Give Me Your Heart and Your Hand and We Can Run.

(Tony's p.o.v)

It's not that I wanted to lie to Jaime, I'm not entirely sure why I did in the first place. I just didn't feel right with telling him.

I waited outside of my house for Eric. He asked me earlier today if we could hang out, and it's not like I could say no. Or wanted to. About ten minutes passed before a grey truck turned on my street and stopped in front of my house. The passenger window rolled down and Eric grinned at me. I did just the same, walking towards the truck and opening the door.

"Hey, I'm really happy you said yes." The ginger-haired boy said as we drove down the street, passing all the small shops and businesses. I smiled at him, "Of course I did. I couldn't pass the chance to hang out with the Eric Lambert." We laughed, driving on the main freeway.

"Where are we headed?" I asked, noticing the Mission Bay street signs.

"The Casbah." Eric said, taking a left turn. "I don't normally hang there, but a friend of mine is playing there with his band. I thought it'd be cool. If it sucks, we could hit the pizza place on India."

"Seems like you had all this planned out." I said, impressed.

Eric blushed, moving into the middle lane on Interstate 5.

We talked the entire way to the venue. It was nice to talk, just the two of us.

"So was Jaime cool with us hanging out?" Eric asked.

"Yeah, he's fine with it." I lied.

Eric nodded, backing into a spot between two cars. We parked and walked out across the street where a line of people had formed by the door. Eric pulled his phone out and called his friend. A few minutes later, he grabbed my hand and led us past the line and towards the backstage door. A tall British man came stumbling out, but once he collected himself, he pointed and raised his arms out as wide as his grin.

"Eric! My ginger!" He called out, Eric moved closer to him, letting go of my hand and wrapping the boy in his arms.

"It's so good to see you back in the states, Danny." Eric said. Danny smiled, "And who's this?" Pointing at me. "A good friend of mine, Tony." Danny grabbed my hand and shook it hard. "Why don't we go inside, yeah? Show starts in 10 and I'm fucking hammered!" Eric and I laughed, following the British man into the building.

It would be a good night, I was sure of it.

Once we walked in, the lights dimmed, and the crowd roared. The show started in five.

"Crowd or backstage?" Eric asked, moving down the small metal stairway.

"Crowd, best part of the show." I said, smiling at him.

We made our way past the very huge crowd, settling in a spot right by the stage. Eric looked at me, giving me a thumbs up and grinning. I smiled back at him, watching the lights go out and the room turning pitch black. The crowd started jumping and cheering and we did just the same.

The stage lights went on and the base was strummed so loud, you could feel the vibration hit your chest. Danny ran on stage, following another guy with long hair pushed back in a hat. Their first song began, which I guessed was popular from noticing all the people singing along.

"I'm out the door, I'm on my ass again like every night before," Danny sang, getting close with one of the guitarists. "I'm off the wall, out of my fucking mind, I'm out of control."

Eric and I jumped with the crowd, turning over watching the crowd split in half.

"Alright, that's what I'm fucking talking about!" Danny yelled, grinning wildly. " Ladies and Gentlemen place your fucking bets. Here we go!" He sang.

The crowd ran towards each other, and I couldn't help but laugh at all the people getting hit, I even saw Eric in the mix, running and jumping around. I lost him after that, but he quickly returned. His hair was messy and he was gasping for breath. Fuck, that's hot. I thought. Wait? The fuck Tony? Eric isn't hot or sexy, you have Jaime. Stop. I shook my head, trying to end the self argument.

"You have to do that with me, during the last song." Eric said, practically yelling through the sound. I nodded, grinning.

"Oi! Happy we're back in the states? Good, cause we wankers got ourselves a record deal! Be expecting Asking Alexandria everywhere!" Danny said, getting ready for the second of eight songs to be played.

The rest of the show was a blur. I did get in the pit with Eric during The Final Episode, I was my first time. And it was another wall of death. It was fucking insane, but I loved it. Danny stage dived right where we were, and everyone moved towards him. Eric and I held him by his shoulder and upper back. Danny moved his head to face Eric and I. "Come party with us backstage!" He said, getting ready to go back to the stage. Danny got back on stage, taking a swig of his beer. They wrapped up their song and said their goodbyes. The crowd decreased, and Eric grabbed my hand and we walked to the backstage entry. Eric opened the door, which led us into a small room with an opening to the stage, and we were greeted by a shirtless tattooed guy drenched in sweat, in his back pocket of his jeans were drumsticks.

"Oi, I'm James, the drummer." He said, giving us a small smile. We followed him past a long hallway covered in graffiti and posters. A metal door led us to another room that was bigger than the first, with couches and refrigerators and all the band equipment. Danny came out of the restroom in the corner, looking at us with big grins.

"Just the fags I wanted to see! Come here, yeah? Have a drink!" He said, holding up a bottle of Scotch. Eric went to the fridge and brought back two beers for the both of us. We sat on one of the smaller couches as the boys talked about their plans.

"I wish we could have played at Soma. We couldn't get booked, so we went local, plus there's a liquor store in Little Italy that has practically everything." Ben said, taking a long drag of his cigarette. There seemed to be an awkward feeling between Danny and Ben, and I think the others had noticed it too because they were all outside in the bus. Danny left the room and came back a few minutes later with a small bag of white powder. Eric's eyes widened. Ben only scoffed.

"Again, Danny? I swear you'll be dead before you're thirty." Ben said, throwing his cigarette into the small wastebin.

"Fuck off."

Ben shrugged, walking out. I really didn't feel like being here anymore. I think Eric got the hint, and we got up and said a quick goodbye to Danny.

"I'm real sorry, guys. Thing's have been rough." He said sadly.

We nodded, closing the door and walking the long distance out of the venue. We got to Eric's truck and he started it. It was quiet the entire time.

"Well that was awkward." Eric finally spoke.

I laughed softly. "Yeah, Danny and Ben seemed tense around each other."

"I honestly don't know about them two," he said, turning out of the parking lot. "They have always had problems."

Eric drove us over to Landini's and he told me the entire story behind them. Why Danny always drank, why Ben always treated him like shit. I honestly felt bad, some really did have it worse than you did.

We walked to the door of the restaurant and it never occurred to me just how hungry I was.

"Oh man, it feels like I haven't eaten in forever." Eric said as we sat down in a booth by the window. I laughed, taking a look outside while Eric got us drinks. If there was one thing I loved about San Diego, it was the nighttime. LA was always so busy, here it's calm. Now the inner city's a different story but where we were was nice. I guess you never stop to notice the things around you. Eric returned with the drinks and the waitress came with the very large pizza and set in the center of the booth. Eric's hand and my hand automatically went for the pizza. I looked up at Eric, whose face was just as stuffed as mine. I laughed. He looked at me and snorted.

Once we finished our food, we paid and left, feeling happily satisfied. "I feel like I ate half of the world's supply of food." Eric said, turning on the truck. I laughed, nodding in agreement. We drove back to my house, with comfortable silence besides the radio playing. I sat and watched the road twist and curve, and I guess I got so lost in it that I didn't even realize we were in my driveway.

"Hey, thanks so much for tonight, I've had so much fun with you." I said, zipping up my hoodie. Eric stayed silent.

"Dude, you okay?" I asked, tilting my head.

Eric turned in his seat, placing his hand on my cheek and kissing me lightly. I couldn't comprehend what had just happened, but I closed my eyes and kissed back. Images of every possible thing that could happen after this raced in my head, but I didn't care. His lips on mine stopped time.

He pulled away, his cheeks dark. I opened the door and walked out of the truck, turning and watching Eric drive away. I sighed and reached under the flower pot and grabbed the spare key to the house.

The thought of what happened just now was engraved into my mind. Eric kissed me, out of the blue, but I didn't fight it. If anything, I liked it. The way his lips felt, how his hands were soft against mine, everything.

But it was wrong. Very, very wrong.

I tried calling Jaime, but he didn't answer. I figured he'd be asleep, so I sent him a text goodnight. My mom was gone and I wasn't in the mood to do anything else, so I took a shower and attempted to get some sleep. Of all the things that passed by in my mind, one thing remained.

What would happen now?