Good Love

“Ah. Sweet Las Vegas,” Austin sighed, grinning at Annie. “Let’s go get smashed, baby.”

Annie rolled her eyes. Jared had put Austin in charge of his baby sister momentarily, while The Maine went through soundcheck at the venue, even though she did not need a fucking babysitter. Besides, it was more like she was babysitting Austin, with the way he perked up at every bar they walked by.

“Maybe next time, Gibbs,” she said, scuffing her boot on the concrete. They’d been walking along the side of the road for nearly forty-five minutes, both of them needing some fresh air. She’d been getting pretty antsy in the bus, barely getting any sleep last night after hearing Jared’s outburst at John. It’d also taken a lot of effort that morning to avoid John, considering how fucking small that bus was, and there was no way in hell that she was even going to look at that asshole. He didn’t want her here? Well, good. She didn’t want to be here, either.

“You ruin all my fun, Annie! Who the hell are you?” he laughed. Gibbs never took anything seriously.

“I am Annie Monaco, the sexiest girl you’ve ever met, and I was put on this earth to ruin all of your fun.”

“Fuck, I knew it.”

A tiny smile spread on her lips as the two walked slowly down the street. In the background, she could hear cars honking, along with the dull hum of dance music from clubs throughout the city. Back before the incident in Chicago, Vegas would have been Annie’s dream city: flashing lights, bars around every corner, and an infinite supply of poker tables. But now, it made her sick. She wanted to get out of Vegas as soon as possible.

“You gonna watch my set tonight?” Austin asked, pulling a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket.

She shrugged. “Maybe. Or I might just wait until tomorrow’s show. I’m not really feelin’ the Vegas scene.”

He laughed, showing his teeth. “If only I could say that. Here, I don’t think anyone would judge you if you were drunk as hell at 9 on a Sunday morning, and that’s my kinda place,” he chuckled, pulling out two cigarettes. He put one between his lips and handed the other to Annie, which she was grateful for. The two of them seemed to have the sweetest kind of symbiotic relationship: they didn’t know much about each other, but they knew each other’s habits, and they knew those habits well enough to know when the other needed a smoke.

“It’s too much glitz and glamor for me,” she said, pausing as Austin held a lighter up to the stick in her mouth. “I prefer the coast.”

“Well, you’re in luck, babe. We’ll reach the Pacific soon enough.”

“Where’s our next stop?”

“Good old Salt Lake City. They’ve got the best steakhouses there, I can’t wait.”

At the mention of food, Annie’s stomach tightened. Mealtimes were the worst hours of the day for her. It was getting harder and harder to shove food down her throat, these days.

She ignored Austin’s rambling, checking the watch on her wrist. Nearly 4 o’clock. The show started in two hours, and Austin still hadn’t gone through soundcheck.

“Come on, Gibbs. You’ve got a show to play.”

***

Annie leaned against the banister of the balcony, a large crowd of screaming fans below her. Austin had just finished his short set on stage, and The Maine was now getting set up. Annie had loved Austin’s music; it was jazzy and laid back but sophisticated. It was good music to clear your head with.

“You excited, Annie?” Tim asked from his position to her left.

Instead of turning to look at him, she lazily tilted her head and squinted at him over the flashing lights. “I ‘spose so, Timmy. Not too fond of the screaming girls, though.”

He laughed. “Don’t worry, once you get used to it you’ll be able to tune it out.”

Annie sighed and nodded her head, still needing advil for her pounding headache. What she really wanted was another cigarette, but she’d already had four today, and she was trying to cut back. Plus, Jared caught her smoking and stole her pack for the time being. The little shit.

Well, if she couldn’t have a smoke to calm her down, she’d get the next best thing: a good old drink. She slid away from her spot against the banister and headed for the bar, as silent as a cat. She’d always been proud of her sneaking skills, after all. They sure paid off when she wanted to sneak out of the house as a teenager.

“Can I get a Coke with vodka?” she asked, having to raise her voice over the noise.

“Sure thing, little lady,” the bartender said, his voice full with a southern accent. He didn’t look much older than her, either.

As he poured her drink, it reminded her of her friend Stephen, whom she worked with at the pub, and actually missed the kid a little. She decided to give him a call sometime soon.

After he finished making her drink, she sat down on a stool to get away from the flashing lights for a while. She let out a sigh of relief as the cool liquid rushed down her throat.

“So what’re you doing all the way upstairs, miss? You don’t like jumpin’ around with the crowd?” the bartender asked, wiping the counter even though it was still as clean as it was ten minutes ago.

“Nah. I’m not really here for the concert,” she said. “My brother’s a guitarist for the band that’s about to play. I’m just tagging along on tour. The crowd really isn’t my thing, anyways.”

He nodded. “You don’t find that boring, though? Just floatin’ along while the band does their thing?”

His question caught her off guard. She’d never really though about that, though after he pointed it out, she realized she really didn’t do anything today. She kinda just... floated. Just like he said. Like a fucking balloon.

“I don’t really know what else I can do though,” she admitted, feeling slightly foolish even though she didn’t even know this kid. “I mean, it’s not like I play an instrument or anything, and they already have a manager, and they’d never let me drive their bus.”

The guy laughed a little at her last statement, and then tilted his head in thought. “Hey!” he said, after a minute of thinking. “I know. Are you into taking pictures? A lot of bands that come through here have their own photographers with them, and then they use those pictures in portfolios or sell them or some shit. Maybe you could do that.”

And then, thanks to a perfect stranger, Annie knew exactly what she was going to do.

“Holy shit, that’s perfect. I’ll have to talk to my brother about that, because I love photography,” she said, genuinely smiling for the first time that day. “Actually, the more that I think about it, that sounds amazing. Thank you so much for that idea! I can’t wait to go tell Tim!” she laughed, becoming excited and forgetting that the guy probably didn’t know who the hell Tim was.

Annie hopped up from her seat on the barstool, her drink in hand, and rushed over to Tim, who was still by the banister.

“Tim! Guess what? I was just talking to the bartender and -” she started, but was instantly cut off by the sudden flicker of strobe lights coming from the stage. After a few seconds of the mind-numbing flashing, the lights went out completely, leaving the crowd in total darkness.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Annie asked, gripping a tall support beam on the banister to steady herself in the dark.

“Don’t worry, it’s all a part of their set,” Tim whispered, grinning. “Get ready.”

Momentarily forgetting her new idea, she stared in awe towards the stage, when suddenly the bright lights snapped on in time with the pounding music, and confetti exploded across the crowd, who was going wild by now.

Annie watched as the five members of The Maine were revealed. They must have gotten set up in the dark to surprise the crowd. They had already launched into their first song, one that was familiar to her. When she noticed Garrett standing on top of a speaker and waving in her direction, she instantly relaxed. Maybe Vegas wouldn’t be so bad after all. If Tim approved of her idea to photograph the boys, then maybe this tour wouldn’t be so bad, either.

She decided to wait until the show was over to ask Tim again about anything, and leaned back against the railing as she watched John strut around on stage. She had to admit, he had a really good singing voice.

“Hey, Vegas! How’s it goin’?” he yelled into his microphone, causing the crowd to scream again. Annie wondered how the boys never got sick of that. Then again, if all those people were screaming for her, she probably wouldn’t get sick of it either.

“Good, good,” John laughed, swaying slightly to the background music. The other boys then started up another song, one that Annie didn’t know quite yet. She had a feeling she’d know all their songs by heart by the time tour was over.

***

“I’m so glad y’all decided to come out tonight. I know I say this at every damn show we play, but I really appreciate you guys comin’ out and all. It means the world to us, it really does,” John said, wiping the sweat off of his forehead. Their set was nearly over with, and John had been talking and joking with the crowd all night. It was so crazy, how he acted like he’d known them all for years and years.

That thought pissed her off. John could joke around with complete strangers, yet treat Annie like some random stranger? Sure, they hadn’t known each other for very long, just a couple of months, but still. Why did he have to keep up this tough guy attitude around her?

She thought back to the day when she’d first met The Maine in its entirety at 8123, and how she had yelled at John, and then how he’d apologized and shared a cigarette with her. They had agreed to be civil with each other, right? What the hell had happened to that little agreement? Now, he was treating her like she was some random chick that they’d picked up off the streets. Thinking back to Jared and John’s argument last night, she was almost sure that Jared wasn’t the only one who John had probably bitched at for bringing Annie along. So what was his problem with her?

If he kept his attitude up, she vowed to confront him about it. Again. She wouldn’t let her big brother do the yelling for her; she’d sure as hell do it herself.