Never Look Back

I sighed heavily as I walked “backstage,” which was only a curtain pulled around the back of the band setup.
“Long day?” Matt Flyzik asked as I slouched into a chair.
“The longest,” I groaned and he chuckled.
“With these guys, you get used to it.”
All Time Low had just taken the stage and weren’t getting that great of a warm welcome. Most of these people probably didn’t know who All Time Low was. I knew they weren’t going to play hardly any of their original songs for that reason, they were forced to play pop and hip hop songs that were often and I mean VERY often on the radio.
They were playing artists like Imagine Dragons, Pink, Bastille, Passenger and even Pitbull. I still wasn’t sure why they even put him on the playlist. I peeked out of the side of the curtain and watched them for a little while before I decided that I should probably get some pictures of them.
I shimmied through the crowds of teenagers until I reached the mini merch stand that Colussy was running. Apparently some guy named Vinny was supposed to be here to run it but he was out sick and couldn’t show.
“Oh, good idea! Over here’s a great view, hardly anyone’s around,” Colussy yelled over the band. I pulled out my camera and snapped a couple before I made small talk with Colussy.
A group of girls in short tight dresses with curled hair walked over to look at the items on the stand.
“Guys the singer is fucking hot, I want a shirt and poster with his head on it,” said the one with long brown hair and a one shoulder navy dress, they all looked around our age. She pulled out her clutch and paid Matt for the poster and t-shirt. “He looks our age, think he’d go for me?”
“Talk to him after the dance, I’m sure they’ll stick around,” her friend, the one in the red dress with auburn hair said to her. Colussy and I exchanged glances, smiled and rolled our eyes at them. She reminded me of Lisa.
“Hey, are you like new here or something?” The girl who thought Alex was hot asked me.
“No, I don’t go here, I’m the bands photographer.”
“Oh sweet, you dating one of them or how’d you get the job?” She asked, deeply curious if I’d say Alex. Just wondering what she’d say to him after the show, I changed my answer.
“Uh, no my brother plays the guitar on the left, his name is Jack,” I said nodding.
“That’s the one I like!” The girl with the auburn hair exclaimed then reddened when she realized that I heard her say it.
“I can take you to them after the dance if you want,” I said and they all lit up.
“Yes!” The main girl said and the rest nodded. I nodded slowly and walked backstage again, just trying to get rid of them. I really wanted to show Alex that I could handle him being around someone who liked him and who would flirt with him, this was my showing him.
They continued on, the crowd getting more into them as they sang song like: “As long as you love me” by Justin Bieber, “Party Rock” by LMFAO, “Good Time” by Owl City, “The Motto” by Drake, “You Don’t Know You’re Beautiful” by One Direction, I’m sure they were super excited to play mainstream songs but with the way the crowd was feeling them, which was totally unexpected, I doubted they even cared.
The dance was coming to a close as the last song they sang was one of their own and groups of teenagers left. The girls that I promised to bring backstage to meet them were of course stuck to my hip except only the girl who likes Alex and the girl who likes Jack remain, the other two seemed to have disappeared. They clung to my side until the boys ended their last song and thanked everyone for coming out and to stop at the merch table then vanished behind the curtain.
I led them through over to the curtain and pulled it back to reveal all the guys taking mildly about their show, their ups and downs, what they could work on and what they did well. Jack was first in sight so I took the first girl over to him.
“Hey Jack, this is…” I turned to her.
“Amanda.”
“Amanda and she really wanted to meet you since I told her you were my brother.” I shoved her toward him and he looked at me questionably but I turned around and headed to Alex over by the snacks.
“Alex! Hey this is…” Again I turned to the other girl for her to finish.
“Taylor.”
“Taylor! She wanted to meet you, really bad.” He looked around me to her and smiled in which she returned. He stepped aside me and extended his hand to her.
“Alex Gaskarth.” He smiled his signature crooked smile.
“Taylor Preston.” She blushed and shook his hand. “You guys are really good, where are you from?”
“Oh, we’re from Baltimore, we go to Dulaney High School.”
She perked up, “you’re in high school? What grade?”
“Seniors.”
“Juniors!”
“So we’re around the same age, cool.” I silently breathed in heavily to try to avoid my overwhelming jealousy, who knows why though? He’s just talking to her and will probably never see her again. “Well you guys look really nice, I mean I don’t know what you would normally look like but tonight you looked awesome,” She blushed again and they laughed. I sat there and took in every minute of it, trying my best to join in and laugh occasionally with every joke one of them said.
“Ha-ha, you’re so funny and a singer! That’s very hooottt! Do you get a lot of girls back at home?” I snorted at the question and her eyebrows furrowed.
“Uhh, yeah…I guess you could say I’m a ladies man,” he smirked and exchanged glances and big smiles with one another. She looked between us, knowing we were sharing some type of inside joke which she was debating if it was about her or not.
Taylor, I don’t think you’ve ever met Alyssa,” he snaked his arm around my waist and I eyed him, wondering where he was going to go with this. “Our photographer and my girlfriend.” Her eyes grew wide as she looked at both of us, completely caught off guard.
“But..but why’d you say you weren’t dating anyone?” She asked me.
I shrugged, “Didn’t want to break your heart and I had another personal test in mind for myself, which I think I passed.” I looked up at Alex.
“If we’re thinking the same thing then yes, I do believe you did pass and now Miss. Alyssa, I have a very important question for you.”
“What?”
“Will you accompany me to the dance?” He asked, revealing a red rose from behind his back and my jaw dropped. I quickly pulled myself together long enough to nod and he pulled me in for a kiss. When we pulled back Taylor and Amanda were both gone.
“Where did all this come from?” I asked sniffing the rose and savoring the sweet suckle smell, remembering this moment.
“Well, Jack reminded me of it about a week ago, and I tried to figure out how I’d ask you. So, I talked to Jack about it and I told him to remind you of the dance and then go with you to buy a dress and send me a picture of it so I could match you. Then I decided that I would ask you here, and by the way, Jack asked Becca and yes she is coming.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck tightly and got within an inch of his face.
“Thank you,” I whispered and buried my face in his neck and felt his arms wrapped around me and hold me close to him. After our on and offs it felt good to be held in his arms again.
~~
I texted Patrick and told him that we were staying at a hotel in Washington that was fairly cheap and that we’d be back tomorrow morning. It was of course one in the morning so he probably wouldn’t get it but we’d been clubbing the rest of the night to celebrate a good show. We were just back now, everyone in their own rooms. Matt Colussy, Matt Flyzik and Zack in one and Me, Alex, Rian and Jack in the other. Rian and Jack were next to us sharing a bed and Alex and I got to share the other, I set my phone on the wood bed stand that separated us.
“You tired?” Alex asked softly next to me, taking my hand in his. I nodded and yawned right on cue. He chuckled and pulled me through the bed into his arms. I heard loud screaming and yelling coming from the hotel lobby which was right across from our room.
“What’s going on?” I asked looking up at Alex. He shrugged and we got up as well as Jack and Rian and swung open the door to find a man and a girl yelling at each other in the lobby.
“Why can’t you see that it’s my life, not yours? I’m not your little girl anymore! I want this!” The girl yelled at the other guy and he rubbed his head in frustration.
“You don’t know what you want Jenna! You’re only 16, you can’t go running off with your boyfriend like that! You are too young!” Said what I assumed to be Jenna’s father.
“This doesn’t involve you! I’m going to Miami with Jermaine whether you like it or not!” She yelled again. The hotel manager was hovering around them, occasionally trying to get them to be more quiet but they paid no attention to him.
“I’ll take care of this,” Alex mumbled and walked over to the girl.
“Alex!” I hissed at him but he paid no attention to me and I watched as he held his hand out to the girl who looked at it with an irritated expression. She rolled her eyes and shook his hand back, the dad also watched in curiosity from a distance. I couldn’t make out what Alex was telling her but I saw her expression slowly soften and she looked past him at her dad and her eyes welled up in tears and she ran to him and hugged him tightly. He looked obviously shocked as he hugged her back and mouthed a thank you to Alex.
“What’d you tell her?” I asked him as he came back over to us.
“Damn, Alex got them therapy powers!” Rian joked and Alex shot him a look which made Rian quickly look at the ground.
“I just have a way with people that relate to me,” he said simply and walked past me to our room. I followed him back onto our bed completely dumbfounded. Every time I tried to ask what he said to her and what the hell had just happened he either ignored me or told me not to worry about it, which only made me want to know even more. He slept with his back to me and I sighed, there was something he was keeping from me but I decided to stop pushing it. If he wanted to, he could tell me sometime eventually but until then I was content with the relationship we had and I didn’t feel the need to dig into his past.
I felt myself drifting off as the thought slowly slipped my mind.