Caught Like A Fly

Jacky and I were still panting by the time we reached the stage and I barely had time to pop my knuckles before throwing on my guitar and running onto stage. Connor rolled his eyes at me, Dakota was shaking his head and Vinny had a knowing smile on his face as I readjusted Ronnie's scarf on my neck.

I would glance at Jacky in between songs and he simply smiled. He looked so happy, and I couldn't help beaming back at him. Unfortunately, Rainbow Bright was also side stage, and she was making eyes at Falling in Reverse. Since that included Jacky, I was ready to cave her face in with my guitar. He didn't even acknowledge her existence, and Mika went as far as to step away from her. I wondered if she realized she went from big fish in a small pond to the little fish in the ocean. She was probably hot shit where she came from, and now she had girls like me for competition. Good luck.

"Are you trying to show off or something?" Vinny asked me while we were tuning our guitars and Connor was talking to the crowd. "Ally can't even compare to you, Andy, chill out." I narrowed my eyes at his ability to read my mind, but listened to his advice.

Our band finished, and while Falling in Reverse played their set, Connor took me aside. He said nothing and only glanced between Jacky and I. He was about to start talking until Ally bopped over to us, grinning from ear to ear.

"I think Ronnie is into me," she said smugly with her hands on her hips. "I wouldn't be surprised if he invited me onto their bus tonight."

"Ronnie's engaged," I snapped at her, my dislike for her coming back again. "He's more in love than I...anyone I know." I nearly blushed, but it was dark enough that no one would have noticed.

"That doesn't mean anything," she said, and I gave her a flat stare until she sniffed and walked away.

"You shouldn't be so mean to her," Connor said.

"If she lays a single hand on Ronnie I'm firing her and I'll sell the merch myself," I said heatedly, getting in his face. "Stop defending her."

"She's a fan, she's going to think all of us are into her," he argued, and I laughed.

"Whatever, Connor," I said, shaking my head. "Don't think that I'm blind and can't see that she's kind of pretty."

"Andy--"

"Come on," I told him, smirking. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think that something else was going on."

"You know I wouldn't do that," he said quietly, taking my hands.

"And why her? Does she have to look like Hot Topic threw up on her?"

"Are you jealous?" he asked, and I found myself growling in the back of my throat.

"You should know me by now," I said angrily. "If she starts stepping on my toes, she's gone."

"Okay, okay," he said, holding up his hands in surrender. "Just...give her chance?"

"Fine," I spat, and stalked away. "There are hundreds of hot guys you could have hired instead!" I sat down just off the side of the stage and leaned against a traveling case for some kind of equipment. If that pile of rainbow shit kept it up and if Connor kept justifying her actions, I might not wait until the tour is over to break up with him. He would have never argued with me like that before we were dating.

"So uh, why are you wearing a scarf?" Vinny asked, making me jerk my head up to see him smirking down at me. "I know you never wear them."

"Ronnie lent it to me."

"But why?"

"Because."

"That's a bad answer," he said, smirking wider every second that I was silent. "Let me see."

"Vinny!"

"No, I want to see if he gives good hickies," he said, and he knelt down and peeked underneath the white scarf. "Damn. You'll be wearing that for a couple weeks."

"Tell me about it," I said with a small smile. "Am I a bad person? Be honest."

"If you look at the big picture, yeah," he said, his smirk fading. "You're dating one guy and sleeping with another. Connor is being cheated on and Jacky is the other guy that you have to hide from everyone."

"That's kind of what I thought," I said, that ugly guilt monster coming back. I twiddled my thumbs and stared at my lap.

"But if you look at it another way," he said, sitting down next to me. "Connor isn't the best boyfriend, and he's been letting Ally flirt with him like crazy. Jacky really likes you, Andy, and you're happy when you're with him. In this situation, you're not all that bad."

"Still bad, though."

"There's no denying that."

"Ugh, I should just stop messing around with Jacky until I'm done with Connor," I groaned, pulling my knees up to my chest and hiding my face. "This is going to be so hard."

"You gotta do what you gotta do," he said and shrugged. We watched Falling in Reverse finish their set and guilt reared its head when Jacky took my hand to help me up and glanced both ways before planting a wet kiss on my lips.

"Are you coming with me or are you going to ride in your own van?" he asked me quietly as Vinny left with that obnoxious smirk. His hands traveled down to my hips and went to push my shirt up but instead turned it into a hug. I was only confused for a moment when I heard Connor approaching with Ally. She seemed to be spending a little too much time with my boyfriend. "Good show, Andy. We'll see you guys tomorrow." I could feel the ghost of the kiss he wanted to give me and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to stop the irritated shriek that wanted to come out of my mouth as he walked away.

"That was a, um, pretty sexual hug," Ally said suggestively and I laughed. It was a little high-pitched and fake, but she bought it.

"No, he hugs everyone like that," I said, waving a hand. "Are you guys ready to go?" I cleared my throat and led the way outside. I could see Jacky's back as he stepped up into the bus, glancing back in hopes that I'd be following him. I waved and smiled, and he did the same, only half-heartedly.

We piled into the van, and I took the front seat like usual. The boys went straight to sleep, but Ally stayed up, looking through her phone. She was probably posting pictures to her Twitter and Facebook, and I can't really blame her. We were pretty awesome. I had gotten my iPod out and was ready to put in my headphones, but something stopped me. Ally kept glancing up at me every now and again, but looked shyly back down at her phone when I noticed. I put my iPod away and turned around in my seat as Dakota's brother, Landon, drove out onto the road.

"I'm sorry," I said, and she looked up, surprised. "I haven't been the greatest person when you're around."

"It's okay," she said immediately.

"No, it's really not," I said wryly, knowing that this was the right thing to do and hating every second of it. "I might be weird, but that's not an excuse for being rude."

"Um..."

"Where are you from?" I asked, and she brightened up. Like Rainbow Bright.

"Pittsburg," she said. "I just graduated from school, and my parents asked me what I wanted to do before I went to college like they wanted me to. I told them I wanted to follow you guys on your Fall tour, and that I'd go to school in the Spring. It's a good trade. I was really hoping for something like this; it's the perfect goodbye to my concert-going life."

"Goodbye to concert-going life? There's no such thing!" I exclaimed, and clapped a hand over my mouth. We giggled like little school girls because the boys were sleeping and Dakota snorted really loud.

"I'm not a kick ass guitar player like you, I have to go to college and find a job like a good little girl," she said, and she didn't sound enthused. "I have never been good at music."

"And your parents won't go for you being our merch girl?" I asked, and she smiled as she shook her head.

"I doubt it," she said, fiddling with her hands.

"Don't be so sure," I said, sensing an idea coming. "When this tour is over and we end up getting along, I think I can arrange something and present it to them."

"You would do something like that?" she asked, her eyes wide.

"Sure," I said, shrugging. "I can make it look like we're interning you or something. First, you sell merch. Next we'll introduce you to the music industry and see where you fit. You can find what you like, it's free and they don't have to waste their money on a college you don't even want to go to."

"You're a lot smarter than people give you credit for," she said, pursing her lips. She had a strange expression on her face like she was thinking really hard.

"You get good at fooling people when you're a woman in this industry," I said quietly. "Don't let any of them know how smart you really are until it matters. That bit of information will help you."

"Thanks," she said. "Really. I thought you hated me." Always trust your instincts.

"I come off like that a lot," I laughed, and she laughed with me. Silly, silly girl.