Second Go

I slowed to a complete stop at the stop light and peered into my rearview mirror at the bright pink rear-facing car seat perfectly tucked in the middle seat behind me. I felt a small smile spread across my face as I thought of the sleeping child that Austin and I had created together.

Of everything we had been through together in the year and a half we had come into each other’s lives, my favorite experience I had shared with him so far was our baby. She was absolutely perfect and in the last month since she had been born, Austin and I had grown more together than I had ever thought we could have been.

We had decided to name her Everly Pamela Carlile. We had found the name Everly together in a baby name book that Austin’s dad had sent us shortly after our visit there and Pamela came from his late mother.

As I pulled up to the venue, the line of fans was already around the block. Tonight was the start of their US headlining tour, the first show since the release of their third studio album. I knew how excited Austin was from the way he had jumped around our apartment this morning in anticipation; practicing his vocals, saying he was going to miss his girls so much.

Flashing my laminate at the security guard at the gate, I was let into the parking lot behind the venue. I parked near the huge bus that would be departing later tonight for the show. I climbed out of the car just in time to see Austin bounding out of the bus towards me, closely followed by Alan.

“Hi, babe!” Austin said kissing me quickly and opening the back door. “Where’s Everly?”

“Austin! She’s asleep!”

But he didn’t care as he leaned into the car, pulling the seat from the base and carrying the baby towards the bus.

“Excited for tonight?” I asked Alan as I snapped a picture of Austin happily walking off with the car seat to post on Instagram.

“So pumped.” Alan said excitedly as we started to follow Austin. “Plus, I’ll be single this tour.” He said with a wiggle of his eyebrows making me laugh.

We made our way onto the bus to see Austin pulling the baby out of her car seat with a ridiculous smile plastered on his face.

I said my hellos to all of the boys as Austin sat on the couch, staring down at his daughter, not paying anyone the slightest bit of attention.

“Can I see her? She needs some Uncle Alan time.” Alan said plopping down next to him.
Austin reluctantly handed her over to Alan.

I sat down next to Austin, smiling at him and placing a kiss on his lips as I rubbed his back.

“How was your day?” He asked smiling at me.

“It was fine.” I said with a sigh. “Pretty uneventful…”

“Look at this swag!” Alan declared proudly holding Everly up and showing us that he had placed his favorite pair of sunglasses on her face.

“Swag, swag, swag, on youuu” Aaron sang bobbing his head and making us laugh.

“Give me my child…” I said rolling my eyes and taking her from Alan’s arms.

“Wait! Can I at least take a picture of her?” He asked snapping a quick picture and retrieving his sunglasses.

“We FaceTimed with Jack and Alex today.” I told Austin happily.

“How are they?” He asked taking a sip of water.

“They’re great! They both can’t wait to meet her.”

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

“Now, as some of you may or may not know….” Austin said into the microphone, standing up on the rise in front of him. “That I am very much in love with Raegan Jones.”

The crowd started screaming wildly, and I looked around awkwardly from my position side stage in an attempt to figure out what the hell he was doing.

“But there’s a new person in my life that I’m now madly in love with….and I’d like to introduce all of you to her, but you have to do me a huge favor….you have to be very fucking quiet.”

The crowd began to dull down and settle in, every eye in the room entirely focused on Austin and his to next instructions.

“I’m very fucking serious. You have to be extremely quiet, even after I bring her out here…”

The crowd was so silent that it was almost as though they weren’t even there anymore. Austin turned to me and said, “Babe, can you bring Everly out here?” into his mic.

Feeling a bit weary about doing it, I turned and made my way back into the green room area where
Everly was wide awake in her bouncy seat being entertained by Amanda.

“I’m going to take her really fast.” I said with a smile to which Amanda said, “All yours!”

I picked her up and made my way back to where I had been side stage taking a queue from Austin that it was okay to come out on the stage.

“This is Everly….” Austin said smiling down at her. “This is my daughter. And I’m really thankful for you guys…because you made all of this possible…if it hadn’t been for you, the fans, we would have never have been on Warped last summer and I would have never have met Raegan and I wouldn’t have this beautiful little girl to spend my life with, so thank you!”

He leaned down kissing me hard causing the crowd to start screaming a little bit.

“Give ‘em hell.” I said to him with a smile as I rushed back off the stage and the guys launched into their next song.