20 Dollar Nose Bleed

The guys were on in ten minutes. I was at the front next to the stage. I had been placed there by the bands security and had a V.I.P badge on so the staff knew I was to be looked after at all times. Which meant no letting random people crush me against the bars. This place was packed. Not just the standing either. The seats were all full. I couldn't see a single place that didn't have someone in it. I was completely amazed by it. I mean I'd heard them play before but never thought they could be as big as this. I never thought so many people had heard them. But apparently they were a big thing. Who knew.

Before the show Joe had explained to me about how they had to stop touring due to Pete's vampirism. There wasn't anything wrong with the odd show here or there and it wasn't the actual show's themselves which provided difficult. It was getting to them and the time spent before the shows too. Everyone expects the celebrities to go out and enjoy the country they're in before a show and, since Pete couldn't go out in the day, that proved quite difficult for the guys. So they agreed to do the odd show here and there and keep it local in Chicago. It was sad to think that they're talent was being wasted because of one stupid thing. I knew without asking that Pete must blame himself every day for their failure. They could have been huge if it wasn't for Pete.

A woman rushed over to me from the other side of the barrier and handed me a Canon 450D EOS camera. I frowned at her and she passed me a note too. I opened it and read it quickly.

Might as well make yourself useful. Get some good pictures!

Pete.

"Stupid idiot." I muttered and put the note in my pocket.

I had a professional camera at home. It was the model down from this one actually. I knew how it worked and took an experimental picture of the set up to check my modes. After observing my choice I changed the ISO and got it perfectly.

The stage went black. Everyone screamed. I laughed to myself, knowing the guys would be loving this, and lifted the camera to my eye. I was right in front of the stage. Centre stage to be exact. So I could see everything. Normal people would have killed for this space but I got it without even trying. I saw Patrick appear from no where and suddenly they started playing I Don't Care. I snapped a quick picture of Patrick as he sung into the microphone. Then I noticed Pete closing in on Joe and watched them carefully. Joe held up his guitar but Pete went round and licked his face instead making a load of girls scream for some unknown reason. I got a good picture of that too.

Next was A Little Less Sixteen Candles A Little More Touch Me. I smiled as I remembered the story behind this song. Some reporter had gotten video footage of the guys doing their job and uploaded it. It was all over the news and the internet. People were freaking out. But, being the awesome person he is, Patrick quickly thought of a way out and created this song. Then he went and said that it was the music video for this new song he had created that they were yet to release because they wanted it to be a surprise. So they put the two together and added a few things in and they got this song and video. Now, even if he did manage to still believe there were Vamps no one else would believe him and he'd just seem crazy. It was great.

It was at the end of From Now On Were Enemies that I noticed Pete. He was watching me constantly. Sure he'd occasionally go off and do some spin or jump or something but then he'd be straight back watching me again. I waved my hand to signal for him to go enjoy himself, that I was fine without him, but he carried on anyway.

"His loss." I muttered under my breath.

"What was that sorry?" some guy said from beside me.

"Oh sorry. I wasn't talking to you. I was just talking to myself." I apologised quickly, looking up at the guy.

He had black hair, blue eyes, was about five foot eleven and surprisingly cute. He didn't look older than nineteen. I smiled at him.

"Sorry for intruding on your private conversation then..." he trailed off searching for a name.

"Wednesday." I said holding out my hand. "Pleasure to meet you."

"You too." he said shaking it. "I'm Aaron. That's a nice camera you have there. Thought people were allowed to bring in stuff like that?" he asked motioning to the camera.

I tapped my V.I.P badge and grinned.

"It kinda comes with the badge." I laughed.

"Oh I see. So where do you work then?"

"Work?"

"To get the camera?" Ashley asked.

I held up my finger for a second listening for Pete's rift in She's My Winona. The one before Patrick sings "Only less diligent" on the second stanza. I heard it, grinned and turned back to Aaron.

"Sorry. I just love that bit so much. Anyway. I don't work. I'm kinda with the band." I said smiling still.

"Seriously?! You're with them? That's so freaking cool!!!" he said loudly and laughed. I looked up at the guys and noticed Pete staring at me. I lifted my camera and got a picture of him quickly. He flipped me off and carried on playing.

"Yep. Although I seriously don't know why sometimes." I laughed and turned back to Aaron again who looked between me and Pete and frowned.

"Is there something going on between you two?" he asked quickly.

"Who? Me and Pete? HA! Oh god no. Oh god. Haha." I laughed so much my stomach hurt.

"Sure looks like there is." he replied.

"Oh yeah there is. We're together every night. We can barely keep away from each other." I said leaning towards Aaron as if it was a secret.

"Oh. Right... Okay then." Aaron said, looked at the floor and went to step away but I grabbed his arm to stop him.

"I'm kidding! We don't really get on. He's a dick." I laughed.

"Oh thank god. All the pretty ones seem to be taken. Thought I'd finally run into a bit of luck." Aaron said and winked at me.

I knew he was flirting with me but I didn't really mind. I carried on getting pictures of the guys while we talked and with every moment Pete seemed to get more and more scary. He wouldn't look away from me now no matter what. He'd stopped doing his tricks. He'd stopped interacting with the others. Instead he just stared at me. Then at Aaron. Then back to me. I didn't like it one bit.

It was at the end of 20 Dollar Nose Bleed that got to me the most. Pete stepped towards the mic and the crowd fell silent. I stood watching him as he stared at me. Then he opened his mouth.

"It's not me, it's you.
Actually, it's the taxidermy of you and me.
Untie the balloons from around my neck and ground me.
I'm just a race horse on the track,
Send me back to the glue factory.
Always thought I'd float away,
And never come back.
But I've got enough miles on my car,
To fly the boys home on my own.
But you know me.
I like being all alone,
And keeping you all alone,
And the charts are boring,
And your kids are snoring,
And the eagles in a sling.
You say you're not listening,
And I said I'm wishing, I said,I said!"

Pete didn't blink. He didn't move. He just stared at me throughout that whole part. At the end the lights dropped into a blackout. The house lights came back on and Patrick stepped forward. I was looking for Pete but couldn't see him anywhere. I turned my attention back to Patrick and lifted the camera again.

"Hi guys. We're gonna have a quick interlude now so if you want to be back in fifteen to twenty minutes we'll be starting again! HAVE FUN!!!" he said into the mic and then ran backstage to join the others.

"Sure looked like there's something going on then Wednesday..." Aaron said.

In the intensity of that moment I had forgotten he was there. In fact it confused me as to why this stranger new my name so much that I had to look at him to refresh my memory. Luckily I remembered. I turned the camera into album mode so I could look through the pictures. I had apparently gotten one of Pete speaking into the mic to me subconsciously. It was a good picture though.

"Well trust me Aaron. There isn't." I said rather curtly to the poor boy and regretted it after. I turned to apologise to him but stopped when I heard a load of people screaming in delight to the left of me.

I turned to look down there and saw Pete jogging towards us. All these girls were reaching towards him and he didn't really pay any attention. He waved at the screaming fans but carried on coming towards us. I frowned at him as he stopped in front of us, security all around him trying to push the fans away.

"What do you want Pete?" I snapped, no good would come from this.

"I just came to say hi babe, no need to be so short with me." he laughed and winked at me.

Babe?

"No seriously. What's up?" I asked again, ignoring how weird he was being.

"Can't a guy just come see how his best girl's doing? What how's the picture taking going?" he asked and took the camera from me.

I watched as he stopped on the picture of him flipping me off and laughed.

"Now that doesn't really show me in the best light does it?" he said showing it to Aaron.

"Not really dude..." Aaron commented cautiously.

"Anyway. Aren't you going to introduce me to your new friend?" Pete said, pointedly looking at Aaron on the word "friend".

"If I must. Aaron this is Pete. Pete this is Aaron. Now don't you have a band to get back to?" I growled.

"Nice to meet you Aaron." Pete said taking Aaron's hand and shaking it curtly.

"You too." Aaron replied, calming down a bit.

"Do you always come to concerts to chat up girls? Or is this a one off?" Pete asked, not releasing Aaron's hand.

"Erm... what?" Aaron stammered.

"Pete that's enough. Leave him alone." I warned.

"Didn't really answer my question there dude. What's your obsession with Wednesday?"

"Pete I said enough! I think you need to go have your shake." I growled.

"Look. I haven't got a problem with you. She's just a nice girl who says she's single and so I thought I'd give it a shot. Didn't realise I had to ask your permission first. Sorry." Aaron said and pulled his hand from Pete.

"Trust me Aaron you don't."

"Pete we need you back on stage!" some woman called from the side.

Pete turned and looked back at the woman and nodded then turned back to me. Just like that he was himself again. The one everyone saw on stage. The nice Pete.

"I gotta go babe. Nice to meet you Aaron. Enjoy the show!" Pete said.

Then he kissed me. Like kissed me. A proper, full on show of affection.

"I want you to wear this. For now. Please." Pete whispered into my ear and slid off his black and purple lovebat hoodie before putting it over my shoulders.

I didn't have time to react before he let me go and winked at me.

"I'll see you after the show!" he called and ran backstage.

"Erm..." Was all I managed to get out.

I looked over to Aaron, still dazed by the recent activities and frowned.

"Aaron I'm sorry for his actions. I guess he's just a bit stressed right now and-"

"Look Wednesday. You're a great girl and everything but there's obviously something going off between you two that you need to sort out. So really. I'm just going to leave you alone now..." he said and shuffled through the crowd away from me.

I looked around, completely alone, wearing Pete's signature hoodie, with hundreds of girls glaring at me. Pete Wentz had just kissed me. And probably all for some stupid power game over some lad I didn't even know. I was so angry it was unbelievable. I was just about to try and make my way out of there when Patrick stepped up to the microphone. I raised the camera to my eyes and got some shots of the guys, each separately, missing out Pete. I could feel him watching me.

"So guys. Hope you're enjoying the night. Can I get a hell yeah?!" he shouted to the crowd.

"HELL YEAH!!!" the crowd called back.

"Good!! Well this next song is a little thing called Don't You Know Who I Think I Am. Have any of you heard it before?" Patrick asked smiling.

"Woo!"

"Yeah!!!"

Patrick laughed at the audiences calls.

"Awesome. Well sing along okay?!"

With that they started playing and I returned to my usual picture snapping self. I'd deal with Pete after the show. Next was Pretty In Punk. I instantly recognised the song as the one I had mistaken for a show of Pete's feelings. I blushed furiously and turned around to capture a picture of the audience. A number of people pulled funny faces for the camera and carried on rocking out. I laughed at their pictures and turned back to the stage to see Joe on top of the speakers close to me rocking out. I zoomed in to get a close up of the face he was pulling. He was completely in the zone and it was hilarious with his little tongue sticking out.

The rest of the concert was pretty awesome. Thanks For The Memories Pete licked Joe's guitar. Pete was constantly around Patrick, screaming into his microphone, hugging him, licking his face, shouting in his ear, pushing him... he even stole his hat at one point but the guys loved it. Andy took his shirt off and threw it at Joe. Joe banged Andy's symbol with his guitar, stealing the best part of the drum solo they'd put in there. And finally we came to the final song of the show. Get Busy Living Or Get Busy Dying. This was their encore song. To be honest it was a great choice of song. Everyone screamed and fell silent as Patrick approached the microphone for the last time tonight.

"Well what can I say? You've all been an amazing crowd guys! You are the ones who keep us going. You are the reason we sing these songs. Without you we would be nothing! So here's to you guys. Hope you enjoy the last song of the night." Patrick said and stepped back into darkness. It stayed like that for a while. I smiled because I knew what was coming. I had seen the rehearsals. I lifted the camera to my eye's for the guys big ending and got ready to click capture.

"This has been said so many times that I'm not sure if it matters!" Patrick's voice sung from the darkness.

Everyone screamed.

The lights went up and there they were. Patrick was stood at the front next to the mic. Joe was stood high up on a tower of amplifiers, his guitar plugged into every single one of them. Andy's drum's were raised in the air on a platform which would soon spin like a waltzer. Pete was no where to be seen. I grinned. They were going to love this. What the audience couldn't see were the flamethrowers and confetti cannons built into the stage. They were lighting up the place with style tonight.

The song continued and I stopped singing along towards the end. Pete was still no where to be seen and I wanted to catch the fans reactions when he came back. I couldn't wait.

"I used to obsess over living,
Now I only obsess over you.
Tell me you'd like boys like me better.
In the dark lying on top of you."

Here come the flames.

Over the next seven lines the room was lit up with flames, confetti and lights while the boys screamed and sung into their microphones. I turned around and waited. He was coming.
Patrick finished singing and leaned towards the mic.

"Pete Wentz everybody!" he screamed and threw his hand out to the crowd.

A spotlight swung over into the pit of fans and there he was making his way through, back towards the stage. He hugged, high fived, kissed and winked at anyone who wanted him too but still made his way to the front of the barriers through all the screaming fans. A security guard passed him his black and red lovebat bass guitar and he turned around and smiled. Then he found possibly the shyest, most innocent girl ever and went towards her.

"I want you to have this." he said to her and held out the guitar.

"Wh-what?" she stammered, looking slightly afraid.

"You heard me. It's signed by the whole band and it's my actual guitar. I want you to have it. Build up some of that confidence inside ya doll!" he laughed and passed it to her. She looked so shocked it was unbelievable. I laughed and snapped a picture of them both.

"But... Don't you need this?" she asked him still not believing what was happening.

"Nah I'll get another one made before the next show. Look after her though." he said and beamed at her.

"I will. Th-thank you Pete!" she almost cried.

"No problem! Have an awesome life. And don't do anything I wouldn't do!" he called back to her and slid through the barriers.

"That's not much then." I muttered under my breath.

The girl was being watched by security as to ensure no one tried to take the guitar off of her and she would be escorted out afterwards. They had picked her out from the crowd outside before the show when Pete went out dressed as a monkey to choose the person. A group of people pushed in front of her in the line and yet she didn't say a thing. Just stood there.
The guys were still playing when Pete got back up on the stage. They had kept the music going while he spoke due to the song not actually having finished yet. There was still one last bit. Pete's bit.

"I'm going to need my good friend Wednesday up on stage with me for this bit!" he shouted and the security guards took me up.

"Wh-What?!" This was unexpected.

Pete took my hand and winked at me before leaning towards the microphone.

"From day one I talked about getting out
But not forgetting about
How my worst fears are letting out."

Pete pulled me closer to him, one hand on my lower back, the other clutching the microphone. Oh he was so gonna get an ass kicking when we got off this stage.

"He said why put a new address
On the same old loneliness
When breathing just passes the time
Until we all just get old and die
Now talking's just a waste of breath
And living's just a waste of death
And why put a new address
On the same old loneliness."

He dipped me as if we'd been dancing. His face just inches from mine. I could feel his heat radiating off of him onto me. I kept my eyes locked with his. This wasn't cool. The crowd were silent. The tension was so thick in the air you could cut it with a knife.

"And this is you and me
And me and you
Until we've got nothing left!"

Pete's face moved towards mine just as the lights went out. The end of the show. The big finale. I could hear the audience applauding and screaming for more. They all thought this was planned. But it wasn't. Now I was left, still dipped, still with Pete's hand on my back and his body pressed close, desperately searching for his face in the darkness but having no success.

He carried me off-stage quickly.