Time to Figure Out

People stared as I leaned against the fence where the blessthefall merch table was set up. A cigarette dangled loosely from my lips and dark sunglasses hid my green eyes. I folded my arms over my chest, feeling a little awkward. I hated waiting for bands and getting stared at like a band slut.

I had started listening to blessthefall in 2006, when Craig Mabbitt, now the lead singer of Escape the Fate, was in the band. My friend in the producing industry sent me a copy of their self-titled EP. I had been hooked ever since.

I first saw blessthefall on the 2007 Warped Tour, when I had been working the Attack Attack! tent for the dudes in the band who I knew. I caught them since they were the last band to play a small stage and most tents, including AA’s, were closing up. I stopped by their tent after their set to talk to them for a bit.

I caught them on the Black on Black tour by accident when my friend Layla dragged me along to see Dance Gavin Dance. I again dropped by to talk to the guys and pick up their album, His Last Walk, which I forgot to pick up on Warped. I then missed them on their next two stops since they were playing on work nights; at the time, I was apprenticing at a local tattoo shop called Insight Tattoos.

The next time I saw them was on the 2008 Taste of Chaos tour. Craig had left the band prior to the show, and I saw them with Jared on main vocals and a fill-in on bass. They didn’t come around for a bit after that, but I did see them when they came around with Silverstein in 2009. That was the first time I saw Before Their Eyes with guitarist Elliott Gruenberg. Elliott was very young to be in such a popular band, maybe a few years younger than me, but I really didn’t care. After blessthefall played, I went back to the merch tables to see if either they or Before Their Eyes were signing.

As soon as I saw Elliott and the rest of his band, I began to walk over, but a voice called me over.

”Piper!” someone exclaimed, I tore my eyes away from the young blonde boy to see Eric Lambert calling me over to their merch table. I smiled and walked over, hugging Eric and the rest of the guys, minus one guy I didn’t exactly know.

“Piper, I’d like you to meet our new vocalist, Beau Bokan!” Eric introduced me to the tall, dark haired man excitedly. I went to shake his hand, but Beau pulled me into a hug instead. “Beau, this is Piper, she’s been supporting our band since seemingly day one.” We pulled away from the hug.

I laughed and looked back to see if Before Their Eyes was still out. Unfortunately, Elliott wasn’t standing with the rest of his band anymore. I spent the majority of the night spending time with blessthefall.
--

After seeing BTF on their tour with Enter Shikari, things dropped off for a bit. I had finished my apprenticeship and was looking into jobs at more local tattoo shops. Blessthefall went into the studio to record their second full-length, Witness, which I, of course, picked up the first chance I got.

The Atticus Tour in 2009 came around in Joliet and I jumped at the chance to go, seeing as Of Mice & Men were going to be playing with BTF. I hadn’t seen much of Austin Carlile, my friend in Attack Attack!, in a while, but I had talked to him a lot. He has really talked up his new band, OM&M. I hung around with them and BTF after the show and got to know Austin’ new band.

When blessthefall announced the departure of Mike Frisby in early 2011, I was a little heartbroken. Mike was a cool guy, I’d miss him a lot, but I couldn’t help but get butterflies when they announced Elliott, previously from Before Their Eyes, would be a permanent member.

I remembered Elliott, the young, blonde guitarist for Before Their Eyes. We hadn’t talked, but it was cool that he would be joining my favorite band.

When BTF announced headlining the Fearless Friends tour, I was really looking forward to it. Blessthefall added me to their guest list, so I got full access. It was amazing because I got to check out some bands I’d been dying to see. It was also the first time I met Elliott Gruenberg.

”Piper, it’s time to introduce you to the newest member of BTF once again,” Eric said, laughing. I laughed with him as he led me to blessthefall’s green room. Elliott was sitting on the couch, paying very close attention to his phone.

“Elliott stop being forever alone and come meet our friend!” Beau said, laughing. I awed.

“Do you guys really say he’s forever alone all the time?” I asked, feeling a little sorry for the young guitarist.

“Yeah, they do,” Elliott grinned slightly, walking over and shaking my hand.

“You guys suck,” I said, shaking Elliott’s hand and looking at the rest of the guys.

“If Elliott didn’t seclude himself all the time, he wouldn’t be forever alone,” Beau said, defending himself.

“Maybe he just doesn’t like any of you so he doesn’t talk to you guys,” I said, looking at Elliott and smiling. He smiled back.

“She hit the nail on the head,” he laughed, still looking at me.
--

Blessthefall came next during Spring Break, a busy time for tattoo shops. Fortunately, the Fire and Ice Tour with We Came As Romans came on a Tuesday and I could miss that day. I had gone through hell in the pat for the opening bands, Woe is Me, and The Color Morale. Blessthefall, as always, put on an amazing show. Immediately after, I walked back to their merch table.

The BTF fanbase had grown extraordinarily since I first started listening to them. I waited through their younger fans until the band was free. We all did our greetings and then took off to the blessthefall tour bus.

Now here I was, July 7th, 2012, at Warped Tour in Tinley Park, Illinois. I was waiting for blessthefall, as always, when I could be seeing Transit, they were playing the Monster Energy Stage nearby.

“Piper!” someone suddenly shouted. I looked up from taking a drag from my fag to see Beau running towards me. “Look at you, hanging out here all by yourself! Why didn’t you come see us? How are you? Did you get a haircut? Do you want to hang out? It’s been forever! Did you get new tattoos?”

I laughed at Beau’s constant stream of questions and the fact that he didn’t think I’ve kept him fully updated with my life.

“I couldn’t go see you I’m not important enough, good, yes, and no, not yet,” I asked, answering all his questions. Beau laughed and pulled me into a hug. I hugged him back tightly.

“Every time we’re in Chicago or the surrounding cities, I think I might demand the security guards at the venue to let you in and hang with us,” Beau said, pulling away from me. “C’mon, we’ll go see the rest of the guys. And Lights! Lights is here too!”

“I know, Beau,” I said. “I’ve met her before, don’t get too excited.”

“You’ve met her before?” Beau asked, obviously confused.

“Yeah, when she came around to Chicago once. I highly doubt she remembers me,” I said nonchalantly. Beau pulled me to an area where an awning was pulled out over three guys and a girl.

“Piper!” Matt exclaimed, getting up to come hug me.

“Hey,” I said, hugging him back.

“How you’ve been, Piper?” Jared asked, coming over and hugging me, too. Eric hugged me directly after.

“Good,” I said. “Just been working in the tattoo shop. Work around there has picked up since its summer.”

“What tattoo show do you work at again?” Beau asked.

“Archer Tattoos: it’s just a small tattoo shop in Chicago,” I said. Beau nodded before beckoning someone over.

“Well, Piper, I’d like you to meet my wife, Lights,” he said as the aforementioned girl walked over.

“Hello,” she said, extended a hand out for me to shake. “I’ve heard a lot about you.” She laughed and I grinned along.

“All good things, I hope,” I said, glancing at the band. They all just smiled.

“Of course,” she smiled. We all sat under the awning again, talking and laughing, generally catching up. After a few hours, I needed to use the washroom, so I excused myself and tentatively walked onto the blessthefall tour bus. It seemed empty, so I walked to the bathroom.

When I was coming out of the small washroom, I ran into someone.

“Whoa, sorry,” the person said. I recognized him as Elliott.

“It’s okay, hey, Elliott,” I said, smiling at the guitarist.

“Oh, hey Piper,” he said, smiling lazily. “It was just taking a nap after our early set today. I didn’t know you were gonna be here today.” He yawned cutely.

“I rarely miss a blessthefall show in town,” I smiled. Elliott smiled back.

“So, do you wanna hang out in the back longue, it’s pretty hot outside,” Elliott asked. I nodded, wanting to get out of the sweltering heat.

“Yeah, sounds cool, do you have any video games?” I asked.

“Halo?” Elliott asked. I smirked.

“I will kick your ass in Halo,” I said confidently.

“We’ll see,” Elliott said, not backing down.

Who knows how long later, Elliott and I were still playing video games. We had gone through the majority of the games blessthefall had on the bus and so far, Elliott was a good video gaming partner.

“Dammit!” he exclaimed once I won. I chuckled and slung my arm over his shoulder.

“I always win!” I said. Elliott turned towards me, his face really close.

“Oh yeah?” he asked. I nodded and he looked as if he was leaning in to kiss me when the rest of the band plus Lights walked on the bus. Elliott and I scooted away from each other quickly.

“There you are, Piper!” Matt exclaimed, walking into the back longue. “We thought you had disappeared on us.”

“Nah, I was just hanging out with Elliott,” I said, grinning at the said boy.

“Aw, Piper is making Elliott not be forever alone!” Beau said. I chuckled as Elliott got up and turned the gaming console off.

“I’m gonna take a walk,” Elliott said quietly, going to walk off the bus.

“I’ll join you,” I said quickly. “Uh, if you don’t mind.” Elliott shrugged and I got up to go along with him. Beau shot me an amused look and I returned a confused one.

Elliott and I walked silently for a while, until my phone vibrated in my pocket. I took it out and saw a text from Beau.

U like Elliott. -<3eau

So? I texted back.

For how long?

Idk, since like 2009. I remembered the first concert with Before Their Eyes I saw and smiled.

Tell him!

“Okay, who are you texting?” Elliott asked. I blushed and shoved my phone back into my pocket.

“No one,” I smiled. Elliott didn’t buy it.

“Bullshit,” he said. He reached over and tried to get my phone from my pocket, but I grabbed it before him and tried to keep it away from him. Eventually, we fell to the ground in our struggle, Elliott on top of me.

“Ah-ha!” he exclaimed, finally getting my phone. I squirmed under him, but it was virtually useless. He was already looking through my text messages.

When he was done, he climbed off of me, helped me up, and handed me back my phone. We stood in an awkward silence for a couple moments.

“Do you really like me?” he asked shyly. I blushed bright red and nodded, not trusting my voice.

“It’s totally fine if you don’t like me back, I completely understand, I mean we’ve only met a handful of times-“my rambling was cut off by Elliott’s lips on mine. I went through that whole cliché ‘my-world-stopped-and-fireworks-erupted-from-nowhere’ phase as we kissed.

“Whoa, kiddos,” someone interrupted us. Elliott and I broke apart to see Austin Carlile from Of Mice & Men. “Piper Hensley, I thought I’d never see the day.”

“Hey, Austin,” I said, rolling my eyes and smiled at him. I hugged him tightly.

“You know each other?” Elliott asked, confused.

“I’ve known this one,” Austin pointed at me. “Since we were teenagers. I’ve seen her reject countless boys, including me. How’d you get so lucky?” I blushed deeply.

“I honestly don’t know,” Elliott chuckled, lacing his fingers with mine. Austin chuckled and said his goodbyes, hugging me again and telling me to “text him all the dirty details” later. I laughed.

“So, you like me back then?” I asked Elliott. He rolled his eyes but smiled.

“Why wouldn’t I?” he asked. I smiled and joined our lips again.