Four Corners and Two Sides

We began setting up in record time, due to our nerves and adrenaline moving us faster than we've ever moved before. I could see Sleeping with Sirens carefully watching us from the sidelines, but no sign of Kellin unfortunately. Justin Hills gave me a thumbs up, and I returned the kindness with a smile.
I plugged in my mic and thought about how cute Justin was, too. Or how the whole band was just attractive in general. Or how annoying I sounded because I should've been prepared for this part of the tour. That part where every band had at least one attractive member in it. I mentally told myself to shut the fuck up and think of what was going to happen next. Because what happened next was a dream come true.
We opened up to hundreds of kids with our latest single "Used Saves", which lifted a weight off of the pressure to perform well. I saw many mouths sing along, and constantly had to tell myself to keep singing. I was tempted to hold the microphone out to the crowd for the rest of the song, because that was the best feeling in the world. Kids singing your music back to you. Screw you Redbull, hearing your music echoing gives you wings.
The only mishap we had was that Eddie tripped over my microphone wire, so we almost went down together. He caught himself and inconspicuously made sure I was okay.
I walked off stage, sweaty and in a state of euphoria, my smile widening at the sight of my boys' open arms. We group hugged, partly gross because we all needed showers, and partly exciting because we were all so proud of each other.
"Successful show, my dudes. First one down, a million others to go!" Sanders squeezed us even tighter. I coughed and shoved myself out easily, since I was the shortest of the bunch.
Gabe Barham took a few steps toward us, giving out high fives.
"Thanks for warming them up for us, you guys. That set was killer," and he walked off to help roadies take down our equipment.
I looked at Eric and mouthed, "warming up?"
He shrugged and grabbed his bass from a burly man in a black tshirt. The others didn't seem to notice what Gabe said, but that stuck to me like glue.
I saw Kellin jogging to us from around the corner, also handing out high fives when he made it over. He looked a bit sweatier than any of us, and it was awkward wondering where he went off to.
"That was sick!"
"Where were you?" I asked.
He chuckled and pushed back his hair. "The crowd."
I gasped and grabbed his arms, slowly spinning him to check for any signs of distress.
"But you're alive!"
"Yeah..." He scrunched up his eyebrows, totally confused. "You thought I was injured?"
I rolled my eyes and said, "Well, you know. You're in a popular band, lead singer, a crowd full of girls..."
A had a dozen eyes on me, all from boys. I felt embarrassed as I looked down at the floor.
Kellin placed a hand on my shoulder. "Actually, there weren't many girls. Mostly boys. And they were drooling over the hottest chick singer around."
Cue my face on fire.
"Oh, hold on Eliza," Jesse Lawson shoved Kellin out of the way and stage whispered in my ear. "Kellin's actually talking about himself."
"Fuck you, man." Kellin stuck his middle finger up in Jesse's face and they both started laughing.
Eric elbowed me and made a motion to follow the rest of The Story of How out back. I grabbed my mic from another roadie and waved to Jesse and Kellin. I just wanted to quit talking altogether. Maybe Sleeping with Sirens wasn't actually that popular yet.
"You choked," Eric laughed at me as we were walking back to our bus.
"I know! Oh my God, that was so awful," I agreed.
"Don't forget Kellin is a grown man. He can take care of himself, Liz."
"Yeah, Eric. I know that. I just, I was nervous."
"Why were you nervous in the first place? Hey guys!" He waved to Taking Back Sunday and I did the same.
As we got farther away from the stage, I stopped walking and grabbed Eric's arm to halt him. "I was nervous because we went on practically before everyone else. What you said earlier about Kellin coming over just to see me made me nervous. Hell, he just complimented me over there and the only thing I could do was stand still like a fucking hot pepper."
"It was true, that was pretty awkward." He tilted his head in thought.
"Do you get it now? It's only the first day and I'm making a fool of myself."
Mitchell was way ahead of us, already at the bus, waving his hands frantically. "Hurry up, my little ducklings! We need some help over here!"
We began walking again and Eric put his arm over my shoulder. The big brother always comforting me when I needed it.
"You're doing great, you know."
"Did you hear what Gabe said? What even was that?"
I looked over to see Eric's expression, hoping for something more expressive than what I got, which was only an eye roll.
"Really?" I sighed. "I was the only one who had a problem with it."
"It honestly didn't look like he meant anything by it."
I saw a vacant chair near our bus and scraped it along the dirt and sand, picking a perfect spot in the shade underneath our tent.
"If we're going to have a brawl with Sleeping with Sirens, I'm going after Kellin's face first."
Eric's hearty laugh came out as he sat on the ground. "Why his face?"
"So I won't feel bad about attacking the rest of him," I looked down at my best friend. "Kid's got a nice face, am I right or am I right?"
"If you could only talk to him like you talk to me." He snorted and threw a rock at the back of Mitchell's head.
"Hey!" He screamed and turned around. "If you lazy assholes would like to help us, you're more than welcome."
"No."
"Guys, we need-"
"No."
"Well, fuck you too, then!"
Eric and I started laughing and it brought back the feeling of being on stage. That nice euphoric feeling. I was doing great, and feeling embarrassed was a normal thing to go through. I kept reminding myself that I deserved some credit, especially for my guts to get up there in front of all of those people. Warped Tour didn't have to be a bad experience, and I came to the realization that I was making it bad for myself.