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Red

June 23, 2012 - San Francisco, California

“Ugh! What am I going to wear?” I flopped down on my bed with frustration.

“Rae, relax.”

I turned and gave my best friend Charolette a small smile. She was laying on the other side of my bed, the latest Cosmo in hand, her legs up like a scorpions tail and swinging in the air. Her blonde hair bouncing on her shoulders as she scanned the glossy pages.

“I’m just nervous!” I cried pushing my brown waves out of my face.

“You’re going to be fine.” She said rolling her eyes and sliding off the bed, heading towards my closet.

“I just like want everything to be perfect.” I said now staring at the ceiling.

“How about this?” Charolette asked. I propped myself up on my elbows to look at her. She was holding a pair of hot pink shorts and a white lacy top I had bought a month ago. “And then you can wear like your Toms or flip flops or something. You’re going to have to pick out your own jewelry though.”

“Thank you,” I said rewarding her with a relieved smile.

“Calm down.” She placed the outfit down on a chair and came over to me. “Relax, I love you, it’s just Jack and Alex, they love you too, call me tomorrow.” She said kissing the top of my head. “I’m going to bed.”

“Night,” I said watching as she left my room and went into her own shutting the door behind her.

As I readied myself for bed, thoughts of the next day continuously swirled in my head. I was spending the next two days at the Vans Warped Tour with two of my best friends. Jack and Alex were a part of the band All Time Low and Alex had asked me a while back to surprise the fans by coming and singing the female part of ‘Remembering Sunday’ with him. I had never played in front of a crowd half as big as the one that awaited me tomorrow. Nervous wasn’t even beginning to explain how I was feeling as I laid down in my bed.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

“Rae, Rae, Rae!”

Smiling I ran towards Jack and leaped into his arms.

“How are you, you little shit?” He asked spinning me around.

“I’m wonderful! It’s so fucking good to see you!”

Jack placed an arm around my shoulders and directed my from the parking lot towards the entrance that was reserved for bands.

“I’m so fucking pumped you’re here!” He said giving my shoulders a squeeze.

“Where’s Alex?” I had been a little disappointed not to see his face next to Jack’s when I pulled in.

“Doing press shit.” Jack explained as we stopped at the security so they could check me in. “He was bummed but we have the next two days to see you. The set isn’t until two and then we have a signing. You can come and meet the fans with us if you want. Austin! Alan! You guys are fucking in for it later man!”

I turned to see the guys we had passed that had caught Jack’s attention. Both were laughing now and shouting profanities back. The tallest of the pair, who was covered in tattoos, had his hand up covering his mouth as he laughed. The other had strawberry blonde hair was peeking it from his beanie. Both were wearing shirts with no sleeves and skinny jeans.

“They got me shit faced last night.” Jack explained briefly holding open the door of the All Time Low bus.

Alex threw himself on my almost as soon as I had made it up the stairs screaming,
“RAEGAN!!” Zack and Rian each gave me a hug and we all exchanged, “I missed you’s,” and jokes until it was almost time for the set.

“Did you bring your guitar?” Alex asked, quickly changing his shirt.

“Yeah,” I said gesturing to it on the table.

“Okay, ‘Remembering Sunday’ is the last song.” He explained as I grabbed my guitar and followed him and the guys outside towards the main stage. “I figured we could fake close the show and then you can I can come out and just fucking jam.”

Laughing, I agreed.

I found a place side stage to stand and watch their set. The crowd went wild as they stepped out into the lights. I snapped a picture and began uploading it to Instagram. I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to face someone with dazzling brown eyes and a beautiful smile.

“Hi! I’m Austin.” He had to yell over the sounds of the guys playing ‘Weightless’ and the screaming crowd in order for me to hear him. I glanced down to see he was holding his arm out, which was covered in intricate tattoos, waiting for me to be polite. I found couldn’t help but keep looking at his smile.

“I don’t bite…” he chuckled.

Shaking myself for being so rude I reached out and shook his hand.

“Sorry, that was really embarrassing…I’m Raegan.”

“No worries.” He smiled again. Get a grip on yourself Rae. “You a fan?” He nodded towards the stage were Alex and Jack were now conversing and being their usual crazy selves between songs.

“Uh no, I’ma…I’m just a friend.” I explained tearing my gaze away from his eyes…and that fucking smile. “What about you?”

“Me? Oh, well I’m just a friend too.” He replied smugly. “And I play the next set.”

All Time Low had finished the set and were not coming off the stage. A guy dragged two stools out on the stage and Alex took a seat on one.

“We’re going to slow things down for this last song. And I’m going to ask my good friend Raegan to come help me with this one.” The crowd started going crazy as I picked up my guitar, gave a small smile to Austin and stepped under the heavy lights. The summer heat had made the day hot, but out there on the stage was even hotter. It now made sense why bands came off drenched in sweat. Taking my seat next to Alex, I glanced over side stage. Jack, Rian, and Zack were all giving me large smiles and the thumbs up. Austin was looking rather intrigued and whispering to Jack.

We began to play and the fans were going wild.

I’m not coming back; I’ve done something so terrible
I’m terrified to speak, but you’d expect that from me
I’m mixed up, I’ll be blunt
Now the rain is just washing you out of my hair
And out of my mind, keeping an eye on the world
I’m so many thousands of feet of the ground
I’m over you now I’m at home in the clouds
Towering over your head


Singing on stage with Alex was an amazing experience and I suddenly didn’t know why I had been so terrified the night before.

“We’ll be at the Glamour Kills tent in 20 minutes for anyone who wants to meet us! Thank you!”
Alex screamed as we both bowed and headed off the stage.

“Thanks Rae. I fucking missed playing with you.” Alex said hugging me as Jack handed me a water. “You’re coming to the signing, right?”

“Yeah,” I smiled and followed them down the steps and towards one of the private walkways for the bands to avoid the crowds.

Austin was now standing with who I assumed to be his band as they all geared up to play their set. We made quick eye contact as I passed by and he managed to get one of those adorable smirks in.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The line at the Glamour Kills tent was ridiculously long by the time we got there. I stood behind the table and let the guys do their thing with their fans. Since I had been friends with Jack and Alex for a few years now, there were plenty of their fans who knew who I was. I had a small fan base of my own, you could say. Occasionally I’d get asked to sign something or take a picture with someone, but for the most part I was just taking pictures for people with the guys, getting water and new markers, and helping out as best I could.

The main stage was alive with music once again, although it sounded nothing like All Time Low. It was heavier, angrier almost, and I had no idea what the vocalist was saying through his screams. The crowd in front of the stage was going wild and I glanced up remembering that it was Austin’s band that was playing now. It was Austin who was running around the stage in circles and screaming into the microphone. I lost interest in the signing and watched their set instead. He was good, the band was good. It wasn’t anything I had ever listened to before, but I found that I almost loved it.

Leaning back against a pole of the tent, I placed a hand in my back pocket to grab my cell phone. A small and rather dirty piece of paper came out with it and I looked at if confused. I unfolded it to find the words “Of Mice & Men” at the top followed by ‘OHIO,’ ‘OG LOKO,’ and I could barely make out ‘LET LIVE’ where the paper had been torn in half. Messy scrawl dawned the other side of the paper that read:

“You have a beautiful voice. I want to see you tonight. Text me and I’ll tell you where.
714-137-7282
--A”

Glancing around nervously, I couldn’t help but let thoughts of Pretty Little Liars dance around in my mind. But that A wouldn’t be so nice, so that only left the A with the very cute smile. I let my eyes travel towards the main stage as Austin leaped off the stage and into the arms of the crowd.

Should I meet him tonight? I mean he is pretty cute…that fucking smile…but I don’t even know him…I mean, isn’t this how women get like killed? Going off with strange men alone?...

“Rae! Raegan!” Jack said shaking his hand in front of my face.

“Yeah?” I said ripping myself from my thoughts.

“You okay?” he asked laughing.

“Uh, yeah. Yeah…I’m fine.” I said smiling at him.

“Well you wanna go get food with Alex and I? Special bonding time?” He asked wiggling his
eyebrows.

“Of course. I’d be delighted.”

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Jack and Alex had been gone 20 minutes when I finally made a decision about that evening. I nervously sat down on the couch in the front lounge area of the bus and pulled out the tiny ripped up set list. I opened up contacts in my phone and slowly typed in Austin and saved his number. It was then that I realized I didn’t even know his last fucking name.

“Who gives a fuck?” I asked myself as I opened a new text message and began typing.

“YOLO…I guess…God, I suck.”

He responded almost instantly.

Hey. It's Raegan. Where are we meeting?

My tour bus. Next to The Used's. Come now.

Not wanting to keep him waiting or anything I headed towards the other buses. It didn’t take me long to find the Of Mice & Men one. I was standing there, awkwardly trying to decide if I should knock or not, when the door swung open. Austin poked his head out, glanced around, and then ushered me on. I hurried past him and made my way up the stairs and into their front lounge. The sound of the door shutting made me turn. He was standing there with his arms wide open and a dazzling smile on his face.

“Welcome!”

“Hi,” I said finding his cheery mood contagious.

“Shall we?” He asked gesturing towards the back and taking the lead. “Sorry about the mess, I was going through some of the stuff we get from our fans.”

The two couches of the front lounge area, along with the floor, were littered with letters, toys, boxers, stuffed animals, and other things.

“Wow.” I said looking around. “Is this all from today?”

“No!” He said with a laugh. “It’s over the past like three days.”

“Wow.” I said again.

“Come on,” he said with a smile now making his way to the back. He pushed open a door and lead me past the bunks and into the back lounge.

“Zooey Deschanel?” I questioned looking at the large poster of her on the wall and the (500) Days of Summer one that was next to it.

“Alan’s a big fan.” He explained taking seat on the couch and gesturing for me to sit.

“That’s cool. I like her too. And that movie is amazing.” I said with a smile as I took a seat on the couch. I continued to look around the room as an awkward silence filled the space between us. They had a Nintendo 64, Xbox 360, and a Playstation 3. That was way cooler than just the Playstation 3 on Jack and Alex’s bus.

“How do you know Jack and Alex?” His question came as a bit of a surprise. He was sitting, leaning towards me, his elbows resting on his knees, eyes full of wonder as he licked his lips in anticipation of my answer. “Did you go to high school with them or something?”

Giggling I shook my head no.

“Why’s that funny?” He asked his eyes now twinkling with laughter of his own.

“I just get that a lot. And it’s so far from the truth.” I said shrugging. “No, believe it or not, I met them at one of their shows.”

“What?!” Austin said laughing.

“One of my good friends in high school was a big fan of theirs. She asked me if I wanted to go to a show, and I said yes because I liked a lot of their music. We stayed after to try and meet them, which we did obviously…She’s like super anti-social and couldn’t even handle meeting them. She stood there the whole time awkwardly, so I just took over and gabbed away. A few days after, Jack found me on Twitter, we got to talking, I went to another of their shows, and we’ve been friends since.”

“And your friend? The anti-social one, what happened to her?”

“Well,” I said laughing. “I suppose she was jealous I had made friends with her idols. She slowly stopped talking to me and by then I was so done with her bull shit, I was actually glad we didn’t talk anymore.”

Austin threw his head back laughing like a little kid; his hand covering his mouth as he giggled. I watched him in wonder, I was in awe of how genuine he seemed after only knowing him for a few hours.

“How’d you get that note in my pocket?” The question slipped out before I had given it any thought and I suddenly found myself hoping he didn’t take offense to it.

“I slipped it in your pocket as you were getting off stage earlier.”

Smiling, I shook my head in astonishment. There was just something about him that was so perfect and irresistible. I found I couldn’t stop talking to him. Conversation between us just seemed to come so easily, we bounced jokes back and forth making each other laugh.

By midnight we had gotten into the alcohol and each of us had a good buzz on. He had put on some cheesy pop music that was on his iPod and we were both singing at the top of our lungs and laughing hysterically.

I noticed he was staring at me with a huge smile on his face.

“What?” I asked him taking a huge gulp of my drink; the alcohol warmed my throat on its way down.

“You have a really beautiful voice, Raegan.”

“You said that already. In your note!” I twirled my finger in circles as I said it pointing at him; my words were slurred, but so were his.

His eyes were darting between mine and my lips and he was leaning closer. His key necklace bounced against my thigh and I suddenly realized I was leaning towards him. I couldn’t have stopped myself if I had wanted to. Our lips were about an inch from each other when a voice made us both jump and look towards the doorway.

“What are you doing?” His band was standing in the door way, a smirk plastered on each of their faces.

“Guys…this is Raegan.” Austin sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “That’s Alan, Tino, Phil and Aaron.”

“It’s nice to meet all of you.” I said smiling awkwardly. I could tell that Austin’s mood had changed suddenly since his friends had arrived. “It’s so late. I should probably go…”

“Yeah. I need to sleep. I’ll walk you out.”

AS I made my way back to All Time Low’s bus I pulled out my phone out. I already had a text from Austin. I quickly typed out my response:

Women's bathroom across the venue in 15?

Yes!


Jack was pacing in front of the bus when I rounded the corner. I hurriedly tried to think of an excuse as to where I had been for the last few hours.

“Where the fuck have you been?” I cringed and hoped I had sobered up on my walk back.

“I…I went for a walk.” I said glancing around hoping that was convincing.

“Why didn’t you answer my calls? Or Alex’s?”

“I didn’t feel my phone. I’m sorry!”

“Jesus, Rae.” Alex said from a bus window. “Way to just drop off the face of the earth.”

“I’m sorry! I just, I wanted alone time.” I tried to explain, hoping they would buy it. “I have to pee though.”

“You’ve been gone all this time, and you didn’t go?” Jack asked.

“Yeah, well I didn’t realize it until like just now.”

“Well go inside.”

“I mean, I can’t.”

“So you have to poop?” Alex asked smirking.

“Oh, shut up. I’ll be back.” I said turning and heading towards the bathrooms.

“Answer your fucking phone this time!” Jack called after me.

The venue was really scary at night. I used the flashlight app on my phone to make my way to the bathroom’s Austin had told me to meet him at. I was really hoping he would be there when I got there so I wouldn’t have to wait for him.

He was standing outside and as soon as he saw me coming he smirked and made his way inside. I came around the corner and before I could do or say anything, we were kissing.

I couldn’t make sense of it, but I didn’t want it to stop. He lifted me up and put me on the counter, standing between my legs. Nothing mattered at that second, I was so completely lost in the moment. We were a tangled mess of limbs, hands, and lips for a good 15 minutes before we both finally pulled up for air. He placed his forehead against mine, he was sweaty already and a small smile was plastered on his lips.

“How’d you get away?” He mumbled as I kissed along his tattoo covered collar bone.

“I said I had to poop.”

He started shaking with giggles as he pulled away, “Really?”

“I knew they wouldn’t question it.” I shrugged.

“Raegan…” He said attacking my lips again with his. “I really like you.”

“I like you too.” I mumbled running my hands through his hair.

“When do you go home?”

“The morning.”

“Are you fucking kidding?” He asked suddenly angry.

“No?”

“Fuck…I was hoping I’d be able to get to know you more.”

“We should go back soon.” I said, suddenly trying to think of ways to join Alex and Jack on tour.
“I don’t poop this long.”

Laughing he kissed me a few more times before helping me down from the counter. We walked back across the dark venue towards the buses.

He placed another kiss on my lips and then headed towards his bus.

I stood there, suddenly swamped with a confusing mess of emotions. I slowly made my way back to Jack and Alex, my head was buzzing with a million thoughts.

“You okay?” Alex asked when I made my way inside and sat on the couch next to him.

“Yeah? Why?” I asked looking at him.

“You just look like a silly school girl.” He said laughing at me.

“Good shit?” Jack asked sitting opposite us.

I gave him a dirty look while he and Alex laughed.

“So we were doing some internet research…” Alex said now changing the subject.

“Dude, Twitter and Tumblr have been blowing up since the set today.” Jack said.

“Really?” I asked raising my eyebrows. “Well that’s good, right! You’re fans are digging you
guys as usual.”

“Not just us.” Alex said shaking his head and opening his MacBook up on his lap.

“You.” Jack said.

“Me?”

Alex handed the computer to me, he had his Twitter open and his interactions were filled with
fans asking for more information on me and if I’d be doing all of Warped with them. Jack also handed me his phone where he had a similar situation.

“Rian and Zack too.” He said smirking.

“People love ya, Rae.” Alex said.

“They wanna have a big sexy orgy with ya, Rae!” Jack said.

“That’s insane…” I said astonished at the things I was reading. People were being so kind, wondering who I was and complimenting my singing voice.

Alex shut the laptop bringing my attention back to the two of them. Jack got up and went to the fridge where he grabbed three beers and came to stand next to Alex.

“Will you, Raegan Amelia Jones, join us on Warped Tour and play ‘Remembering Sunday’ every set with us?” They asked in unison.

I was numb. There was no way they were offering me this opportunity to stay here on Warped with them when not even an hour ago I was wishing I had a reason to stay. And here it was, right here in front of my face.

“Rae?” Alex asked laughing.

“Yes.” I said standing up with a huge smile on my face.

The two smiled and headed for the door.

“Wait, where are you going?” I asked confused.

“Come on, come on…” Alex said. “Celebration is in order.”

Confused I followed them. Jack handed Alex a beer and me one. “As part of you agreeing you
have to sign the contract.”

“Kay…”

Alex handed me a can opener, I knew instantly what their plan was.

“No!” I said looking between the two.

“You wanna stay on Warped, you have to.” Alex shrugged.

“Yup. Shotgun it Rae.”

“I literally hate you two.” I said as the three of us poked whole in the cans.

“Bottoms up!”

“Cheers!”

Comments

I loved this story, you write very well. (:
Julia Gate Julia Gate
9/17/13
CAN'T WAIT FOR MORE
eliseypoo eliseypoo
9/16/13
Just gimme more!
I honestly almost had a heart attack when i saw the epilogue
Love_Muzic Love_Muzic
9/16/13
I absolutely love this! I'm so glad Austin's dad likes her so much :)
eliseypoo eliseypoo
9/16/13