‹ Prequel: Black Damask
Status: Completed

Synthetic Love

Chapter 7

I avoided the Motionless guys for the next few days, though I did spend some time with Allie. Brodon had been acting weird since the last night he’d been drinking, so I’d left the bus early to get away. Currently, Allie and I were walking back to the venue from the Starbucks down the road from the venue. From what Allie had said so far, it sounded like her and Ryan were really happy together. I kind of wished that was the case for Brodon and I, but at the same time, I wished Brodon was really Devin.

“So, what was with that Beetlejuice thing the other night?” she asked. How had she managed to hear that?

“The fastest was to sober Brodon up is by scaring him, and he’s terrified of that movie,” I explained.

“Really? What is there to be afraid of?” she asked, laughing.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I guess we all have at least one irrational fear.” The conversation drifted off from there, us talking about fears we’d known people to have, including Scooby Doo and cheese. This is definitely a strange world we’re living in.

By the time we got back to the venue we had to go our separate ways to set up our merch tables. This was one of the biggest venues we’d been at so far, so I set out a little extra merch in preparation. It was a good thing Allie and I hit up Starbucks earlier, and I had a lot of energy to use up now. A few people came up to buy shirts, but I didn’t expect the rush to come until after Peace For Mind played their set, and at the end of the entire show.

“Hey, Brodon said he wants you backstage for the show tonight,” someone said. I looked up to see Lou Cotton standing there. “I’ll cover you here until you’re back,” he offered.

“I guess that sounds ok,” I said. “I should be back in time for you to get back down there for your set. Thanks.” I had no idea what Brodon was planning, as he rarely wanted me backstage. He said it made him nervous. But, I went down there anyways.

There didn’t seem to be anything special, no new song or any other reason for me to be here. Until the end of the last song, when Brodon said he had a surprise. This couldn’t be good. He looked back and forth, obviously looking for me. “Bel, could you come out here with me?” he asked. Um, no, no I couldn’t. “I know you have stage fright, but you can ignore that and come out here.” Yes, that’s good, tell the person to ignore their fear. I wasn’t good in front of several hundred people. “Please, Bel,” he begged. I could see that he was close to begging, so I saved him the humiliation and walked out to stand next to him. There were way too many people out there. I had no clue what Brodon was planning until he knelt down in front of me. “Bel, I know it hasn’t been that long, but I know that I love you. And I’m sorry I’ve been an asshole recently, but if you can forgive me for that, will you marry me?”

I wasn’t sure if I was shaking because of my stage fright or because of what Brodon had just asked me. “I, I can’t do this here,” I stuttered. I pulled away from Brodon and ran offstage. I couldn’t look at anyone. I couldn’t go back to the merch table either. I mentally apologized to Lou for abandoning him there, but I was sure he’d hear about what had just happened. There was nowhere I could go without running into fans or other bands, and I couldn’t go back to the bus, so I ended up wandering into the town. Stores started closing, so I made my way back to the venue. It was getting colder out, which wasn’t helped by the wind. I still couldn’t bear to go back in, and I could hear Motionless playing, so I knew the concert was almost over. There was a set of stairs in the back leading to the roof. I’d be left alone up there.

What was I going to say to Brodon? Did I want to marry him? We were great together, most of the time. But the relationship wasn’t without problems. How many times in the past month alone had we argued about who I spent my time with and why I didn’t spend all my time with him and tons of other simple little things that shouldn’t really matter? He was drinking more than before, which he knew I hated, but he did try to make it up to me afterwards. He’d done a lot for me, but could I be with him forever?

And then there was Devin. Seeing him here and hanging out with him and the rest of the guys took me back to the way things were before. It was strange though. Chris said he wanted my help getting Devin interested in someone other than Anna, and yet they kept putting the two of us together whenever we hung out. I’d never felt so comfortable with anyone before, or since, I’d met Dev. But I couldn’t tell him it was me. How would I do that? It’s not like I could just say surprise and everything would be just like a happy ending in a romantic movie.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket, my fingers stiff from the cold. “Where are you? No one’s seen you and we’re getting kind of worried,” Allie texted.

“Roof,” I replied. I couldn’t text more, my fingers were so cold. She replied almost instantly, telling me that she’d texted the guys and at least one of them would be up there soon. Not ten seconds later, I heard the metal stairs rattling as someone ran up the stairs.

“Bel! Are you ok?” Angelo asked, running over to me. “We’ve been so worried about you. Where’ve you been?”

“I just needed to get away from everyone and everything,” I said quietly. I pulled my hood up further as the wind began blowing harder.

“Come on, let’s go in,” Angelo said, pulling me up. “You’re gonna freeze out here.” I let him lead me to the Motionless bus where the band and Allie were waiting.

“You’re staying with us tonight,” Ricky said. “Brodon and the others packed up and left for the next city as soon as the last fans left.” Seriously? My boyfriend just left me here? What was I supposed to do? I’d seen more than enough slasher movies to know that I wasn’t going to hitchhike back home. I guess it didn’t matter tonight, since it was already decided I was staying here.

I followed Allie into the back, where she let me borrow some of her clothes before joining the others in the front to watch movies again. Not surprisingly, I was left sitting next to Devin. I felt subconscious in the shirt I’d borrowed from Allie. The sleeves came down just below my elbows, which were a major change from the long sleeved shirts I normally wore. I couldn’t keep from tugging at the ends of the sleeves occasionally. I zoned out, trying to figure out what I was going to do about Brodon. I loved him, but there was so many things telling me that marrying him was the wrong decision. I didn’t even realize I’d started crying until Devin leaned against me. “Everything’s going to be ok,” he said softly.

“Thanks,” I whispered. I excused myself and made my way to the small bathroom. The scars on my wrist were burning. I’d made myself stop cutting and hadn’t gone back, but there were times I really wanted to. It was in times like this that the pain would flash like lightning. It hadn’t been this bad in a long time, but I had to resist the urge. I gripped the edge of the counter, waiting for the pain to stop. As much as I didn’t want to, I took my contacts out. My eyes were so red and irritated that I doubted anyone would notice that my eyes had changed color.

When I returned, Devin was the only one still on sitting in front of the TV. “Where is everyone?” I asked, taking my seat next to Dev again.

“They went to bed. I’m not tired right now, and you’re free to sleep in my bunk. I’ll be ok out here.”

“No, I’m fine. Thanks though.”

I watched Devin as he put in a new movie. Nightmare Before Christmas. We took turns quoting the movie and singing along with Jack and Sally. “You’re eyes changed color,” Devin announced out of nowhere.

“Uh, yeah. My contacts were bothering me, so I had to take them out,” I explained. “Thanks for letting me stay here tonight,” I said.

“No problem. We’re here for you no matter what happens,” Devin said. We put in yet another movie, sitting in silence while we waited for it to start. “Anna,” Dev said softly.

His eyes widened in shock when I looked up.

Fuck. I just answered to the wrong name, and now he knew.
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Drama drama drama. What's gonna happen next? Leave a comment and let us know. Happy Christmas or whatever you celebrate. TheRockshowChick will be back soon with Devin's POV.