Don't Fight It

“Well, yeh can eithah piss off or stay ‘nd ‘ave some fun.” Sam slurred angrily at me. Every time he yelled his arm would jerk in some way, causing his drink to fly all over the place. “’m not gonna watch ovah yeh all the fuckin’ time, Mar.”

I shook my head in disbelief as I stared at the drunken mess in front of me. I decided on leaving. After all the times I’ve taken care of him after his drinking sprees, he’s treated me like this. There was no way in hell I was going to do this for another night. I wasn’t going to be that girl who only existed when needed because I knew I meant more than that.

Jogging off the bus, I trudged along a mindless path to anywhere my feet would take me. I sneaked out of the lines of parked buses and found an empty spot under a large concrete bridge. Graffiti covered its once naked walls; each of them capturing my attention. I ran my fingers along all of them as I admired the art.

“I’m sorry; I thought no one would be here right now.”

My heart jumped through my ribs when I heard someone behind me. I turned around to see an unfamiliar silhouette of a man. Since he didn’t have an accent, he obviously wasn’t from Asking Alexandria. He stepped closer under one of the streetlights so I got a better look of him. I’ve seen him on our bus once, but never got acquainted with him.

“I’ll just leave then.” I said quietly, sitting up.

“Wait,” He began slowly. “Having a bit of company would be nice, actually.”

I smiled lightly to myself and sat back down. He took a seat next to me and rested his back against the wall. I caught him staring at me from the corner of my eye but didn’t bother to face him. The last thing I needed was this thing to be awkward.

“You’re, um, Asking Alexandria’s merch girl and Sam’s girl.” Austin snapped his fingers as he tried to remember. “I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere. A bus party or something like that?”

I smiled at the memory of meeting Austin for the first time. We exchanged life stories about each other that night and shared a kiss. I also told him I planned on leaving Sam, in which, I obviously haven’t to this day. Sam treated me so right, when he was sober, of course, but I don’t know what it was about Austin that kept luring me into him.

“Oi,” James called out, slapping my knee lightly. I shook my head a little and looked up at his brown eyes. “We’re gonna grab a bite teh eat. Yeh comin’ with us?”

“No, the guys in Of Mice & Men offered to take me out to sushi later.” I nodded as I scrolled through the files in my phone. “Thanks for the invite though.”

“Yeh know,” He started. “Yeh’ve been spendin’ an awful lot of time with those guys than yeh ‘ave with us.”

I shrugged and stuck out my lower lip innocently. “They are my friends too. Plus, I don’t like to be a bother with you guys. Plus, I already work for you hooligans.”

“We’ve know each otha’ since we were in diapers, Marianne. Therefore, I can’t be bothered by yeh.” James said, causing me to smile slightly at his words. “Bu’ ‘ey, if yeh want to the be with Of Mice & Men, I ‘ave now say in stoppin’ yeh.”

I sat up and pecked his cheek happily. “Thanks, James-boo. No wonder Brandi is in love with you.” He shot me a smug smile before I walked off to get dressed.

My phone vibrated against the granite sink top as I was putting on my headband. I stuffed the last strands of hair behind my ear before seeing who it was from. It was Valentino.

Shayko wanted to get Rubio’s with Janelle, Phil went out to get stoney, Alan and I left already for Sushi Boat. Austin is still in our bus so just get him and meet us up. young fuego out!

I giggled lightly at the text message before shoving my phone into my pockets and leaving the bathroom. The guys were gone already by the time I stepped out, meaning I had to lock up. Locking up the bus was the absolute worst for me – mainly because the lock would always get stuck. Luckily, everything went smoothly and Austin was already outside.

“You look cute,” Austin stated suddenly as walked past the gates. He looked down at me and cracked a smile. “I like that thing you got going on with your hair.”

A light tint of pink stained my cheeks. “Thank you,” His fingers grazed mine softly before he laced our fingers together. I pulled away quickly and kept it close to me. “Not in public.”

“What, so no one sees?” He asked, sounding a little aggravated. “Marianne, when are you going to get rid of Sam? I want to hold you, and not just inside the bus.”

“I told you when tour is over,” I reminded him for the hundredth time. “I need the cash so I need to be with him still to work merch.”

The rest of the walk was nothing but awkward silence. We walked into the restaurant, noticing our friends immediately. Only problem was, the Asking Alexandria boys were here too.