The Rock Show

“Well don’t you look like a pissy little bitch,” Rian observes tactfully, Jack nodding along as Alex sulks back to them. “Told you it was a bad idea. How’d it go?”

“It doesn’t look like she slapped him or like, kneed him in the crotch.” Jack says, adding his two cents. Alex slouches down against the list of set times, putting his head between his knees while simultaneously flipping off his friends.

“Fuck off,” he mutters. “You guys don’t get it.”

“What, get that you got rejected by some D-class punk bitch?” Zack adds in, flicking his mop of dark hair out of his eyes. Alex groans and continues wallowing. He can’t help it, okay? He knows he’s acting like a hormonal girl but can’t really bring himself to care. It was fucking humiliating, getting brought down like that. Besides, he’s Alex fucking Gaskarth. He has a band, he’s charming, and he knows he isn’t hideous. Far from it, actually.

Wait. He’s in a band. A band. Don’t all band chicks love other band guys? But she didn’t know that. So the most obvious course of action is to reintroduce himself, act cocky, and casually mention that he’s in a band. It’s simple, yes, but he’s sure it’ll work. He knows he’s pompous and sort of self-centered but he just attributes that to being the frontman of All Time Low, one of the largest local bands in Baltimore county.

His friend Mike kicks at Alex’s shins, glancing up at the inflatable set times board. “Dude, get the fuck up. Simple Plan plays in five.”

Alex stands up, brushing invisible dirt off his cutoff jeans and tousling his hair. It’s pretty sweaty and disgusting but then again everyone is at Warped Tour, and it’s not like he’s ever had a problem with getting down and dirty before. “Nah, you guys go ahead. I gotta find someone.”

“Find them later, you’re gonna miss fucking Simple Plan.” Jack whines, tugging at Alex’s shirt.

“Calm your tits bro.” Alex laughs, prying Jack off. “I don’t even listen to SP anymore.” A huge lie; he almost wore their shirt to the show and has been listening to their new album non-stop, but it’s not like anyone needs to know that. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

-&-

“Jess, come on.” Demetri insists, dragging out the ‘o’ in ‘on’ for dramatic effect. “What happened? Jesus Christ, you look like someone ran over your dog.”

“She’d be way more pissed if someone killed Pepper,” Nick argues, cradling a can of Coors Light. Demetri shrugs his thin shoulders.

“Irrelevant. The last time she was sad was when-"

Brad. “Dem, shut the hell up.” Jess sighs, “I know, trust me, I know.” It’s only been fifteen minutes since her encounter with that kid but there’s still a strange lump in her throat and an uncomfortable feeling in her chest. The three of them shuffle forward in the hundred-people long catering line; Jason ate lunch earlier and is helping with merch at their tent. “I’ll get over it.”

“Did a guy try to fuckin’ harass you or something?” Nick guesses out of thin air. He isn’t completely oblivious; douchebags have always been attracted to his younger sister. He knows she hates being taken care of but he pegs it as brotherly instinct, the protectiveness he has of her.

Jess hesitates for a split-second, immediately giving her away because Nick knows she’d typically make a vulgar denial and smack him upside the head.

“Jessy. Some sleazy scene kid trying to seduce you isn’t the end of the world, you know.” Nick tries to put an arm around her but Jess shoves him away and tries to hold in her smile.

“You don’t need to remind me. I’m starving, move up!”

Half an hour later the three of them make their way back to their tent, arms full of
sandwiches, Red Bulls, and candy bars. There’s a considerable line outside their booth which makes Jess crack a tiny grin. Their performance today was pretty damn good; it seems as if they’re getting better with each passing day of the tour.

“Oh, fuck.” Jess curses and nearly drops the food in her hands. “It’s him,” she mutters to Demetri and Nick, “he’s been following me around. Get him to go away or...something, dammit.”

“Called it!” Nick shouts, while Demetri elbows him sharply and tells him to shut up as they approach Aurora’s tent. The kid appears to be in a conversation with Jason, Laura (their touring manager) watching the two of them from a nearby lawn chair. Jess moves behind her brother and Demetri as they approach, darting behind their table, thankfully, without the guy noticing her. She sees Nick walk up to him and set down his food, secretly hoping that Nick can get this over with quickly so the kid can leave and they can eat in peace.

And because her sanity was slowly deteriorating the longer he was around, a minor detail.

“Hey, do you wanna buy something or...?” Nick asks bluntly.

Now that she thinks about it she’s pretty sure his name starts with an ‘A’. Adam, Alex, Aaron? No, it’s Alex, Jess is 99% sure.

Alex presses his lips together tersely, looking up at Nick. He isn’t exactly short but Nick is 20 years old and about 6’2” so he must be a little intimidated, at least. “No, I was just wondering if I could chill with you guys for awhile. Your set earlier was great-“

Nick sighs. “Look, dude, I know you want to talk to Jess but she really can’t be bothered now. Sorry.”

Jason coughs and the two of them look at him sternly, pushing his glasses up his nose. “Nick, I told him he could stay with us for a bit, you guys don’t need to be such assholes to fans.”

“I wasn’t being an asshole! That was pretty fucking polite for me.”

Alex rolls his eyes, appearing to have gained some confidence. “No offense, bro, but if you want to build a fanbase you gotta be nice. Like, really nice to your fans, haters, or anyone who bothers to show up to your show. Not trying to sound like a priest or anything but music will always be a people business with no room for...fuckin’ dicks. Just a word of advice.” He crosses his lanky arms, brown eyes meeting Nick’s steely green.

Demetri nods, anxiously gazing between the two of them. “Nick, c’mon, it’s not worth starting shit over. He’s right, deal with it.”

“Oh, like every successful musician in history was a saint.” Nick ignores him, but Jess can tell he really isn’t angry. More like calculating; sizing Alex up. “Who are you to tell us that, anyway?”

It’s clearly a rhetorical question but Alex answers anyway, his chest puffing out a little like a proud mother hen. “Experience, I know ‘cause I’m in a band. Does the name All Time Low ring a bell?”

Laura, their platinum-blonde tour manager, chokes on her soda as soon as Alex speaks up. “All Time Low, from Maryland? That band did a few albums under Emerald Moon, our sister label.”

Jess’s jaw drops and Alex beams. “Yup, that’s the one!”

Shit. Okay, so this guy definitely isn’t anything like Brad. He could still be a douche for all Jess knows but at least he’d understand her drive for music, her passion to make it big in a giant industry. Jess doesn’t feel embarrassed now, per se, for initially treating him that way...it’s just, now she sort of feels weird about it. She would apologize but knowing her she’d end up sounding arrogant.

Demetri shakes his head, obviously thinking Nick you fucking idiot over and over in his mind. Jason exhales loudly and Laura smiles in approval.

Nick cocks an eyebrow but sits down in a folding chair and looks Alex up and down. “Cool. But that doesn’t mean I trust you with my sister.”

Alex looks confused for a brief second; Jess figures it’s because he hasn’t realized that she’s his sister. Either way, she’s had enough of him acting like her dad, or basically acting like he’s had a stick up his ass since Alex showed up. Jess steps out from behind the tables and walks towards them, her palms sweaty. She blames it on the heat of the summer, not that she could possibly be nervous for something.

“Stop defending me, Nick, I’m not fourteen anymore.” She messes his medium-length brown hair, plopping down behind the merch booth next to him, facing Alex and taking a bite of her sandwich. “Oh, you. What do you want?” she asks through a mouthful of food. If she’s going to do this she can’t act like she cares too much; she was a bitch to him earlier, after all.

Alex suddenly stands up straight, eyes darting from where she appeared. “Where’d you come from...? Nevermind. Um.” Great, now he’s suddenly nervous as fuck all over again. “I don’t know how much of that conversation you heard but...I was thinking, you know, if you have time, that we could hang out. But I might need to give you the speech about being an asshole to fans that I gave to your brother.” He smiles and winks at her. Luckily the rest of the members don’t notice; they’re too busy talking to each other , Laura, and the fans that approach the tent.

Jess grins and pushes her chocolate brown hair out of her eyes. He’s kind of hot, yeah, she’ll give him that much, and if he’s in a relatively popular band she figures he isn’t usually this awkward. “Mm, I’ll consider it. Only to make up for before, you know. Wanna sit?”

He looks hilariously surprised at her response, which makes her cackle inside. He probably thinks she was PMSing or something before but hesitantly moves around the tent and sits down on a closed ice cooler next to Laura and Jason. “Fair enough.” A beat of silence. “Your name’s Jess, right?”

She nods, taking a sip of Red Bull. “And yours is...Alex?”

He smiles, appearing even more shocked than before. “You remembered.”

“Well yeah, it’s only been like half an hour.” It then occurs to her that he must have been talking to Jason for a substantial amount of time and probably missed seeing a few bands. “Shit, you should go see some other bands, you’re wasting time here. I think Yellowcard is playing now, uh, and-“

“Do you wanna come with me, then?” He asks, tapping his fingers on his knees anxiously. Fuck, he’s turned into such a sap. But he’s enamored by her, he’ll freely admit it- maybe he can learn about the kind of music she likes or hear her sing again.

“We’ll see.” Jess knows she can’t make it obvious how much she feels the urge to know more about him. She chuckles, gesturing towards her bandmates. “If they let me go.” she says jokingly.

“Yeah...I’m pretty sure they hate me.”

“Probably.” She agrees, which doesn’t really help the situation but at least it makes him laugh. “But that doesn’t matter, I play by my own rules.”