," he instructs, and Jawn moves out of his way, allowing him to hop out of his bunk.

"Are you seri-"

"Band meeting!" Awsten calls, as he walks down the bus, to find Otto and Geoff.

"Present," Otto looks up, raising his hand, as Awsten looks to Geoff.

"Yeah, I'm all ears," he puts his phone down, shuffling in his seat.

"Okay, so," Awsten lets out a breath. "Y'all trust me, right?"

"No, not at all," Otto shakes his head, earning a glare.

"I'm being fucking serious," Awsten whines.

"Why do you-"

"I just need to hear you say that you trust me," he cuts Geoff off, as he and Otto exchange a look.

"Of course we trust you," Geoff says, with a softer tone, though, with a concerned expression, as Otto nods in agreement.

"I think I wanna scrap the album."

The entire bus falls quiet for a moment, as everyone stares blankly, while Awsten searches for any sort of response.

They'd had a brief discussion about it, before they left for tour; the three of them sat in Awsten's car and listened to the album, once it had been mixed.

"Okay, why?" Geoff speaks up first, calmly.

"It doesn't hit the way it's supposed to," Awsten sighs, beginning to pace. "It's too angry. And it's angry about things that I'm not so angry about anymore," he frowns, before looking to Otto. "I don't wanna be singing about this shit in two years time. Do you wanna hear me singing about this shit forever?"

"Can we even do that?" Otto sighs, before raising an eyebrow. "Like, just get rid of it?"

"I don't see why not," Awsten shrugs. "We haven't submitted it to the label yet, and I don't see why we should release fucking anything else with them at this point."