Not So Reckless and Relentless

I was sitting in the living room of the Laguna house. Sam and I had moved in here shortly after graduating from Kloss Academy since the band was signed to my dad’s label he figured it’d be easier if they lived in the US rather than in the UK. My parents are letting us live rent free as long as I keep sending my father unsigned bands. That’s what I was doing right now, sending him some unsigned bands that should be signed and could potentially be signed to his label.

Sam was currently at a meeting with the rest of Asking Alexandria, the band name they had come up with after graduation. Management had called early this morning saying they had some big touring news. Lately, the band’s popularity had taken off so they were expecting this to be a big deal tour. I had unfortunately never been on tour with them but before he left this morning, Sam said if it was possible I would be coming along on this one, so I was hopeful that I would.

I hit send on my email to my father with the bands, this time I had found fifteen unsigned bands. I closed my laptop and relaxed back on the couch. My phone started playing the instrumental version of Not The American Average by Asking Alexandria, my favorite song by them.

I looked at the screen and it read Cassie. We had kept in touch after graduation and get together once a month for lunch or shopping. She was living in Los Angeles with Christian and attends UCLA for theater. My dad had actually signed Black Veil Brides a few years ago but even with that, I hadn’t seen them since after graduation.

“Hey Cassie,” I answered it.

“Guess who is going to be on Warped Tour this summer?!” She exclaimed and paused for a moment but not long enough for me to actually guess. “Black Veil Brides! I’m going with them!”

“Oh my gosh! That’s exciting!” I exclaimed “I’ll have to stop by the closest one to see you guys!”

“Of course you do!” She called back. “Well, we’re going out to celebrate tonight so I better get going. We’ll get together for lunch soon.”

“Definitely,” I said and we hung up. I heard the door close and someone’s footsteps leading into the living room. Sam’s head popped around the corner and he walked over sitting on top of my legs. “How’d the meeting go?”

“Good,” He nodded. “What’s for dinner?”

“You’re such a guy,” I laughed. He looked at me confused. “Giving the shortest answer possible then changing the subject.” He still looked confused, which was adorable on him. “Tell me how the meeting went! What was the big tour news?!”

“Do you want to celebrate now or later?” Now it was my turn to be confused. “Asking Alexandria is headlining the fucking Warped Tour!”

“Oh my god! Sam, that’s amazing!” I exclaimed wrapping my arms around his waist. “Cassie just called me and told me Black Veil Brides are going to be there too. She’s going on tour with them.”

“Well, then you’ll have someone to hang out with ‘cause you’re going with us!”

I screamed and latched onto him harder. He laughed and hugged me back, kissing the top of my head. “What do I pack? What do we do? Where are we going? Oh my gosh, this is so exciting!” I rambled on with lots of random questions.

“Riley, calm down,” Sam laughed. “We don’t leave until the Summer, which is months away. Anyway, do you want to celebrate no or later?” He winked. He was such a cheeky boy. “Actually we’ll probably end up going out to dinner tonight with everyone anyway. So let’s have our own celebration.” He smiled his crooked smile and began kissing me as I leaned back against the couch. Then my phone vibrated and beeped with a text message and I reached over to get it. “Don’t look at it right now.”

“Sam, it might be my dad telling me about the bands I sent him,” I sighed. “I have to.” I opened the text message much to Sam’s dismay. It was of course from my father but not about the bands I sent him. “My dad’s having a party at the Beverly Hills house for Asking Alexandria and Black Veil Brides before we leave for Warped Tour, apparently I See Stars are going to be playing but they’ll be in Michigan for the last few days before tour starts.”

Sam groaned. “Riley, do we have to go? You know your parents don’t really approve of us…particularly me.”

It wasn’t a secret they didn’t approve of us. My dad’s stance behind it was that Sam was a rockstar and rockstars are generally proven to be cheaters. Though while that may be true with other rockstars, particularly ones in Asking Alexandria, it wasn’t with Sam. When he was on tour he’d be almost constantly in contact with me, either through text or skype dates. I saw where he was coming from though and I understood that he was just being a caring father, but if Sam and I have lasted almost three years then I think he should also understand where I’m coming from.

“Sam, they love you,” I said, setting my phone back on the table.

“No, they love Asking Alexandria because we make the record company money,” He sighed. “If we weren’t together, they would probably like me more.”

“They only don’t approve of us because you are talent and my father is your producer. They always told me that I shouldn’t date anyone in the bands but we started dating before my father even had your CD.”

“Which means they probably should accept us, and they don’t.” Sam sat up and picked his baseball cap up off the table and put it on backwards. “I really want them to accept me Riley. You’re my girlfriend and I love you and I want your parents to actually like me.”

“They will one day. For now, how about we go back to celebrating you and Asking Alexandria headlining Warped Tour. Besides, you know I can’t resist you with that hat on.”

“Oh really?” He smirked. I nodded and began kissing him. He stood up without breaking the kiss and picked me up bridal style, carrying me to the bedroom.