I'll Never Be The Same Again

The time had come for us to go to Warped Tour, we were up early to pack and travel, not that I was taking much.
Max was driving us all there in his minivan, oh how fun that will be…
“Come on, they’re here. You’d better behave yourself.” Cayne snarled at me. He really seems to struggle to speak nicely to me, considering how much he loves me… Apparently…

I picked my bag up, slinging it over my shoulder and followed him out the house, into the cramped van.
“Hey guys! Are you ready?!” Sasha shouted excitedly. Everyone in the van shouted in agreement. I just smiled, unable to get into the hype with them.

We were driving for about three hours before we finally arrived. Everyone jumped out of the van, relieved to be out in the fresh air.
I stretched, enjoying the feeling of the sun on my skin. I was starting to get excited, it would be nice to be out of the house.

Cayne took my hand as we walked to the gates… I hate this part of the lie…
We had to queue for way too long to get in, but eventually it happened. There were so many people, it was amazing.
“Stay close.” Cayne whispered in my ear, tightening his grip on my hand.
“Right guys, we’ll meet back by the van tonight, so go forth and enjoy yourselves” Max shouted to us all as they started wandering in every direction.

“Let’s go check out the newbie tent, we can terrorise them.” Cayne said, pulling me in the direction of the ‘newbie tent’. Sadly he wasn’t lying when he said he wanted to terrorise them as he pulled out several bottles from his bag and proceeded to throw them at the stage.
“Cayne. Stop it or we’ll get kicked out.” I said to him, pulling him away from the tent.

Begrudgingly he followed me as we headed towards the main stage. I noticed a large teenage girl presence around the stage as we approached, a lot of them holding signs saying ‘We ♥ Frerard!’ Huh… Weird…

As we made our way closer to the stage I could hear the band singing ‘Guy Love’ from Scrubs, but I still couldn’t see them.

“And when I say, ‘I love you Frank’ it’s not what it implies, it’s guy love, between too guys!”
That voice sounds familiar. The crowd went crazy at the end of the song.

“Alright guys, time to get serious now. This song has a special meaning to us guys, especially to my Frankie over there.” The crowd cheered again. “This is called ‘Honey, this mirror isn’t big enough for the two of us!”

I KNEW IT! I FUCKING KNEW IT! I HAVE TO GO!

-~- Ray’s POV -~-

Nothing can compare to this feeling, playing on stage in front of thousands of people, singing our songs back to us.
Frank was getting so into this song, he always does… I think it’s because it reminds him of Lorena, so he tries to distract himself. Poor guy…

About halfway through the second verse I noticed something happening in the crowd, it looked like someone was running through them all… Weird…

I continued playing turning towards Bob, giving him a smile before turning back to the crowd.
“Gee!” yet more cries for Gee came from the front, only this one seemed different. I noticed that Gee had stopped singing and was staring at the front row.
I followed his gaze to where a girl was desperately trying to climb over the fence. But not just any girl. It was Lorena!

I casually walked to the dead mic, commenting that we needed security at the front, I could see some guy chasing her, he looked angry as shit. Once that was done, I casually walked over to Mikey, warning him of the situation, but telling him to continue playing.

Frank was so out of it that he hadn’t even noticed that Gee had stopped singing.
I took this as a chance to jump down and help Gee get her over the fence and up on stage.
“You need to get that man!” I shouted to the security guards pointing out who I assumed was that Cayne guy that Rennie told us about all those years ago.

We all climbed up on stage where Frank had finally snapped out of his trance and was stood still like stone.
The crowd had realised what was going on and the music had stopped. I ran to my mic.
“Alright you guys, we need your help here right now, you see that guy at the front? Yeah him, don’t let him get away!” I shouted as Rennie ran towards Frank.

“Frankie!” she screamed as she jumped on him, he instantly wrapped his arms around her and kissed her passionately. When they broke apart he had the biggest grin on his face, as did she.

“Ladies and Gentlemen! Let me introduce you to a dear friend of ours, Lorena Harrison! Thank you for your help down there!” Gee shouted into the mic, also with a huge grin on his face. I think we all looked like grinning idiots to be honest, but what do you expect? We haven’t seen her for about five years.
We finished the set with Rennie sat on Frank’s amp, and ran off as quickly as possible. We have a lot of catching up to do.

-~- Rennie’s POV -~-

I couldn’t quite believe what had just happened there. One moment I’m trying to break free of Cayne’s grip, then I’m running through a crowd, then I’m up on stage and Frankie’s kissing me!

“Ok so what the hell just happened?” Bob asked once we were backstage.
“I came back” I grinned.
“But how?” Frankie asked, holding my hand tightly, “I mean, he had a gun and everything…”
“One of his friends won tickets, and invited us, obviously he couldn’t bring a gun to this, and he couldn’t say no cos it would look weird… Then I heard you singing that song from Scrubs, and recognised your voices, then Gee introduced the song and I made a run for it…” I briefly explained.

Frankie engulfed me in a hug once more, god how I’ve missed these.
“Hey! My turn to hug her! I saved her!” Gee pouted pulling me away into a hug of his own.
“Yeah well, I got security onto him!” Ray cut in, stealing me for another hug.
“Hey guys, why don’t we just have a group hug, it’ll be easier that way,” I laughed as they did what I said. I was so happy to be back with these guys. “I love you guys so much,” I smiled as we all broke apart.

“Let’s get back to the bus, I’m sure there’s some people there that would love to see you,” Gee winked as Frankie grabbed hold of my hand again. They led me to their tour bus, insisting that I went last so they could pretend nothing had happened and then surprise them. They really haven’t grown up at all.

“Hey guys, how have you been?” Ray greeted as they entered the bus. I was so nervous.
“Just thought we’d let you know that we’ve bought a fan back with us,” Bob then said, I could the girls groaning. I giggled quietly to myself before climbing the steps myself.

I walked in shyly, trying to contain my smile as I felt their eyes scanning me.
“Hang on… It can’t be… Rennie?” I heard Ally question.
“Hey guys,” I let the smile break as Ally, Iris and Lynds all tackled me to the floor.
“Oh my god! I can’t believe it!” Lynds squealed.
“Well you better get used to it cos I ain’t going anywhere.” I told them causing smiles to break out on everyone’s faces.

“So what’s the situation with you guys then?” I asked once we’d all sat down with a beer. Frankie sat next to me with his arm round my shoulder, which made me smile.
“Well… Me and Mikey are engaged!” Ally announced, proudly showing me a beautiful engagement ring.

“Oh my god! No way! Congratulations!” I was so happy.
“And me and Bob finally got together,” Iris said, going slightly red as they laced hands.
“Aww I knew you would,” I commented, “What about you two?” I asked Gee and Lynds, however I was interrupted.

“What the fuck is this Frank Iero?! You fucking kissed someone else, on stage in front of god knows how many people?!” A girl shouted as she stormed on to the bus, shooting me a death glare. Fuck.
“Get your fucking hands off my man.” She spat at me, while looking to the others for support, “Well? Isn’t anyone going help me?” she demanded, as everyone stared her down.

Frankie stood up, walking over to her. “Laura. This is Lorena. Remember? I told you about her? The love of my life?”
“She’s a fucking skank,”
“Do not talk about her like that ever again! You’ve always known that if she came back it would be her!” he shouted at her.
“But Frankie baby,” she turned on obviously fake tears.
“Don’t Frankie baby me,” he said coldly.
This infuriated her. She stormed over to me, kicking me in the ribs with her stiletto boots. I won’t lie, she was hot, but she was a bitch.
“Is that all you’ve got?” I challenged, I don’t appreciate violence.
“Excuse me?”
“I said, is that all you’ve got? A little jab in my side?” she glared at me, making me think of an old saying that mum used to say ‘Ooh if looks could kill’
She reached out to slap me, but I grabbed her wrist, stopping her.
Frankie walked up behind her and took hold of her shoulders.
“Laura, you always knew this would happen, why make it hard on yourself? You’re not gonna make me change my mind, no one ever will,”
“I’ll spread so much shit about you, you’ll wish you never met me. No one humiliates me like that.” She spat before walking out of the bus.

“Wow… That was kinda intense…” Ray commented, “Glad to see you still have that fighting spirit though” he smiled.
Frankie had a sense of awkwardness about him now, I guess it’s understandable…

“Frankie? Can we go somewhere?” I asked him, he motioned to a room at the back of the bus. I followed him into it, finding a nice sofa and a small TV.

“I’m so sorry Lorena,” he started, “If I’d have known that you were coming back, I never would’ve,”
“No.” I interrupted, “Do not apologise, I wasn’t surprised, I knew you wouldn’t have gone that long alone, you have needs,” I joked, trying to lighten the mood, he let out a small laugh, “I didn’t even know that I was coming back today, I had no idea that you guys had made it!”
“Really? We’ve been in music news quite a bit…”
“Cayne never let me watch any news or read magazines…”
“I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have let him take you” I could see tears welling up in his eyes.
“There was nothing you could’ve done, he had a gun…” I reminded him, “And he wasn’t afraid to use it…” I added quietly on the end.
“What?” he asked, suddenly sounding worried, “He didn’t? That fucking bastard!” he shouted, punching the wall, “Let me see.”
I lifted up the bottom of my top, revealing the scar that sat just above my hip. I felt Frankie trace his finger along it.
“I’m so sorry,” he cried quietly, looking into my eyes.
“Please don’t cry Frankie,” I asked, wrapping my arms around him, feeling his tears soak through my top. “I’m ok now, I’m with you,” he pulled back, and crashed his lips onto mine.
“I love you so much Lorena,” he whispered.
“I love you too” I replied. His lips soon found mine again, and I was lost in what felt like a dream world.