Left For Dead

Ally's POV
“All the single ladies.” I said in a sing-song voice to Echo while linking my arm with hers as we began walking behind Shannon and Vanna who were currently walking with Mike and Jaime. “You probably won't be anymore.” She said chuckling. “Why do you say that ?” I asked. “You and Kellin.” She said while trying to wink. I rolled my eyes and laughed at her attempt. “Oh shut it. You probably won't be single either after your date with Josh.” I said while mocking her winking. A light red began rising on her cheeks, I giggled at her. “Nothing will happen between us, I can assure you that.” She said. “Hm, yeah you say that now.” I said chuckling. “Wait speaking of dates, when will it actually happen ?” I asked. “It's not a date, it's just new friends getting together to get to know each other better. And probably soon I think.” She said. “Don't worry, I got you if you need any makeup or dress up help.” I said proudly looking at her. “Gee thanks.” She said chuckling. “Let's go before we get lost.”
We had arrived to our bus shortly and were currently practicing a new song we made the night before for our show later today in Indiana. “So what do you guys think ?” I asked the guys of PTV who were our little audience at the moment or ‘fans’ as Jaime said. “It's great! I love it!” Mike said. “You say that about every song.” Shannon answered out of breath while grabbing her water bottle from him. “Because they're all great babe.” He said handling her a towel. “Whatever.” She said as planted a small kiss on Mike’s cheek. ‘#Shake’ I thought while looking at them, smiling .. “Be honest, was it good ?” I asked Vic and Tony. “It really was and I'm not just saying that to be nice.” Vic answered, chuckling a bit. “Thanks.” “We'll play it later on today and hopefully they'll like it, give them something new.” Echo said while putting her bass down by the couch.
A light knock was then heard at the door. Jaime opened it and Kellin's face appeared. “I knew I smelled something bad.” Jaime said joking around with Kellin as he entered the room. I stood up and went up to give him a small hug. “How are you ?” H asked while taking my hand. I looked down and blushed, “Good.” We then sat in a little table nearby, “So I was thinking we should go to that carnival they're having around here tonight.” He said as he pulled out his phone to show us. I looked and saw a picture of some kids standing next to a clown beside a Ferris wheel. Great, clowns. I hated them. I loved the idea of a carnival but clowns, not so much. “It looks cool we could go later after our shows.” Vic said as he looked at it. “Great! Okay I'll see where we can meet later on today.”
Kellin and the PTV guys then left shortly after for their meet and greets while the girls and I stayed behind talking. “So what's going on between you guys ? Are you dating him or what ?” Vanna asked almost as soon as they shut the door to leave. “Calm down.” I answered, giggling. “No we are not dating, and I don't think we will anytime soon. I just want to get know him better for now and then later we'll see.” I said while sitting back in my seat. “Blah blah blah, c’mon Ally you should just go ahead for it now. You guys are practically already dating anyways.” Shannon said. “How ?” I asked looking strange at her. “Oh don't play dumb, the hugging, holding hands, the kiss-” “It only happened once.” I said interrupting her. “Oh yeah and how much longer will it be until it happens again ? Just give the boy a chance.” Vanna said giving me a small smirk. “Guys it's up to Ally really.” Echo said. ‘Thank you Echo’ I thought while giving her a small smile. “But you really should go out with him.” She said afterwards. “Thanks.” I said to her sarcastically. She looked at me and stuck her tongue at me. “Girls c’mon it's time.” Kevin said as he opened our door. “Showtime.”
****
“Thank you for having us!” I said into my microphone as we finished our set. The girls then joined me as we bowed down to our audience. I felt so much adrenaline in me I could go run a mile. This is what always happened after a show, I could do this forever I thought. We walked to the side stage where the guys were standing as always. I noticed Josh from You Me At Six, standing there also. I looked at Echo and realized she hadn't seen him yet as she was talking with the bass tech there. I went up to her, “Invite him with you later.” I said while slight smirking. “What ?” She asked confused. Josh then started walking towards us and I decided to give her some space, “You'll see.” I said, smiling. She looked at me with confusion written all over her face until Josh started getting closer to her, that's when she realized what I was talking about. Her eyes went a bit wide and she began blushing, I giggled at her. I gave her a thumbs up from where I was standing and she blew it off and began talking to him.
I sighed as I walked back with the guys. “Alright we'll get ready and meet you by PTV’s bus by 6 right ?” Vanna asked while fixing her hair bun which was practically hanging out. “Yeah and then we'll go.” Tony answered for them. “Okay we'll see you then, and good luck with your show.” Shannon said as she gave Mike a small kiss. Vanna did the same with Jaime and with that we were off. “Where's Echo ?” Vanna asked while linking her arm with mine. “Right there.” I said pointing towards Echo and Josh who were standing at the same place where I left them, laughing. We then walked up to them. “Look sorry to interrupt but she's got to go.” Shannon said as she pulled Echo away from Josh. “I'll text you!” Echo shouted as Shannon pulled her away like a toddler. Strange looks were then shot at because but we were already used to this kind of stuff anyways. I couldn't wait to see how it was gonna go down today.


Echo’s POV
I was nervously playing with the edge of my skirt in the front of the bus. Out of nerves I had started getting ready way too early and now I had to wait for Josh to pick me up. I hated waiting and I hated it even more when I was nervous. The worst scenarios were playing in my head.
What if I made a fool of myself? What if I said something inappropriate? What if it was going to be really awkward?
And then of course the scenarios I was trying to hold back the most, but they came bouncing back whenever I tried to stop thinking about them:
What if Alex found out I went on a date with Josh?...And what if he didn’t care?
I mean, that would be a logical response of him. I hadn’t spoken to him in almost a week. But somewhere deep down, I wanted him to be jealous. Was that stupid?
“Echo, you look beautiful(http://www.polyvore.com/date_with_josh/set?id=195204650).” I heard Ally say and I looked up to see her leaning against the wall with a comforting smile on her face. “Don’t worry about a thing, it will be alright.”
I looked back down at my skirt and played with it once more. “I’ve never been on a date before, Ally. I’m losing my mind.” I said softly.
I heard her sigh and within a few seconds I felt her sit down next to me on the couch. “I know exactly how you feel. I felt this way when I went on that date with Kellin. Just be yourself and everything will be alright, I promise you.” She said.
I looked up to shoot her a smile, when a knock was heard on from door. My heart immediately skipped a beat when I realized who it must was.
I took a deep breath and then walked towards the door to open it. In front of it was Josh, he wore a white shirt and black jeans and his hair was a beautiful mess like always. His mouth slightly parted when he saw me. “Wow, you look beautiful.” He said.
I shyly looked down at my feet and felt my heart beat really fast. I had never been called beautiful by a guy. “Thanks.” I mumbled and heard him chuckle.
I then felt a hand on my shoulder from behind me. “Bring her home in one piece, Franceschi.” I heard Shannon say and it made me chuckle a little. “Or you will have to deal with me.”
Al though I knew that josh was a good guy, it felt good to have someone being protective of me. I knew that Shannon would really beat up people for me and surprisingly that was a comforting feeling.
“I wouldn’t dare anymore.” Josh said sarcastic and he shot Shannon a smile and me a wink. “We’re just going to an aquarium in Toronto. I’ll bring her home before midnight, mama Shannon.”
I chuckled and walked off the bus. We took the bus from a bus stop not far from the Warped area and as I was looking out of the window to the large skyscraper’s of Toronto, I asked: “So, an aquarium, huh?”
He grinned. “It sounds pretty lame, but it’s actually pretty cool. It’s one of those aquarium’s where you walk underneath the fish. I thought it would be a nice place to get to know each other. An unusual date for an unusual girl.” He said.
“Yeah unusual is a good way to describe me.” I said looking down at my hands in my lap.
“It’s a good thing. People get boring way too easily. I don’t know you for that long, but I have the feeling that you’ll never get boring.” He said and I looked up to smile at him with a blush on my cheeks. We hadn’t even started the date yet and he had already made me blush twice today. Was that a good thing?
When we got out of the bus, the aquarium was only a few blocks away. I looked up to the building in awe, as it was way bigger than I would’ve expected.
The date went by pretty good. Oh, who am I kidding? It went amazing! We had fun together and he actually had the same humor as me.
We just walked the big tunnels of the building, looking at the colorful fish and talking to each other. I actually got to know a lot about him and the more I knew the more I started to have a soft tingling feeling in my stomach.
And the unusual date idea worked out surprisingly good too. It was quite a beautiful(https://movernie.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/ripley4.jpg
) place, because the water actually reflected a bright blue light on the place. Which made it feel sort of peaceful and well…romantic.
After we had walked around for a bit, we sat down at the aquarium’s restaurant and had dinner. I probably don’t have to explain that I didn’t order fish there, I was way too scared that one of the cute little fish we saw earlier ended up on my plate.
During dinner I realized that it hadn’t been awkward once. I had just been myself, just like Ally had told me to do and it had worked out perfectly. Who would have thought that I would actually find a guy that liked me for me?
At least, I thought he liked me. Who knows, maybe he didn’t like the date as much as I did. I had no dates to compare with this one and he did.
My feeling was confirmed though when he was walking me to my bus. We had our hands tangled in each other and it felt very right for some reason.
When we stood in front of the Left For Dead bus, we stood still and Josh stood in front of me. “I had a great time.” He said and he smiled at me.
I smiled back. “Me too.” I said and I meant it.
He looked down at his shoes for a moment and awkwardly chuckled. It was almost like he was shy and I hadn’t seen that side of him yet. “You’re really something, Echo. I really hope there will be a second date.” He said moving from one foot to the other.
“If it depended on me than there definitely would be.” I said and he looked up at me with red cheeks.
I saw a short twinkle in his eyes before he put his hand on my cheek. I felt my heartbeat speed up dramatically as he leaned in. He was going to kiss me! I had only been kissed twice! The first time was a joke and the second time was Alex and I stopped it before anything could happen. Maybe I sucked at it!
But I was frozen to the ground, not able to move when he softly planted a kiss on my lips and left them again. I felt my muscles relax again at the sweet touch and I was happy he didn’t deepen it. I wouldn’t have known what to do.
When he pulled away, a smile was visible on his face. Before I could even smile back, he got distracted by something and looked with a confused look the other way.
He looked back and I saw a little bit of hurt in his eyes. “Do you have a boyfriend or something?” he asked softly.
I didn’t quite get. I mean I kind of kissed him back, right? “No, there’s no one.” I said a little confused. “Why’d you think that?”
He gestured with his head towards his right. “There’s a dude angrily walking away over there.” He said.
I didn’t have to look to know who it was for some reason. Or maybe I was just hoping it was him, because that meant he cared. I looked anyway and saw the silhouette of my best friend since freshman year walk away from us. “T-that’s Alex. He is my best friend.” I said.
“Alex Gaskarth is your best friend?” I heard Josh say from beside me, but I hardly heard it. I needed to know if Alex was okay.
I nodded without looking at him. “I’m going to see if he is alright.” I said and I ran after Alex without saying a thing.
He walked pretty fast, but I managed to catch up with him just before his bus. “Alex, what’s wrong?” I asked while he was still with his back facing me.
He turned around and I was shocked by his face. He wasn’t crying, but he seemed totally broken. Like someone had ripped off a mask and he was left with just sadness. “I think we shouldn’t see each other for a while.” He said.
The words felt like a bullet to my heart. “Why? I don’t get it, Alex! I’m trying to fix this friendship, but I can’t do that if you ignore me!” I said letting out my thoughts of the last two days.
“I’ve been trying for seven years everything I could to not mess up this friendship, Echo!” he suddenly said a lot harder. “I’ve been so desperately trying to not mess things up because I couldn’t stand the thought of losing you!”
I was a bit taken back by all of this. Everything he said confused me. “What do you mean?” I asked loudly.
“I love you. I’m in love with you.” He suddenly said. My heart immediately started fluttering really fast, but my mind started saying that I had lost him because of this now. And besides this, there was also a part of me that didn’t really believed it. I just stood there with my mouth open.
“I have been for quite a long time.” He said a bit softer and he kept looking in my eyes. “But I never told you because I knew you didn’t love me like that. I know what you look like when you’re in love and you never looked at me like that. And you’ve told me so many times that a relationship would destroy our friendship, so I held it back all this time. I was able to deal with it, because you were never with someone else. But I just saw you with Josh and I just can’t do it. I’ve been realizing these last few days that I need to get over you and this kind of confirms it. Warped tour is kind of the worst time to realize this since I will literally see you every day and every time I see you it seems to get worse. But I really think this is best.”
As he was talking, a tear fell down my cheek. I just couldn’t believe that this was the end of us. “I can’t lose you.” I said softly, but I think he heard.
“Yes, you can. You have the girls now and Josh I guess. And you’re stronger than you think, Echo. Please just let me do this, for me.” He said and a second and third tear fell from my eyes.
If this was what he wanted then I was going to let him. He was one of the most important things in my life and I would do anything to make me happy. “Promise me we’ll be friends again.” I said and my voice cracked at the end of the sentence.
He nodded and shot me a weak smile. “I promise. I just need some space.”

Notes