Walls

The bass from the speakers vibrated on the windows loudly, and colourful lights flashed around the large room. Most people were dancing on the large dance floor in front of the small un-occupied stage.
Alycia began to complain again as the barmaid set down two beers in front of us. “They should be starting now! Ugh!”
“Calm down, they’ll be on soon” I comforted her.
We chatted for a couple of minutes until a tipsy guy came up to our table. He was looking straight at Alycia.
“Hey there...” he slurred slightly. Alycia smiled half-heartedly and did a half-laugh.
“Uh... I’m gonna go get another drink,” I said and bailed out of the soon-to-be awkward conversation. Alycia would hit me later. I walked over to the bar and sat on a spare bar stool. The bartender got me a drink and I sat there bored, sipping at my second beer of the night.
“Sierra?” A male, smooth voice asked. I’d only met one person so far here in America, and so it could only be one person. I turned to face Alex as he smiled a huge, absolutely gorgeous smile at me.
“Hey, Alex!” I said brightly. I never thought I’d see him around again, let alone in this small bar in Baltimore. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh, you know, for the music,” he said mysteriously. Was I missing something?
“Me too. Well, for my best friend really. She’s here for the music. She’s sitting over there. Her name’s Alycia...” I began to babble. I stopped myself when I realised I was talking too much.
His gentle eyes sparkled as he watched me embarrass myself. An embarrassed laugh escaped my lips just as a middle-aged man hopped onto the stage with a microphone and the music was turned off. I directed my attention to him in an attempt to get Alex to stop paying attention to me. It worked.
“It’s now time for our special guests for tonight! I’ve known these boys since they were yay-high,” the man measured his hand up next to his waist. “And so, on a break from their first nation-wide tour, please welcome All Time Low!” The room erupted in cheers.
“That’s my cue,” Alex smiled as he ran towards the stage before I could ask what he meant.
Something began to dawn on me as he ran off. The answer slowly creeped into my mind as he dodged the crowd, and became even more evident as he jumped up onto the stage and grabbed the microphone, while three other guys ran up from side stage to join him. Oh my.
“Hey guys, thanks for being here! And thanks Tony, you rock man!” Alex pointed to the middle-aged man side stage and winked. “So, I think we’ll start with a song you all love to dance to...” Alex smiled as he slipped the strap of a green guitar around his shoulders.
Alycia ran over to me, her face lit up like Christmas as the guitar intro began. “Ahh! SIX FEET UNDER THE STARS!” Alycia screamed. I winced at the high pitched noise stinging in my ear.
I looked back up to the stage as a wonderful, rough yet silky voice began to sing. “Time to lay claim to the evidence, fingerprints sold me out but our footprints washed away from the docks down town...”
I was mesmerised by the beautiful voice Alex had. He was so immersed in the song that his eyes would close, and then he’d open them again to smile and interact with the crazy crowd. I could feel a stupid smile come across my face as I stared at him, beads of sweat starting to appear on his forehead.
“Thames Street, I’ll take you out though I’m hardly worth your time...” Alex continued to sing. Though this time his eyes weren’t closed, and they weren’t looking at the screaming girls in front of the stage, they were looking at...me?
I felt confused. I couldn’t be certain, but I could swear Alex glanced at me every now and then throughout the song.
“And like a bad movie I’ll drop a line, fall in the grave I’ve been digging myself but there’s room for two, six feet under the stars”
He directed a gorgeous half-smile in my general direction at the bar, but was he really looking at me? I didn’t have a big head or anything, but it was hard to identify who he was directly looking at without thinking it was me. His big, deep brown eyes felt like they were staring right into me, searching my soul. I felt butterflies in my stomach as I stared at him and the song finished. The crowd went wild as his stare towards me broke and he smiled and had fun with the crowd, giving them high fives while the guitarist ran around with his shirt pulled over his head.
Alycia and I laughed as he almost ran into the drums and the drummer. The drummer hit the guitarist with his drum sticks. “The guy running around is Jack,” Alycia giggled, “and the drummer is Rian.” Jack fell over at the unexpected assault from Rian, and then the bassist, “Zack,” Alycia pointed out, walked over and put his foot on Jack’s head as a sign of victory.
The antics died down as a stool was brought out and Alex exchanged his green electric guitar for an acoustic one. The other three settled down with their instruments and Alex adjusted the height of the microphone.
“Okay, so this is a song from our newest album, Nothing Personal,” Alex began with a smirk, and the crowd cheered and clapped. “This is probably my favourite song from the album, and so here it is. This is Therapy.” A beautiful tune began from the acoustic guitar and the crowd was dead silent, waiting for Alex’s angelic voice to sing again.
“My ship went down in a sea of sound, when I woke up alone I had everything.”
I had expected his voice to sound the same as the last song, but this was completely different. He sounded vulnerable, calm and passionate. The words to the song were beautiful, but I couldn’t concentrate on the words much because I was so enveloped in Alex’s voice. Wow.
“But they tore me apart like a hurricane. A handful of moments I wished I could change, but I was carried away.”
His beautiful voice continued into the chorus, and it got even better. His voice raised an octave, and the fact that he could sing so well at that pitch just blew me away.
“Give me therapy, I’m a walking travesty, but I’m smiling at everything.
Therapy, you were never a friend to me,
and you can keep all your misery.”
I sat on the bar stool and continued to stare at him as Alycia tried to get closer to the stage. She was just as bad as the others, and that made me laugh.
The end of the song neared, and as he sung the last chorus, his voice straining slightly, the song just became more beautiful.
“And you can choke on your misery.”
He sung the last line with full feeling, obviously pulling from personal experiences. The acoustic guitar faded out and the crowd screamed louder than before. A wide smile stretched across Alex’s face at their reaction. He looked so happy.
“Alright guys, unfortunately that’s all from us tonight. I wish we could stay longer but we’ll definitely be back again soon to play for Tony and you guys,” Alex said.
“Yeah, we have an orgy to go to,” Jack pointed out, and the crowd laughed. “What? I’m serious!” Jack exclaimed, but the crowd only laughed more and Alex rolled his eyes at him.
“I tell you what, we’re going to hang around for a bit, talk to you guys, have a beer, and just have fun, because we all deserve it!” Alex said, and with that, music began over the speakers and the band walked off the stage and into the crowd, where they were nearly swarmed by girls.
It took a couple of minutes for the crowd to die down, but once people had gotten their photos and autographs, the four boys were free to mingle and drink in peace. Their fans were pretty cool, come to think of it.
They all ended up with beers in their hands, and to my surprise, Alex once again headed over to me sitting at the bar with Alycia. When Alycia spotted him, I put my hand over her mouth to smother her squeal, and I smiled at him.
He glanced at Alycia with a worried look. “Uh, is she okay?” He questioned, his caterpillar eyebrow raising.
“Oh, yeah, she’s fine. Aren’t you Alycia?” I glared at her sadistically, and she got the point that she shouldn’t scream when I take my hand off her mouth. She nodded, her wide eyes looking scared. I slowly lowered my hand and she sighed.
Alex returned his attention to me. “So, did you enjoy the performance?” He asked brightly.
“I really did. You have an amazing voice,” I answered, and he beamed at me like I was the only person he ever needed approval from.
Alycia cleared her throat and nudged my side. “Oh, uh Alex, this is my best friend Alycia, Alycia, Alex,” I introduced them. It felt weird, like I had known Alex my whole life, even though this was the third time I’d ever spoken to him.
“Hi!” Alycia smiled brightly, holding her hand out. Alex shook it and smiled back at her.
“It’s great to see fans that aren’t just from America. It’s awesome to know we can reach to people on the other side of the world!” Alex sounded genuinely happy about this fact. I would be too.
“It’s so true! All Time Low has such a massive fan base in Australia!” Alycia gushed.
“I only wish we could get there more often,” Alex replied. He turned back to me and smiled again. There was a short awkward silence, and then there seemed to be an invisible light bulb that went off on top of Alycia’s head. She had an idea. Crap.
“Um, I’m going to go to the bathroom, I’ll be back in a sec,” she said, picking up her bag and scurrying off. Hmm.
I turned back to Alex staring at me. “What?” I had to ask. I was still really confused on why Alex had taken such an interest in me.
“Well I was thinking...” he was interrupted then by two girls around my age holding out a pen and a poster to Alex for him to sign. “Hey guys,” he smiled at them, signing the poster quickly.
They waited for him to say something else, but his attention was already off of them. They walked off, their smiles faltering slightly.
“Anyway, um I was thinking, do you want to tag along with us to a party tonight? You can bring your friend,” Alex asked.
I kind of didn’t want to stop looking into his beautiful brown eyes yet, so I quickly answered with a “Yes!” A little too quickly, I think. Way to not look desperate, Sierra.
Alycia returned to us then, just as Jack, Rian and Zack walked up behind Alex. “Hey! You must be Sierra!” Jack exclaimed, and he gave me a tight hug. I hugged him back with a confused look on my face.
“Uh, yeah, how did you know my name?” I asked.
“Ha, Alex hasn’t stopped- ow!” Rian began, but was punched in the stomach by Alex.
“Shut up guys,” Alex murmured to them. I blushed at the thought of Alex talking about me to his band mates.
“Uh, Alycia, Alex invited us to a party tonight, do you want to go?” I know it was a silly question to ask her.
“Yeah! That would be awesome!” I’d never seen Alycia smile so happily.
I spotted Jack smile gently at her, almost fondly as Alycia giggled with excitement at the thought of partying with All Time Low.
“Well let’s go then!” Alex declared, and we headed off to their large tour bus parked out the back of the bar. It was time to party with All Time Low!