What Makes a Song a Hit?

**Alex’s P.O.V**
Ben didn’t show up until about five minutes after sound check, and he was drunk as fuck. He stumbled in and managed to fall twice before getting to his guitar and putting the strap around his waist. We all stared at him in shock; he giggled like a maniac “What the fuck mate? You’re a fucking mess” danny managed to spit out “w-what the fuck you talking bout’ mate” he giggled “im fine”. Sam sighed “what are we gonna do? We cant play with him THIS drunk” he looked pissed as hell. The guys were all pissed “we have to play, the sets in 10 minutes” danny growled. Some tech guy ran in; “AA? to the stage” he ran off “come on then you drunk fuck” danny grabbed onto bens arm and pulled him out the door while sam fixed his guitar strap around his shoulder.

AA were 30 minutes into their set and ben looked fine, he could still stand at least. When they got off stage ben stumbled off somewhere “can you go get him alex?” James asked me “sure” I replied and went off the find him, I heard James grumbling “that fucking wanker”. I looked for about ten minutes before I saw him with another half empty bottle of jack in his hands. I sighed and walked up to him, “ben” I sighed “what are you doing” I asked. He looked down at me, I only just realised how much bigger he is than me, it was a little intimidating to be perfectly honest. “im drinking, what does it look like im doing” he mumbled, where he then sunk to the floor, his back against the wall of the building we were standing next to. “ben, get up, everyones waiting” I encouraged him “no” he pouted, reminding me of a five year old “ben” I said in a warning tone, holding out my hand to help him up. He just pulled me down with him and cuddled me to him, one arm around my waist and one still holding my wrist tightly “oww!” his grip around my wrist was hurting me, I sucked in a breath, he was so drunk he was oblivious to my pain. “w-what happened?” he asked me, his drunken breath in my face “we used to be so close, t-then ANDY!” his voice tensed up when he said andy “now you ignore me cos you-you’re with him. He suddenly sounded incredibly sad, and he held me tighter, “ben, this is an over-reaction!” I groaned “please let me go, you’re hurting me” he didn’t seem to hear me as he held me so awkwardly around the wrist and waist “BEN! PLEASE!” I struggled to move away as the pain got worse. “STOP YELLING AT ME” Ben cried standing up and pushing me away as he did, causing me to fall a small distance to the ground. My body felt so fragile as I tried to gingerly stand up, my wrist was beginning to bruise already, I stepped back as he stepped toward me “DON’T YOU SEE?!”he yelled “CAN’T YOU SEE IM IN LOVE WITH YOU?” he began to kiss me drunkenly and pushed me against the wall, pain shot down my back as he held me there, I tried to push him away but he was much stronger than me, I began to cry as I pushed against his chest.

He pulled me toward an alleyway and pushed me against another wall, there was even more pain in my back. He forced off my jacket before trying to remove my top “ben! What are you doing?” I panicked. I told myself that he wouldn’t by trying to do this if he was sober. “BEN!” I yelled, I slapped him across the face and while he was distracted I tried to run off, but he caught me around the waist and held me to him, “I miss you kitten” he said, trying to pull me back toward the alley way. I got out of his grip and ran toward the bus, the party was in full swing and it seemed like all the bands on tour had come to join in. I ran into the bus and jumped straight to into the bathroom, no one noticed my arrival.

Ben’s behaviour was bringing back memories of being hurt by my father, my wrist had his finger marks bruised onto them I looked in the mirror and saw that my waist was bruised as well, if Ben was going to act like this and hurt me, or rape me, as he seemed to intend to do tonight, I wasn’t going to stay here. I planned to ask Jimmy if I could stay on his bus for the remaining 2 months of the tour, he wouldn’t say no, and he hopefully wouldn’t ask questions.