The American Spirit

June 18th, 2015

Ryanne stared at the tall blue eyed singer, her mouth wide open and eyes even wider in shock. She couldn't comprehend what she had just seen. Ashleigh was the last person she would ever imagine kissing some guy that she hadn't gone out with at least three times. The purple haired girl had always been very reserved. If anything, Ryanne would have thought CC and Faye would have been great together.

"When did this happen?!" She hissed, her eyes narrowing. "How long have you known about this?"

Andy chuckled and held his hands up in mock surrender. She nearly melted as he pulled one hand through his hair, ruffling it up and letting it fall into his blue eyes. Biting her lip softly, she held back the urge to run her own fingers through the dark tresses to feel if it was actually as soft as she thought it would be.

"Apparently she and CC have been talking since the kick off party in April." He responded. "I think they'd be good for each other. You know? Opposites attract."

She giggled and nodded, running her own fingers through her hair. Being this close to one of her biggest influences and being a little tipsy on top of that was making her brain feel fuzzy. Like she'd said earlier, she doesn't drink that often and because of how small she was, she was a bit of a light weight. She giggled again and made to move forward, tripping over her feet.

"Whoops!" She laughed, glad that Andy was quick on his feet and able to grab her before she fell. "I'm a little drunk."

Andy stared down at the girl in front of him, her hazel green eyes glazed over from the alcohol. He knew that he was a bit drunk and emotional from the break up, but he couldn't deny that the girl in front of him was extremely beautiful. Her plump bottom lip was wedged between her teeth and her nose was crinkled, causing her eyes to wrinkle in the corners. He didn't know if it was the alcohol talking, but he had the urge to do what CC and Ashleigh were doing and press the small girl against the bus.

"Andy?" Ryanne murmured. "I kinda tired."

Andy shook his head, instantly feeling more sober at her words. He couldn't do that to the girl in front of him. Firstly, because he had just broken up with Juliet. He didn't want Ryanne thinking she was a drunken rebound. She was better than that. Second of all, they were drunk. He didn't want to take advantage of her in this state. It wasn't fair to her.

The next thing he knew, it was like extra weight had been dropped on him. He looked down to see her sagged against him, asleep. He chuckled and shook his head, lifting the light girl off her feet. She stirred slightly, before wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face into his neck, still asleep.

June 19th, 2015

"Ryanne. Come on!" Chelsea whined at her sister. "We have an interview with Bryan, remember? He's outside the bus with Braden and Andy. Why they're here, I have no idea."

Ryanne groaned and buried her face in the crook of her arm, hiding from the blinding light. Her head pounded viciously and moving her head brought nausea to the forefront of her mind. She had no idea why she drank so much last night, but she didn't regret it until this morning. She actually had a lot of fun with Braden and Andy dancing around the fire.

"Bring me some water and aspirin? Then, I'll get up." She grumbled, looking up at her blonde sister.

Chelsea grinned at her hungover, older sister and moved to bring her what she asked for. She knew that she would probably not see 'hungover Ryanne' again this tour, but she was glad to see her let loose last night. It was positively entertaining to see her dancing around the fire with Andy and Faye and Braden like lunatics.

When she returned to her sister, she was swaying on her feet and frowning down at the white cropped t shirt that she had changed her into last night. She watched her sister shrug and pull out her favorite Batman skirt and ankle boots, rolling her eyes at her. A grin crossed her face again as Ryanne placed shades on and greedily took the water and aspirin she was offering.

"Thank you!" Ryanne rasped.

"Welcome! Now hurry!"

Ryanne followed her sister off the bus, hissing between her teeth at the bright sun. She could hear Chelsea chuckle at her, so she flipped her off. Braden and Andy cheered when they saw her and her heart fluttered when Andy's blue eyes locked on hers. She attempted a smile at Bryan and placed herself in between him and Chelsea.

"Alright guys!" Bryan cheered, a goofy grin on his face. "Three, two, one. Hey guys. It's BryanStars and I'm here with half of The American Spirit and two tag alongs. If you'll say your name and what you do in the band?"

He offered Ryanne the mike and she smiled. "I'm Ryanne America Mathews and I sing-slash-scream."

Chelsea waved childishly. "I'm Chelsea Morning Mathews and I play drums."

"And I-uh am Lightnin' Thundastein-uh." Andy jumped in, grinning. "No, but really I'm Andy Biersack of Black Veil Brides."

"And I'm Braden of SayWeCanFly."

"Alright, so you two are obviously sisters. Where did your names come from?"

Chelsea and Ryanne burst into laughter, before Chelsea answered. "Our parents were super hippies. Like, smoked bongs at Woodstock hippies."

"Yeah, they apparently smoked too much." Ryanne giggled.

Bryan laughed. "A little. Speaking of names, where did the band name The American Spirit come from?"

Ryanne grinned. "Oh, that one was great. We're super influenced by My Chemical Romance and they have an interview, The Box vs My Chemical Romance, and Frank said 'The American Spirit'. Just as a random thing and the question he pulled out was 'Are there any particular musicians you have always wanted to work with?' And he was like if that's not the name of a band, then they should become one and we'll go on tour with them. Of course, that's probably never gonna happen now, since they're broken up. And the reunion tour rumours were shot down."

"We should change the band name now. We should do like a spin off of Chumbawamba's name." Chelsea laughed. "Tramparamba. Or something."

Andy laughed, "You could do a spin off of our name. 'White Collared Grooms.' Like for a priest."

Chelsea and Ryanne laughed again. "Yes! And then we'll do a co-headlining Catholicism tour."

"Let's plan this."

Bryan cut in. "Okay, okay. Now, you said My Chemical Romance was a big influence for you guys. Who else would you consider a big influence in your music?"

Ryanne bit her lip. "Black Veil Brides and Green Day, definitely. Some of our music has kind of and All Time Low-ish vibe to it. It's kind of weird. Cause, like, a lot of our stuff has me screaming and stuff. But, then some of it is very poppy and dance-y."

"They do have some weird stuff. I looked some of their stuff up and it has good vibes, but one second I'll be listening to Ryanne screaming and a lot of guitar. And then the next it's a lot of drum beats and her singing like a normal person." Braden admitted, looking down at his feet. "She's got a mix of like Juliet Simm's raspiness and Hayley Williams voice. It's a good mixture."

Ryanne looked at the shy singer, her mouth slightly open. "When did you look us up?"

"When I got to my room after the kick off party."

She pursed her lips and nodded, a blush rising to her cheeks. She didn't realize that he had taken the time to listen to him. Of course, she had immediately looked his music up when she got the chance. She was entranced straight away. His voice had an interesting pitch and his sound was comforting.

"Not gonna lie. Ryanne totally looked you up too. She listened to you for like a month straight."

Ryanne glared at her sister, while she grinned back cheekily.

"Oh, wow."