Rebel Love Song

I saw my mom a few more times before she had to leave to go back to Pennsylvania. I don’t entirely forgive her yet. I mean, she still walked out on us, no matter what her reason. Andy left a few days after she did, against doctor’s orders, but he was doing fine apparently so it all worked out.

It was finally time for the Carson date on Warped Tour. We were all supposed to meet Andy’s new girlfriend, Juliet, and then go out for dinner after the show.

I was driving this time around, so I got Lily ready and buckled into her car seat before driving to pick up all the girls. The drive was short, since Carson wasn’t far from Hollywood, and soon we were parking in one of the huge lots surrounding the festival.

Jake and Ashley were waiting in the parking lot for us with our laminates, so we didn’t have another fiasco like the Hot Topic show.

“Hey babe.” Jake leaned down and gave me an all too brief kiss before taking Lily out of my arms. “Hey munchkin!”

“Uncle Jakey!” Lily wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing his cheek. Once everyone had their passes, we headed into the festival ground. Jake kept his arm around my waist, his hand resting on my bare hip. I could see people recognizing him, and then looking at Lily and me, wondering if Lily was his daughter. Jake had Lily’s noise blocking headphones all ready for her so we went to go watch Asking Alexandria’s set. Jake was good friends with them now apparently and I loved their music so it was a good match. He found a chair for Lily and me to sit in and we settled in to watch the show.

There’s such a big difference between listening to an album and watching the artist perform live. There’s so much more energy in the live performance, passing back and forth between the audience and the band. The show ended and the band came offstage towards us.

“Hey Jake.” Ben Bruce said, doing that bro handshake that every male on the planet must now.

“Ben, this is my girlfriend Sky and our niece Lily.” Jake said, introducing us. I raised my eyebrows at the “our niece” part but didn’t say anything.

“Nice to meet you.” I stuck my free hand out for him to shake.

“So you’re the bird Jake keeps yammering about.” Ben laughed. “For the past week he hasn’t shut up about you.”

“Ben.” Jake’s tone was warning, and I didn’t understand why. My phone rang and I flipped it open.

“Hey, where’d you guys run off to? Juliet’s here.” Sammi said.

“We’ll come back.” I hung up and turned to Jake. “Juliet just showed up.”

“Let’s go then. Later Ben.” Jake said.

“It was nice meeting you!” I called over my shoulder as we walked away. It was a short walk to the bus and soon we were there. I put Lily into Jake’s bunk for a nap before walking out to meet Juliet. She was a blonde, plastered in tattoos and pierced.

“Juliet, this is Jake’s girlfriend Sky. Sky, Juliet.” Andy said. He was bouncing his leg and the chains on his boot were jangling like crazy.

“Andy, relax dude.” I laughed, shaking Juliet’s hand. “It’s about time Andy got a girl.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you. Thanks for taking care of him when he broke his ribs.” Juliet smiled shyly.

“That’s what he gets for trying to fly.” I plunked down on Jake’s lap, resting my head on his shoulder. He kissed the top of my head and put one hand in his pocket.

“Sky?” He whispered.

“Mhm?” I tilted my head back so I could see him better.

“Will you marry me?” He pulled his hand out of his pocket, a ring cradled between his fingers.

“What do you think, hmm?” I giggled, kissing him. “Of course I will.” He slipped the ring on my finger.

“What are you two doing over there?” Dani asked, looking over at us. We were more in the corner, separated from everyone.

“The quietest marriage proposal on the planet.” I said, wrapping my arms around Jake’s neck tighter.

“HE PROPOSED?!” Ally hopped up and grabbed my left hand, looking at the ring now situated there. I couldn’t keep the beaming smile off my face.

“That’s why you said our niece earlier.” I said, finally putting it together.

“Yeah, and he was about to blow my proposal plans too.” Jake rolled his eyes.

“The munchkin is going to lose her mind when she sees this.” I laughed.

And she did. She was so jazzed that we were getting married. We watched them perform and they were amazing, just like the last time. Lily had been dancing to the music in front of me and she toddled away onto the stage. She made a beeline straight for Jake and he laughed when he saw her coming. Andy scooped her up as the song ended.

“Jake, can’t you control your kid?” Andy said into his microphone. The whole crowd started screaming at Andy’s words.

“Give me my munchkin then.” Jake took her out of Andy’s arms and I walked out onto the stage to get her. When I started to reach for Lily he pulled her out of my reach.

“Kiss first.” He said. I laughed and stood up on my tiptoes to kiss him. The crowd screamed even louder and I took Lily to the safety of backstage.

I felt like I was floating for the rest of the day. Jake and I took Lily for ice cream when they’d finished their set. Jake made an employee at the ice cream place take a picture of the three of us with our ice cream cones and my ring in the picture so he could put it on Twitter.

Later, after I’d said goodbye to Jake and Lily and I were at home, curled up on the couch with our animals, I called my dad on Skype.

“Hey pumpkin.” He said when he picked up.

“Are you underwater right now?” Lily asked, waving to my dad.

“No, I’m on land right now.” He grinned.

“Daddy, look.” I held up my left hand, wiggling my fingers.

“Jake proposed?”

“When we went to see him today he asked.” I grinned. “When are you coming back around to California?”

“I’ll be back in….” He leaned away to look at a calendar on the wall. “September.”

“I think Jake will be off tour then.” I said. “So that’s what we’ll try for I guess.”

“I’m glad you’re marrying him. And your grandmother will be ecstatic.”

“She’ll explode into confetti she’ll be so thrilled.” I could see Lily yawning out of the corner of my eye.

“I gotta put the munchkin to bed. I’ll talk to you later Daddy.”

“Good night Sky.” He blew a kiss to Lily and hung up.

After I put Lily to bed I decided to go to sleep myself, seeing how tired I really was. I looked at my ring and had to hold back a soft squeal of excitement.

I was marrying Jake. I was getting my happy ending.