You Rock Like Escape The Fate

Okay, so I admit, maybe crashing a limo into a tree wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but at least it wasn’t on accident, right? I am not crazy, I mean come on, I’m a paramedic. However, I knew that there was no real place to hide a two-thousand foot, shiny, black vehicle in the middle of a bunch of trees. So what did I do? I crashed the limo. Probably wasted like a million dollars, too, but oh well. I’m sure Joe would get them a new one when they were returned safely home. Thanks to us…not that they would know that, but oh well.

After running to the bathroom, I came out and heard the sniffles of a little girl, and practically tripping over my own feet, I found Leila and Craig sitting on their bed in the room he’d picked for them. She was cuddled into his arms, and he was singing to her in her ear, rocking her back and forth. I smiled weakly and rushed to Leila’s side, kneeling down next to her and stroking her hair, as she looked at me with teary eyes, her thumb in her mouth.

“She’s just a little homesick, is all…” Craig said, kissing the top of her head. What a good dad.

“Mr. Cuddles is far away!” she cried, an awfully sad pout planted on her adorable face. I wanted to cry at it, she looked positively miserable.

“Mr. Cuddles? Who’s that, sweetie?” I asked.

“My bear. Except he has daddy’s voice, instead of a play one!” Leila said, sounding more upset by the minute. I looked questioningly at Craig.

“When I was going on my first Escape the Fate tour, she wouldn’t let me leave, so I took her to a Build-A-Bear and bought this little punk-rocker bear for her. I got the little heart with a recording and put a message on it for her, so she could hear it when she pressed his paw. But she left it back in Vegas where we flippin live!” He said, sighing and shutting his eyes for a minute to calm down. “Sorry…I just can say I really didn’t expect this,”

“It’s alright…I feel awful for making you guys think we were like, psycho fan kidnappers… what was the message? If you don’t mind me asking…”

“Uhm…well… ‘I love you, Leila Bear’…” he replied, blushing slightly. I giggled at how cute that was.

“Just wait one minute, I’ll be right back!” I said, running to my old room, which my cousin had decorated with light blues and pinks, and looked through the old toy box. I faintly thought about which boy ended up getting this room…

“Ah-ha!” I said triumphantly, pulling out my old teddy bear with her little pink tutu and princess tiara. I ran back to Craig and Leila, quickly handing her the bear with a smile. Her face instantly lit up as I told her it was hers.

“This is Princess Cuddles, Princess Cuddles this is Leila,” I introduced. The little girl pressed Princess Cuddles to her small body, giggling happily.

“Thank you, Miss Leisl!” she squealed.

“Sure, cutie,” I replied, accepting her hug. I smiled and left the room, heading outside to get a breath of fresh air. I saw Ronnie talking to Hayley, grins plastered on both of their faces. They were adorable. Bryan and Max were talking on the opposite couch, probably discussing Ronnie, judging by the hateful look that Max currently had on. I stepped onto the porch and inhaled. I had always been an outdoorsy girl, the smells of the trees and the light winter winds sending me into forgetful happiness. I sat on the old-fashioned wooden porch swing, memories of my childhood summers flooding back to me. After a while of reminiscing, I decided that we needed to stock the fridge. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed the faintly familiar number, smiling as an excited voice answered the phone.

“Yello?” the girl’s voice said.

“Hey, Daisy!!” I said, laughing when she squealed.

“Oh my god, Leisl Jessi James, is that you!? You call me randomly after like two and a half years, tell me you’re spending a month at Uncle Ben’s cabin, and then leave me hanging for a week?”

“Sorry, girly. It was quite a long drive…”

“It’s okay! Ha, I understand completely! So, how ya been?”

“Good, good…and you?”

“Eh, same old, same old. Travis got caught cheating by yours truly, so he is now out of my life for good…”

“Oh sweetie, I’m sorry!”

“Nah, it’s okay. I saw it coming for a while… How about you?”

“Well, I’m spending a month long vacation with four rockstars and one of my best friends, how do you think I am?” Horrible.

“Oooh!!! Great, I’m sure! Too bad I don’t know much about the rock world. Anyways, anything I can bring you guys?”

“Actually, yes. We have a dire need to stock the refrigerator. Do you remember all the stuff I used to love when we were kids?”

“Of course. We were best friends, if you recall, darlin’. I’ll bring all I can, and I’ll have Miss Shannon come along,”

“Okay, see ya in…?”

“No more than an hour, for sure,” she assured me.

“Alright, love ya best friend!”

“Love ya too, bestie!” she said, hanging up the phone. I smiled to myself and sighed contentedly, relaxing back into the swing.

“Mind if I join ya?”

“Why, yes, I do,” I said to Max, who had just walked out of the house in his week-long worn jeans. We really needed to get these guys some clothes, this was getting bad. He scrunched his face up in confusion at what I said.

“You do?” he asked. I laughed at him and patted the seat next to me.

“No, Max, of course not,”

“Oh okay, good,” he said, coming and sitting next to me, but not close or anything. He was still a little weirded out, I’m sure. He smiled and exhaled, looking at the still smoking limo. We talked for at least an hour, and he promised that he no longer thought of me as an insane psycho kidnapper. I thanked him numerous times for that, and we actually became fairly good friends in the time it took to chat away the awkwardness that had come from kidnapping four grown men.Suddenly, an adorable blue Altima drove up the drive to the cabin, and a familiar figure stepped out of the car. One of my best friends from high school; Daisy. I got up to greet her, and turned to notice Max staring at her in awe, jaw dropped and eyes glazed over. I smiled, realizing that things might actually be fun.