To the Stage

I stumble out into the streets after being kicked out of yet another bar. Third one tonight. We were far too drunk for them to handle us, I guess. I thought I was too sober for my liking. I rolled my eyes when Sam and Cameron said they were going to head home to their girlfriends. Who needs a girlfriend when you’re a rockstar? Them apparently. They were whipped. I watched the taxi pull away with them in it. Time to head to another bar.

Ben, James, and I staggered around for another hour or so, trying to get into bars and clubs all down Sunset, getting denied entrance at every single one. I guess word got around to not let us in cause we were likely to start something if we drank more. I could handle my alcohol proper well, and so could Ben, but James was another story. He was a crazy drunk. And I do mean crazy. He was so unpredictable. I groaned in annoyance, deciding to call for a taxi to get me back to my mess of a house. I fumbled around with my keys, trying to get the door unlocked. When I finally got in, I was greeted by my two corgis, Lucifer Crue and Belle. I grunted at them, not in the mood to play a game with them. I stripped off my alcohol soaked clothes. As soon as my head hit the pillow, it was lights out for me.

~*~*~

The sunlight shining through my window and into my eyes was not the way I wanted to wake up, especially when said sunlight greatly intensified the hangover I was currently suffering with. I groaned and threw a pillow at the window as if that would help by making the sunlight go away. It didn’t. In fact, it made it worse. I grumbled as I forced myself out of bed to get dressed, thinking that I would go out and get some Starbucks before going over to Ben’s to get an early start on drinking with the boys.

I adjusted the sunglasses covering my eyes as I walked into Starbucks. The sweet aroma of espresso and mixed flavorings immediately filled my nostrils. The barista at the counter recognized me at once. “The usual, Danny? Tazo Earl Grey Tea Latte, whole milk, extra vanilla?” I nodded and paid for my drink, then moved over to wait. It didn’t take long, for everyone there knew not to keep me waiting. I was walking over to a chair, drink in hand, when I run into this girl. No, SHE runs into ME. Luckily, my drink didn’t spill.

“I… I am so sorry, sir!” She sputtered out.

I glared at her from behind my sunglasses, my hangover pounding. “Watch where you’re going! Don’t you know who I am?! I could bloody ruin you!”

The place had gone silent, with all eyes set on us. The girl just looked up at me, with this confused look on her face. “Am I supposed to know who you are..? Cause I don’t…” She mumbled the last part.

“Danny. Danny Worsnop. Asking Alexandria.” Still no recognition on her face or in her eyes. “You had to have at least heard of Not the American Average. What about The Final Episode?” I groaned, giving into the fact that she has never heard of us. Well, she was about to.

I grabbed her arm, still holding onto my drink. “Come on. You’re coming with me so you’ll find out who Asking Alexandria is.” She made small noises of protest, but I ignored her, taking her with me anyways.

The drive was silent, except for the noises from the engine. I glanced over at her a couple times, and every time I did, she was staring out the window. I sighed, not really knowing why I was bothering with her. She was simple and plain, brunette hair tucked behind her ear, and very unlike most of the girls I picked up, who were almost always blonde and what one would call “fake”; fake tan, fake dye job, make up caked on, easy, and fake- well, you get my point. Anywho, this girl was different. Wait, what was her name? I never really cared about names before.

“What’s your name?” I asked, breaking the silence.

She looks over at me for the first time since getting in the car. “Brandi…” Her voice was soft. Kind of cute and sweet. Woah. Did I just think something was cute and sweet..? I shook my head, getting that thought out of my mind.

Ten minutes later and we were sitting around Ben’s living room. Brandi was squished between Ben and an already tipsy James. I took a sip of the beer in my hand. Everyone was just as shocked as I was that she didn’t know who we were. I chuckled lightly as James slurred, “She’s never heard me play drooms! I think I’m going to explode!” Always so dramatic, James was.

Ben and I kept offering her a beer or something, and each time we did, she would politely decline. Ben pulled me off to the side.
“Where’d you find this broad, mate? She’s nowhere near your type.”

I gave him a raised eyebrow. “I ran into her at Starbucks and she had no idea who we were.” I glanced over at her, looking down nervously and awkwardly.

“We have to take her out drinking with us later.”

And so we did. I had plenty to drink and I pulled her down on my lap as I sat down at our table. “Take a drink. You’ll love it. Just one? For me?”

She bit her lip and glanced at the shot I was holding out to her. She finally grasped it and put it to her lips, looking at me. I nodded at her and she tilted her head back, taking it. She scrunched up her face; the bitter alcohol probably burning her throat.

I smirked. “That wasn’t that bad, now was it?” She shook her head and I saw her eye one of the other shots on the table. I pushed it gently closer to her and she tipped back that one. And another. And another. I drank with her until we were both seeing double. We made it back to my car, and somehow got to my place without wrecking. There, we drank more. I went to my bedroom, pulling out a box; its contents being, to say the least, of illegal nature. I made myself a neat little line, inhaling it like it was air. I made her one as well. She was too far gone to resist or object. I watched her with a detached fascination. What a work of art I’ve spawned. Man, am I proud of myself on this one…

~*~*~

Many nights have passed. Many nights of getting wasted with Brandi and my band mates. I thought back to one of my nights with her; we rented out a private back room in a club and had a party back there. When she wasn’t sitting on my lap drinking, she was grinding on me on the dance floor out in the main area. Then, we would get back to drinking and having a great time. One night, she drank James under the table. She’s such a masterpiece; self destruction in such a pretty little thing.

I flipped through the channels on my big screen, setting on some show called, “America’s Funniest Home Videos”. It wasn’t all that funny. Stupid Americans. I absentmindedly scratched Belle’s ears while Lucifer Crue lay stretched out by my feet. I was starting to fall asleep when my phone rang from on the coffee table. I groaned, reaching for it. “Ben Bruce.”

“Bloody ‘ell, mate. What do you want? You know tonight is my alone time night.”

“You need to get down here. Now.” He sounded worried, maybe scared.

“Why?”

“It’s Brandi.”

“What about her?”

“She’s wasted.”

“And?” I was starting to get annoyed.

“Danny, I think she went way too far this time. She hasn’t stopped throwing up since I found her, and that was a couple minutes ago.”

I sat up fast. “I’ll be right there.”

I rushed to my car, putting my shoes on as I did so. I started towards the bar, a million thoughts running crazy in my head. I knew that I should’ve walked away, but I couldn’t bring myself to quit this game. Because of that, I might just be the end of her…

I found her and Ben immediately; Ben’s insane hair standing out. She was slumped against the wall; head tilted to the side, almost as if she were sleeping. But I knew she wasn’t. Ben was frantically talking to someone on the phone. I picked up Brandi’s fragile body and started walking back to my car.

“Danny! What are you doing?! An ambulance is on the way!”

I turned to look at Ben, fear laced in my eyes. “There’s no time to wait! She needs to get to the hospital now!”

He just nodded and watched as I sped off towards the hospital, going well over the speed limit, trying to save a life.

~*~*~

The steady beeping of all the machines that Brandi was hooked up to was the only thing that filled my ears. She was still unconscious. I paced back and forth in front of her bed for a while before taking a seat in one of the chairs that was closest to her. I didn’t know I was crying until a tear drop hit my hand. I stared at it as more started to fall. I slowly reached my hand to one of her semi cold ones, clutching onto it.

“Brandi… Can you hear me?”

Nothing.

“Please… Answer me… Let me know you’re going to be okay…”

Still nothing.

My breath caught in my throat. I had truly messed up this time.

“Just like before,” I whispered. “I should’ve told you again, that I’m so sorry… I’m so sorry…”

My head shot up as one steady beep came from her heart monitoring machine. She flatlined... No… This couldn’t have happened… Not to her… I tried shaking her arm, squeezing her hand, anything. All with nothing but that steady beep.

“No!” I screamed. “No! No! No!”

And then I ran out of that room, out of that hospital, and away from anything that reminded me of Brandi.

Who’s Brandi?