Four Years

Alex's POV

Zack and I walked down the hall, just trying to release our pre-show nervousness. Usually, we weren't nervous about playing a show, but we were playing a massive stadium tonight. We would be lying if we said we weren't nervous.

"So, okay, Jack and I - "

"Wait, shhh," I said, cutting Zack off from speaking. I saw Cassadee Pope and Pete's girlfriend hugging in the hallway in front of Hey Monday's dressing room. I was about to walk over there and say hi when I heard something that made my heart drop.

"Oh, dude, Rachel, I missed you!" Cassadee said, pulling away from the hug. I watched as they both went into the dressing room.

When they were out of sight and in the room, I turned to Zack, my eyes wide and my jaw on the floor.

"Rae - Rae is on - on - Zack, Rae...that was her! That was her!!" I yelled, grabbing Zack by the shoulders.

"Dude, oh - ar - are you sure?" He stuttered out. He couldn't believe it either. "How - how do we kn - know that's her, Alex? Rachel's a common name..."

Was he serious? That was no coincidence. Rachel Marie Woods was here. "She ran away to Chicago, Zack. I was right all along. Patrick probably picked her up in the middle of the night. I know she didn't fly there. She must've met and just started dating Pete," I began rambling, my thoughts spilling out of my mouth faster than they poured in my head. "I - we, we gotta tell the guys, Zack. They'll...they'll flip ou - "

He grabbed my arm before I could run away to our bus to tell the guys. "No, Alex. I don't think that's a good idea. Why don't we tell them after the set? I mean, just knowing this is gonna throw me off a little tonight. We'll be playing songs we wrote about her, Lex. She's gonna hear them. I don't know about you, but knowing that is making me super nervous to play tonight."

He was right. I was getting nervous. The majority of the songs we were gonna play tonight were about her.

"Just imagine Jack. You know he's not over her. Knowing she's here would just completely throw him off," He finished. I nodded, agreeing with him.

"Zack, I need some alone time, okay?" I said, sorta walking off from him. He nodded and headed the other way.

My thoughts swirled all around her. I was becoming obsessed again. I stood in front of Hey Monday's dressing room, contemplating whether or not I should go in and tackle her to the floor in a bone crushing hug.

I decided against it. She'd probably be so freaked out.

I thought I was over being obsessed with her. Then again, I never thought I'd see her again. That made it easier to try and move on. But seeing her made it suddenly so hard to move on.

I couldn't believe I didn't realize it was her the first time she appeared in magazines along side Pete. God, I felt stupid. Though, she did try her best to hide herself. Why though? Was she afraid of the public? Or was she afraid of me?

I had a feeling it was the latter.

Then it struck me. Not once had I ever seen a kid with her and Pete. What happened to my kid? My child would be turning four years old this year.

She didn't give it up, did she? She wouldn't have...

Unless Pete made her. But why would he do that? I doubt he did.

Tonight's show had to be perfect. It couldn't be bad in any way at all. I needed to play my best and show Rae that I made it. I was successful.

Ugh, all this thinking was making my head hurt. I needed a nap before we played. I turned around and walked back to the bus, a huge grin on my face. I couldn't wait to play tonight.

***

It was our turn to go on stage. I peaked over the side stage and glanced out at the crowd. It was massive. We had never played to a crowd this large before. There had to be at least 10,000 kids out there...

I gulped as Jack hit my back, "You ready to play your fucking heart out?"

"I think so," I replied, taking a sip of water out of the bottle Danny had just handed me. I handed it back to Danny and walked out on stage. I walked back to the drum riser where Rian was set and jumped up onto it, high-fiving him just like I did every time we played.

Jack and Zack soon joined our little high-five thing, putting their hands in.

The kickdrum shook me out of my nerves and I instantly dove into our first song - Poppin'.

Three songs later, and I was on fire. The kids in the crowd were singing along to every word that floated out of my mouth. It was amazing. The smile on my face was the biggest it's ever been.

I glanced over to Jack who was bouncing around madly. He obviously loved his job.

Something on the side of the stage caught my eye. It was her. Rachel. She was watching us play.

I finished the song, still staring at her. She must've noticed because she shook her head and ran off towards the dressing rooms.

Rachel and I made eye contact for the first time in four years. Holy. Shit.

I wanted to drop my guitar and run after her. But we still had four songs to finish. These were going to be the four longest songs ever.