Let The Walls Break Down

I sat down in study hall and as I was about to put my earbuds in, Maria sat down next to me and practically threw a ticket in my face. Maria was always going to concerts.

"Who is it this time?" I asked, prolonging to push the play button on my iPod. I turned the ticket to where I could read it clearly. "Who is this?"

"They're this new band. They're, like, a year older than us. If we meet them, we could totally date them," she said and turned her head to the side like she was thinking about it.

"What do they look like?" I asked, expecting her to go into this long description along with some random information I really don't give a damn about. But I was wrong.

"I have no idea. We'll just have to play it by ear. But I have a really good feeling that we're going to go out with them."

"Okay, Maria. Keep telling yourself that."

"Holly, you always see the glass half empty. Maybe you should take a trip to the non-dark side where you're at, and start seeing the glass half full. Like me," she paused to smile. "Things are much better with the Force."

"Be quiet, you don't even know how to quote Star Wars."

She twisted her mouth into a scowl. "Well, are you in or out?"

I let out a deep sigh and she still continued to ponder the thought that she would actually date someone in a band. "Yeah. Count me in."

****

I looked over at Maria as she was using pretty much all of my eyeliner and eyeshadow. "Are you about done?" I said.

"I have to look perfect for them. You don't understand."

"You are absolutely right. I have no idea." I zipped up my hoodie, as it was Wisconsin, and plopped down on my bed, probably messing up my hair. I really didn't care. I think I fell asleep, but I'm not quite sure.

"Wake up, Holly! It's time to go!"

"Okay." We walked (she flew) down the stairs and out the door to my '99 Honda Civic. I loved that car. On the way to the venue, we were singing very loudly (and not very well) to the radio. Usher and Kelly Clarkson mostly. And, to Maria it seemed like forever, we arrived at the Rave. We worked our way to the front and became immune to being pushed into the gate in front of the stage. The band we were there to see was the opening act, and they came out and the lead singer was right in front of me. Ehh...he was okay... Maria was screaming next to me and yelled, "The guitarist over there is so cute!" I don't know what she was seeing. He kind of looked like a horse to me. And that mouth!

"Hello, we are All Time Low!" the lead singer said into the microphone. Maria was staring like an idiot at the guitarist over to the left, but the guy on the right with his shirt off and the six pack caught my eye. Throughout the whole set, I couldn't tell you what they played. It sounded good, but mostly my attention went to the shirtless guy. They struck the last chord of a song I believe was called Coffeeshop Soundtrack and the lead singer said into the microphone, "Thank you for coming to see us! We'll be out by our van after the show if you wanna come hang!"

Oh, I wanted to hang. I wanted the concert to be over so I could say that I attended and didn't waste money coming here, but I wanted to go find the guy without the shirt. As soon as the last band was finished, me and Maria ran out of that place and found the only van there, the rest were all tour buses. We were in proximity of the van when we saw the lead singer come out and wave at us. "Hey guys, did you enjoy the show?" It was at this time that Maria and I were the only one's at their van. Everyone else was at some other tour bus.

"Yeah it was really awesome! Where is the rest of the band?" Maria asked.

"They should be coming out shortly. Oh, by the way, I'm Alex." He smiled and gave each of us a hug.

"I'm Maria, and that's Holly," she said and pointed to me. Like there were so many people, she had to clarify that I was Holly. We heard a door swinging behind us and the guitarist stood next to Alex and hugged him.

"I love you man, that was so fucking cool!" Alex looked like he never saw that guy a day in his life.

"Uh...Jack...we have company."

He whipped his head around and smiled. He looks more like a horse in person. "Hey guys, I'm Jack." He gave me a hug and then he gave Maria one, and sniffed her hair. "Oh my God, your hair smells so damn good. What kind of shampoo is this?"

She was so dumbstruck, she said Dove. She used Herbal Essences. Since Alex was the only one that wasn't overwhelmed, he said, "That's Holly and that lovely smelling girl is Maria."

"I know this is soon, but I think I'm in love with you guys," Jack said, mainly looking at Maria. It's okay, I liked shirtless guy.

The next guy that came out was this guy with a brown, surfer hair cut. I have never seen this guy a day in my life. I guessed he was the drummer, as he was carrying drumsticks, because Alex was blocking him. "Hey, I'm Rian." He smiled as well and didn't hug Maria because she was still being sniffed, and not doing a damn thing about it. So he hugged me for a good 30 seconds. "You guys wanna go hang at Taco Bell or something? I'm so fucking hungry."

"That sounds cool," I said as calmly as I could, because no matter how many famous people I met, sometimes bad things happen with your voice. "What about the other guy?" I had to ask.

"Oh, Zack. He's gonna work out and then probably ride his skateboard. He rarely goes places with us. He's always doing shit we're not that interested in," Rian said.

I'll admit, I was disappointed. But the 5 of us walked down the street to Taco Bell, Rian had his arm hung around my shoulders, Jack had his nose permanently placed in Maria's hair, and Alex was in the middle, holding both of our hands. I felt like a pimp.

"Uh...can we get the Taco Party Pack? The one that comes with, like, 20 of them in there?" Alex said to the lady behind the counter, who had absolutely no idea of who they could be.

We sat down at a booth and Alex pulled a chair over and started playing with Maria's hair. Jack growled. "Hey man! This is my property! You see all this hair? Mine! You can have the rest of Maria, but the hair is mine."

"Oh, nice you only want me for my hair." She smiled as he took an audible deep breath.

"You got it."

"So, you're Maria, and your name is..." Rian said, looking at me.

"I'm Holly," I said and looked back into his eyes. I could have been mistaken, but it felt like I got electricuted a little bit.

"No freakin' way. Holly is, like, my favorite name!" He smiled and nudged me with his shoulder.

"Psst!" Alex said very loudly in my ear. I acknowledged him by leaning in. "I think Rian likes you."

"Psst!" I mocked and he leaned in as well. "I think I like him too."

"Rian, she said she wants to go out with you," Alex said like he just did the best thing in the world. Both me and Rian turned red and he didn't say anything for a couple minutes. Alex just likes messin' things up.

A few minutes later, both Alex and Jack were focused on making Maria's hair into very uneven braids and laughing while me and Rian were sitting awkwardly on the other side of the table. "So you really want to go out with me?" He said kind of quietly, one side of his mouth was in a smile.

"Well what I said was that I thought I might like you," I was half smiling as well.

"Can I tell you something?" he said.

"Suuuuure."

"I'm going to think about you a lot when you're gone. I think I might like you as well."