Surrender the Night

By the time their set had finished, my insides were overwhelmed with this urge to immediately find Gerard and tell him how much I loved watching and listening to his band. It was far from original, I was aware, but maybe our meeting earlier would give me an advantage over everybody else. He was obviously more unique than I had thought.

Deep in my own head, I had just realized that Leah was leading all of us out to the front door of the lodge. Her arm was loosely slung in my mine, and I quickly stopped dead in my tracks to halt her. She fell forward with a gasp, and unfortunately, the rest of her new friends slammed right into my back. I hissed quietly at the crack I felt but didn't make another sound when I met Leah's eyes.

"Are you kidding, Roxy?" She shrieked, giving me an almighty death glare.

I shrugged and glanced back at the stage but the hazy lighting made it impossible to recognize who was moving around. "I don't want to leave yet."

"That's all you had to say," she said, and skipped around me to apologize to the other students. I ignored their heated comments and leaned myself up against the trim of the door. Musty beer was the only thing I could smell while people walked in and out of the Elks. I held my breath inconspicuously as my best friend said her goodbyes to the group. None of them said anything to me when they left one by one out the front, which honestly didn't bug me a bit. Receiving a pointed glance from the ginger kid, I smiled as sarcastically as possible, but secretly hoped his night with Leah wasn't totally ruined.

"I don't understand why you'd wanna stay when all of the live bands are done," she said, rolling her eyes and pulling me back over to the table we had just left.

"Wait, wait," I called out, tugging her back to me. "Not there. Let's see if we can get close to the stage."

"Roxy. No one is up there. I doubt any of the bands have stuck around."

"Why not? It's the first day of classes. Maybe they'd wanna celebrate too." I threw my arms up in a fit of passion. If she knew how serious I was about it, she wouldn't leave me alone to try and find him.

The irritated look on her face slowly fell, and I knew she was catching on. But instead of following me while I walked backwards, she was suddenly very still and calm. Too calm. "What happened to you today?"

"What... What do you mean?" I asked innocently, not really sure what she meant by her inquiry.

"Did something happen earlier? I heard you met up with Austin."

"Yes... That happened," I agreed, angling myself over a chair to hold up most of my weight. "I stopped in at a cafe and we hung out for two seconds."

"Oh okay," she smirked, making herself comfortable on a nearby stool. "He just told me something else, that's all."

"What? That I helped pay for someone's drink?" I asked, feeling a little bothered by her curiosity. Wishing she would just get to the point, but playing games was one of Leah's many gifts.

"Yep. A guy," she leaned towards me, batting her eyelashes. I snorted, trying my best to look unaffected by her words. But when I thought of Gerard, and him singing his heart out into the microphone, my cheeks burned too easily. My face was always a dead giveaway. A childlike curse. "He's in one of those bands, isn't he?"

"So what?" I said defensively, folding my arms across my chest.

"All right, all right." Leah sighed, defeated. "Don't get so angry. I was just wondering."

"I'm not angry," I pointed out, which I really wasn't. Having dealt with her personality this long... It'd be a waste of time to get upset. "I just want to try and find him before he leaves."

"Come on," she said, grabbing my hand with hers and lightly shoving other students out of our way. We walked down a set of long, winding stairs, covered in rubber (thank god because the amount of liquid on them was atrocious). As we sidestepped a bunch of trash, and sweaty bodies grinding against the beat of the song, butterflies ripped through my stomach as quick as lightning. I gripped Leah's hand in an effort to find comfort, and she made no reaction. I was thankful she was with me, and didn't leave me alone to find Gerard myself.

When I peeked around her, I noticed a velvet curtain was covering the entrance to backstage. Leah faltered for a second before marching right up to a man with a name tag. It read 'Kyle' in bold, blue lettering. He was as buff as Austin, maybe a tad bigger, and was resting his body against the wall. Kyle peered down at Leah with disinterest, before awaiting to hear her desperate attempt at getting backstage.

"Kyle? Hi, names Leah," she grinned, and let go of my hand. I remained hidden behind her body, knowing very well that I couldn't add much to her coaxing, even if I wanted to. While she used the biggest words she knew, I got distracted by the amount of people still hanging around the lodge. I noticed a young kid, maybe a little younger than ourselves, trying to fawn himself over this poor girl. She looked completely fed up, like this happened to her all the time. I smiled at the sight, and successfully forgot about my nerves for a good three seconds.

"--Just missed 'em," I was brought out of my daze by Kyle's words. Leah turned to see my reaction, but I hadn't been listening.

"Uh hello in there. They're gone," she announced, waiting for me to come up with our next plan.

"Um... Maybe they're still outside?"

She watched Kyle out of the corner of her eye, hesitating if he'd give us a heads up, but he only looked bored. Bored of standing there, waiting, wishing, doing whatever. If they already left, why wasn't he going too? But then he could be lying, trying to hide the bands from being bombarded by drunk college students. It wasn't a poor idea.

She scoffed, and grabbed my arm this time, dragging me back through the crowd. We went right up the stairs and out the front door. The fresh air hit me like a freight train. But my tiny victory was soon swallowed by the fact that I wasn't going to see Gerard tonight. He was traveling off into the night, off on his next adventure.

"That's shitty," I said, moving around two lanky men, dodging their cigarette smoke. "I thought it'd be kinda like fate, ya know?"

Leah pressed her hand into the side of the building, taking in the scenery surrounding us. I didn't recognize anyone from inside as I slowly scanned the area. All of these random people, vehicles, and headlights blinding us without a chance to look away. I blinked until the spots disappeared, waiting for her response.

She began walking down the sidewalk, and nudged me to follow her. "Fate is cruel. But I'll never stop believing in it."

We walked hurriedly past the lodge, and stopped at a crosswalk shortly after. She held out her hand for a taxi, and I patiently waited beside her, glancing behind us every so often. When a taxi finally pulled up, I took a second to reach for her bracelet, dangling in the air. "Isn't that mine?"

"Like I would remember that," she snorted, and quickly opened the door. I went to go playfully shove her in, when I heard my name being yelled. "Who the fuck is that?"

"Maybe it's him!" I giggled, attempting to jam her into the car. "Just ignore it. Probably some kid from class earlier."

"Oh. He looks scuzzy." She frowned, obviously watching this person walk up to me from behind. How annoying, I thought as I peered over at the driver, who looked equally annoyed as the both of us.

"Going or no?" He barked, his black irises meeting mine. I shuddered at his tone and took a leap of faith. I whipped my body toward the mystery voice and almost fell into my best friend.

"Roxy, it's Gerard. Did you come to see us play or what?" He grinned, his front teeth glowing underneath the street light. I watched in amazement as he brushed the strands of black hair from his forehead.

"This him?" Leah whispered in my ear, but I could only nod.

"Oh thank god," she shouted, and slammed the door behind us.