What We Used To Know

“For Christ’s sake, I can do what I want, you know,” Addie hissed at her friend. Deandra was taking Addie to some concert of a band Addie had never heard of, but suddenly felt glad she never had. Dee was into music that was on the complete polar opposite scale of what Addie liked. Every time they rode in the car together and Dee blasted music that should make any normal human’s ears bleed, Addie had to remind herself of all the positive qualities Deandra had. “I’m twenty-two, Deandra, I can fucking think for myself.”

“Wow, Ads. Haven’t seen you with this much spine… ever,” Deandra laughed, finding the way Addie was trying to stick up for herself comical. Both of them knew that Addie would attend the concert, no matter how hard she kicked or screamed. She may have hated every band Dee listened to, but being a good friend meant accompanying her to shows so that she wouldn’t be alone. Addie’s friends had always made sure she was never alone at shows, so it was time she returned the favor, no matter how much she hated the music.

“But you know you’re just coming with me anyways,” Deandra sang, slipping on a pair of beat up Converse before Addie followed suit. Their outfits were nearly identical in the clothing choices: simple t-shirt, a pair of jeans that were clearly beat up and comfortable, and Chucks. The two could have been mistaken for sisters, even twins. But it was their vastly different tastes in so many styles that set them apart.

Addie sighed, not even bothering to agree with her friend, it would have been pointless, anyways. Dee would have managed to drag her out to the car and force her in, and Addie would have no doubt then agreed to go. Deandra was a strong girl, and used force to get what she wanted, if she couldn’t get what she wanted with words. People could never figure out why Addie and Dee had been friends for so long, since they were so unlike. Addie was the quiet, silent girl who kept everyone at an arm’s length, while Dee was loud and to the point of obnoxious, considering everyone she knew “family.” Dee was actually really nice, and Addie supposed that was what had kept them together for so long, because Deandra was forceful enough, yet nice enough, to always keep an eye out on Addie - something all of Addie’s friends had learned to do.

Addie just wasn’t safe on her own. She was reckless when she was clueless, too quiet to keep from speaking up for herself, and too scared to let anyone in who might actually be able to help her. So, her friends were there from day one, knowing that they would have to accept whatever Addie gave them, still looking out for her, because they knew she’d be utterly lost without them. Had Addie not made those great friends freshman year, she would still be the loser who never said a word to anyone, completely alone and not enjoying a minute of life. At least with those friends, Addie could still forget about how much she was still hurting. She still believed in forgetting and ignoring her problems, even though they had been plaguing her for almost ten years now. Ten years since her father and brother had died, and she still was completely screwed up.

“Let’s go, Addie!” Deandra called from the doorway, standing there with her brown hair in all of it’s curled glory sitting on her shoulders. “It’s a long drive, and I wanna get a good spot.”

Addie hurried out of the door, knowing that Dee would physically drag her out to the garage if she didn’t move fast enough. Dee didn’t like getting to shows without plenty of time to wait in line as Addie had learned, and the House of Blues was a good three hours away, if they were lucky.

She was thankful right now though that she lived in an apartment building and that the garage was attached, because it was raining cats and dogs when she looked out of the window, grimacing at how fun it would be to stand in the rain and wait for more than two hours on this gross January night. The doors opened at eight, it took three hours to get there, and it was only three p.m. now. Fun.

Once the pair were in the car, Dee didn’t hesitate at all to begin blaring music that made Addie cover her ears and lean her head against the window, persuading herself not to jump out of the moving vehicle. They’d be hitting the freeway now, and it was only three more hours until they stepped foot on the cement outside of the House of Blues.

Deandra turned down the volume, slightly, and started talking to Addie, but with her hands still over her ears, Dee had to tap her on the shoulder to get her attention. Addie looked at her with wide eyes, hoping that she wasn’t playing a cruel trick and was going to blast the music again as soon as she removed her hands from her ears. She didn’t though, only smiling and turning her eyes towards the road again. The music wasn’t loud, but it still sounded like someone being stabbed.

“See, this is what we’re gonna listen to all night tonight!” Dee shouted over the music, turning it down a few levels again.

“This is the band we’re seeing live?” Addie croaked.

“You betcha, Ads. One of ‘em, anyways,” Dee said with a little more enthusiasm than would have been normal, when talking about a band that made noises quite comparable to someone being repeatedly stabbed and then run over with a truck.

Addie groaned, leaning back in her seat and closing her eyes. This night was going to be hell, if this was the band they were seeing live. She could only picture them, eyes as nothing but black pits, their hair wild and greasy and stringy, and they’d probably have tattoos. Lots of tattoos. That’s what Addie thought of when she envisioned members of the screaming deathmetal bands that Deandra forced everyone to listen to when they rode in her car.

“Well, what’s their name?” she asked, hoping they would at least have some sort of creative name that was interesting, to make up for how horrid their sound was.

“Bring Me The Horizon is who we’re listening to right now,” Dee stated, changing lanes and accelerating far past the speed limit.

Addie chuckled a bit. “Well, they certainly don’t ask for much,” she mumbled.

“What?” Dee asked, turning to face Addie for a split second.

“They’re only demanding the impossible with that name of theirs,” she retorted. The name was creative, she’ll give them that, but it certainly was interesting. Bring Me The Horizon… She repeated the words over in her head, liking the way it sounded, but not their actual music.

***

"This music is rancid," Addie thought to herself, making a face as she stood at the back of the venue, in an empty corner. No one was around her, because everyone else in the venue was actually there on account of their own wanting to be there, not because they had been dragged there, which was Addie’s case. Everyone else was packed up near the stage, screaming along with the music. It was almost comical to Addie to see everyone jumping around and screaming at the top of their lungs with the music, only to not be heard at all. That’s how loud it was. Addie was sure she would only have fifty percent hearing left by the end of the night, and tried to stay as far away from any speakers as possible.

But it was almost desolate in her little corner, not one person within a ten foot radius of her, and she liked it that way. Addie had gone straight for the empty corner when she and Dee arrived, Deandra heading straight for the stage, hoping to get a good place to stand. She was in front row, center stage. Addie just watched as people packed closer and closer together in an effort to get near the stage. And Addie stood with more than enough space around her, wishing she could just leave.

She knew that if she fled back to Dee’s car, Dee would be furious. Not only for leaving her when she had made Addie promise to stay for the whole thing, but that Dee had sat through every Jack Johnson, Matt Nathanson, and Sufjan Stevens concert Addie had ever attended. The two girls’ music sense were completely opposite, but they would attend every concert together; it was just a rule. So Addie had to keep up her end of the deal, and stuck through the torture she hoped she wouldn’t have to be subjected to much longer.

People screamed whenever the next band would come on stage, shouting their name, of which Addie could barely understand. It was almost impossible to make out the fuzzy words that the vocalist would speak on stage to the crowd, much less his lyrics when he screamed them. It was the same with every band, the vocalist would start talking about something Addie couldn’t make out, and the crowd would start screaming before he started screaming.

Addie could recognize the band that she had listened to in the car with Deandra on the way over; they were the second band to play. There was an opening band before them, and now she hoped they were the final band was playing. Addie hoped more than anything that this would all be over soon, so she could get the hell out of Chicago, and back home to Springfield. She wanted to go home and go to sleep; after all she had to work at nine the next morning, and it was nearly eleven at night right now.

“Well, there goes any hopes of sleeping tonight,” she thought again, while checking the time. She wouldn’t be able to sleep on the way home, since she had to keep Dee awake while they drove, and they probably wouldn’t be leaving here for another hour, which meant they’d get home around three in the morning. “I’m fucked.”

It was quiet for once after the band rushed off stage while people buzzed with talk. Addie enjoyed the momentary silence for a while before techs came out on stage to test the instruments for the next band, the one that Addie hoped really was the last one to play.

Someone was next to Addie all of a sudden; she heard heavy breathing and turned to face someone who was much, much taller than her. His hair was wet, most likely dripping with sweat, and Addie pressed her lips together to prevent herself from making a face. “Looks like this one just got out of the mosh pit,” she thought, suddenly becoming very interested in her chipping nails.

He cleared his throat, and then began talking. Addie didn’t know if he was talking to her or not, but since there was no one else within the vicinity, she turned to look at him anyways. It was hard to make out all of his features in the semi-dark, but he looked attractive enough, so she’d give him her attention, for the time being.

But he noticed that she didn’t look surprised, or suddenly start going crazy, just like every other girl out there did when he would try to strike up a conversation. Of course, the reason he came over to this lass in the first place was because she was standing by herself in a corner of the venue, not even looking one bit entertained. Something made him decide to talk to her; he wanted to know what she was doing all by herself. And she obviously didn’t recognize him.

“So, did you hear BMTH play tonight? I heard they played a wicked set,” he said to her smoothly, taking advantage of the situation. The situation being that this bird who was standing all by herself didn’t realize the vocalist of Bring Me The Horizon was standing right in front of her.

“Ugh. Them?” she said, groaning. “I swear, I have no idea how a human is capable of making the noises that that guy makes.” With that, she made a twisted up face of disgust for a moment, before looking at the nameless man in front of her.

Oli shifted around on his feet uncomfortably, trying not to look awkward or embarrassed. Great. This beautiful girl - well, she looked beautiful enough in the dim light - hated his band, which was (almost) worse than hating him. And she didn’t even realize who he was. He tried not to look in her eyes through the dim light as he tried to figure out the best way to go about with this situation. He could either a) leave, b) ignore it and continue, or c) tell her that he’s actually in the band. Everything in Oliver Sykes told him to choose option A or B, anything to shift the diss from him. But he knew that his conscience might have a chance at winning out.

Strange, since when did Oliver Sykes have a conscience?

Addie turned back to her nails, picking at them while she stood next to a famous person without even realizing it. She was completely oblivious, which gave Oliver the perfect chance to get away, yet his feet remained planted on the ground next to her. Something was really wrong tonight. Something was not right. Oli never approached a random girl standing alone, like a loner; and he certainly never listened to his conscience.

He made a few pathetic attempts at actually trying to admit that he was in fact, a member of Bring Me The Horizon, but they just came out as some odd gurgling sounds that were luckily inaudible due to the music that was now taking over. Soon enough he actually managed to slur out some words that he hoped she could understand.

“Um… well I. Well, I’m actually… actually that guy who makes the noises you hate,” he shoved the words out, stuttering and mumbling incoherently. Addie couldn’t tell if this guy was drunk, judging by his slurred words and what sounded like a hint of an accent, or if it was just how he talked. But she seemed to understand enough to give him a look with wide eyes that made her look like a deer caught in headlights.

Oli only replied with opening his arms slightly out to the side and letting out a weak, “Ta-da.”