Drunk On You

It was early the next morning before anyone had seen Delaney make a reappearance after her strange disappearance post-set. Alex, having recognized her symptoms as those of anxiety (something that Alex had often dealt with himself) had questioned her band mates, Vance and Logan, as to how she had been doing.

At the time, the two men had only exchanged a strange look and offered vague responses.

"She's doing fine, man. It's just the nerves. It all came crashing down after the adrenaline wore off," Vance offered with a casual shrug.

"Yeah, it's not a big deal," Logan continued.

Alex had been clearly unimpressed with the responses and continued to press on. It was no secret that Alex had dealt with anxiety and panic attacks throughout the past couple of years. Although he didn't know Delaney well, or at all, really...Alex was still concerned.

"Nerves don't make you unable to breath or throw-up in a dressing after a set," Alex responded, bluntly.

Vance and Logan had shared another look, before Logan had decided to wrap things up and avoid the conversation as a whole.

"We'll tell her you're concerned, man. But we've really got to get going. Laney wants us to go over the cover for tonight. See you 'round!"

Personally, Zack was fine with not pressing into another band's personal business. He thought that Alex's pressing concern and questions as to what had happened the night before was less about him relating to Delaney's possible anxiety and more about being nosey. Alex was a great guy, he really was - but he was a pushy ass mother fucker and some people didn't take to well to that.

Zack preferred doing his own thing, anyways.

Like his morning runs.

Fitness and personal health was something that Zack took pretty seriously most of the time. True, he indulged more than he would had liked while being on tour but he worked out enough that it was never really a problem. Lifting and working out was something that, much like music, was a therapeutic release for him. His morning runs were such a constant in his life that he handled them much like some people regarded religion - with consistent dedication.

He was stretching just outside of All Time Low's bus, his water bottle in hand and his iPod attached to his arm-band when he spotted Delaney Rae. She had just exited Anchor's bus, and Zack was a little surprised to see that she appeared to be going for a run as well in compression tights and an oversized t-shirt. Her hair had been tied up into a tight ponytail, with a pair of ear buds already in her ears.

Zack stood up straight then, regarding the situation carefully. He had half the mind to invite her to run with him, because that's what normal people did, right? But then thoughts of her not being able to keep up with him, and not knowing her level of fitness came to mind and he was berating himself for letting that keep him from running with her.

Not that he felt too guilty, really. Zack just took his running really, really seriously.

"Zack!" A bright, chipper voice (far too chipper this early in the morning, actually) was heard across the way, and Delaney was removing her ear buds as she jogged towards the bassist with a smile.

Zack had to admit that she was looking much better than she had the night before, and thought about asking as to how she was doing had he not immediately remembered how Logan and Vance had treated the topic with Alex.

"Morning, Delaney," Zack responded politely, his own voice a little gruff from just waking up. "Going for a run?" He asked curiously.

The young woman simply nodded, that easy smile still spread across full lips. She tightened her own arm band, setting up her playlist for her morning run and gripping to her water bottle.

"Yeah, I go every mornin'. I started back when in the van, it helped get out all the aches and kinks from bein' cooped up on a bench seat for months on end." she explained. "Now it's become a bit of a ritual. Helps me think."

Zack could only nod in response, glancing to the time on his watch and wondering if he could excuse himself to go on his own run without seeming rude. He just really, really wanted to get in his five miles in time to shower and take a bit of a nap before the day officially started.

"I'll leave you be, then. Just wanted to stop by and say hi. I'll see you around, Zack!" Delaney smiled, and just like that, started jogging away from Zack and towards the venue exit before breaking out into a full run as she turned the corner.

Zack was starting to realize that leaving just as quickly as she popped up was going to be Delaney's thing.

---

"Delaney Rae, if you don't give me back my phone right now I swear I'll hang you by your toes and feed you to a pack of wild dogs!"

Mixed members from both Yellowcard and All Time Low could only watch with amusement as Ben chased a laughing Delaney around the venue's parking lot. The weather was nice out today - far too nice to be cooped up in a green room so the bands on tour had made a collective decision to set up camp outside today.

Camp chairs and card tables were set up with everyone lounging around and hanging out between load-in and set-up and sound checks. Everyone had seemingly forgotten Delaney's strange behavior the night before, with her and her band acting as if it had never happened.

Zack found himself slightly confused by the fact, but unlike Alex - he didn't obsess over things that weren't any of his concern.

"Why are you so concerned? Is there something on here that shouldn't be?" Delaney asked with a little smirk, tossing Ben's phone to Ryan Key who had fumbled to catch the device.

Ben was growing flustered, ignoring Delaney's question and moving to Ryan who had offered the phone towards him.

"Thanks, man," Ben started, grinning and had his phone within reach of his fingertips before Ryan suddenly retracted his arm and tossed the device towards Rian Dawson.

Before Ben knew it, a game of keep away Ben's phone had commenced and soon enough Jack, Alex, and Vinny had been dragged into the game as well. Derek had been walking by at one point, watching the game with interest but making no move to join until he noticed the Delaney's outstretched hands weren't quite going to make the catch.

It took two long strides before he was just behind Delaney, but the sudden rush towards the girl had caused him to trip over his own feet and as soon as the phone was in hand - Derek and Delaney were in a tangled heap on the ground.

Derek was laughing, pushing himself off of the ground and turning to offer Delaney a hand. The rest of the group moved forward then, partly to make sure the pair was okay - but mostly to tease Ben for why he was so adamant on still retrieving his phone from the keep away game.

Derek's laughter slowly died down once he turned to offer Delaney a hand up. The girl was frozen, her knees skinned and her hands scraped from the fall. Her eyes were locked on the sight of Derek's hand, and she recoiled slightly from the gesture. By the time the group had arrived to the scene, they were all staring at Delaney with mirroring expressions of confusion.

"Laney, you okay?" Ben asked, pushing forward and blocking Derek from Delaney's view.

He offered his hand down to the girl instead, and it was the sight of him that seemed to break Delaney from her trance. A smile was quick to replace the frown that had marred her lips, and the brunette was at her feet in moments, brushing the dirt from her knees as if nothing had even happened.

"I'm fine. Your password's still 1-2-3-4, right?" She asked, snatching the phone from a very confused Derek before bounding off again with Ben chasing after her.

Derek, Ryan, and the rest of All Time Low turned to look at one another, unsure of what to make of the exchange. Zack found himself staring at the corner the duo had disappeared behind, having seen the entire exchange.

Once again, Delaney Rae had left her tour-mates with the question of -
What the fuck just happened?