Strength in Numbers

I watched the guys bounce around on stage. Sweat dripped from Tino's fringe onto his drums, and Alan's and Aaron's hair had long since plastered to their heads. I laughed as Phil tried to spit his hair out of his mouth mid-song and failed miserably. Austin screamed, head down, at the front of the stage, into the mic and the crowd went wild.

I jumped as an arm went around my shoulders. I couldn't hear it, but I saw Jaime laugh to my left. He leaned close to my ear and yelled, "It's rude to stare you know!"

I couldn't think of something witty, so I just stuck my tongue out at him in response. When I turned my head back to the stage I was met with Alan's worried eyes. I shot him a smile and a thumbs up before blowing him a kiss. He rolled his eyes at my affection.

"I've just gotta ask," Jaime started when the guys took a water break and Austin talked with the crowd, "is Alan better in bed than me?"

"Hime!" I couldn't help but laugh. "That's personal!"

He arched an eyebrow. "Bullshit, you compared dicks in front of the people you were talking about at Warped."

"But this is different! I'm dating Alan; I actually have to put up with his shit."

He laughed. "I knew I like you for a reason."

Suddenly, Vic ran past us onto the stage. Without stopping, or even slowing, he jumped on Austin's back. The crowd went wild as Austin jumped three feet in the air.

"WHAT THE FUCK?! WHO THE?" He turned his head to see his attacker. "VIC, YOU FUCKER, GET LOST I STILL HAVE A SET TO FINISH!"

Alan grabbed his mic. "I think Austin found himself a boyfriend."

Vic flashed his widest smile to the crowd. Tino, Aaron and Phil shook their heads at the pair, but Alan was laughing so hard I thought he would fall off the stage.

Jaime was in stitches beside me. "That's great! Holy shit! That's funny! Vic never does tour pranks by himself!"

The words were hardly out of his mouth before Mike and Tony ran past us in snapbacks, shirts...and their underwear.

The crowd roared as they ran across the stage. Phil facepalmed. Alan just laughed even harder.

Vic placed a huge sloppy kiss on Austin's cheek before jumping down and running off after his band.

"Fucking Mexicans," Austin huffed wiping Vic's spit off his face.

Tony bounded back on stage, still pantsless, and blew Austin a kiss. My best friend flipped him off, and Phil shit himself laughing. I laughed too, and Austin shifted the gesture to me as Tony bounded back off stage again. I just laughed harder.

"ARE YOU QUITE DONE NOW?!" Austin yelled.

A resounding "yes" came from somewhere backstage as Alan wiped tears from his face.

Austin sighed. "I am never touring with these fuckers again. They haven't even been with us twenty four hours."

Alan grabbed his mic again. "Oh shut up! Aust is only cranky cause he didn't get any last night."

I doubled over laughing. Good one, Al.

Austin flipped him off too before turning back to the crowd. "Alright, San Diego, we have one more for you!" Huh, so that's where we are.

I heard the opening chords to "The Depths" and smiled. That was my favorite song.

"Hime! Where were you for the prank meeting?"

Jaime and I turned around and saw Mike walking towards us. He froze.

Hime swallowed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh yeah, Mike, forgot to tell you, Silver's on tour with us."

Mike sneered and stalked towards us. "You brought this slut on tour with us?!"

Jaime shifted to put himself between me and his drummer. "She's here with the Of Mice guys, and she's a good friend of mine so shut your mouth."

I smiled at the spiky-haired Mexican, but stepped around him. "Look, Mike, everyone at Warped assumed and has the wrong story."

"Bullshit! I know what I saw!"

"You saw Ashby being a drama queen, which is nothing new."

"So you're not with him?"

I pursed my lips and thought for a second on how to put it. "I am, yes," Mike opened his mouth but I held up a hand, "but I wasn't at Warped. We've only been together a couple weeks."

Mike stood there huffing for a moment before shaking his head. "Whatever."

I heard the song finish and turned to see Alan jogging over to me smiling. He was a yard away when a different pair of arms scooped me up in a bone-crushing hug. Alan stopped stunned for a minute then stamped his foot. "Hey! Aust she's my girlfriend!"

Austin chuckled and released me with a quick kiss to the top of my head. Alan was quick to scoop me up in a tight hug, but I pushed him away. "You're all gross and sweaty."

He rolled his eyes and pulled me tight to his chest. "Fuck that, c'mere." His lips met mine.

I enjoyed the kiss but I had to pull away. He really was gross and sweaty. "Go shower please."

He sighed. "Fine." He gave me one last, lingering kiss before jogging off to the bus.

I turned to see Jaime smirking. "What?"

"Oh nothing." He winked and disappeared with Mike. Uh oh. Jaime only acted like that when he knew something he shouldn't. I hadn't the faintest clue what he knew that he wasn't supposed to, though.

"You ok, Sil?"

I blinked to find Aaron waving a hand in front of my face. "Yeah, fine, zoned out for a sec."

He chuckled. "C'mon, Al's gonna have a canary if you're not back at the bus soon."

I smiled and followed him back to the bus.

Notes