"Awsten can you tell us if the rumor about you and the assistant for All Time Low are together?" One of the many paparazzi asks as he signs a shirt for a fan. We were all currently at the meet and greet portion of the show. I stayed to the side, shuffling through the merch that was about to be loaded back onto the buses.
"She has a name." Awsten rolls his eyes, ignoring the woman. He smiles some at the fan, handing her back the shirt. They talk for a minute before the woman pushes her way back into the conversation.
"But is it true that you are sleeping together? Or, hooking up, as the kids call it?" He grits his teeth, trying to hold back a hateful remark.
"Sir, the public demands to know if you-"
"She's my girlfriend. My beautiful fucking girlfriend who i love more than anything else. She makes my life worth it when assholes like you don't back off and give me space. she keeps me grounded. She inspires me and she motivates me to keep going even when I don't want to. She's my world. And no, we aren't just fucking, if thats what you're interesting in. The only fucking you're going to hear about is me telling you to fucking leave." His voice raises as he stands up, letting the words roll off his tongue. I stand there, taken back by his words.
"You can't honestly believe that the world would believe that, would you?" she asks, crossing her arms. The camera was still pointed towards him. He rolls his eyes, muttering swears underneath his breath.
"No, but I do. Can you please leave? You're ruining the experience for everyone here and you're overall not a joy to be around." I say, marching over to them.
"And who might you be?"
"The girl who is happily in love with Awsten Knight. Ya know, his world." I smirk sitting on his lap and she scoffs.
"Whatever, losers." She walks away and I turn to look at Awsten.
"Do I really mean that much to you?" I ask and he smiles.
"You mean everything to me. I could list a million reasons why I love you and never run out of things to say." He kisses me and Geoff coughs, making us pull back.
"Meet and greet, guys. Not hug and fuck." He says, laughing some.
"Sorry!" I giggle, getting up. I speed walk back to the merch boxes and get back to work, boxing them all up.
"You're Tori, right?" A girl asks me, shyly. I turn to face her, nodding.
"Whatcha need, doll?" I ask and she holds out a shirt and a sharpie.
"Can you sign this? It would mean a lot to me." She says and I smile, taking the shirt and the sharpie.
"Of course! I've never signed for a fan before so excuse my messy signature. Why would you want mine anyways?" I ask, signing my name onto the shirt.
"You're the reason I got to meet my heroes." She says, looking over at Waterparks.
"How? I'm just the assistant- person- thing?" I giggle some, stumbling over my words.
"Without you, Waterparks wouldn't have toured with All Time Low. Without you, I would've never seen them because my parents won't let me go out of state to see bands. They've never been to my city until now and that's because you helped pick it. You made my dream come true, Tori." She says and my heart melts.
"I'm glad you met them. They loved meeting you. I loved it too!" I say, handing her back the shirt. She smiles, hugging me. I hug her back and we let go a moment after. We say our goodbyes and she disappears in the crowd of fans waiting for meet and greet opportunities.
"Having fun?" Jack asks, leaning against a wall.
"Christ, don't scare me like that!" I laugh, looking at him.
"Oops." He smiles some.
"Did you see that? It was crazy! I've never had a fan before. I've never had anyone even notice me really." I ramble on and he smiles, listening.
"I'm glad you're having fun. We're all gonna go out after this is done. Wanna come?" He asks, smirking.
"To be your babysitter?" I raise an eyebrow, frowning.
"Noooooo. Okay maybe. But we haven't hung out as much as we used to. You got a boy and we never see each other anymore." He pouts.
'I guess you're right. I'll ask Awsten and-"
"He's already said yes."
"Awsten doesn't drink. Neither do i."
"He still wanted to go. We talked about it earlier. Trust me, T." He begs and I sigh.
"Where are we going so I know how to dress?"
"Be sexy. It's a club."
"Jack I cannot sexy I only own band shirts." I giggle and he shrugs.
"Make it work. You won't regret it." He walks back to the ATL section of the meet and greet booth. I finish boxing all the merch and place it onto a cart, pushing it out to the buses.
I load it all onto the buses and grab my extra bag from the storage area. I walk back onto the bus, closing the door. Do I even own anything 'sexy'?
I begin going through my clothes, cringing at the very blank selection. Why do I only own band merch, hoodies, skinny jeans, and vans?
I find a crop top Polaroid shirt and shrug. Good enough. I pair it with black ripped jeans with fishnet stockings underneath. I put on my pastel rainbow hightop converse and add a denim jacket over it all.
For makeup, I did my normal winged eyeliner but did a smokey eye and red lipstick. I didn't look like myself. The outfit felt natural, but the makeup didn't. I sigh. Maybe this is what I was supposed to do?
I check my phone and reply to Jack. He had texted me, saying it was time to go. I grab my small alien wallet and put it in my pocket, walking off the bus to find them.
They were all huddled together in a group, talking. I walked up and they all stopped, looking at me.
"So, where are we going?" I ask, tucking a piece of my hair behind my ear.
"You're hot." Rian says and I nearly choke on air. I wasn't expecting that at all.
"Uh, thanks?" I giggle.
"He's right. But I think beautiful would be a better word choice, dipshit." Zack corrects Rian and I can't help but laugh.
"Thanks guys, really, you're all too sweet." I look down, hiding my face some. I feel awkward. Unnatural.
"We're gonna go test out this night club." Geoff says, showing me a picture of the club on his phone.
"Sounds fun." We begin our walk. It's only about five minutes away, which was good for the nonalcoholics of the group who have to lead the drunks back to the buses.
"Are you okay?" Awsten asks and I nod some. He holds my hand and I smile down at it.
"You look great by the way." I say to him and he smiles, looking away. He wore black jeans, a white button up woth the sleeves rolled up, and black boots.
"Thanks babe. You do too."
"I wish I felt great." I laugh some, awkwardly. This didn't feel right.
"We'll change that!" Jack says, pulling us into the club. I take a deep breath, going inside. This didn't feel right. None of this did.
××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××
11:56pm.
We had been here for 4 hours. Jack showed no sign of slowing down as two girls danced on him. I roll my eyes at the sight. He would never settle down.
I looked around, searching the crowd for familiar faces. None to be seen. Awsten had left to find an extremely drunken Geoff and i was left alone at the bar, babysitting Jack, as usual.
I hated this. I hated being surrounded by this feeling of negativity. I was at a club. I was supposed to feel joy and want to dance and want to party. I just didn't feel that. I felt like an outcast.
A blur of blue hair flies past me and I look, trying to make out the figure. It wasn't Awsten for once.
"Wait.. Nick?" I call out and the blue haired boy turned, facing me. His face lit up and he smiled, running over to me. He attacks me in a hug before I get the chance to speak.
"Tooorrriiii! I missed you! Wh-what are you doing here?" He slightly slurs. I hold back a sigh. He wasn't totally lost, yet. He was still Nick.
"We all came party. What are you doing here?" I question and he thinks for a moment, collecting thoughts.
"Tour! The uh- the- gnash!! Gnash tour. We're here until Tuesday." He explains, sitting beside me.
"That's awesome, Nick." I smile. He won't remember seeing me at all tomorrow morning. We talked for what seemed like hours. Talked about everything and nothing at the same time. He seemed happy underneath the alcoholic influence. He didn't talk badly about himself for once. In a way it made me happy to see this side of him, but at the same time it distressed me. What if he was a bad drunk?
He eventually got pulled away by a girl by the name of Sara. I let him go, hugging him one last time before returning to my own personal silence.
Awsten appeared through the crowd. He sighed, sitting down beside me. Geoff tried to sit on the stool beside him but fell. We picked him up, laughing some. It was cruel but funny.
"We should get going. Otto went to hunt down the rest of ATL. Alex is with Rian. Jack and Zack are missing." Awsten explains and i nod, walking out to the crowd to find the boys. Eventually I spot Jack and I grab his sleeve, pulling him back with me.
"H-hey darlin, what's u-up?" He hiccups, giggling afterwards.
"We're going back to the bus." I say, ignoring his drunkness.
"We c-could have fun here." He smirks, hugging me. I push him back, holding my breath to avoid the smell of alcohol on his breath.
"You're drunk."
"I love you."
"Jack, I love you too but now is not the time." I sigh, pulling him back towards Awsten and Geoff.
"I'm in love with you."
"No, you're not. You're drunk." I pull harder. This night needed to end.
"But Tori-"
"No, we're going to the bus and you're gonna sleep." I don't let him continue lies and he sighs, not talking anymore. He had started to sober up some.
We all meet up and make our way towards the buses. I guided Jack, Awsten guided Geoff, Otto helped Alex and Rian helped Zack.
"I wanna go home.." Geoff mumbles, nearly tripping.
"We're almost there, bud." Awsten says, helping him get stable.
"Where's rory?"
"At home with Chloe. They're probably sleep right now and You will be too soon." Awsten says, leading him up onto the ATL bus. We weren't leaving until tomorrow and it would be easier to have them all in the same living space to make sure they don't run off.
Otto and I help the rest of the boys into their bunks and get them all settled in. Jack pulls on my shirt and I lean down to meet eye level.
"I'm sorry." He says and i shrug.
"I knew this would happen, it's fine Jack."
"I'm sorry that I told you. You didn't need to hear it. Goodnight T." He rolls over and I stand up, sighing.
"Goodnight Jack."
Awsten, Otto, and I waited until they passed out, which didn't take long. I went into the bathroom and began taking off the uncomfortable makeup. I sigh with relief as it all leaves and I'm left with the natural skin below. It wasn't much of an improvement, but it was better than the unnatural feeling I previously had. Makeup just wasn't for me.
"I'm gonna get some sleep. Goodnight guys." Otto says, yawning.
"Goodnight otter. Use my bunk." I say, hugging him. He smiles some, walking to my bunk. There was only one left and I was gonna leave it for Awsten, I could sleep on the couch. I turn to face Awsten and his eyebrow was raised, arms crossed, and a stern look on his face.
"How was Nick?"