The Rock Show

"You ready?" Nick eyes his younger sister curiously as they're about to play. This was the biggest show they'd ever played, ever. Warped tour was pretty scary for big bands, let alone beginners like Aurora.

Jess felt pretty confident when she found out they'd be playing at Warped (as in, her reaction was "Holy shit! Damn, we're gonna rock that stage,") but now that they were actually here... that all went to shit. Aurora have played other Warped dates before this one, but for some reason Jess doesn't feel too good about this show, and her older brother has picked up on this.

"I'll be fine." Jess nods confidently, a mixture of nerves and excitement rushing through her body. Before she has the chance to say anything else, she feels two strong hand press down on her shoulders. Jess turns around and sees Demetri, shortly followed by Jason. Both of them wearing the biggest grins.

"Damn, this show is going to be great!" Demetri shouts, always the excited one out of the four. "I'm so pumped!"

Well, who could blame him? This is Warped tour! The biggest tour for bands in this scene; one of the oldest and most well-known. Aurora are going to be playing alongside some of the biggest bands ever! This is their chance for them to show people who they are, and hopefully the American fans would spread them to other countries too. It's their chance to gain more fans and to well... enjoy the experience really, touring the entirety of America for the first time.

"What if they don't like us?" Jason asks nervously, chewing the bottom of his lip.

"They'll love us!" Jess tells everyone. "Now come on! We've got to play!"

-&-

"Dude, this is great!" Jack screams in Alex's ear, jumping along to sound of the music that's blasting through the speakers around the Kevin Says stage. Alex isn't really paying much attention though. He must look so odd; he's the only person in the crowd who isn't jumping or dancing around. He's just standing there, staring at the four people on the stage. Who is this band? Their sound was pretty good, sort of a polished yet edgy pop-rock vibe, but Alex is more focused on the lead singer. She looks younger than all of the other band members. Perhaps Alex's age? He's not too sure. He watches as she glides across the stage wearing acid-wash shorts and a green Man Overboard tank top, singing her heart out. Her long, brown hair swishing and swaying. She stops singing the lyrics and holds out the microphone for the audience to sing. And to Alex's surprise, the relatively small crowd know the words. It's like this band of four have come out of nowhere and just mesmerized the whole crowd.

The kick drum pounds three more times and loud cheers and screams fill the area. The girl laughs and Alex's eyes widen. How has he not heard of this band before?

"Thanks guys!" The girl squeaks with excitement. "This next song's called Cigarettes and Summer."

The crowd's cheers are drowned out by the sound of a guitar, shortly followed by drums, then the bass, and then the girl's voice. It was soft, yet aggressive. Fast, yet it was easy to understand the words- she belted it out, melancholy but optimistic lyrics. Shy but somehow confident.

This band has completely caught Alex off-guard. If there's one thing he cares about it's music; he definitely did his research and knew most of the bands they were planning to see. He is a music fanatic, after all, but he wasn't expecting to feel so awkward and uncomfortable at any point during Warped tour. But at the same time, he's never been so happy and content with the feeling, which sort of scares the shit out of him. Isn't he supposed to be the always-confident-and-cocky one?

After the song finishes and the crowd's cheers die down, Alex sees the band members begin to walk off stage. He swallows nervously.

"Thanks for having us!" The lead singer shouts into the crowd, causing more cheers. "We're Aurora and we'll hopefully see you next time!"

And then she's gone.

"Jack!" Alex tugs at Jack's shirt.

"What?"

"We need to go and find where that band went."

-&-

Wow. Just, wow. Aurora had literally just come off stage. Jess couldn't even focus her thoughts on one specific thing. There was the screaming fans, the beautiful weather, the sound of people singing along... people actually know who Aurora are, that was just enough to make Jess want to scream and dance. Seriously, the band has never felt so great in their entire lives. That was one hell of a show.

As the four of them collapse on the floor of the cramped backstage area, aware of what's just happened for the four of them. They know they're all thinking the same thing in that moment. All of them pretty confident that this is their big break. Nick rummages around in his pocket and pulls out a lighter and cigarette. He lights it up and puts the lighter away, and puffs on his cigarette.

"Fuck." he exclaims. "That, that was great."

"Best thing ever." Jason agrees, nodding his head. Nick, Demetri and Jason all go into a conversation on how great their performance was. Jess doesn't join in though. She's too overwhelmed with what's just occurred. There's nothing Jess has ever wanted more than becoming big, and doing the stuff she loves. And now her dream's finally coming true.

"I'm going for a walk." She tells her band, getting up. She pulls the cigarette out of Nick's mouth and takes it for herself. He pouts and grabs at it unsuccessfully, since he's sitting on the ground. After a quick drag, she hands it back to her brother and starts to walk off.

Jess doesn't get very far before she hears a gruff voice shout 'excuse me.' She turns around and see's a scruffy looking teenager, about the same age as her, making his way up to her. He has fairly long hair for a boy, and huge bushy eyebrows, that sit above his chocolate brown eyes. Jess can't deny his good looks, he just- He looks way too familiar for Jess' liking. He reminds her of the guy in her high school, which was really weirding her out.The boy walking up to her hadn't even done anything remotely wrong and already Jess felt uncomfortable.

"What?" Jess sighs impatiently as the boy makes his way closer to her. "I need to shower."

"I-I, uh. I" The boy stammers. He's blushing fiercely and normally Jess would say 'You're fucking adorable,' pinch his cheek and sign an autograph but she can't shake the feeling that's building in the pit of her stomach. She just wants to get the hell out of here.

Jess rolls her eyes. She isn't intending on deliberately being rude to the male, it's just her natural reaction. Whenever she thinks about saying something nice, she'll end up sounding like a complete bitch.

"I'm Alex." The boy chokes out. He's rubbing at the back of his neck nervously and Jess kind of wants to slap him now since he's still in her way.

"Jess. Now if you'll excuse me-" Jess begins to walk away from the teenager. Whenever she looks at his face, she just remembers all the painful memories...

"Look Jess, we had a good run, but I don't think this is going to work out."

"But, why?" Jess's pale green eyes were threatening to leak tears.

"I just think we're not right for each other. You believe in all this 'I'm going to make it big' shit, and quite frankly, it's ridiculous. I can't be doing with your childish dreams anymore."

Jess stared at the disheveled boy in front of her. How could he say that? He'd supported Jess and Aurora ever since they got together, why was he saying all of this now?

"It's not childish! We will make it big, Brad. We can do it together, you by my side-"

"Jess, you don't get it." He cut her off. "I don't give a shit about you anymore. Just fuck off."

"Woah, where are you going?" Jess snaps back into reality and looks down at her arm where Alex pulls her back. Jess shrugs herself away from him.

"What is your problem?" She hisses. She notices the instant flash of hurt in the teenage boy's eyes, but she doesn't care.

"Do you treat all your fans like this?" Alex cocks his eyebrow.

"Fan?" Jess lets out a sarcastic cackle. "I bet you never even heard of us until today."

"Look, I don't know what your problem is-"

"My problem is you. Leave me alone!" Jess cuts the teenager off and walks away. She really doesn't need memories from her past being brought back up. And whether he knows it or not, that's exactly what Alex has done.