Out of Grasp

"What are your plans for tonight?" Tori asked the second I picked up my phone.

"Well hello to you too!" I replied sarcastically.

She heaved a heavy sigh. "Hello, Emily. What are you doing tonight?"

I looked down at my pajama clad body, a box of Oreos sitting next to me and a cup of milk resting on my coffee table, Nemo playing on my TV.

"Oh, I'm very busy. Being productive and all!"

"Good, so you're not doing anything.” She said with a knowing tone to her voice. “Are you up to going to a concert tonight? Eric is best friends with one of the bands playing at a small venue here in Tempe. I’ve met them before; they’re talented, definitely our kind of music.”

"I don't know Tor..."

"You can't sit in your house all day, every day."

"I’m not. I'm honestly busy!"

"Sitting on your butt eating cookies does not classify as busy," She stated matter-of-factly.

"I don't know what you’re talking about," I grumbled.

"How dumb do you think I am? I could hear the plastic crinkling the second you picked up." I glared down at the cookie package. "I've met these guys once. They're cool dudes and they'll get your mind off all the drama going on right now. Think about it, Em. James isn't sitting around moping. He's out doing things. This is your time to have fun. Don't let him bring you down from miles away."

"....alright, fine." I grumbled knowing that if I didn’t give in now, she’d come over here and literally drag me out.

"Yes! Okay, so come to my place at like five tonight. You can meet Melanie. I've talked about her a few times. She's dating Pat, the drummer of the band."

We talked for 15 more minutes, her telling me what I should wear, all about Melanie and how she and Eric spent their day. She even managed to throw in some more advice to me about James. The only reason she stopped rambling was because Eric came home from wherever he was, screaming, “Make me a sandwich woman”.

That of course earned him a slap, that I heard him let out a girlish scream from. But of course Tori being hopelessly in love with Eric apologized immediately, cooing at him.

When we got off the phone it was 3:30pm. I hadn’t realized I wasted the entire day away. I spent a few hours in the morning unpacking boxes and setting up my house a bit, but then got lazy so I plopped down on the loveseat with some cookies and turned on the TV. And before I knew it, most of that day had passed.

I didn’t want to be late, because Tori would assume I was ditching her and she’d send out an entire search party to come get me, so I turned off the TV and wandered up stairs to get ready.

After a quick shower, I searched through the shelves of my closet for an outfit, settling on a Glamour Kills shirt and shorts. I laid my clothes out on my bed and wandered back into the bathroom. After styling my hair and applying my make-up, I got dressedand slipped on some jewelry. I slid on my shoes and then grabbed my cell phone, ID, and some money, shoving it all into various pockets on my shorts. The clock on the kitchen stove read 4:30 so I turned off all the lights of my house and headed out the door.



“You’re here!” Tori screeched as she opened her front door for me, stepping back and ushering me in.

“I’m here,” I said with a smile. “Anybody else get here yet?” I asked, following behind her.

“Just Eric and the rest of Rocket. We only have to wait for Mel to get here. We're meeting the other guys at the venue.”

As she said that, I walked into the living room where all the guys were sitting, talking and watching some movie with a lot of exploding cars. They heard Tori’s voice and turned around.

“Well, hello there!” Nick said. “Since when did you have such nice legs?” He asked.

“When did you become such a creep?” I asked, walking further into the room and sitting down next to Justin on the couch.

“The second you walked in the room,"

“Clearly, she loves me more,” Justin said, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. I laughed at Nick’s pouty face.

“Seriously, you guys need to stop creeping on my friend,” Eric warned, a playful smile on his lips.

“Hey, dude. You got a girl; let us work our mojo,” Justin defended.

“Okay, because you just said mojo, we are never dating,” I laughed, patting his knee.

“Well then!” He yelled, unwrapping his arm and giving my shoulder a small shove.

“Hey! Don’t hurt my woman!” Andrew said, smacking Justin’s chest.

“Seriously Em, you belong to 3/4 of a band. Whore much?” I flipped Eric the bird with a light chuckle.

Just then, the front door opened and slammed closed and a girl with average length black hair came stomping into the room.

"Tori, your neighbor is a major dick," the girl scoffed, putting one hand on her waist.

"Which one?" Tor asked.

"On the right, with the little ankle biter of a dog."

"That would be the wonderful Mr. G. He's a douche bag. Nobody in the neighborhood likes him."

"He's lucky I didn't drop-kick him."

Tori laughed and then gestured to me. "Melanie, this is Emily. Em, this is Melanie."

We both said our hellos and then everyone made their way to the two cars parked in the driveway. We split up, Tori, Melanie, and I in my car and all the boys in Eric's.

When we arrived at the venue, there was a line of mostly girls wrapped around the corner of the brick building and down the street.

“Pat said he gave my name to the security guy at the door with plus two, so we should be fine with getting in,” Melanie said, peering out of the window at all the fans.

"Good. I do not feel like standing on this line for another hour."

We climbed out of the car and walked up the line of fans, most of which were given varying looks. Some people looked at us with questioning glances, others glared, some simply just overlooked us. Either way, I was uncomfortable having all these people staring at me. I walked with my head down, pretending to be messing with the bracelets on my wrist. When we finally made it to the front of the line and approached the security guard, I could feel the jealous glares burning holes into the back of our heads.

We walked into the building, passing tech crews and random band members along the way. Tori and Melanie seemed to know everyone, waving and saying hello to people as we passed by. We approached a door that had a sign signaling that it was the door leading backstage. Melanie pushed it open and we headed down a steep flight of stairs. At the bottom of the stairwell, we could either go left or right.

“The bathrooms are to the left,” Tori said, grabbing my wrist and bringing me right.

We made it to a another door with a single sheet of paper taped to it and in messy writing “The sexiest band of Tempe, Arizona!” was scribbled on it. I couldn’t help but to laugh at that. Melanie knocked on the door and seconds later it swung open.

A guy wearing a black v-neck, skinny jeans with large rips on the knees and black vans opened the door with a smile. His hair was styled in a way that it looked unstyled, like he just ran his hands through it a bunch of times.

“Hey, Melanie, Tori,” he said, peering at me. “Hey girl I don’t know.”

“Gar, this is Emily. She’s one of my best friends. Emily, this is Garrett. He plays bass in the band.”

“Hey,” I said, giving an awkward wave, my face burning. He chuckled before stepping aside and ushering us all into the tiny dressing room. As I walked past him, he sent me a warm smile, calming my nerves a bit. Nick, Justin, Andrew, and Eric were already there, talking to three other guys that I didn't recognize.

They turned their attention towards us as we all walked in.

A small guy with longish brown hair jumped up from his spot on the couch and rushed over to Melanie, hugging her tightly. She giggled, falling into his arms. They made their way back to where he had previously been sitting and began talking amongst themselves.

“Glad you could make it Em,” Nick said, making his way over to me, a playful glint in his eyes. A guy with ginger hair, nothing compared to Nick's and one with short, choppy brown hair looked up from their conversation with Justin as Nick pinched my cheeks like I was a baby.

“I couldn't miss seeing you, could I?” I slapped his hands away from my face, sticking my tongue out at the pout that he sent my way.

“Jared, Kennedy, Pat,” Tori said, drawing all of their attention and shoving Nick out of the way, “this is my friend Emily.”

I was greeted with hellos and small waves, the guys friendliness making me feel less awkward.

“Hey, where is-“

Melanie was cut off as the bathroom door opened with a creak and out walked a tall, lanky guy with sand colored hair that and legs skinnier than anyone elses I’ve ever seen. His jeans were scrunched into a pair of brown cowboy boots and his plaid shirt was opened a little at the top, revealing a white v-neck underneath and a dog tag hanging from his neck. I could see a few words from a tattoo going across his chest in a neat cursive writing, but it was too hiddne for me to make out what it says.

“John, this is Emily. Em, that is the lead singer of The Maine.”

I hadn’t noticed that Tori had yet to mention the name of the band we were here to see until now. The Maine; a little misleading since they’re from Arizona.

John’s eyes met with mine and a smirk crossed his lips. He walked across the room towards me as Tori stepped away from me and made her way towards Eric.

“Hey,” John said in a rustic, scratchy voice. He was smiling and staring at me straight in the eyes, making my heart pound and my face turn red. I could only hope it wasn't obvious that my cheeks were heating up. He cocked an eyebrow at me, and that’s when I noticed I had been full on staring at him.

“Um, hi,” I said quietly, momentarily looking down towards my hands.

He chuckled lightly, running his hands through his hair and staring at me with a curious look on his face.