Saviour

Emerald

We’ve been on tour for about a week now. I’d been spending a lot of my time on BVB’s bus since Danny kept getting impatient and not waiting for me. It’s gotten to the point where I’ve stolen Ashley’s bunk so much that I’ve started forcing him to share with me. The bunks may not be all that comfortable but the couch was even worse.
Today the bus was quiet. I could hear the TV going quietly but that was all. I decided I needed to get out of bed and do something productive.
“Where is everyone?” I asked as I walked out of the back room. The only person on the bus was Andy.
“They all went to find food and explore. I offered to stay behind to keep you company.” Andy said from his spot on the couch. I grabbed a bottle of water and went to sit next to him.
“Thanks” I said before drinking some of the water.
“I also wanted to make sure that you are having a good time” Andy said with a small smile.
“Of course everything is awesome.” I said cheerfully. He smiled at me again. He knew that I was having family issues and that I couldn’t sleep. I knew he knew because Ashley told me he had told him.
“Ashley told me about what your grandfather told you” Andy said softly. I took a deep breath to keep my emotions in check.
“It’s no big deal. He doesn’t like the idea of me travelling and he probably never will. Once he calms down he will tell me that he’s sorry and wish me well. Then if something happens again it’ll start all over again.” I told Andy. I bit my lip and sipped more of the water.
“It sounds like he has an issue with you leaving” Andy stated; I shrugged.
“He’s protective of me because I’m the only female in my family other than my mother.” I told him. I fell silent as I took the time to think about how protective my grandfather really was with me.
“I understand that. Everyone in my family is protective of my cousins after…” Andy trailed off. I gave him a minute before deciding to pry a bit.
“After what?” I asked softly; it seemed like he needed to talk about whatever happened.
“I had a sister. She was three years younger than me. When she was a baby she disappeared. Her name was Emerald.” He said softly; I could tell that this upset him. I hugged him tightly as he sobbed quietly.
“I’m sure she’s a beautiful adult now. I believe that you will find her” I told him in a whisper. I held him until he calmed down and then I suggested that we find food.
“I know a nice little diner a few blocks away” Andy offered. I nodded before getting up and grabbing the things that I would need. Andy and I walked the short three blocks together just telling each other jokes and laughing.
When we arrived at the diner we were seated almost instantly and a waitress took our orders. Andy started telling me tour stories while we waited.
“I remember the time that everyone snuck out of their houses and we all went bungee jumping without our parents knowing. Nicky was pissed when he figured out what happened” I told him with a laugh.
“That sounds like fun. Did anyone else get in trouble?” he asked. At that moment our food arrived.
“Everyone got in trouble with Nicky but only McKenzie’s mom was upset enough to yell at him. Danny’s mom actually took all the blame for us.”
“Where did you guys come up with your nicknames?” Andy asked out of the blue.
“Well when Danny and I met I had some trouble remembering his name so instead I called him Danny. Danny started out calling me Memmy but somehow it developed into Memmy-cakes. McKenzie started calling me Beautiful to help me feel better about my looks. I had a low self-esteem when I was younger. After a while I started calling him Gorgeous in response to him calling me Beautiful. I call Jimmy Jimmy-cakes because when he first met me he insisted on having matching nicknames and he wanted to call me Emmy-cakes.” I told him. After I finished the two of us started eating faster and held very light conversation while we ate. After we finished eating Andy insisted on paying for the two of us. After he won that argument we walked back to the busses so that I could get ready for my date with Ashley.
“Thanks for keeping me company Andy” I said with a smile. He hugged me and laughed.
“Thanks for listening” he said before he started to walk off. I called out to him. He turned around and looked at me confused.
“If you ever want to talk about anything just come find me. I’d be willing to listen anytime” I told him before leaning up as best I could and kissing his cheek.
“Same goes to you sweetie” Andy replied smiling at me. I hugged him again and made my way onto my bus.
“Finally decided to come back?” Danny asked as soon as he saw me. I rolled my eyes but decided I didn’t need to start a fight with him. I walked into the back towards my severely unused bunk. I heard Danny following me as I searched through one of my suitcases for something to wear tonight.
“Where have you been?” he asked faking concern. I knew he wasn’t concerned about where I was. He didn’t even care where I was.
“What does it matter? I’m safe and I’m at every concert. Quit the act Danny” I told him coldly. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with him today. I just wanted to go on my date.
“What act?” he asked feigning innocent. I could hear the underlying anger in his voice. I had caught him and he knew it.
“The one where you act like you didn’t purposely leave me at the venues for the last week. You could have easily called me and waited five minutes but instead you decided to just leave. You didn’t even tell me any of the times you did so. You aren’t worried about me you don’t even care about me.” I told him trying to maintain my anger. Showing anger wouldn’t do either of us any good. I would rather be in a good mood when I saw Ashley later. After I chose a dress and some boots I started digging around for some sexy under wear. I doubted that it would actually go anywhere but I decided to do it anyway.
“I figured you’d start getting there earlier instead of getting left behind. Are you sure you didn’t want to get left behind so you could spend more time with your little boy toy?” Danny asked angrily. I sighed as I gathered all of my clothes and my makeup bag and walked into the tiny bathroom. I slammed the door in Danny’s face and locked it so he couldn’t follow me in like he often liked to do. I heard him growl at the door before it jiggled signaling that he was trying to open it. Thank god he couldn’t pick the lock. I changed as quickly as I could before grabbing my makeup kit from the bathroom sink. I applied some black eye shadow before applying a thick layer of eyeliner. I walked out of the bathroom satisfied that I didn’t look completely horrible and searched for my jewelry bag. I put on the BVB necklace that Ashley had given me along with the heart necklace that my grandfather had given me. I chose a pair of earrings and put those on before placing my phone in my bra along with some cash. Before pulling on my boots. Danny was trying to get me to listen to him but I tuned him out. I heard a knock on the front door of my bus and made my way to it. I opened it and saw Ashley standing outside. He looked incredible. He had on a pair of tight ripped jeans and a plain black button down shirt. He had on his cowboy hat and his cowboy boots; he was wearing very little makeup. He had lined his eyes with eye liner and added some blue underneath it.
“Hey” he said after a few seconds. He was smiling at me as he looked me over. I smiled back at him and stepped off the bus.
“Hey” I replied as he grabbed my hand lightly.
“You look amazing” he told me breathlessly; I giggled.
“You do too” I replied before we started walking. I wasn’t really sure where we were going but I wasn’t going to ask. Andy had told me today that Ashley wanted this to be a surprise so I wasn’t going to ruin it for him. Apparently he had been working on this since he asked me out.
Ashley and I walked to a small little Italian restaurant that was a few blocks from where the busses were parked. When we got to the door Ashley opened it and held it open for me. I smiled and walked through the threshold into the gorgeous restaurant. Ashley grabbed my hand and led me up to the podium.
“Reservations for Purdy” Ashley said calmly. I could see the host looking at the two of us judgingly. I looked up at Ashley who smiled down at me as the host grabbed two menus.
“Right this way” he said as he led us up the stairs. His accent made it a little hard to understand him but Ashley seemed to be able to. Ashley hadn’t let go of my hand the entire time and I loved the feeling of his hand grasping mine. His hand was warm and strong.
Ashley and I were led to a balcony table. It was the only table on the balcony and there were roses and lit candles everywhere. I looked around amazed as Ashley pulled out my chair for me. I sat down and allowed him to push it in for me. We had a clear view of the city and the stars in the sky. I looked down and in front of me was a bouquet of roses sitting on the table. I smiled at Ashley as I thought about how much work he put into this.
“This is beautiful Ashley” I told him still amazed. He smiled and grabbed my hand across the table.
“I’m glad you liked it. Mark told me that you liked romantic things so I tried to make this as romantic as I could.” He told me showing his white teeth. I knew he had gotten help from Mark. I didn’t think he would do this much work for a date.
“You didn’t have to go through this much work for me” I told him though I knew he probably would have done so anyways.
“I wanted to” he said before picking up his menu and looking through it. I mirrored him but bit my lip when I saw how expensive everything on the menu was. I looked up at him worriedly.
“If you’re going to say anything about how expensive it is just don’t. I know you’ve always wanted to eat at an authentic Italian restaurant.” Ashley said without even looking away from the menu. I just stared at him until he looked up. He smiled at me before telling me to just choose something or he would. A waiter walked up to us holding his notepad and asked if we knew what we would like to drink. I was surprised when Ashley didn’t order any sort of alcohol. Instead he ordered iced tea for both of us. After spending the entire week with me he knew how I liked my tea. I know he wanted me to focus on the menu which is why he ordered my tea for me. I smiled as the waiter walked away. I settled for the mushroom ravioli which Ashley offered to share with me. He probably thought that I wouldn’t be able to finish it by myself and he was probably right.
“What hasn’t Mark told you about me?” I asked with a small laugh. He laughed along with me.
“He didn’t actually tell me a whole lot. I asked him what your favorite food was and he told me about your desire to eat at authentic restaurants. I asked if there was one you preferred and McKenzie told me that you had never been to an authentic Italian restaurant. CC found this place a couple of days ago.” He told me with a smile.
“Did Mark tell you that I don’t like people spending a whole lot of money on me?” I asked him pouting.
“He did; he also told me that you would try to pay for yourself instead of letting me. Before you think about it I am not going to let you pay for anything tonight. I asked you out and I will be paying for everything tonight.” he stated sternly. I could tell that he meant every word of it. I didn’t like it but I wasn’t going to try to stop him. Our waiter came back with our drinks and took down our order.
“Have you lived in Colorado all of your life?” Ashley asked after a couple of seconds of silence.
“I lived in Russia for a few years. I don’t remember much because I was like one when we moved out there but I heard that it’s pretty” I paused to take a sip of my tea. “I was four when we moved to Denver. I’m not quite sure why we moved back; Papa never answers me when I asked. He just tells me that it doesn’t matter and that we aren’t there now.”
“That explains the accent that sometimes comes out when you talk” Ashley told me with a small chuckle.
“That’s probably from my parents’ accents. For most of my life they spoke to me in Russian and when they did speak to me in English there was still the accent.” I informed him. He looked surprised.
“You can speak Russian?” he asked curiously.
“Pretty fluently; it is technically my first language. I started learning to speak while we were still in Russia. I was learning English at the same time but not many people spoke English there.” He nodded thoughtfully. Our food came out and the waiter placed the plate in between us. We thanked him and slowly started eating.
“What about you? I know you haven’t lived in LA your entire life. Where are you from?” I asked after a few minutes.
“A small town in Missouri” he said simply. I smiled; that was the answer he gave at interviews whenever someone asked where he was from.
“What’s the town called?” I asked curiously. He looked up at me with a smile.
“Berger” he answered.
“When I was in Russia I lived in a small town near Moscow. Well small time for Russia that is; it has a population of a little over 4,000. It’s called Kuktayevo in the state of Perm.” As soon as I finished talking Ashley laughed.
“Berger has a little over 200 for a population” he said laughing. The two of us talked and ate for the rest of our meal. Ashley and I fed each other occasionally. When we finished it Ashley paid for it and guided me out of the restaurant.
“Where are we going now?” I asked as we walked in the opposite direction of the busses. He just smiled at me and told me to wait. We walked along the sidewalk for about twenty minutes before Ashley guided us into a park. Even though it was dark outside the park was beautiful. The lampposts lit our way as we walked through the winding path. Eventually Ashley pulled me off the path and into a large section of trees. He slipped behind me and placed one hand over my eyes and the other on my shoulder.
“Let me guide you. I want this part to be special” He said as we carefully walked on the unbeaten path. I wasn’t quite sure how long we were walking, maybe five minutes, before we stopped and Ashley told me to stay put and keep my eyes shut. I did as told while he messed around with something. It sounded like a large piece of cloth. A blanket maybe? I could be sure but I wasn’t going to ruin Ashley’s special surprise by opening my eyes.
“Okay you can look Beautiful” Ashley whispered into my ear. I opened my eyes to see more lit candles surrounding a blanket which was covered in red and white rose petals. I gasped as I looked at the sight. Though it wasn’t much, it was like Ashley was able to look inside my head at my dreams. I turned to look at him with a large smile on my face. Ashley laughed as he grabbed my hand again and pulled me over to the blanket. We laid down and cuddled as we looked up at the stars.