You Rock Like Escape The Fate

$$$***3 days later***$$$

“JESSI!!! YOU MUST COME SEE THIS!!!” I heard Hayley’s excited voice call down for me. I sighed and looked at Craig, he was smiling at me with that, ‘no worries’ look. I laughed and got up to tend to my best friend’s excitement, leaving Craig and Leila sitting on the living room rug to wait for me. Craig and I were teaching Leila “Patty Cake”, seeing as Mr. Mabbitt neglected to do so on his own previously… *inside glare* Oh well.

“Hey, Willy, what’s the biggie?” I asked, coming to her and sitting next to her as she messed with the laptop Daisy had allowed us ever so kindly to borrow. She turned it to face me more and a random blog had this giant picture of Frank Iero’s face plastered all over the screen with “Vegas girls, you’ll be seeing this face a lot more often!!! ---frankieroluvr27” written across the bottom. I laughed and looked at her toothy grin, raising an eyebrow at her.

“He’s moving to Vegas!!! What if we meet him after we move back!?!” she squealed. I then started laughing more at her. Boy, did she love her some Frank Iero.

“Okay, then, Hayley. Even though I don’t think that’s possible, seeing as we practically never go any places a guy like him would be, such as recording studios or nightclubs, but alrighty then,” I told her. Ronnie poked his head in and smiled at us. He was wearing a random chain around his neck, but the end was hidden beneath the collar of his shirt. I decided not to ask and waved at him. “Hello there, Radke,” I smiled. He nodded curtly and walked into the room, sitting on Hayley’s other side.

“Well hello there, whatever-your-last-name-is,” he replied with a grin. Hayley giggled, and I avoided rolling my eyes. They were too… cute together.

Like way too cute together. I smiled and nodded approvingly at his comment.

“So, H, is there a reason you’re currently staring at some other guys’ face?” Ronnie asked, a lopsided grin on his face. She giggled again, and I groaned at their cuteness. They laughed at me as I trudged to the dresser and pulled my hair back into its messy bun, then waved bye as I left the room. I sat down on the hallway floor, letting my mind drift away for a minute. I thought back to three days ago, when Bryan and I told each other our big, dark secrets, and how he was wearing the same red, sleeveless shirt as the guy in my dream. Did that mean that I was supposed to love him?Maybe I did love him… Cuz I don’t, obviously. I hate him… but knowing that dreams sometimes threw in a bunch of random things from everyday life, I just decided to forget about it. I got up and fixed my shirt, sighing contentedly as I thought about my best friend moving in for two weeks or so, starting today. I walked down the stairs, wondering what they had decided to do while I was up there. I heard lips smacking in the kitchen and figured that meant they were eating. As I entered the kitchen, I definitely did not expect the sight I received.

Max and Leila were sitting on the kitchen floor, eating from Hayley’s coveted package of mini chocolate cupcakes and Craig was hurriedly cleaning up the expensive cupcake-scented shampoo that had been squeezed out like toothpaste onto the tile. My eyes bulged and my mouth kept opening and closing, like that of a fish’s. Hayley was so going to kill them if she found out. My eyes narrowed, and Craig kept looking at me like, ‘please tell me you’re not about to kill us’ and Max just ignored me as he played with Leila.

“MAXWELL SCOTT GREEN!!” I yelled, catching his attention. His eyes widened slightly, and Leila politely turned to face me. Craig winced at the volume of my voice, but continued cleaning nonetheless.

“Yes?”

“TIMEOUT, NOW!!” I exclaimed, shocked at the 24yr old. Craig’s mouth fell with a crash to the ground, and Max’s face fell. I took the package away from him and left Leila with one cupcake to keep her happy. I don’t blame the three year old, I blame the adult that showed her it was okay. She just giggled and left the kitchen, probably off to the room she shared with her father so she could play with Princess Cuddles.

His face contorted through several emotions, but he finally pulled his features into a cocky grin. I narrowed my eyes at him, glaring as I was sure my best friend sitting in front of me would have something smart to say.

"Max Green doesn't go on ti-"

"NOW!" I ordered, staring him down as he and Craig wilted in fear. He got a frustrated look on his face and jumped up, stomping into the living room and plopping down on the floor. He crossed his arms and turned his head away from me, looking at the wood beneath him. I shook my head and couldn't help the slight chuckle that emitted from my lips. Craig looked confusedly at me, and I shrugged at him. I bent down to start helping him clean up the mess that they had made.

"And you're laughing because...?" he asked as he handed me a damp cloth to clean with.

"Because, a twenty five year old just stole from the cookie jar, pouted when he got in trouble, then threw a temper tantrum when he didn't get his way. That guy is hilarious! Without you and him, I don't think I could've survived a month here, you entertain me," I told him, laughing. He laughed too and nodded.

"Fersure. Cuz then you wouldn't have had the kiss of your life," he said, a smirk forming on his features.

"Psh, yeah right. You know that was all me," I said, nudging him with my shoulder. He nudged me back and flicked some water at me from the little bowl he'd put out.

"OH NO YOU DIDN'T!!" I yelled in shock.

"OH YES I DID!!" he yelled back at me, not noticing that I, too, had some tricks up my sleeve. Within moments, it was an all out battle, the two of us getting each other soaked in luke warm water, laughing hysterically. At least ten minutes later, Bryan happened to be walking through the kitchen to find me leaning against the cupboards and Craig laying flat on his back against the tile, both of us laughing and soaked through to the skin.

"...Do I even want to know?" he asked cautiously. I shook my head no and he smiled ever so slightly, kicking my leg as he walked out of the room.

"OW! You frikin jerk! Watch where you're walking!!"

"Why don't you watch where you're sitting!?" he yelled as he walked upstairs. Moments later, I heard him complaining about Hayley and Ronnie overdoing it, which caused me to continue to chuckle as I tried sadly to dry myself off. Craig shook his head, still laughing a little, and sat up to start cleaning up the new mess we had just made. After getting the kitchen all lovely again, we went into the living room, only to find that Max was still sitting in his timeout spot, looking as if someone had pulled him into a far away trance. He was drawing circles into the old, tattered edges of the rug, and his eyes never blinked. It sort of creeped me out, to be perfectly honest.

"...you know, Max, it really wasn't that serious, you've been sitting there for like, what, a half hour?"

"Huh? Wha? Who.... oh... hi," he mumbled, looking back down. I smiled and shook my head.

"You can be such a child sometimes, Max. But that's why I love ya," I said, walking over and helping him up. He gave a meager smile and glared at me playfully for a moment, before sighing and opening his arms up for a hug with a roll of his eyes. I laughed and hugged my male best friend, squeezing him. “Sorry for blowing up at you,”

“It’s okay, I forgive you now,” he replied. I ruffled his hair and he started fixing it obsessively. I laughed and did it again and he just went “bubgspgbahhhh!” at me, then plopped onto the sofa to re-fix his messy black hair. Craig was, of course, cracking up at our little moment and walked upstairs to find Leila. I was about to sit down next to Max and have a talk, except a scary sound stopped me mid-sit.

“Uhhmm…Liieesslll….I need you to come here, right now,” Hayley’s voice was clearly freaked out, in panic mode actually. Kind of like that oh-shiz-I’m-screwed voice. Max looked at me weird and I jogged up the stairs to see what was wrong. I made it up and walked into the room. Ronnie was not present, I assumed he was in the bathroom. Hayley’s eyes were glued to the screen, but this time it was in fear, or panic, or whatever other emotion she was feeling that I really couldn’t read. Her hand was to her mouth, scared and shaking. My heart sank as I realized how bad it probably was to have her that freaked out. I slowly walked over, scared to death of what I would see, and turned my head to face the screen. The headline was the first thing to send my heart beating at ten thousand times the normal pulse.

“Fifth Rockstar To Go Missing In Escape the Fate – Who Will Be Next?”

I quickly let my eyes trail through each terrifying word, and as I realized what it all meant, my heart sunk as low as it could go.

“D-Do you think it’s f-for real?” Hayley’s frightened voice asked me. I tried words, but that didn’t work, so I just nodded my head up and down. Jason had gotten Robert. I sunk backwards into the bed as guilt hit me harder and harder, pinning me against the headboard. This was all my fault. If we had just gotten Robert, if we hadn’t left him behind because we were thinking too much of ourselves, he wouldn’t be kidnapped, or maybe even de—no, I couldn’t think about that. “Liesl, this isn’t your fault, don’t get upset,” Hayley said trying to comfort me. There she goes, being the strong one again.

“This is my fault, though, Willy… What if he’s being hurt right now? It’s been five days since he was kidnapped, so what if… God, why was I so selfish!? Worried the cops would see us before we could go grab him, thinking only of myself… what is wrong with me!?” I cried, my hands balling up in my hair, pulling down in frustration and self-hatred. This pretty much just proves everything Bryan said that other day. I really was a complete failure. She scooted the laptop off her lap and pulled me into as tight a hug as she could muster, and I thought about how fast my mood had gone from happy to horrible in a matter of moments. I was so excited that Daisy was coming back today, I was having so much fun with Max and Craig,and maybe even Bryan, and then this happens…

Ronnie walked into the room and saw us, no tears had yet been shed from me, but I know he could tell by the looks on both of our faces and the fact that we were clinging onto each other for dear life that something was really wrong, because his smile fell almost immediately.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, walking straight over and rubbing a hand comfortingly up and down my back.

“Get everybody gathered into the living room, we have something to tell you guys,” I said, looking at him and trying to hide my fear. This could ruin everything. His eyes questioned me, but he nodded and walked right back out the room nonetheless (a/n: do I say that too often?). Hayley was looking at me fearfully, and I knew that what would be way harder than knowing Robert was missing; telling his closest friends. We got up and I grabbed the laptop, then headed down the stairs to see Craig kiss Bambi on the cheek bashfully as she entered the house. Any other day, I would have ‘aww’ed. But today was not that day.

“Bambi, I really hate to do this to you, but do you think you could take little Leila upstairs for a few minutes? I don’t think she’s gonna like what the guys are about to hear,” I asked. Leila smiled brightly at Bambi; she sure loved that girl to death.

“Of course, just call if you need me,” Bambi said. I hugged her in thanks as she and Leila went up the stairs, then returned to the four guys sitting anxiously on the couch. I held down my emotions and put the laptop on the small coffee table, facing it towards us. I looked at each of them and couldn’t think of how to start my sentence.

‘Roberts missing’
‘I have something to tell you’
‘I’m really sorry, you guys, but…’

None of them sounded right. I looked helplessly at my best friend (that starts with an H) and she seemed just as lost for words. I figured maybe turning the computer towards us wouldn’t have been the smartest idea and flipped it around so the guys could see the black, bolded headline. They leaned forward and looked at the screen, and each of their faces fell in just the same way mine and Hayley’s had. None of us said anything, and the awkward tension was practically choking me. Not that I wasn’t wishing it would at that point.

“I’m so sorry, you guys, please don’t hate us… you guys are so important to us and this whole thing was just really messed up and we don’t want to lose you… We’ll find him, as soon as we possibly can…” Hayley told them, her voice pleading. I wanted to cry, but I didn’t want to get the position as crybaby of the family. I looked at Max and he seemed more uncomfortable than upset. There was always something up with him, and this time it was almost… relieving to think that he was the one holding the cards.

“Uh, I forgive you guys?” he said, though it sounded like a really weird question. He must not have been very close with Robert… But obviously Ronnie, Bryan, and Craig were, because their faces were red and their smiles gone, their chests were rising and falling in tune with their increased breathing rate. Bryan looked just angry and disappointed, Ronnie seemed heartbroken, and Craig gave off the vibe of a lost puppy that had been kicked too many times.

“What is going on, what aren’t you guys telling us!?” Bryan yelled, though not as loud as before. My problem with that question, was that it wasalmost completely directed at me.

"Bryan-"

“The truth,” he said, looking at me so harshly that I could have passed out.

“There was this guy I ran into one day in Vegas, he gave me his myspace and told me to check it out. I was reading through his blogs, and he had one about you guys. A homicidal one, actually… We got freaked out and we knew you guys were in danger,” Hayley started.

“…So the only solution our minds could come up with was to get you as far away from him as possible, and hide you until he was like, put in jail or something,” I continued, looking at each strand of Bryan’s blonde hair separately so I didn’t have to look at their faces.

“…but who would have listened to a couple of enthusiastic fans? You guys wouldn’t and neither would your managers, and we knew that. So, one day we were watching National Treasure, and we both came up with the idea that we could protect you by kidnapping you…” she finished, twisting his fingers around each other in anxiety. Not until she had said that, did I realize how truly insane all this was. The boys didn’t really look angry now, except for shocked and incredulous and slightly still afraid. Although Max still just looked uncomfortable, like there was something he was hiding.

“You, were trying to protect us? SO YOU THOUGHT A KIDNAPPING WAS A GOOD IDEA, HUH?!?” Craig yelled at us, standing up and turning red-faced again. I couldn’t believe it, Craig was never angry; except when he hit Bryan for making me feel like crap, but that was different…

“IM SORRY, I DIDN’T THINK STRAIGHT, OKAY!?” I yelled right back, still feeling guilty, but now getting defensive. We started into an all-out screaming match, until we heard someone yell “SHUT UP!!!” It was Ronnie.

“Isn’t this Jason Tambers?” he said, turning the computer to face me. The headline said,

“Record Producer’s Son Not So Successful”

It had a large picture of an angry Jason being shoved into a police car by force, he was yelling at the officer. Or at least it looked that way, since his mouth was open and he was in the direction of the man with the badge. The article talked about an anonymous tipper Jason’s told police about the case that Jason had ‘witnessed’ and how the case was now being re-opened, and Jason was going to be tried as the main suspect. I squealed and turned to Hayley, a huge smile on my face.

“We did it!!! He’s in custody, the guys are safe!!” I squealed, quickly becoming confused.

“Wait… if Jason is in police custody, then who has Robert?” Bryan said, taking the words right out of my mouth.

And just then, Daisy came right through the door, a man’s arm drooped lazily over her shoulder. She was dragging him in, and he was hanging off her like a doctor had given him way too much morphine. Robert

“Would anyone like to help me out here? A girl can only carry so much weight!”