Beautiful Tragedy

"Oh my gosh! Do you actually tour with the band?" I grinned at the pretty brunette girl in front of me. Her lips formed a small 'o' and her eyes were glistening with excitement. She reached up with one of her hands and absent mindedly pulled her hair back into a pony-tail before letting it fall back around her shoulders.

"Yeah, crew member. See?" I pulled the backstage pass out of my pocket and handed it to the girl who was almost stroking it in amazement. She scanned over the front as if she was trying to memorise it, and then flipped it over and did the same to the back.

"What's it like?" She gazed up at me, dazed. I grinned, and pulled a cigarette out of my pocket. She watched my hands as they flicked the lid, picked out a fag and push it into my back pocket. I didn't say anything straight away, still amused by the fact that she was in such admiration of me.

"It's great, seriously." I paused as I pushed the cigarette into my mouth, lighting it. "I've made some of the most amazing friends, and the band...well most of the band are the nicest people I've ever met."

"Frank..." She started, her eyes again alit with excitement, but she stopped herself; a blush crawling up her cheeks.

"I know, he's a bit of alright, isn't he." I chuckled as she nodded, her hands still absentmindedly stroking the pass. "And we've had some of the best times on tour, I've got some great memories, but it's hard sometimes...You know?"

"How so?" She seemed utterly confused, as if she couldn't think of a single reason that life on the road would be hard. In fact, she seemed totally in love with the idea of going on tour. Whether it was just her love for the band in question, or the idea that one of the members may fall in love with her at first sight and invite her to tag along, I wasn't sure.

I'd had no previous dealings with fangirls.

"I miss my friends, like...beyond belief" I smirked, and then started as I felt a pair of arms wrap around me. I looked down at the arms, and noticed the familiar shape. "Ahh! But my lover Jim makes up for all of that."

"Berty, you're not going to run off with this pretty girl and leave me are you?" He pouted, and I laughed at the sulky accent he'd imitated.

The girl looked worried, and took a slow step back, I grinned at her reaction and then turned to look at Jim.

"Did you need anything?" I knew I probably had something that I'd forgotten to do earlier in the day, but nobody normally came to tell me off until after the show, after it had gone wrong.

"We just wondered where you'd disappeared to, sweet-cheeks." He unwrapped his arms from my body, and took a more ordinary stance next to me, smiling at the girl who was watching our exchange with bright but wary eyes.

"I better be going," She mumbled, her voice quieter than earlier. She turned and started to walk away, and both Jim and I watched her retreating figure until something struck me.

"Oh! Wait!"

The girl turned at the sound of my voice, and impulsively looked for a reason. Realisation dawned on her as she held up my backstage pass triumphantly and started to run back.

"Sorry, I completely forgot I had it in my hand." She grinned, handing it out to me though her eyes lingered on it lovingly.

"Do you know what? You can keep it."

Her head whipped up to my face, shocked. I could see the longing in her eyes, the smile that was dying to creep out.

"Seriously? But don't you need it?!" She held it out again, but it was hesitant. "No...I can't get you in trouble."

"It's fine! Honest. Now go get in line before you end up without access to the mosh pit."

I wa suddenly met by a wall of...human. The girl ran at me, wrapping her arms tightly around me and I could feel her smile against my chest. I put my arms around her and patted her shoulder, almost starting to feel uncomfortable as she pulled away.

"Thank you!" She squealed, grinning at me one more time before running off the join the queue.

"Don't you need a liscence for that?"

I turned at the familiar sound of the voice, and had to stop myself grinning at Gerard's wary expression. I took a couple of steps forward to lessen the gap between us, and Jim rolled his eyes at us before walking away.

"For what, dear Gerard?"

"Being stupid. You're not going to be able to get anywhere now." He gestured to the space where the girl had been standing, and I realised that he was talking about the backstage pass. My blank face now contorted into a frown as I realised he was right.

"Well, I'll just have to sit here and wait for my knight on shining armour to walk past and whisk me off my feet." I smirked at him, and started to walk towards the bus; I didn't need a pass to get on there.

"Well they do say opposites attract. Maybe your 'knight' will be attractive, intelligent and cultured."

"Ooh, Me-ow!" I grinned, and couldn't stop a chortle escaping my lips, as I turned back round to face him. "You make me laugh, Gerard. I'll see you later."

And without looking back again I jogged the rest of the way to the bus and let myself in, collapsing onto one of the sofas and closing my eyes for just a tiny little power-nap.