When the Day Met the Night

Never underestimate a girl’s love for her favorite band. Never think even for a minute, that she won’t defend them to her death. That band might of saved her life, or just made her smile every day. That band has never broke her heart and has yet to leave her. No wonder she finds such joy in her music ~Alex Gaskarth

Eventually we got Alex’s place refurnished, and he was back to sleeping in his own bed, and trying to get over Lisa. It seemed like she had been erased from the world, because she never contacted any of us, and we never bothered to call her either. Alex seemed to be doing a lot better, he starting acting normal around the third week A.L. [After Lisa] So now a month after, he was pretty much his old self, perverted, crazy, and a potty mouth. Him, Jack, and I were all peas in a pod; something of which I’m not sure if I should be proud of or ashamed; I choose to go with proud. PROUD!

The C.D. was almost done, and we were so excited. I came up with the name ‘You May Die of a Misprint’ which is part of a quote from Mark Twain, one of my absolute favorite authors. We all came up with about an even amount of songs, and we were just ready for it to be released so we could see the reactions. Brendon found the song that I had worked on back when Alex broke up with Lisa. When I finished it I recorded it with my webcam. Brendon listened to it then ran to my room and forced me to record it in the studio.
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“Please E?! Your voice is so amazing in that song, and it’ll reach out to our girl fans, which happen to be quite a few.”

“It’s not exactly the band’s style, and wouldn’t you be the one singing it anyway? Because I don’t think that many fans like me, and they would probably hate me even more if we put that on the album. They would probably think that I’m just using the bands fame to start my own solo career; which trust me, I’m not. I love you and Spencer way too much to even think about leaving.”

“Ryan sang his own song in Pretty Odd; you can sing your own song now. And if you love us so much, you shouldn’t mind doing this! Please! We can just make it a bonus or something, but I really want it as part of the album.” Brendon looked at me with his puppy dog eyes and I resigned.

“Fine, I’ll do it. You’re annoying, you know that right?”

Brendon smiled widely, “Yup! I love you!” He hugged me and I rolled my eyes; I could never be mean to him or Spencer.

“So who’s the song about anyways?” Spencer asked with a smirk as he walked after retrieving snacks from the kitchen.

“Um. Some boy from high school; no one you know. Not like we’re ever gonna happen anyway… Because I live here now.”

LIES! Oh shut up! Only ½ of it’s a lie. It’s not gonna happen, and I do live here now. But they do know who he is, and he’s not from your high school! I’m going insane, I’m arguing with myself.

I sighed and was happy that Brendon accepted my answer, although Spencer seemed a bit resistant to it.

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So I recorded the song while Spencer and Brendon cheered on from the other side of the glass.

For now, our jobs were done and it was up to the people who work on marketing. All Time Low was on the same page as well, which made me incredibly happy; yet sad, it meant that soon both our bands would be going on tour, so we wouldn’t be able to see each other as often as I’d like. I already missed my Florida friends, and soon I was going to miss most of my L.A. friends.

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I decided to celebrate the finishing of both the All Time Low CD ‘To Hell with Hell, I Have My Own Paradise’ and Panic! At The Disco’s ‘You May Die of a Misprint.’ So I dragged Alex along with me to the supermarket. Sadly after a while of being in Panic! I realized that I need to actually try to conceal my identity if I don’t want to get swarmed by people. At first I said I didn’t want to because I want fans to say hi, but then they got creepy and I was freaked out when they had pictures of my house, kind of like what happened to Alex. So after that I decided to wear hoodies out. Of course the only one clean happened to be my All Time Low hoodie. When Alex saw me he laughed and called me a crazed fan girl.

“Shut up so we can go.” I grumbled as I walked out of my house. The market was only a block away and I wasn’t getting much so I decided to just walk. Alex fell into step beside me and tried to pull of my hoodie. “Why did I invite you?” I chuckled as I let him take off the hoodie. “So what was the point of that?”

“To annoy you.” Alex smirked and walked into the supermarket while pretending to open the automatic door with the force, and then hold it for me.

“You are such a dork.” I smiled and took off my sunglasses. We walked over to the egg section and I started to check them to make sure none were broken. Alex was looking at milk next to me. “Hey Alex are you-” We both turned at the same time, and since I automatically look up too look at him, and he automatically looks down, our lips connected and I almost dropped the egg carton in my hand. I heard a squeal and it shook me out of my trance. I could see my face in the reflection of the glass doors; I was so red. “Allergic to anything…” I finished my sentence. I was staring at Alex in shock, and he was staring right back. I hadn’t even realized we were standing so close.

“Are you Alex from All Time Low?!” A girl screamed next to us.

Alex nodded and scratched his head as he signed her shirt.

“Hey you’re that new girl from Panic! right? Elizabeth?” The girl looked like the classic ‘emo’ with straight black hair and bangs that covered half her face, but she was pretty and probably around 16.

“Yea.” I felt so warm. What if she saw us kissing? I then noticed the camera and freaked out even more; what if she had videotaped it?

“Are you two a couple?! I saw that kiss and it was so cute! I already posted it to youtube, and twitter, people are going to love you as a couple!” The girl squealed, and my fears were confirmed, and by the way Alex’s Adam’s apple quivered, I figured he had the same fear.

“We’re not a couple. That was just a chance of fate.” I felt bad because I didn’t really want to talk to her at the moment. I just wanted to hyperventilate. I just had my first kiss, with Alex Gaskarth, in the middle of the supermarket, while doing to most unromantic thing, looking at eggs, and a random person caught it all on tape.

“Oh… Well you two would make a good couple.” Someone yelled out a name and the girl said goodbye to us.

We finished getting what we needed and walked back to my house.

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“Alex I’m really sorry about that, I honestly didn’t mean to.” I was sad, Alex seemed so mad, maybe I was a bad kisser? Or maybe he was just annoyed that I kissed him, even though I really wasn’t planning it.

“I know you didn’t, it was just a freak accident. Just please tell me that since the time that you told me you’d never been kissed, you kissed someone.” Alex brushed his hair back with his fingers and awaited my reply.

I stared at my shoes and responded meekly, “No…”

“What?”

“No.” I said a little louder and got enough courage to look at him.

“Oh shit, E, I’m so sorry!” Alex squished his face in distress.

“It’s okay. At least now I can say I kissed the amazing Alex Gaskarth.” I smiled while trying to ease the tension.

Alex seemed like he was about to say something but the rest of All Time Low followed by the rest of Panic! walked through the door.

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About a week after the kiss I woke up scared. It was sort of my go to emotion when I woke up in the morning for the past 2 days, Simba had gotten sick and I was in a constant state of worry. Today was her appointment with the doctor. But for some strange reason, I woke up terrified. I ran to the living to see where Simba was and I noticed she was hiding under the table. Tears fell down my eyes. “No Simba no.” I had heard that animals whenever they feel they are on the brink of death, they tended to go to secluded areas. I could see how weak she seemed. She could barely lift her head when I called her name.

I sat down next to her and put her upper body on my lap. I petted her dying body. I didn’t want her to be alone during her last few moments. She felt so cold in my arms. I closed her eyes and sobbed. I noticed the time. 4:13 A.M. I decided to place her in a good way to bury her, before rigor mortis set in. I went to my back yard and in an area I deemed with as little pipes as possible, I began to dig. After about two hours of non-stop digging, I had made a grave of about 4ft X 3ft X 3ft. I decided that I needed to dig at least one foot deeper so no animals would try to dig her up. My cat came outside and looked at me and meowed. In that instant I knew she understood. Her adoptive mother was dead. She looked at the grave and meowed a long low note. If she was human, I’m sure that would’ve been a sob. After all, Simba had taken her under her wing, even if they were entirely different species.

I understood why Harry wanted to dig Dobby’s grave himself, instead of just using magic. It gives you some sort of closure, and the physical pain pushed the emotional pain away; although I was still crying through the entire thing, to the point where I was pretty sure I was dehydrated, but I continued on. Someone yelled my name from the back door, but it felt so alien and far away that I paid no attention to it. I kept digging until I got the last shovel full out.

“E, are you okay?” Alex put his hand on my shoulder and I shrugged it off as I wiped my face. Alex seemed to get really worried. “E, where’s Simba?” He turned me around to face him, took one look at my face and got tears in his eyes. “When?”

“4:13” I whispered. My throat was dry and I was tired.

“You’ve been digging for 3 hours?” Alex looked at the pile of dirt and smudged some of the dirt off my face.

I shrugged and looked into the deep hole. Alex hugged me tightly and whispered sweet nothings in my ear, like I did when Lisa and he broke up.

For the next hour Alex helped me wrap Simba in a colorful sheet, something that represented how happy she was, and then put her in the grave. I was worried about the raccoons that she hated so much so we put some extra mulch on top. I then took a large piece of stone from my front lawn and made a tombstone for her.

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Apparently Alex had sent the word to everyone else and they all came rushing to my house. I had showered away the dirt and tears, and cleaned out some of the blisters I got from digging. When I walked out of the shower I felt so weak and almost collapsed. Alex checked how fast my skin repelled back, and noticed it was incredibly slow.

“You’re dehydrated.” Alex passed me some Gatorade and I drink the entire bottle in 10 minutes, meanwhile he hands me another one.

“Thanks, I feel better. And thank you for helping out this morning.” Everyone was in the living room looking at me pitifully.

“E, we can cancel the interview if you’d like,” said Brendon.

They were all looking at me with worry etched on their faces. Thankfully I had cried myself out and only Alex saw my tearful self.

“No I’m fine. I want to; it’ll be something to keep her out of my mind.”

Before we left I got ready in jeans and a T-Shirt, I also took a picture of Simba that was hanging on my wall. I held it tightly in my hand, creating creases, but it felt nice to still have her somewhat near me.

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“So we are here with Panic! At The Disco, now why don’t you guys introduce yourselves?” said our blonde interviewer. She was wearing a short skirt, a nice blouse, and stiletto heels.

“Well I’m Brendon.”

“I’m Spencer.”

“And I’m Elizabeth.”

“Oh yes, you’re the new addition correct?”

I nodded and squeezed my fist. I was really missing Simba. While she began to talk about the band’s history, I unraveled the picture and stared at Simba’s photo. I didn’t even notice she had stopped talking until I saw her thin manicured hand snatch away the photo.

“Ooh, who is this? Your lover Alex Gaskarth perhaps?”

It didn’t even compute that she called Alex my lover, all I knew was that she was taking Simba away from me. “Give it back.” I said, even though it was more of a growl.

Brendon and Spencer looked at me worriedly as I grabbed my photo back, leaving a very confused interviewer, she didn’t get the chance to see what the picture was.

“Someone’s a bit touchy.” She said and rolled her eyes. “Who was in the picture anyway?”

“My dog.” I said matter-of-factly, Brendon and Spencer both nodded.

“Well, how about we talk about your smooch with Alex Gaskarth, the lead singer of All Time Low, in the supermarket. Are you two an item?”

I was already starting to hate her. “That was a freak accident, we are not together.”

“Are you sure?” She then pointed to the screen, they were playing the video the girl had taken.

At that point I was just getting angrier and angrier.

“You two seem pretty cozy.”

“We’re best friends and I was going to ask him a question. We turned around at the same time and just happened to kiss.” I could hear the agitation in my voice, Brendon and Spencer looked around the crowd awkwardly.

“Well Lisa, Alex’s ex, says that she broke up with him because he was cheating on her with you.” The blond looked angered that she wasn’t getting anything juicy out of me.

“Well she’s an evil manipulating bitch. She was cheating on him constantly with random people, I was the only one that confronted her. Alex caught her, he broke up with her. End of story.”

“Ooh I hear some resentment.” She smiled fakely at the crowd. “So we’ve heard that when you first joined the band, you were a virgin, never even had a kiss. What about now?”

“I do resent her, because she hurt my best friend in a way no one should be hurt. I am still a virgin. I’ve only had one kiss in my life, and that is the one you saw, that was accidental.” I glared at the interviewer. Hey at least it was getting my mind off if what was waiting at home. “Now, would you happen to stop trying to analyze my non-existent love life, and oh I don’t know, ask the band questions, because you did ask for Panic! At The Disco not Elizabeth Starr.” I could hear whispering and ‘oohs’ in the crowd.

During the rest of the interview she asked Brendon and Spencer questions as well. She tried to avoid eye contact with me until the end when we were going to perform.

“So what are you going to perform?”

“Well I was actually thinking of having E play her song.”

My eyes widened and I shook my head. “No one told me about this.”

“Oh well sweat heart, we even brought a piano. Spence will play drums and I’ll play guitar, you sing and play the piano.” Both Brendon and Spencer were smiling wide.

“You guys suck.” I said as I walked over to the piano and refreshed my mind on the keys for the song.

You’re the boy with a real nice smile,
But a broken heart inside.
Give it to a girl, gave it to a girl,
And I think she lost her mind.
Are you giving up and done?
Are you through with all this?
Are you tired of the pain?
Torn to pieces.
Can you let me try?
Tell me it’s all right,
Just for one night.
Show you how to feel like,
What it feels like.
To be hugged, to be kissed.
Yes I can be that part of you.
I’ll try my best.
I’m the girl, I can make you smile,
And I promise to be true.
Give it all,
Give until there’s nothing left to lose.
Don’t say you’re giving up and done,
That you’re through with all this.
Yeah you’re tired of the pain,
Torn to pieces.
Can you let me try?
Tell me it’s all right,
Just for one night.
Show you how to feel like,
What it feels like.
To be hugged, to be kissed.
Be thought of and to be missed.
I can be that part of you,
Let me be that part of you.
I see that you’re breaking,
Your heart is breaking.
Here’s my hand if you’ll take it,
We can make it out,
Of all this mess.
No more stress.
I can be that part of you
I’ll try my best.
Give me your heart,
I don’t want a piece or a part,
I want it all.
I want you to fall,
Just a little bit.
Take that leap of faith,
If you want to,
Don’t let that broken heart haunt you.
Can you let me try?
Tell me it’s all right.
Just for one night,
Show you how to feel like.
What it feels like,
To be hugged, to be kissed.
Be thought of and to be missed.
I can be that part of you,
Let me be that part of you.
I see that you’re breaking,
Your heart is breaking.
Here’s my hand if you’ll take it,
We can make it out,
Of all this mess.
No more stress.
I can be that part of you,
I’ll try my best.
Oh-Oh.
Try my best.
(We can make it out of this mess,
No more stress.)
I can be that part of you,
I’ll try my best.

“A big thank you to Panic! At The Disco for performing tonight. Check out their new album ‘You May Die of a Misprint’ coming out August 13th.” We stayed a bit after to sign a couple autographs. When Brendon was in front of my house I asked him to drop me off at Alex’s instead. I really didn’t want to go home to find no one there but my cat. The unconditional love Simba always gave me when I got home wouldn’t be there, and it broke my heart.

Brendon nodded and drove the 15 minutes to Alex’s house. I walked up his pathway, not even noticing that there was an extra car in the driveway. I was surprised when the door was slightly ajar, then I freaked out wondering if someone had broken in. I grabbed something from the table near the door and treaded into the house carefully, cell in hand.

“What a fucking bitch!” yelled out a whiny voice from the living room.

I would know that voice anywhere.