Smile for the Camera & Strike up the Band

Alessandria

“What?” I plugged one ear with my finger and held my phone closer to the other, trying to hear to voice on the other line. “Yeah, we just landed; are you here?” I stood on my tiptoes and scanned the swelling crowd, trying to locate the party waiting for me.

A hand tapped my shoulder and gestured toward the airport café, “There they are.” I smiled at Patrick, who was balancing his laptop case with one arm and my son with the other. I led us through the busy building to the little coffee spot and was immediately swallowed by Annette’s opened arms, and beside me, I heard Dacian let out a little happy squeak when Gaskarth grabbed him and hugged him, spinning him around.

“Oh my god, Alessandria, I’m so glad you’re here,” Annette breathed so her boyfriend couldn’t hear. “Rian’s been staying with Alex and Jack this week--some weird wedding tradition or something--and Zack’s been staying with them too. I can’t handle any more penis jokes.”

“Hey, what did the leper say to the prostitute?” I asked. She raised an eyebrow and shook her head, and I told her, “Keep the tip. Ha, get it? Penis joke.” Her face went instantly dark and she drew back to punch me in the shoulder with all her might, and I took a step back with a light laugh before she hugged me again.

She rolled her eyes at me and then she and Gaskarth helped us collect our bags from the carousel and carry them out to the SUV that was waiting for us. With everything packed in, Patrick slid into the passenger seat next to Gaskarth while Annette, Dacian and I squeezed into the backseat, laughing and catching up, though there had only been three weeks of separation between us.

When we got to the house that Jack and Gaskarth shared, I was stunned, to say the least. A cozy little blue house with a big front yard and a tree with a tire swing suspended from it. “I know,” Annette murmured, reading my mind as I stared at the house, “American Dream-ish, right?”

I nodded slowly, “A little Stepford, too.”

“I wanna swing!” Dacian yelled, zipping past us out the car and through the front yard. I opened my mouth to call out to him, but Patrick held up a hand and pressed a kiss to my cheek before following the little boy to the tree and helping him onto the swing, keeping a hand close to his back as he pushed him, making sure he didn’t fall. I watched with a small smile as Gaskarth popped open the backdoor of the SUV to start taking out bags. “He really is the perfect man, isn’t he?” Annette mused, following my gaze.

I chuckled and shrugged, “Maybe not perfect, but definitely great. We’ve been staying with him since tour ended, and he’s been so sweet to us. Dacian accidentally called him dad the other day, and it seemed to make him really happy. Besides that, I dunno,” I shrugged again, “He spoils me. He’s been patient with me and he’s so affectionate and he cooks for me and brags about me…” I trailed off, feeling my cheeks heat. Patrick really had been great, and I couldn’t imagine ever feeling about anyone else the way I felt about him.

Annette studied me knowingly, “So maybe not perfect, but definitely perfect for you, you mean?” I blushed even deeper and looked away, avoiding her by helping Gaskarth get the bags out of the back. There was an extra guest room in their house and, rather than subjecting Dacian to the boredom of a hotel for three days, we’d taken the guys up on their offer to stay with them. Then again, I had a feeling that everyone--despite their hotel reservations--would more than likely end up passed out on the floor of the house, rather than resting comfortably in queen-sized beds. The All Time Low guys were just those kinds of guys.

As we were walking through the door, Kal and Jack were coming out, both dressed and Jack had his keys in his hand. “Alessandria!” They said in unison, both wrapping me in a tight group hug as Gaskarth rolled his eyes and squeezed past us. Kal was the first to pull back and start talking animatedly, “We thought your flight was delayed; we didn’t think you’d get here so soon. We’re on our way to pick a few people up from the bus station.”

Jack scoffed at this, “I still can’t believe they took a bus.”

“Who?” I asked.

Kal elbowed her boyfriend in the ribs and told me, “Cass, Alex, Mike, Pat, Duncan and Jay. Oh, and Erica.” Erica had taken a vacation to West Palm Beach after tour, to avoid seeing her parents until she’d figured out her living situation; she refused to go back to their house. We’d talked almost every day since tour ended and, apparently, I wasn’t the only one she kept in such close contact with. According to her, Gabe called at least every other day, and texted every day. Even though her words said it was annoying, her tone always made it perfectly clear that he was now a welcomed annoyance in her life, and I was glad to hear that she seemed as happy as I felt.

“Be sure you bring my Erica to me when you pick them up,” I told Kal with my strict-mommy voice. “Even if she wants to go to her hotel and sleep; tie her up and bring her to me.”

Jack let out a squeal of delight, “Ooh, goody! I was hoping we could add kidnapping to our agenda today.”

Kal gave me a look. “He’s not even being sarcastic; that was the first thing he told me when we woke up this morning.”

Once they’d left and Dacian wore himself out on the swing, he and Patrick joined me in the guest room to move our bags around and unpack what we needed into the small dresser that was pressed against one wall. Once we were done, Patrick yawned and stretched out, “Oh man, jetlag.”

I raised my eyebrows at him, “Patrick, there’s only a three hour time difference between LA and Baltimore.”

“Fine,” he sighed, plopped down on the big bed, “I’m just lazy and I woke up way too early.”

“Amen,” I agreed, laying down next to him. A moment later, Dacian climbed over me and wiggled in between us, leaving just enough space for Patrick and I to clasp hands above his dark-haired head. And that’s how we fell asleep, like a happy little family.

Erica

“My hand hurts,” Lipshaw whimpered next to me as we stood outside the bus station, staring down at his bright red fingers and shaking them. I gave him a sideways glance beneath my wayfarers and smirked; served him right for challenging me in bloody knuckles. I dominated every time. Lipshaw seemed to forget about this a moment later, however, when there was a loud series of honks and someone screamed behind us. We turned to see a pale green soccer-mom van driving toward us, Kal hanging out of one of the windows, waving her arms around madly.

“Bitches and hoes, bitches and hoes,” she was chanting, “Everywhere I goes, I sees dem bitches and hoes!”

Cass cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted back, “If you stopped carrying a mirror everywhere, that wouldn’t happen!”

“Bitch, I’ll cut you!” The van came to a sudden stop and Kal almost went flying out the window, but caught herself on the side view mirror just in time. “Goddammit, baby, are you trying to kill me?!” Jack wasn’t listening, however. He jumped out from the driver side door with a roll of duct tape in his hands and charged straight for…me?

He grabbed my wrists and, with a quickness I couldn’t have imagined he possessed outside of the bedroom, taped them together. “Jack, what the fuck are you--rrrn!” My groan was muffled by the strip of tape that went over my mouth, and I looked wildly around to the band behind me, but they were all in some state between confusion, concern, and extreme amusement. “You guys suck!” I tried to say, but it came out more like “oooaiurhhh!” which only made them laugh.

I turned my glare on Jack, who simply shrugged, “Alessandria told me to.” With that, he grabbed me around the waist and tossed me over his shoulder, carrying me back to the van and tossing me onto the middle bench seat when Kal opened the door. A few minutes later, when everyone else (and our luggage) was loaded in and Jack was behind the wheel, I maneuvered myself into a better sitting position and started violently kicking the back of his seat and screaming at him as best I could behind the gag. He didn’t even turn around. Instead, he wordlessly tossed the roll of tape to Duncan, who passed it to Pat, who gave me an apologetic look before taping my ankles together, and then taping them to the seat. I sent him a death look that I hoped he interpreted correctly; he was next on my to-kill list.

Jack dropped the others off at the hotel but refused to let me go with them, and soon we were “home sweet home,” which I took to mean we were at his house, where Alessandria was staying. He carried me inside, cursing with I managed to knee him in the stomach, and then dropped me onto the couch where Zack and Jocelyn were playing video games. They barely even flinched when a bound-and-gagged girl landed next to them, and it raised great concern about their morality.

Jack took Kal’s hand and started walking toward the stairs, and I aimed one good kick to his shin that made him double over and hiss in pain. He gave me a look before finally going to the kitchen to retrieve a pair of scissors, and he cut my hands and feet loose. As soon as I could move, I dove for him, knocking him to the ground and pinning his arms above his head. “Is this seriously how you say hello now, Barakat?”

He groaned beneath me, “Oh my god, for a tiny girl, you’re really hurting me.”

“Don’t care,” I told him absently, pushing my knee against his chest until he whimpered.

“Ow ow ow! Seriously, dude, Alessandria told me to!”

“Hm,” I leaned back on my heels, still crouched over him, and touched my hand to my chin, “And where is she now?”

From the couch, Zack answered, “Sleeping, I think. Down the hall and to the left.”

I was running down the hall before he could finish, and I threw open the door to the guest room and drew in a deep breath to shout at them. The picture that met me, however, made me fall silent. Alessandria, Patrick, and Dacian all fast asleep in the roomy guest bed, Alessandria and Patrick’s hands grasped tightly together and Dacian’s head rested against his mother’s stomach; it was like a picture perfect family, and almost too precious to disturb. Almost.

I threw myself at the bed, landing at the foot of it and bouncing enough to jolt the bodies that inhabited it. Patrick woke immediately with a startled yelp and fell off the edge, while Alessandria’s arms instantly went around her son and held him close, to protect him, until her eyes found me. “What the hell, Ric?” She demanded, pulling her arms back from her son and patting his head soothingly as he looked around in sleepy confusion.

“What-the-hell yourself,” I shot back, “Why did you tell Jack to duct tape me and throw me in the back of a van?”

Her eyebrows shot up, “What are you--oh, he didn’t,” her eyes went wide with understanding. “Um…it was a misunderstanding?”

“Mhm,” I narrowed my eyes at her as I looked her over. Finally, I felt my face soften and I smiled at her, “You look really good, Ria.” And in truth, she did. Her hair was free of red streaks now, just a solid black and curled around her shoulders, and she looked like she’d put on some weight she’d been missing on tour. Her skin had more color to it and her face seemed lighter, less wrinkled, free of secrets and hidden pains.

She smiled back, “So do you.” Likewise, I was sure that was true. My hair had already lightened considerably in the Florida sunlight and I was tanner than I’d been before, and (being given no other choice from Cass) I’d taken to putting on make-up regularly. Even my clothing style had become a little more girly, but I stress a little. Boots instead of high-tops. Blouses instead of band shirts. But I was happier now, and that was probably the biggest change of all; I didn’t have to force it to smile anymore.

She sat up and pulled me into a tight hug, which I readily returned. Despite the fact that we talked every single day, I’d missed her so much that it hurt. I couldn’t even imagine how home-life was going to be, when I was away from her. Wherever home was.

“You guys are real cute and everything,” Patrick mumbled breathlessly as he struggled to get up from the floor, “But was that really a necessary way to wake us up?”

Hearing his voice and fully comprehending his presence brought a whole other matter to my attention, and I grabbed Alessandria’s hand, yanking her up off the bed with me. “DJ, I need to borrow your mommy for a little bit, okay?” The little boy nodded sleepily and dropped his head back to the pillow, closing his eyes and curling into it. Patrick rolled his eyes at me and crawled back up on the bed, throwing an arm over his eyes and trying to get back to sleep as well.

I dragged Alessandria down the hall and through the house until I found my way to the back deck, sitting us both down in a pair of chairs on the wide porch. She looked at me like I was crazy, “Erica, what are we doing out here?”

“I need Patrick details, miss,” I said quietly, leaning in.

Her you’re-a-total-nut-job look only got stronger, “We talk every single day; you know how good things have been going.”

“Yes,” I agreed, “But I haven’t seen you guys together for three weeks; I haven’t seen that whole cutesy, and-baby-makes-three thing you’ve got going on.” I wiggled my eyebrows, “At the end of tour, I asked if you were in love with him, and you said no. Have things changed?”

She blushed a dark red and looked down at her bare feet, tucking some hair behind her ear. “I’ve been thinking about that lately. This is my first real relationship, so I don’t want to rush into anything by saying the l-word too soon--”

“‘The l-word?’ Are you twelve?”

“But,” she said pointedly, ignoring me, “I’m thinking it’s a definite possibility.”

I smiled and reached over to take her hand, “And how has therapy been?”

Her eyes lit up an odd mix of sadness and excitement, “Fantastic. Dr. Lorne is extremely insightful, but soothing; I never feel overwhelmed when I’m there.” She picked at her nails, “She’s recommended that I stay in California for a while longer and continue sessions with her, rather than go back to Dove Creek and switching to Dr. Bertram.”

“Oh, really?” She hadn’t told me this little fact yet. “How do you feel about that?”

“Well, Patrick says he’d be happy to have me stay a wh--”

“I didn’t ask how Patrick feels,” I cut her off with a wave of my hand. “How do you feel about staying with him in LA longer?”

Very slowly, she smiled down at her hands and told me, “I’d like it.”

We spent the next hour or so like that, talking about her and Patrick, and California. I asked her about places I used to go when Daniel and I shared our apartment there, and she got a few recommendations, should she decide to stay longer (which good money said she would). Eventually, her eyes lit up and she asked, “Wait, so enough about me! What about you?”

I felt my brow furrow, though I knew exactly what she was talking about. “What about me what?”

She sighed exasperatedly, “Don’t play dumb with me; you and--”

The door behind us opened then, and there was happy yapping as two dogs that I recognized from Gaskarth’s pictures came racing out, followed by one that I recognized from Vicky’s. Vicky was here! Which meant…

“That guy,” Alessandria finished with a little pinkness to her ears, jerking her thumb at the doorway. I was almost afraid to look, and when I did, I turned out to be correct in my thinking. Dressed to impress, with a guitar case slung over his shoulder, was Gabe Saporta, beaming at me like I was the only reason he’d made the trip to Maryland.

“Alessandria,” he greeted with a little nod, “Erica.” Just the sound of him saying my name sent waves of shivers down my arms. “Are you ladies talking about me already?”

Before awkward answers could muddle their way from our lips, Rian pushed past him roughly and started shoving him back inside. “Flirt like an asshole later, Saporta; the rehearsal dinner is in two hours and none of you are at your hotel getting ready. You two,” he added to Alessandria and I, gesturing inside, “You guys need to get ready too. Come on, come on; if we’re late, Kara’s mother will tear my face off and feed it to her bird. She told me so this morning.”

I stood first, holding up my hands, “Okay, we’re going. No need to get your panties in a bunch.”

“Har har. So original.”