Patrick's POV

"What's the thing that you have to bring on tour with you?" an interviewer started asking questions. I blinked myself back to life and rubbed my tired eyes. I wanted to do this interview, but I'm just not with it today. Fake it till you make it.

"My wallet," Joe answered.

"Always need a wallet, guitars, drums and things," I added, rocking on my toes.

"Baby wipes? You know, it's like a shower?" Pete said and laughed.

"What's the best way for a fan to get your attention?"

"Just give me a call. Pick up the phone; we'll chat."

"Hello? How is the show going?" I said and pretended to talk on the phone, chuckling. Cameras pointed from me to Andy.

"Just say hi...?" he blushed and said.

"Or walk up on stage, say hi," Joe added.

"No," I shook my head. That idea horrified me.

"Are you for or against fan signs at shows?" the reporter continued.

"It's very hard to read signs on stage. People are always like, "Yeah! Look at that thing!" And I'm just like, "I am! I don't see what it says! But I'm glad you wrote it!", " I explained.

"Funny signs are great. I love when kids have like legitimately great senses of humor. The giant heads are cool too, but I feel bad for the people behind," Pete jumped in.

Andy did after, "Yeah, I mostly feel bad about signs, because it obscures people's view. Like those giant light-up signs."

"I always wonder where the light comes from. Where are they getting their power? We can't even get wifi!" I wondered out loud.

"What are your favorite snacks to bring on the tour bus?"

Joe shrugged, "Whatever my mom packed me for lunch."

"Whiskey," Pete joked. I hope.

Andy answered a little more subtly, "Potato Chips."

"What's the weirdest fan request you've ever gotten?" the man asked next.

"Once, someone asked me to sign their pacemaker. And of course I did, because why not? That's awesome!" I exclaimed excitedly, hoping they were buying in on it at home.

"What was the most memorable concert you've ever played?" the reporter read from his card. The fans must've asked these questions.

"The time that we played Obama's inauguration," Pete told them, "the Secret Service said if we ran, we were a potential target (laughs) The show was awesome, though."

"There are snipers -" I played, " - if you run, you may be shot. Be prepared."

"I think that's one of those things where you don't even sign a release. It's just like, "You got shot, sorry.", " Pete guessed and joined us in laughter.

"Do you have any rituals that you do right before you go on stage?"

"Human sacrifice," I took a sip of some coffee and smiled.

"Yeah, we burn potions in the forest," Joe kept it going.

"Prayer circle, black magic," Pete went on.

"So, you guys are like The Craft, just the male version?" the interviewer interrupted the stream to ask.

"Yeah, just four chicks just hanging out, being ladies. You know, that's us, The Craft!" Joe said and chuckled.

"Casting spells!" I added.

"Light as a feather, stiff as a board," Pete spoke. I didn't quite know what he meant and why it related to what we were saying, but it made him sound a lot smarter and more mature than me.

"What's your favorite music video that you've ever made?" he continued asking.

"I'll just answer for Patrick: Thanks for the Memories."Pete said before I could.

I glared at him, "Going off of that, I really liked "Take Over, The Breaks Over" because it was the shortest shoot we've ever done."

"Or the "My Songs" video might have been. It was so short it was almost like we weren't there," Pete looked into the camera and said, smirking. It was true. We were hardly even in that one. They just told us to sit and watch it out, a lot of fire and explosions.

"I don't like wasting my talent on videos with these guys," Andy said with his nose in the air, "I want to play Star Wars all day. That's where my talent belongs."

I gave him a glare too. Of course he'd bring up Star Wars.

"What was the last song you forgot lyrics to?" was the next question.

I took a deep breath before going off on a rant, "I forget a lot of words. That happens on a regular basis. The other day I did a little cheer when I got through two new songs in a row, because I was like, "Yay, Patrick! You remembered all of those words!"."

"The acoustic shows are the ones that I remember," Joe agreed.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I forgot an entire verse and it's an acoustic show, so there's nothing you can do. You just hear everything, and I just couldn't not call it out - I was just like, Yeah, I don't remember. I just don't. You're supposed to pretend like it was a plan and be like, "Yeah, everyone, you sing it! Sing along! I'm gonna follow you now!" But I tend to just let it happen - I like when we make mistakes because then you know that we're real."

"I get a lot of side-eye when it happens," Pete slowly turned his chair towards mine and smirked.

I stare back at him, defending myself, "Because I know he's got some smarmy thing he's gonna say! He's gonna be like, "Oooh, good job, Patrick!" And I'm just like, "Don't!"."

"And good job implies bad job."

"Yes. Sarcasm."

"Is there a song you wish you had put out as a single?" the reporter pushed further. We must be done soon.

"All I know is that every time I have an opinion on what song should be a single, what song should be on the record, I am always wrong. Always. So, guaranteed we shouldn't listen to me. I write some songs, and then I have no good opinion about them," I admitted.

"But he has lots of opinions!" Pete commented.

"Oh, yeah. I don't mean to misspeak here. I have lots of opinions, I'm very opinionated about it," I explain.

"The reality is, we're a band of four people and we also have other people we look to for a counsel, and it goes through a lot of people," Joe elaborates.

"Sometimes Patrick's opinion is like a grease fire and we keep throwing water on it," Pete smiles and turns to me again.

I smile and chuckle, shrugging, "It's fun to watch me sizzle."

"To be fair to Patrick," Joe started up again, "I always end up liking our B-sides a lot. And I always have regrets about - I'm the only one that regrets - them not being on the record."

"I like our B-sides too! I regret that too," Andy agreed.

"He's the only one that regrets it, actually. I don't regret it anymore. I've lost my regret," Joe threw his hands up and said.

"Was it a conscious choice to go from sentence-long song titles to one word?" the interviewer asked, specifically to Pete.

"I think at some point, everything about it's the art and the expectation becomes - you know people expect a certain thing all time, and you've gotta sorta challenge that as an artist. But it's not like, Now there will never be a long one!"

"Just when it's the novelty of like, Oh, what kooky song titles are they cooking up now!" I slid in.

"When someone becomes more a fan of the song titles than the songs, it's a problem," he said and laughed.

"What's your craziest Warped Tour memory?"

"Just how warped the whole thing was," Joe said with a confused look.

"The time our bus AC broke down and it was 100 degrees at night and I threw a fan down the hall, and our buddy stuck his head out and the fan comes and he just moved right by. Serendipity," Pete said.

"Yeah, you guys are known for very verbose song titles - are there alternate titles that you wish you had used or not?" the guy went further on to ask.

"I wish we had named on a song on this record "Where Are the F****** Guitars," Pete said, getting jokey again.

"What were your AIM screen names back in the day?"

"I had a lot. I'd just think of cool stuff from comics and put X's all around it," Andy said. It was true, he added a lot of X's and V's in his names.

"What's the most embarrassing thing to happen to you guys on stage?"

Andy pointed at the three of us, "These guys have all fallen at various times. That's embarrassing for them - and me."

I laughed and fixed my hat, "It's embarrassing for me to be associated with them!"

"I'm a professional. I don't mess up; I don't have these things," that is so Andy.

"Yeah, I feel very embarrassed for Andy. He has to watch us trip over ourselves," Joe looked to him and said.

"What band that you've toured with do you consider your closest friends?"

"Metallica," Joe didn't hesitate to spit.

Pete nodded, "Yeah, I would say Metallica from that show we played, but we played way before them."

I agreed, "We didn't actually meet them that time - um - or ever. But they're our closest friends."

"For real though, there are a lot of bands that we're really good friends with," Andy pointed out.

"What song of yours are you sick of?"

"We're not really sick of any songs. We all favorite different songs at different times so it kind of keeps it fresh," Andy said.

"Yeah, it's fun to play any of the songs, the only thing that sucks is, like, for me singing, there are some songs that are just really hard and when we get to them I'm just like, "Uhh, this one again". But in general, I'm not tired of them," I shook my head and explained.

"It's like the teenage kid that, like, really gets on your nerves and then turns out to be a great guy," Pete said and looked at me, smiling.

I shrugged and blushed, "I have no idea where you're going with that."

Pete rolled his eyes, "The song! You know what I'm saying. It's like you really look at it and you're like, Ah this f****** teenager. But he ends up turning out great at the end."

The conversation tapered out after a while. Questions came to a halt and the interviewer thanked us for being there with us.

In the parking lot, Pete approached me, "You seemed better today."

I smiled, nodding, "Yeah, I feel a little better. Fake it till you make it," I repeated.

He nodded back, "That's good. I'm excited for when you don't have to fake it."

Pete cleared his throat, "So, Emily and I are going to visit Leah tomorrow, are you sure you don't want to come with us?"

I shook my head. I'm still too scared. The last time I came, she got worse, "No thanks. I'll go another day."

"Okay," Pete attempted to smile again and pulled me in for a quick hug, "I'll see you later then."

I waved, "Bye," and then ducked into my car.