Never Regret

5 days ago we’d driven 8 hours to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. This place was pretty sweet, but the best thing about the gig we’re doing tonight? It’s Halloween! Seeing as it was already 5pm, and the gig was starting at 7.30, we had a lot to do. Why? Because The Academy Is make a big deal out of Halloween gigs. Normally they’re not on tour so they play in a random state, but seeing as they are on tour, we’re playing here. The requirements of the night? Everyone has to be in costume.

“Alright, I shall be doing make-up, so everyone who wants it wait your turn!” Andy boomed.

“You’re doing make-up?” Logan snickered.

“He’s amazing, don’t diss,” William chuckled.

Logan held his hands up in surrender. Me, Logan, JC and Reece were dressing as pirates. As in, Pirates of the Caribbean pirates. The cool kind. I was wearing a loose cream shirt with a frilled neckline, a tight brown waistcoat/bustier, black trousers tucked into knee-high brown leather boots and a red bandana on my head. I had green metallic eyeshadow on and dark red lipstick. I’ll admit, I do look pretty awesome.

JC is wearing a loose white shirt, an open brown waistcoat, and striped dark and light brown trousers, with dark brown boots and a brown bandana. Reece is all in black; an open black shirt, black trousers and a black bandana. Logan was our ‘captain’, so he was wearing a white shirt, a black waistcoat, a long brown coat, black trousers tucked into brown boots, a red sash round his waist and a large tricorner hat. We all looked awesome.

Pete’s dressed as a vampire, like William’s costume was in Fall Out Boy’s ‘A Little Less Sixteen Candles’ video. He’s going to be doing all the announcements today, I think.

The merch guys (and Taylor) and the techs were dressed as the creeps from Clockwork Orange, so they were in white t-shirts, black trousers and black bowler hats, with thick white face-paint all over their faces.

Cobra Starship were on another league. Gabe was dressed as Elvis Presley, complete with white cape and a huge quiff. Ryland was dressed as a basketball player, including having his name on the back of his shirt. Victoria was dressed as a hippie, with a large sunflower in her hair. Nate was currently getting made up as a werewolf, including having fake-fur stuck to his arms. And Alex was dressed as Robin, from Batman and Robin. Yes, he was in lycra.

But The Academy Is. Wow. Although, their make-up wasn’t done yet, William had told us what their costumes were going to be. William was going as Beetlejuice. Andy was going as King Leonidas from the film 300. Adam was going as Captain America. Mike was going as a clown. And Michael was going as The Joker. I can’t wait to see what they look like when Andy’s finished.

“Hey, pirate girl,” someone called.

I turned around, smiling at the sight of Michael walking over to me. I was just finishing tying my hair into two plaits, so I waited to move till he was right in front of me. Michael was in his costume (a blue patterned shirt, a green waistcoat and black trousers), and his hair had green dye in it.

“Mm nice hair,” I teased.

“Victoria promised it’ll wash out in one shower, so I hope she’s right,” Michael chuckled.

He pulled me against his body with his hands on my waist, and I gasped as our crotches came into firm contact. Michael didn’t say anything but raised an eyebrow. I just blushed, making him laugh.

“Can I kiss you, or will it smudge your lipstick too much?” Michael mused.

“This stuff is like glue. It won’t move,” I grinned.

“Good,” Michael purred.

I giggled as he pressed his lips to mine, making him pull away again.

“Ah, no giggling into my mouth. Remember last time?” Michael reminded me.

Michael moaned softly and rolled on top of me, making me giggle into his mouth. He groaned again, but he also started to harden. I froze and Michael broke away, cursing under his breath.

“I’m sorry, that giggle had more of an effect that I thought it would,” Michael said, embarrassed

“Oh, yeah,” I blushed.

Michael just smiled and kissed me again, taking his time to move his mouth in a slow sync with mine. I could get lost in his kisses, they numb me like the most wonderful drug, and it’s like no-one exists apart from me and Michael. Just us.

“Hey, lovebirds, break it up! Chizzy needs make-up!” Pete yelled.

I chuckled as Michael broke away. He just rested his forehead against mine.

“That’s the weirdest reason so far that we’ve had to stop making out for,” Michael groaned.

“Mm, I agree. Now, go make yourself gorgeous,” I grinned.

“You think The Joker is gorgeous?!” Michael asked, confused.

“Well, I think Heath Ledger is, Rest In Peace,” I nodded.

Michael pouted, making me giggle. I pecked his lips, pushing him lightly to make him go over to Andy. But as he walked away, a strange feeling ran through me. No, it wasn’t feelings of affection. It was the feeling that something wasn’t right. Like something’s going to go wrong. I don’t like this feeling one bit.

“What’s wrong?” Taylor asked, appearing in front of me.

“Huh?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Your face was all frowny. What’s up?” she repeated.

“I just got the strangest feeling. Like something bad is going to happen. It was horrible,” I shuddered.

Taylor knows to take these ‘feelings’ seriously. After all, the last time I had one, we narrowly missed a car crash, back in May. The boys don’t know about that near-car-crash, so ssh. But she knew I wasn’t messing around.

“Just relax. Until it happens, we don’t know what’s wrong. You can’t live in paranoia, especially not on tour. Especially not around Chizzy,” Taylor said softly.

“Yeah, I know. I just wish I knew what was going to happen,” I sighed.

“Cheer up, doll. We’re going to have fun tonight. Halloween is always awesome. And the Cobras are having a party on their bus after too,” Taylor grinned.

“Now that sounds more like it,” I chuckled.

*

We waited at the side of the stage as Pete walked on, drowning in the screams and cheers from the crowd. He was going to introduce all of us, every band would go on stage, before all but Never Regret would leave, letting us start the gig.

“Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready to rumble!” Pete hollered.

The screams and cheered only intensified, making us laugh.

“Oh no, what’s this? It looks like a lot of creeps! Clockwork Orange creeps!” Pete cried in ‘horror’.

Taylor, the merch guys and the tech guys ran onto the stage, waving their arms in the air and making strange noises as they crowded around Pete. We laughed from the side of the stage.

“Who can help me? Could it be...the crew of the infamous Never Regret pirate ship!” Pete called.

Logan, JC, Reece and I ran on, me cartwheeling while JC and Logan did a back flip. Yes, I’d taught them how to do a backflip while we were waiting in the parking lot. Hah. Reece made slashing motions with his plastic sword at the Clockwork Orange creeps, ‘scaring’ them away. They ran backstage to start the final preparations and Reece stood next to us. He couldn’t master the backflip earlier, and didn’t fancy embarrassing himself in front of all the fans. Then Pete stepped forwards again.

“Next we have, the King himself, with his loyal friends, hippie-T, were-Nate, Ryland Jordan, and the boy wonder!” Pete called.

Gabe shimmied onto stage, with Victoria skipping on after him. Nate ran on with his arms in the air, ‘scaring’ Victoria, but then Alex ran on and swooped in front of Victoria to ‘protect’ her. Ryland walked on ever-so-cool bouncing a basketball, which he lightly tossed into the crowd.

“Last but not least, we have Captain America, Mikey the Clown, King Leonidas, The Joker aaaaaand Beetlejuice!” Pete roared.

The crowd tore up in screams, making us laugh. Adam ran on, his arm in the air like a proper superhero, and he struck a pose as Mike and Andy ran on. Andy grabbed the microphone from Pete and grinned.

“This. Is. SPARTA!” he yelled.

The crowd screamed louder.

Then Michael walked on. Logan, Reece and JC all pulled their swords out as he walked over to us, making me laugh. But I stopped laughing as Michael placed his hands either side of my face and pressed his lips to mine, bending me backwards like they did in old movies. Everyone on stage wolf-whistled and the crowd cheered and screamed again. Michael finally lifted me upright and let me go, winking before walking back over to his bandmates. I just stood in shock. I did not expect him to do that!

“Uh oh, looks like Beetlejuice doesn’t want to come out. We’re going to have to call him properly. After three. 1...2...3...” Pete grinned.

“Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!”

William came running onto stage and stopped dead centre, throwing his arms wide. The screams got even louder (if that was possible) and he laughed.

“Let’s get this party started!” Pete yelled.