Left on the Sidelines

-Danielle-

(Day before leaving for tour)

I had finally finished all my packing for tour and Nash was finishing up his, so I thought it would be nice to actually cook something for dinner instead of eating out. We decided on my specialty, more commonly known as nachos. After it was finished, I began walking toward our bedroom when I heard him singing. I stood there listening to a couple lines before telling him dinner was ready. He walked out, following me to the living room where I had put the food and our drinks. After we finished eating and the show we were watching went to commercials, I decided to ask him about the song.

"What were you singing earlier?" I asked.

"Hmm?" He muted the TV and looked at me.

"Earlier, when you were packing, I heard you singing something I haven't heard before."

"Oh," he laughed nervously, "It's, uh, it's nothing."

"Are you lying to me?" I poked him.

"Lying is a strong word. I would put it more as I'm not being completely honest.." I began to stick out my bottom lip, but he covered my mouth with the palm of his hand, "Don't even start that!"

"You do it to me all the time!" I laughed, my voice muffled by his hand.

"This time is different," he shrugged, taking his hand back.

"How is this any different than-"

"No!" he exclaimed, jumping off of the couch and pointing at me, "Don't you dare bring examples into this!"

I giggled lightly, "Remembering Sunday?"

"Damn it!" he shouted.

I smiled proudly, knowing he was going to give in, "Please? It sounded really good!"

He looked at me for a moment before sighing, "Fine." He walked into our bedroom for a few seconds, returning with his guitar and sitting on the floor in front of where I was on the couch. He didn't give me any kind of introduction, he kind of just glanced at me before looking back down at his guitar and began playing.

Well, you only need the light when it's burning low
Only miss the sun when it starts to snow
Only know you love her when you let her go

Only know you've been high when you're feeling low
Only hate the road when you're missing home
Only know you love her when you let her go

And you let her go.

Staring at the bottom of your glass
Hoping one day you'll make a dream last
But dreams come slow and they go so fast

You see her when you close your eyes
Maybe one day you'll understand why
Everything you touch surely dies

But you only need the light when it's burning low
Only miss the sun when it starts to snow
Only know you love her when you let her go

Only know you've been high when you're feeling low
Only hate the road when you're missing home
Only know you love her when you let her go

Staring at the ceiling in the dark
Same old empty feeling in your heart
Cause love comes slow and it goes so fast

Well, you see her when you fall asleep
But never to touch and never to keep
Cause you loved her too much and you dived too deep

Well, you only need the light when it's burning low
Only miss the sun when it starts to snow
Only know you love her when you let her go

Only know you've been high when you're feeling low
Only hate the road when you're missing home
Only know you love her when you let her go

And you let her go
And you let her go
Well, you let her go

Cause you only need the light when it's burning low
Only miss the sun when it starts to snow
Only know you love her when you let her go

Only know you've been high when you're feeling low
Only hate the road when you're missing home
Only know you love her when you let her go

Cause you only need the light when it's burning low
Only miss the sun when it starts to snow
Only know you love her when you let her go

Only know you've been high when you're feeling low
Only hate the road when you're missing home
Only know you love her when you let her go

And you let her go

He looked back up at me just as I wiped a tear off of my cheek. I leaned down, putting my hands on his shoulders for support, and kissed him.

"That was beautiful," I whispered when I pushed myself back up. He gave me a shy smile, laying his guitar on the floor beside him and pulling me onto his lap instead. He wrapped his arms around me as I buried my face in his neck and asked, "When did you write that?"

"Around the time I wrote Come Back to California," he answered quietly.

"Why'd you choose that one instead of this one?"

"I don't know," he shrugged, "I guess it was more fitting."

"Well, either way, I love it," I smiled, moving to look at him.

"I love you," he said, kissing my nose.

"I know," I kissed his nose in return, "I love you, too."

The next day, we woke up with about half an hour until our flight, which we weren't too worried about since we'd already finished everything we needed to and it was only a 10 minute drive to LAX.

"Ryan!" I heard Jenna shout from the apartment across the hall, "We don't have time for this!"

I looked at Nash, "I'll be right back." I walked out into the hall and knocked on Jenna's door before walking in, "What's going on in here, man?"

She let out a defeated sigh as she walked out of her bedroom, "He thinks he need to bring his entire wardrobe."

"Ryan," I laughed, walking into their room, "It's okay to wear things more than once."

"I know!" he exclaimed, "But I have concert outfits and sightseeing outfits and they need to be organized!"

"Ryan, you can organize them when we get to our hotel, okay? But right now, if you don't hurry up, we're gonna miss our flight!"

"But-"

"Planes don't wait, Ry," I cut him off, shaking my head, "Just stuff everything in your suitcases and let's go." I walked back out to Jenna, finding Katia now standing in the room.

"Why didn't he start packing before last night?" she asked, laughing lightly.

"Believe me, I tried that," Jenna sighed, "His response was 'If I do it now, everything will get wrinkled, Jenna!'" she said, mimicking his voice.

"I do not sound like that," Ryan said, walking into the room with his suitcases.

"But it's just gonna get wrinkled anyway," Katia gave him a confused look.

"That's what I said!" Jenna shouted. Ryan rolled his eyes as Katia and I giggled.

"Seriously though, guys," I smiled, "We've gotta get going." I rushed back to my apartment, throwing my carry on bag over my shoulder, stuffing my phone into my pocket, grabbing my camera, and wheeling my suitcase to the hallway as Nash quickly followed.

We all met up in the hall, making sure all of our doors were locked before heading to LAX. Around 21 hours and a few stops later, we finally landed at Perth Airport. We stopped by our hotel to put our things in our rooms before going sightseeing for a while. We thought it would be easier just getting a hotel in each of the cities than trying to cram - at minimum - ten people onto a tour bus. Plus, we wanted to be able to use actual showers. The girls decided to stay out and shop while the guys and I left to meet up with Taylor at the venue for sound check. When we got to the venue, we walked through the front entrance just to see how big it really was inside.

"Wow," Ryan whispered in awe.

"How are 20,000 people going to fit in here?" Nash wondered out loud.

"Dude," Ian chuckled, "This place is gigantic."

"I think they'll make it work," I said, looking around.

"How about we go find Taylor?" Jamie suggested. We were all quick to agree and set off to look for her. When we found her, she was talking with the crew about more of the technical parts of the show such as how she would go on stage.

"Taylor!" Ryan said excitedly as we walked into the room.

"Guys!" she smiled, hugging all of them.

"This is our photographer, Danielle," he told her.

"Actually, Ian is their photographer," I corrected him, "But since he'll be on stage during Hot Chelle Rae's set, I was the next best thing they could find. Not to mention they were pretty happy when I said I would rather be paid with french fries. It's a win/win for everybody, really."

Taylor laughed, "Well, welcome aboard. Have you guys seen the stadium yet?"

"Yeah!" Ian said, "It's insane! This is gonna be the biggest show we've ever played!"

"And hopefully get us more fans," Nash added.

"Oh, I see how it is. I guess I'm not good enough for you anymore," I sighed dramatically.

"You're always good enough for me, babe," he chuckled, kissing my cheek.

Taylor shook her head and laughed, "So, you guys ready for sound check?"

"Yup!" Ryan said happily.

"Danielle," she said, looking at me, "We want to do a tour diary sort of thing along with the photos, would you be up for filming that for us?"

I gasped quietly, "Yeah, of course!"

"Awesome! We can work on that while they sound check!"

"Sounds good!" I grinned and looked at the guys, "See you losers later!" and walked with Taylor to her dressing room.

-Ryan-

"We still need to figure out the set list," Ian reminded us as we got our instruments out of their cases and began setting up.

"Right!" I said, "What songs should we do?"

"Don't we have like, a 30 minute set?" Jamie asked, "I feel like Tonight Tonight is an obvious one though."

I nodded, "And I Like It Like That. We'll just skip the rapping."

"We should do a couple songs from Lovesick Electric, too," Nash added.

"Probably I Like to Dance and Bleed since everyone at our shows seem to like them."

"What about Why Don't You Love Me?" Ian asked.

"Should we ask Taylor to do it?" Nash questioned.

Ian gave him a confused look, "I was thinking Danielle could do it."

"Would she though?" Jamie asked, his voice sounding worried.

"Why not?" he shrugged, "She's only ever not performed it with him once."

"Why don't we ask her and then go from there?" I suggested. They nodded in agreement and I called for Danielle.

-Danielle-

While Taylor, her manager, and I were discussing the things I would be doing for the tour, I heard Ryan yell my name.

"I don't know what they did, but I promise they'll replace it," I half-joked as Taylor and I made our way to the stage.

"There was nothing for them to break out there except lights and those are all the way up on the ceiling," she laughed, "If they broke any of those, I'd be more impressed than anything."

"I wouldn't put it past them, honestly," I laughed along, shaking my head as we made it to the stage. "Jealous we aren't getting enough camera time already, boys?" I teased.

Ryan laughed sarcastically, "Not this time. We were wondering how you would feel about doing Why Don't You Love Me tonight."

"Shouldn't you be doing that with Taylor? It is her tour and all..." I trailed off.

Taylor smiled and told me, "It's okay to be nervous. It's your first big show."

"I am not nervous," I laughed, "I'm just thinking about your fans! You know, cause like, they paid to see you and they would much rather have you sing it than some girl they've never heard of."

"A lot more people have heard about you than you think," Jamie chimed in.

"That doesn't mean everyone likes me, Jamie!" I suddenly exclaimed, "There are still gonna be people who hate me and do you honestly believe that I can handle what they'll say? Because I certainly don't!" I felt my face getting hot as I let out a breath and mumbled, "Okay, so I'm a little nervous."

Taylor looked at the guys and said, "Could you guys maybe give us a couple minutes?" They did and we walked over and stood at the edge of the stage, facing the empty stadium. "I've seen videos of you at shows and I know it's not a problem performing in front of people," she said, "So what is it?"

"There weren't 20,000 of them staring back at me," I mumbled, "These guys have never been an opening act and all the people at their shows have gone just to see them, but people are coming here to see you and I just think you should do it with him instead.."

"I get that you're scared they won't like you - I was like that for a long time - but that doesn't mean you should stop yourself from going for your dreams."

"So how do you deal with it?" I asked, finally looking at her.

She smiled at me, "Think about it like this: When you go out and a fan recognizes you, would you rather them come up to you and ask for a picture or walk by because they're nervous?"

"Ask for a picture, obviously!"

"You kind of have to think of it in that way. If that fan didn't stop you, they wouldn't get to tell all their friends that they met the person who inspires them most. There are always going to be people who don't like you whether it's your music or what you say or what you do, but to me, the happiness of one fan outweighs the ignorance of ten strangers."

"You really think I should do it?" I sighed.

She nodded, "I do. They're going to love you. Maybe even more than Nash does."

"Yeah, I don't think so," Nash chuckled, walking over to us with the rest of the guys.

"You were eavesdropping, weren't you?" I asked.

Ryan shrugged, "We prefer to call it unknowingly listening."

"So, are you gonna do it?" Ian asked hopefully.

I looked at them for a few seconds before sighing again, "Fine." They all cheered happily and Nash wrapped his arms around me, kissing my cheek.

"We should do a run through of the song then!" Ryan exclaimed, handing me his microphone. I shrugged, carefully setting my camera on the ground a few feet away and we began. We decided that Ryan and Ian would play guitar and Jamie would add drums, leaving Nash and I to focus on the words and each other.

"Should we keep rehearsing or do you think we're okay?" Ian asked after we finished the song.

"I think we should do one more," I said. They looked at me and I acted as serious as I could before starting to sing I Just Can't Wait to Be King from The Lion King. Everyone rolled their eyes and laughed, happily joining in.

After taking a few more shots during Taylor's sound check, I decided to go outside to get some photos of the venue's marquee before fans started arriving. I was about to walk back inside when someone grabbed my arm, spinning me around. I let out a loud squeak, regaining my balance before looking at who it was.

My eyes widened, "Jordan!"

"Danielle," he smirked, "We meet again."

"Okay," I said, already over whatever he was going to respond with, "The first time we ran into each other, I forgot you were with RCA. The second time was a little unnerving to say the least. Now, I'm just convinced you're stalking me."

"Oh, Danielle," he laughed, shaking his head, "I can't believe it took you this long to figure it out." I quickly glanced at the door, making a run for it. However, it didn't go the way I'd hoped. Jordan was quick to grab my waist and basically carry me away, so I did the only thing I could at that point.

And that was screaming, "Nash!"

-Nash-

I heard Danielle scream my name and ran outside to where she was just in time to watch Jordan put her back on her feet and raise his hand to hit her. I ran over to them as she braced herself, grabbing his wrist just before it reached her face. He looked at me wide-eyed, clearly startled I made it there that fast. Jamie rushed over to make sure Danielle was okay and take her back inside.

"Don't. Touch. Her," I growled slowly, pushing his arm back down to his side.

"I'm sure she must have told you by now," he smirked, "I already have." I don't know what it was, but something inside me just snapped. I only meant to hit him once, but once turned into twice, then three times, then four and I couldn't stop myself.

I heard Danielle cry, "Ryan!" before I was being pulled off of Jordan.

"Nash!" Ryan said, "Nash, you need to stop!" As he was pulling me back inside, I noticed two security guards just standing near the door.

"You weren't even going to try to help her?!" I shouted at them.

"Nash!" Ryan repeated, taking me further into the venue, "You need to calm down!"

"I'm not gonna calm down, Ryan! That piece of shit almost hit her again and those assholes didn't do a god damn thing about it!"

"Wait," he froze in his spot, "What do you mean again?"

I coughed nervously, "She hasn't told you about that, has she?"

"No, but she's going to." He began walking to our dressing room, but I quickly stopped him.

"Ryan!" I exclaimed, "You can't just go in there and ask her in front of everyone! You have to wait until you have the chance to talk to her alone!"

He sighed, calming himself down, "Fine, but I want that time to be very soon." We continued to head for the dressing room and could hear Danielle talking to Jamie, Ian, Cameron, and Taylor.

"Guys, I'm fine, really. Please just let me do my job. I need to keep busy," she said unconvincingly. Everyone looked behind her as we entered the room and she spun around, now staring at me. She let out a relieved breath and ran the short distance to me, jumping up and wrapping her arms around my neck. I wrapped my arms around her waist tightly and pressed my face against her neck, just happy she was safe.

-Danielle-

Right before the show, the girls came back from shopping and ran to me, pulling me into a tight group hug.

"What are you doing?" I asked slowly.

"Ryan told us what happened," Jenna replied.

I glared at him and he shouted, "They threatened to burn my bowties, what was I supposed to do?!" I rolled my eyes and looked back to everyone surrounding me.

"Uh, could you guys maybe back up a little?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah! Our bad!" they exclaimed, moving back a bit, giving me room to breathe.

"Are you okay?" Katia asked worriedly.

I sighed, speaking loudly so everyone in the room could hear me, "For the hundredth time, I'm fine. Can we please just move on with our lives now?" They looked at me, obviously unconvinced, but didn't press the issue any further.

15 minutes later, in the middle of the band's set, they were nearing the end of Bleed, which was my cue to start preparing myself. Nerves rushed throughout my body and I spun around to look at Taylor.

"I don't know if I can do this," I told her honestly.

"Yes," she said, "You can. I know it, they know it, and you do, too. You just don't want to admit it." She left the room and quickly came back with the girls and a microphone covered in glitter, much like her guitar, but was purple instead. I looked at her and she smiled, "We thought that since the song was officially on the set list, you would need your own mic."

I let out a breath and smiled back, "This is beautiful, guys. Thank you." I hugged them and we let go just in time to hear Ryan start the intro to Why Don't You Love Me.

"What do you say we do one more slow song?" he asked, to which the crowd cheered. "How many of you have heard of a song called Why Don't You Love Me?" About half of them screamed back in response, surprising me. "Good! We were thinking that our guitar player, Nash," he smiled, pointing to him, "And his girlfriend, the inspiration for the song, could sing it for you. How does that sound?" They screamed again and Ryan looked over at me, motioning for me to walk onstage as he announced my name. I took a deep breath, holding my microphone tightly, and walked out. I quickly made my way over to Nash, who had now switched places with Ryan and was standing at the center microphone. The crowd screamed loudly and I smiled, giving them a small wave. I guess Nash could tell I was still nervous as Ryan and Ian started playing because he grabbed my hand, making me look up at him.

"Don't think about them," he said quietly, "I'm right here, okay?" I nodded slowly and he began singing.

See, I can't wake up
I'm living a nightmare that keeps playing over again
Locked in a room, so hung up on you
And you're cool with just being friends

Left on the sidelines
Stuck at a red light
Waiting for my time
And I can't see

Why don't you love me? Touch me
Tell me I'm your everything
The air you're breathing
Why don't you love me, baby?
Open up your heart tonight
Cause I could be all that you need
Oh, why don't you love me?
Why don't you love me?

Nash kissed my forehead and for whatever reason, every nerve I had just seemed to disappear.

See, I'm just too scared to tell you the truth
Cause my heartache can't take anymore
Broken and bruised, longing for you
And I don't know what I'm waiting for

Left on the sidelines
Stuck at a red light
Waiting for my time
So just tell me

Why don't you love me? Touch me
Tell me I'm your everything
The air you're breathing
Why don't you love me, baby?
Open up your heart tonight
Cause I could be all that you need
Oh

Why don't you give me a reason?
Please tell me the truth
You know that I'll keep believing
Till I'm with you

Why don't you love me? Kiss me
I can feel your heart tonight, it's killing me

So why don't you love me? Touch me
Tell me I'm your everything
The air you're breathing
Why don't you love me, baby?
Open up your heart tonight
Cause I could be all that you need
Oh, why don't you love me?
Why don't you love me?

Oh, why don't you love me?
Why don't you love me?
Why don't you love me?

That moment, while the crowd was cheering as loudly as they possibly could, was the moment I decided that this was what I wanted to do with my life.