Warped Minds

The humid, mid-afternoon air had become unbearable by the time Warped Minds was set to play. Three o'clock was hardly an ideal time but the massive crowd that gathered before the stage only attested to how dedicated their fans were. The old and new alike. While the band hadn`t been considered very big before, they sure as hell were now. Besides, it was only fitting that a band with a name like Warped Minds play the last year of Vans Warped Tour. Most had found the irony hysterical.

Their bass player, Ian Marshall, hadn`t thought of the similarities before suggesting the name to the rest of the band. But Ian wasn`t their goof ball for no reason. Upon realizing his accident, no one could get him to shut up about it afterwards. He even joked during interviews that his dream of playing at Warped Tour was the reason for the name. Rodney Watson had vehemently denied such claims. But Ian vowed to never let their drummer live down his denial after they were asked to play the rock tour. Much to the annoyance of their tour manager, Dominic.

"Oh my god. I`m in love with her."

Snickers erupted around the Falling in Reverse singer, Ronnie Radke. His eyes had been glued to fellow singer, Isobel Mason since the moment she stepped out on stage.

"We could of told you that two months ago," Derek Jones teased his singer with a grin, finally suppressing his laughter long enough to talk.

Ronnie shot him a glare before turning his attention back to the band in front of him. He had met Isobel`s brother, Aaron and the band`s lead guitarist, Leo Marton, on the first day of tour two months ago. It didn`t take long for each band to become attached at the hip. Especially Ronnie and Isobel. They were practically inseparable, much to the amusement of their friends and quite a few fans.

"Why did you have to realize that so late?" Jacky Vincent questioned with a frown. "You already made me lose a bet twice."

"Twice?" The singer asked. "How did I make you lose a bet twice?"

"We kept placing bets on how long it would take you to realize your feelings for that little red head over there," Derek explained.

Ronnie groaned. "Do I wanna know when this started?"

"Second week of tour," Jacky informed him with a cheeky grin.

"By?"

"Her brother."

The tattooed singer raised a brow in question but his two band mates shrugged. Neither knew or understood why Aaron had not only given his apparent approval of his sister and Ronnie getting together but also started placing bets on when they would get together, but it had happened rather quickly. In truth, it had taken the guitarist almost a full week to accept the idea of the attraction the pair clearly had for each other. But he had stood in the way of his sister`s past relationships before and, at times, had caused great strain on not only their band but their relationship as siblings.

Aaron was two years older than Isobel and vowed to always protect her. It had gotten him into more than a little trouble over the years. So, this time he decided to stay out of it and let them be. Then he realized the two weren`t going to get together anytime soon and decided to start taking bets on when they would finally admit their feelings for each other. Besides, he knew there would be a line of people ready to kill Ronnie, should anything happen to his sister. Now that was a very comforting thought.

"How does the rest of her band feel about this?" Ronnie asked with a sigh.

Derek laughed. "Oh they placed bets too."

"They`re fine with it," Jacky assured. "But I think they`re prepared to kill you if you hurt her."

The singer snorted. Now that didn`t surprise him. Most were rather protective of Isobel. She was a tiny little thing at only five foot one. Especially compared to his six foot two frame. It was almost comical seeing them side by side when Isobel didn`t have shoes on. In her heeled shoes he didn`t tower over her as much. But, he supposed, that was probably why so many were protective over her. Her small stature made her appear fragile. Damn was she anything but. And she loved proving that to people. She always had and probably always would.

"You stayed!" Isobel shrieked as she walked off stage, instantly spotting the Falling in Reverse band members.

Ronnie laughed as she threw herself into his arms. He quickly hauled her up to his level and spun her around, enjoying her delighted squeals while her band mates watched on in amusement.

"Of course they stayed," Dominic grumbled. "Ronnie never leaves your side."

"You act like that`s a bad thing," she huffed as the tattooed singer carefully placed her on her feet.

When Dominic opened his mouth to snark back at her, he was quickly silenced by Leo slapping a hand over his mouth. It was no secret that their tour manager wasn`t overly fond of the male singer. Isobel had requested he keep his opinions to himself but he rarely did. The man treated her like his own daughter and was more protective of her than the others. Being in his late forties with no relationships in sight, Dominic figured he wouldn`t be having kids of his own any time soon. So he decided to focus all that energy into Isobel, who normally didn`t mind. But when it came to Ronnie? She minded more than she would care to admit.

Isobel had found him attractive since day one. It was hard not to. And it didn`t take her long to figure out that beneath that asshole exterior was a rather sweet and funny man. The more time she spent with him the more they got along and liked each other, discovering a similar sense of humor along the way. And unfortunately it didn`t take her long to discover her feelings for the other singer. But the idea of not only getting her heart broken but also ruining a great friendship kept her from even considering saying anything. It had been far too long since she had gotten along with someone so well that wasn`t part of her own band. And she needed that friendship. But damn was it hard to push down feelings when they became as close as they had.

"Feel like getting out of here?" Ronnie asked.

"Why? What do you have in mind?" Isobel teased with a grin.

He stole a glance at Dominic and then looked down at her with a grin. "Something indecent."

She barked a laugh, immediately realizing he was trying to get a rise out of her touring manager. And he was definitely succeeding.

"Indecent? Are you horny or something?"

"Maybe."

"Please stop flirting," Aaron groaned. "I don`t like being reminded that my little sister has a sex life."

Isobel turned a bright shade of pink, the implication of her sex life being linked to Ronnie was not something she needed to think about. At least not any more than she already did. A quick glance up at the man in question brought a bit of surprise. He was just as pink as she was and looking at anything but her. They could flirt and be playful with each other all they wanted and would hardly be affected. But the moment someone else implied something about them, they turned various shades of pink and red.

They had long ago given up the fight of trying not to flirt with each other. It was just too hard not to. They were so playful with each other at first that it slowly progressed into flirting. It was almost a natural occurrence. But that brought along questions from people that were curious about their relationship. No one thought Ronnie was capable of blushing like a school boy, but all you had to do was imply something about him and Isobel and he was a blushing and flustered fool. It was quite the sight.

"I thought you two were leaving?" Ian teased, watching both turn darker shades of pink.

Ronnie sputtered out a, "we are", and took Isobel`s hand and lead her towards the stairs that lead off stage. They dropped hands as they got to the stairs, Ronnie getting about halfway down them before realizing she wasn`t following him. He turned around and raised an eyebrow in question, all the while desperately trying to ignore what a pretty shade of pink her face still was.

"Piggy back ride?" She asked.

He shrugged. "I told you not to wear those heels."

Isobel scoffed at that. "You happen to like these shoes. You made that explicitly clear earlier."

He snickered, remembering his comment earlier that morning about how nice she would look wearing only those heels. He thought Dominic and Aaron were going to kill him from the looks on their faces. "Well, If I have to..."

"Oh shut up."

Ronnie snickered a bit more but continued down the stairs and then crouched down when he was on grass, wanting to give her enough room on the steps to jump onto his back. Which she did, but with a bit more force than necessary to get back at him for his earlier comments. With a grunt he straightened up and hooked his arms under her thighs, pausing to make sure she was indeed secure before walking.

"So where are we going?" Isobel asked after a few minutes, noticing they were walking away from the stage area.

"Bus," Ronnie answered.

She frowned and tilted her head to get a better look at him. "Everything okay?"

He bit at his lip before answering, "I think so."

She nodded and decided to let him be for now. Figuring he had something on his mind that he really had to think about.

The pair were quiet the rest of the way to the way and even when they reached the Falling In Reverse bus. Ronnie continued up the steps and into the bus, tightening his hold on her thighs when she moved to slide down his back to walk, and carried her into his little bedroom at the back. Only then did he put her down, carefully dropping her onto the bed. He turned around too soon and froze, words caught in his throat at the sight before him: Isobel was sitting up and getting into a comfortable sitting position. There was nothing out of the ordinary about what she was doing. Ronnie was just struck with the thought about how good she looked on his bed. And cue the blush.

Isobel looked up at him and frowned. "Are you sure everything is okay?"

"No," Ronnie blurted out. "No it`s not. Because I can`t keep my big mouth shut."

"What are you talking about?" She asked, worry starting to grow for her friend and crush.

He opened his mouth and then closed it when nothing came out, repeating the action a few times too many and ended up resembling a gaping fish. And the more he did it, the more worried she became.

"Ronnie? What`s going on? Do I need to get-"

"I realized something," He interrupted, continuing when she nodded. "It`s something that I should of realized a long time ago. A really long time ago." He ran his hands down his face with a sigh. He was really going to do this, wasn`t he? "I um...fuck." Maybe he couldn`t do this. "Just uh...," he sighed, "give a minute." This was a lot harder than he thought it would be.

"Wanna sit down?" Isobel asked after a few minutes of silence, patting the spot beside her on the bed.

Ronnie nodded and sat down. But instead of beside her like she probably wanted, he sat on the other end of the bed, putting a great distance between the two. Something she didn`t want to admit hurt a little bit. Did she do something so wrong that he didn`t even want to sit beside her? As far as she knew, they were doing just fine. Unless...

"Is this about what my brother said earlier?"

"What?"

Isobel sighed. "Earlier my brother kind of implied that we were...well..."

"No. No that`s not...well I mean it kind of..." Ronnie trailed off with a groan. "What he said didn`t bother me. And him implying I`m the one you`re having sex with didn`t bother me either."

"It didn`t bother you?" She asked slowly, as if trying to wrap her brain around his words. How could it not bother him? They weren`t dating. Not even close. They were friends. Weirdly comfortable friends that probably weren`t going to last much longer because one had a crush on the other.

"No because I like the idea, okay? I like the idea of us being more than friends. I like the idea of us in a relationship. And I like the idea of you being in my bed. Fuck! I like the idea of us fucking!" He blurted out in one breath. And immediately felt horror creep into him when he realized exactly what he said. It became worse the second he realized Isobel hadn`t said a thing. Oh god, she hadn`t said anything!

While Ronnie began to panic, Isobel was trying to accept what her friend was saying as the truth. She understood that the man sitting on the other end of the bed wasn`t cruel. Sure, he pulled pranks and teased to the point of annoyance. But he wouldn`t joke about something like this, would he? He couldn`t of possibly found out about her crush. There was no way he could of found out about her stupid little crush and decided to tease her about it. He wouldn`t take it that far, right? Right?

"Isobel! Say something," Ronnie pleaded. He wasn`t losing her friendship over this, right? Please tell him he wasn`t losing her!

"Is this a joke?" She whispered, not daring to speak above one out of fear her voice would crack and tears would begin to flow. "You aren`t pulling some stupid prank?"

Oh god. Did she really think? How could she possibly think that?

"N-No. Why would I joke about something like this?" He sputtered.

"I don`t know."

"I`m not that cruel."

"I know that! But this is...these are my feelings we`re talking about, Ronnie!"

"Yeah. And my feelings too!"

Isobel slowly looked over at him, having switched her gaze to the floor so she didn`t have to look at him in case he really was joking with her. "What do you mean your feelings?"

"I`m in love with you," Ronnie confessed. "That`s what I realized today. While you were on stage the only thing I could think of, was how in love with you I am. So no, this is not a joke or some prank. I`m risking my friendship with you because I wanna date you, okay? Its not just your feelings on the line here. So are mine."

She blinked slowly, trying to process what he just said. "You...feelings...me..."

"You aren`t making any sense." He frowned. "Are you going into shock?"

"I...uh...maybe?" She squeaked. This was becoming a lot to process. And she wasn`t doing it well.

His frown deepened. This was not what he was expecting. "Is me liking you such a bad thing?"

"No!" She shouted and then winced at how loud that was. "I mean, no. It`s not a bad thing. It`s just...a lot to process."

"Process, huh?"

"Not in a bad way," she quickly assured. "I just, I never thought you`d be telling me this."

He gave a weak chuckle. "Does this mean I`m not losing you?"

"Of course you aren`t losing me! That`s not what I meant."

"Can you explain it to me then? Cause I`m starting to think you don`t like me that way and you`re just trying to let me down easy or make up an excuse."

Isobel groaned and ran her hands through her hair. This was not happening. She`d been wanting him for two damn months and this is the way she reacted when he confessed he also had feelings? What the hell was wrong with her? She had imagined this moment hundreds of times and none of them had gone like this. Not even close. Those scenarios ranged from him laughing in her face to them making out in some obscene way or another. The latter ones were always her favorite to think about. But this? This hadn`t even crossed her mind.

"As cheesy and cliche as this is going to sound, Iv`e wanted you since the moment I met you," Isobel confessed. "One look at you and I just, I wanted to kiss you. And then I got to know you and even though you can be a giant asshole, I loved being around you. I didn`t really mind being friends because we fell into that category so easy. And then all the sudden I had these...feelings that I had no idea what to do with. So I settled on just repressing those stupid feelings and focusing on being your friend. And now you`re here, telling me you have the same feelings that I do? Do you know how hard that is to hear? Let alone realize that it`s real? Not just some stupid fantasy?"

"Jesus," Ronnie breathed out and ran his hands over his face. "How long have you...?"

"About a month," She whispered.

"A month?" He repeated. "Why did`t you say anything?"

She shrugged and went back to staring at the floor. "I didn`t want to lose you. You became an important part of my life so fast and I thought that if I said anything, you`d leave."

"We are so stupid," he groaned.

She shook her head with a laugh. "I don`t know about stupid. Just too worried about losing each other."

"Nope. Just stupid."

Isobel laughed and looked back over at him, pleased to see that he no longer looked upset. In fact, he looked rather happy. Excited even.

"So," Ronnie started, "am I allowed to kiss you now?"

A soft blush instantly painted her cheeks. "I would hope so."

A laugh bubbled up his throat as he finally scooted closer to the other singer. He gently cupped her face and brushed their lips together in a much anticipated kiss. And it did not disappoint.