On one of Tinsley’s very few days off before the Ellen Show Austin had texted her asking if she would meet him at one of the studios Of Mice & Men were recording at.

“I’m only having them drop you off here for 3 hours so you better be ready by 6 O’clock to haul ass out the door.” Tinsley chuckled at Denikas serious face and at how Denika was always so expressive with her hands.

“Austin isn’t even here yet.” Tinsley frowned when a nervous sensation bubbled in her stomach. “He said I should just go on ahead inside.”

“Well go on then!” Denika popped her mouth as she leaned over and opened Tinsley’s door for her.

“I don’t know them though!” Tinsley whined talking about the rest of Austin’s band. “What if they aren’t as nice as him? What if they do drugs and pressure me into it? What if when I walk in they look at me like I’m stupid? What if they just look at me then look away and I’m forced to sit in an awkward silence be-“

“Get out, damn it!” Denika yelled out, making Tinsley jump. “Get out of that damn shell you’re living in Tinsley. I’m ghetto as hell and have I ever held a gun to the back of your head?” Tinsley shook her head ‘no’ with wide eyes. “Then what makes you think a tattooed boy that plays some random instrument is going to hold you down and blow coke up your nose?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged staring down at her hands. “I’m just following your advice about being cautious.”

“Well follow my new advice.” Denika snapped her fingers. “Be diverse. How the hell are you practically best friends with someone of the likes of Rihanna, but scared of some band.”

And with that she shooed Tinsley out of the car and then the car was gone. That’s when Tinsley looked down at herself. She was about to walk into a studio where scary tattooed guys were going to be playing hardcore music. There she was wearing a white dress with a flowery texture on the top half and a curly half ponytail. She was pristine. She slowly walked into the studio; Austin hadn’t told her which room they were in so she had to slowly peek around corners.

She finally made it to the second to the last door someone quickly stepped out in front of her. She accidentally let a squeak escape, “Whoa, sorry, sorry didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s okay.” She breathed out, her wide eyes staring at the boy in front of her. He wasn’t scary; he was actually really…attractive. She had always preferred dark haired boys, but red hair suited him perfectly. And just like Austin’s, this boys tattoos were intriguing.

“You’re Tinsley?” He smiled down at her, she nodded quickly. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and led her inside of the room he had walked out of. “Don’t be scared we don’t bite do we boys?”

A guy that was sitting at one of the sound boards looked over and grinned at her. “Tinsley!” He greeted her like she was an old friend. “Tino, Your boii!” He pointed at himself winking at her before going back to whatever he was doing.

“Guess I don’t have to introduce him.” The guy with his arm around her laughed. “Well I’m Alan I like cats.” He said it so casually like it was something he said often. “That’s Phil, Phil is chill.” He pointed to everyone in the room, “and that’s Aaron, Aaron is well…..” He stared at Aaron for a moment. “Any way. I was just about to go skate; would you like to hang until Austin get’s here?”

“Sure.” She nodded following him out of the door and towards the back door of the building that lead to an empty parking lot.

“So Ms. Tinsley.” Alan grinned, putting his black sunglasses on and hopping on the skateboard as he let it go on the ground. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Nothing appealing I’m guessing.” She crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. She knew she probably wasn’t the most interesting person in the world. She literally did nothing besides sing and dance, with a little bit of acting on the side.

“Ever heard the saying ‘Good girls like bad boys?’” He questioned as he landed a trick perfectly. “Well bad boys like good girls.” He shrugged, “Well boys that look bad, Austin isn’t a bad guy, but he has definitely led the obvious life of a rocker.”

“Yeah I’ve heard plenty about that.” She grinned thinking back to a couple days ago when Austin had told her about his day at Warped Tour.

“Yeah It’s weird you’re both complete opposites.” He breathed out, attempting to do another trick. “It’s rare to meet a girl who hasn’t been drunk, done drugs, had sex, or had a baby for that matter.”

“Yeah I know.” She frowned looking down. She hated the fact that everyone knew those things about her, being a prude was just as bad as being a slut.

“You’re rare.” He shrugged, shaking his head. “Don’t be so ashamed of it, being different from other in any way is good, Tinsley.”

“Austin is different.” She smiled, “I’ve never really dated anyone like him, much less talked to them.

“Yeah I guess he really likes you, he’s actually trying really hard.” He laughed rolling around in a circle on the skateboard before landing another trick. “I don’t think I’ve ever met any girl he’s ever been with let alone known their names besides his ex-wife.”

There was a lump in her throat when she heard that. He had never mentioned her. It made her wonder if he was even really divorced yet or maybe if he had kids? “Wife?”

Alan bit his lip and kicked the skateboard up and grabbing it before walking over to her. “Not place to tell, baby doll, sorry for bringing it up. I have to get used to you, most girls around are groupies and they know everything.” She let a deep breath out and decided she should probably ask Austin about it later. “Wanna ride?” She shook he head ‘no,’ but he easily grabbed her around the waist and put her on top of the skateboard. “C’mon.”

“I don’t know what to do!” She yelled while laughing and holding onto his shoulders. “I don’t have very good balance.”

“Just kick off.” He laughed back at her slowly scooting her along. “I’m blessed with good balance because I’m a cat, I don’t know about your luck.”

“Well thanks for the pep talk, Garfield.” She smartly replied, showing some of the attitude Denika had give her along the way. “I feel so much better.”

“What the fuck?” He laughed letting go of her, and she could have flinched when the strong curse word easily slipped out of his mouth. “I have not heard that one before.”

She giggled and covered her mouth as she hopped of the skateboard. “I’m sorry; it kind of just slipped out.”

“What just slipped out?” She looked over towards the door and she saw Austin grinning as he looked between Tinsley and Alan. He liked the way they were getting along; he was hoping Alan would take her in. Alan, despite his attitude and dirty mouth, was actually a very sweet guy to people who knew deserved it.

Alan leaned his weight on his propped up skateboard as he lit a cigarette and replied. “You’re girlfriend just called me Garfield.” He replied in a bland tone and flipped his hair. “She gets me.”

Austin chuckled and stuck his tongue between his teeth, “You guys are ridiculous, and get inside it’s hot out here.”

“Okay dad.” Austin jumped on his skateboard and rolled on it into the building. “Did you bring my sunscreen too?”

“Fuck you, fire crotch.” Austin yelled back at him as Tinsley walked beside him, through the door.

“Hey wait.” She grabbed Austin’s hand and pulled him out of the door, back outside with her.

“I never took you as the forward type, Tinsley.” He grinned as he settled leaning against the wall beside here. His smile slowly faded as he noticed the usual smile wasn’t on her face. Instead she seemed a little more troubled than usual. “He told you about Gielle.”

“I guess that’s her name?” She shrugged looking up at him. She couldn’t help but notice the way he said her name. “She’s just not something I should be worried about right? I really don’t want to be walking around holding a married man’s hand.”

She looked down and realized that her hand was actually still locked with his, but when she tried to pull away his long fingers gripped her hand tighter. “It was almost 2 years ago, she’s married now with a kid.”

“Oh.” She replied looking down. She felt bad for bring it up; it was obvious to her that he really didn’t like talking about the situation.

“It’s okay.” He reached up and gripped her jaw so she would look up at him. “Don’t feel bad, I don’t want anything about me to bother you. You can always ask if you want to know something.”

“Does Alan really like cats that much? Austin laughed and nodded his head. “Because that’s really all he seemed interested in.”

“He as a huge cat tattooed on his chest.” Austin snorted, covering his face with his hands.

“No way.” She replied her mouth dropping open. “I have to go see. Alan!” She yelled running into the studio, Austin grinned after her as he watched her bouncy curls disappear when she ran into the room.

“Stop that tickles!” Alan laughed trying to push her hands away. “I’ll willing you show I’m proud of my pus- I mean cat.” He quickly corrected himself when Austin glared at him. Austin wanted to keep her the way she was. He didn’t want her to get so used to hearing curse words that they started slipping out of her mouth too.

“Wow.” She crossed her arms staring at the large cat tattoo on his chest. “I mean that’s actually a cat’s face, you’re really dedicated.”

“His name’s Pinto.” He grinned proudly, rubbing his hand over that tattoo. “He’s my alter ego.”

“I’m still calling you Garfield regardless of what you want.” He pouted and she smiled while patting him on the shoulder.

“Well you tell Garfield that you have to go.” Tinsley snapped her head to let her eyes land on the person with the familiar voice.

“I’ve only been here an hour, Denika.” She whined earning an eye roll in return. “Besides it’s my day off.”

“Do you wanna do a song with T.I. or not?” Denika replied back, knowing what the answer was going to be.

“Yeah kind of.” She continued to pout as she looked over at Austin, who mocked her pout. “It’s not funny.”

“I didn’t say it was.” He smiled at her as he gave Denika a look, letting her know that he would walk Tinsley to her car. “You’re just so good at pouting; you must do it a lot to get what you want.”

“Only sometimes.” She giggled, letting him lead her out of the room and down the hall. “Denika is mean the pout usually softens her up enough to be nice for 2 seconds.”

She stopped walking when he had and stared up at him for a moment, “Are you gonna give me a big fat hug or what?”

Before she could answer he leaned down at wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her into a hug. He had lifted her a couple inches off the ground and she laughed and held onto him as he spun her around. “Wow it’s interesting up here.” She commented as she pulled her head out of the crook of his neck to look around from his point of view.

“Yeah I’m special.” He laughed as he placed her down so her feet were back on the floor. “I can just get down on my knees and see from your point of view if I want to.”

He held open the door for her and grabbed her hand, locking their fingers together. “So when are you going to take me out on a date Godzilla? Were already holding hands, we should go to Disneyland!”

“Well,” He started walking her towards the car. “The band was actually planning to go their tomorrow with the boys from Sleeping with Sirens.”

“I can’t tomorrow, Ellen awaits me.” She sighed deeply in disappointment.

“I’m sure we can wait for you to finish.” He grinned as her face grew in excitement. “No big deal.”

“Yesss!” She had a huge smile on her face as she gripped one of Austin’s hands with both of hers. “I can’t wait to wear Minnie Mouse ears.”

Notes

Wow sorry, I just started college and my brain hurts. Let me know what you think please, I have no idea what I'm doing I'm just writing to have fun! Haha