Had Me From Hello

It was January 10, 2012, also known as the day that the band and Annie Madison set out for their nationwide tour. It was also 4:30am – too early for any of the musician’s pleasure.

All Time Low and Annie were waiting for their transportation to arrive at Alex’s home in Baltimore. The guys were sharing tour stories and memories of when they had first started out with the newest addition to the music scene.

Annie laughed along with stories and even told some of her own stories about her days performing at coffee shops.

“There’s no way that you did Warped Tour in a van!” Annie shouted in disbelief. “That sounds almost impossible.”

“Better believe it, babe. That’s how we got around for a while,” Jack said from his place on Alex’s leather living room couch.

“How are you traveling by the way?” Rian cocked an eyebrow at the young girl, running his hands over his wrinkled shirt.

“I rented a camper type bus. I had some money from playing coffee shops and from my job. Then my parents helped me pay for the rest of it,” Annie shrugged. “I told them I could rent a van, because it’d be a shit ton cheaper, right? But they disagreed. They said they didn’t want me driving long distances like that by myself. So, who was I to disagree?”

Alex nodded, hanging on to every word the girl said. In the past week and a half, Alex had fallen hard for Annie Madison. She was his first thought when he woke up in the mornings and she was his last thought when he went to sleep.

Little did Alex know, Annie was feeling the same way. The girl was head over heels for the band’s front man.

In the past week and a half, the guys of All Time Low had also gotten to know a lot about their tour mate. Annie was 21 years old. She was working on releasing an EP. She wrote her own songs. She could play guitar, piano and could play the drums a little bit. Annie was a big fan of bands like The Summer Set, Paradise Fears, Mayday Parade, Maroon 5 and Blink-182. She also had a soft spot for country music and Christina Aguilera.

“You know, it’s a good thing you’re 21,” Jack said matter-of-factly. “It’d be kind of a bummer to have someone who couldn’t drink on the tour with us,” the guitarist smirked at the younger girl.

“Jack, I’m pretty sure she would have illegally drank if it came down to it,” Alex rolled his brown eyes at his best friend.

“Especially with you, Jack,” Zack laughed out loud. “Almost positive that you were drinking way before 21.”
Jack smiled softly at his friends. “True.”

“I’m glad you guys think so highly of me that you would even think that I would drink illegally!” Annie said sarcastically, picking pieces of lint off of her dark skinny jeans.

Before anymore could be said on the subject, the group of 5 had heard the bus’s horn beep a few times.

“Guess this means it’s time to pack up and leave?” Annie stood up, running her hand over her brunette waves. “And that I can sleep on the bus?”

The guys laughed before Rian finally answered the girl’s query. “Yes, you can sleep on the bus and somewhere down the road we might stop for food or something.”

Alex couldn’t help but laugh at how the girl’s face lit up at just the mention of food. “Well, let’s head out!”

“Wait, stop!” Jack yelled loudly, throwing one of his suitcases back to the floor. “This is a historical moment. I have to put it on Instagram.”

The three other members of All Time Low and Annie blinked a few times at the crazy guitarist, as if trying to decipher whether or not he was being serious.

He was.

“How is this historical?” Annie asked, rolling her green orbs at her new friend. “We’re walking to a bus.”

“It’s your first real tour!” Jack yelled excitedly, opening the camera on his iPhone.

Annie smiled at his words. Her first real tour. She was really making it. “Fine.”

“Okay, everyone get behind me and make sure you’re in the picture!” Jack instructed, still yelling for whatever reason.

The guys and girl did what Jack demanded them to do as he snapped the picture. “There! Now we can go.”

With that, Jack grabbed his suitcase, already holding the other 2, and sauntered out the door.

“You get used to that,” Alex whispered in Annie’s ear, sending chills down her spine.

“O-oh… I figured,” she smiled tightly, hoping the heat she could feel on her cheeks was not a blush.

As Annie quickly escaped the house, she walked to her bus, with a huge grin plastered on her face.

She entered the medium sized black bus, greeted the bus driver and placed her luggage by her bunk before plopping herself into the bunk herself.

After a few seconds, Annie felt her phone buzz in her back pocket. Quickly grabbing for it, she realized it was just a notification from Twitter.

“@JackAllTimeLow: Pre-tour hangs. @AlexAllTimeLow @riandawson @zackalltimelow @AnnieMadison http://instagram.com/p/a08lU5i_S-/”

In the picture, Jack was making a ridiculous face, Rian was smiling widely, Zack was laughing at something, Annie’s smile was out of this world, and Alex was looking down at Annie with a smile on his face.

Annie quickly retweeted the link and replied to her new friend.

@AnnieMadison: @JackAllTimeLow I’m so excited!!!!

Placing her phone on her stomach, Annie sighed heavily with another big grin on her face.

“This is going to be the tour of a lifetime.”