"Hello, everybody! Thank you for tuning into the "Music Is For Lovers" podcast. I'm your host, Stacy Momalyn, and here with me today is world-renown, pop-punk band, Fall Out Boy!" The woman says excitedly through the microphone, clapping and smiling from ear to ear. There are other people in the studio who are clapping as well which make it less awkward as the band nods politely and make their presence known by saying hello through their mics.
The band is currently on a podcast/radio show to market their upcoming MANIA tour to the media. The public eye hasn't seen them
together since the whole incident that took place about two months ago. Of course, the band told the outside world of Pete's reappearance and safety after everything was done with, but the reason why has been a mystery to the public. Unfortunately, the media absolutely loves solving mysteries like this, so theories of why the bassist went missing had sprung up all over social media. To quell this and let Pete fully recover, the band went quiet and let everything run its course. However, the silence only lasted for two month once management told them to jump back in with another tour. And sadly, that means they have to do interviews and talk to the people they desperately tried to hide from.
"We're so happy to have you all in the studio today!" Stacy says once the clapping stops. "It's been a while since I last spoken with you, hasn't it?"
"Yeah, it's been a while," Pete chuckles softly, "But we're glad to be back." He grins at the woman. Internally, he wishes that he could go back home and have another month to stay in the shadows.
Fuck you, Island Records.
Fortunately, Stacy doesn't sense Pete or any of the band members' discomfort, so she continues to be peppy and talk excitedly to the band.
"I'm so glad to hear that!" She exclaims again, "So what have you guys been doing since your last show? I know there was incident around you, Pete," She gestures to him. "Do you care to explain what happened?"
There it is...
The band tries to keep their composure as they inwardly cringe at how sudden that topic was brought up. It also didn't help that her tone was rude and invasive. But, what can the band do? They deal with interviewers like this all time, so they were bound to get a snooty bitch that'll invade their private lives. Luckily, the band- Pete mostly- had prepared for this to be brought up.
The bassist dismisses the rudeness of the interviewer and shows her his signature charming smile (it works every time) before responding, "Well, after the show I got a little-" he does a little hand motion that mimics him drinking from a bottle, "And kinda lost my way out of the venue." He chuckles which causes the rest of the room to loosen up.
Stacy, of course, laughs the loudest out of everyone and finds this whole thing amusing. "And how long were you missing for? It had to have been a while if the media and the fans were freaking out about it for days." The blonde stares at Pete with eyes coaxing him to tell her the entire story. She acts intrigued, but there's something about her vibe- with most interviewer's vibes- that seem like they're disinterested; they only want a story and nothing else.
Luckily, the band has been able to deal with these type of people multiple times due to being in the public eye since they were young adults. With this experience, they know just the way to butter them up and make a story seem bigger than it is. Especially if that story were to be a complete lie.
"I was gone for maybe a day or two," Pete ends up saying, acting unsure on how long he was "missing" for. "I didn't have my cell phone with me so it was hard to get in touch with people to tell them where I was."
"Oh, I see," The interviewer hums, "And what exactly happened to you? Did you get hurt, or...?" Stacy asks curiously. She motions her hands as if to press Pete into continuing his story.
"Well, a couple of hometown friends and I had been drinking and hanging out back stage after the Chicago show. I, for some reason, had thought it would be a good idea to run out of the venue and have some fun outside," Pete acts like what he said was funny and chuckles which causes Stacy to laugh along too. "Unfortunately, I was too intoxicated to know exactly where I was, so I was kinda roaming back alleyways and streets doing— I honestly have no idea," He laughs.
"That must've been dangerous, right? Roaming around the dark streets of Chicago at night, not knowing what you were doing?" She asks in a shocked and almost concerned tone.
"Oh it was, trust me." Pete nods, a little bit of exasperation in his voice. "Even though I was drunk, it was still pretty scary being out there by myself and not knowing where I was. It felt almost like a movie: roaming the streets alone at night and feeling like someone or something was gonna jump out and get you— it freaked me the fuck out."
"I'm sure living in a horror movie is different than watching one, am I right?" Stacy laughs.
"Totally," Pete nods, "Watching The Conjuring is completely different than living in The Conjuring house."
"Yes, exactly." She smiles at the bassist before turning to the other band members. "And how was it for you guys? I'm sure it must've been scary not knowing where your band mate was."
"It was pretty freaking scary," Patrick ends up speaking into his microphone. "When he left we were all like, "He'll turn up eventually," but after twenty minutes of looking around for him and realizing that he didn't have his phone because he dropped it outside of the venue, it was like "Oh shit, he's actually missing"," Patrick laughs which causes the entire room to burst into laughter.
Once everyone calms down, Stacy regains her composure and speaks first into her microphone. "So, how did you find your way back to them, Pete? Or did they find you?"
"They actually found me. Apparently my drunk self decided that it would be a good idea to crash behind some old apartment building almost on the other side of the city," He fake chuckles again, "And not only did I sleep there, but I slept there for almost fifteen hours which is insane. It wasn't until they found me and woke me up from my slumber that I realized where I was and what happened."
"And nothing happened to you while you were asleep?" Stacy asks in disbelief.
"Surprisingly, no. I didn't get mugged, stabbed, or kidnapped so that was pretty nice," Pete smiles again and nods. He shoots the rest of the band an anxious look that says, "I hope I did alright." The band gets this message and give him subtle encouraging looks that try to say, "You did great."
"I'm really glad that you're okay, Pete," The interviewer says with sympathy.
"Thank you, I really appreciate it." Pete nods, "And although it was scary, it's a pretty funny story to tell people when they want to talk about a crazy night."
"Good point! You should add like... crazy details, or something to shock people and make the story almost unbelievable," Stacy says excitingly whilst laughing really hard.
"I should!" Pete chuckles, "Just be like: "Yeah I was kidnapped by these crazy people who turned out to be vampires, but they let me go cause they hated me, or something like that." The bassist continues to laugh while his other band mates side-eye him with a subtle look of shock on their faces.
"Did he really just say that?!" They all wonder as they watch Pete have no second thought about what he just said.
Luckily, Stacy doesn't pick up on this and continues to laugh at how seemingly unrealistic his "made up" scenario was.
"Oh gosh, that would be one heck of a story," She says in between breathes of laughter. "Hopefully something like that doesn't happen while you guys are on tour next month."
"One can only hope so," Pete nods and continues to smile at the interviewer.
The rest of the interview goes seemingly well once the conversation switches over to tour related things and those basic questions that make fans want to tear their hair out since they already know the answers. But nonetheless, it goes well, and the boys leave the studio feeling relieved that it was over.
But one thing stuck with them as they go back home and mentally prepare for more interviews and the all-mighty tour coming up:
Hopefully they can leave all this supernatural business behind and have nothing happen to them on tour....... Right?
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TO BE CONTINUED IN:
~DEAD ON ARRIVAL~