MakeDamnSure (Ally/You)

Chapter 18

Your POV

"Y/N", she repeats.

"Did you follow me here or something?", I ask.

"Maybe", Ally shrugs.

"Maybe? Really?"

She shrugs again.

"Why the hell are you even here?"

"Lauren heard about it and wanted to go. Neither of us knew you'd be here."

"How'd you even know it was me?"

"It's going to take more than all that face-paint for me to not recognize you. Also, I saw how you reacted when I came in. And it didn't help that you kept looking at me onstage."

"I tried not to", I mumble defeatedly.

"Well, you failed."

"And you've failed at talking to me for the last month and a half. I guess we're even now."

With that, I try to walk past her and back into the party. Instead of letting me go, Ally grabs me by the arms and shoves me back into the bathroom. She closes the door behind us and locks it before turning me around and shoving me against it.

"Well, how about I make up for that right now?"

Before I can answer, she grabs my face and kisses me, just like she did a month and a half ago, except this time more forcefully. I've been caught so off guard that it takes me a full two seconds to kiss her back. I wrap my arms around her neck as she holds my hips in place. Without warning, moves her fingers under the bottom of my shirt and squeezes my hip flexors, making me moan. My hands move up bury themselves in her hair.

And then I realize two things: my break's almost over, and I want to feel more of her before I have to go back.

So I momentarily end the kiss, remove my hands from her hair and turn us around so Ally's the one against the door. I kiss her again and shove my hands under her shirt, feeling her smooth skin. Ally sighs contentedly, and I take the chance to slip my tongue inside her mouth. As she gasps in surprise, I move my hands further up her body until I reach her breasts. I cup my hands around her bra-covered chest and squeeze, and she moans in pleasure.

But then the alarm on my phone goes off. This means I have to go back.

"I gotta go", I say after breaking the kiss and pulling my hands out from under Ally's shirt. "But don't think I'm done with you just yet."

Ally nods. I notice that her eyes are dilated and she's breathing heavily. She pulls her shirt down and unlocks the bathroom door. Her eyes never leave mine until she's out of sight. I take a deep breath and look back in the mirror. My lipstick is all messed up, so I quickly reapply it and go back to the stage. I'm the last one to get there. This forces me to hustle onstage with my guitar barely around my shoulder. The second I reach my mike stand, we start playing. The song is blink-182's "The Rock Show". Josh and I are sharing lead vocals on this one.

While that's getting started, I look around the crowd, which hasn't changed at all. I manage to pick out Ally somewhere in the middle of it. Her lips have traces of my black lipstick, and she probably knows it. When our eyes meet, she stops and smiles. Despite all she's done (or lack of things she's done), I can't help but return the smile. Then I return my attention to the song. I start us off.

Hanging out behind the club on the weekend

Acting stupid, getting drunk with my best friends

I couldn't wait for the summer and the Warped Tour

I remember it's the first time that I saw her there

She's getting kicked out of school 'cause she's failing

I'm kinda nervous, 'cause I think all her friends hate me

She's the one, she'll always be there

She took my hand and I made it I swear

We all sing the chorus together, and then Josh takes the next verse.

When we said we were gonna move to Vegas

I remember the look her mother gave us

17 without a purpose or direction

We don't owe anyone a fucking explanation

I fell in love with the girl at the rock show

She said, "What?" and I told her that I didn't know

She's so cool, gonna sneak in through her window

Everything's better when she's around

I can't wait 'til her parents go out of town

I fell in love with the girl at the rock show

As the song goes on, my eyes keep drifting back to Ally. She seems to be enjoying herself out there. I hope she is. I really do. And that's something. Because I don't hope for much. But I'm hoping for her.

Anyways. Back to the show.

* * *

As it turns out, I don't get to finish what Ally and I started in the bathroom, because by my next break, she's gone. And so is Lauren. So are their friends.

My first thought when I realize this: What the hell?

My second thought: Don't worry about it. Oh, who are you kidding?

I know me. And I know I'm going to worry about this until I get an anxiety attack (not that I've had one, because I haven't, and that's a miracle). But I'll do that after I finish the show.

Speaking of, this is the longest show we've ever done. Like, I don't know if anyone in human history has ever performed for this long. We started at around eight, and now it's midnight. How the fuck did we do that? And now the fuck are we still going? Luckily, we have two more hours and then we can go home.

I manage to get through the rest of the show, but it's a blur to me. Like, I barely remember any of it. The only thing I remember is being relieved when we finished the last song. Then Mark thanked the crowd for being with us, and we hopped offstage, and it was finally over. We wasted no time in packing up. We had to do most of it ourselves, seeing as we were the only sober people there.

The thing about rock stars is that people assume we're party animals. They think all of them live the "sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll" lifestyle. I won't deny that some of them do, but a lot of people would be surprised at seeing how many of us don't. Those that don't practice what's called a "straight edge" lifestyle, meaning they stay away from that stuff. The band and I are, for the most part, straight edge, but we do like to indulge sometimes. The last time we indulged was homecoming night. Instead of doing what every other person in our school was doing, we participated in our yearly homecoming ritual of leaving school before the homecoming rally and hanging out in the duplex, where we spent all day and all night drinking liquor and playing classic rock on our guitars while everyone else went to the parade and the football game. Given that the weather was cold that night and our football team sucks, I think we had the better night.

Tonight was a good night, too. But damn, it was exhausting. I'm so tired I ask Josh to drop me off at my actual house instead of going back to the duplex because my house is closer to the college. At two-thirty in the morning, when he does drop me off, I sneak in through my window, wipe the makeup off my face in the bathroom, change from jeans to sweatpants, and climb into bed right before falling asleep.  

Author's Note: So, I finished this chapter a little quicker than I thought, but not as quick as I would've liked. Still, I hope you enjoyed.

Also: I am so proud of Lauren, and also happy for her. I'm also kind of surprised, and I'm probably alone in that. I never really bought into fan theories of any kind, and still don't. But either way, I'm happy for her, because she's happier now, and that's all that counts.