Criticize the Lullaby (Cashby)

Chapter Four

***Austins POV***

It was going to be a terrible night. I wanted to like her, I really did, for Alan I mean. He seemed happy with her, happier than he'd be with me I'm sure... She was nice, sweet, she was pretty too, I could see why Alan liked her so much. She had dark wavy hair that flowed down her back, and she was a little shorter than him i think. Which is weird because every other girlfriend he's had was a little taller than him. Alan and phill were arguing about cats or something, and tino was telling Aaron about the new phone he has, scrolling through the options and such. Leaving me and Melanie awkwardly staring down at our plates, I hoped she wouldn't try to talk to me, but she did anyways.

"So umm, what's it like?" Her voice was gentle and smooth, it was almost as nice as her appearance.

"What's what like?"

"You know, being on stage, having thousands of people chanting your name, cheering for you?" Wow did she really want to know? She could have just asked Alan, they don't always chant JUST for me you know...

" it's... Overwhelming, amazing, it's crazy, that so many people look up to me, I don't know why, I'm not that great... All I do is sing in a band..."

She looked at me weird "you mean you don't love it?"

" no no I totally love every second of it, I look out there and see the faces of people who idolize me, people that look at me as a god figure, they think that I've saved them from themselves. And that's amazing, it makes me proud of them that they found some way to carry on in life because of something me or one of the guys have said or done. But I just don't see whats so great about me, it could have been someone else in my place, but it's not, it's me... Somehow I'm the one for this job, and it could have been anyone else in this room. I love it, I love it all, the fans are my family, and I love every single one of them."

"Wow, you really love what you do..."

"It's my life" I stopped when I noticed that everyone was looking at me with bright faces "our life" I smiled out at them all, just then the waitress came over with the check and I threw a few twenties on the slip for when she came back for it.

"Woah, woah. Keep your money carlile, this was planned for you, damn you don't need to be paying for it" phill picked up the check and handed me my money. He slipped his credit card under the small tab in the tray "I got that plastic guys" everyone laughed at the joke and i took the check up to the counter at the bar, then returned to my seat at the table. As we waited for the waitress to come get it we finished up our drinks and messed around on our phones.

Before we left I had planned on being the designated driver so that everyone could have a good time, but Alan insisted on being it instead, and he took my car keys away. We took my car there since it would just be easier, and the guys could just come back tomorrow to get their cars. It didn't take long to get there, what with the traffic and all, it only took about 8 minutes.

When we got there we piled out of the car and Melanie tripped out, which led to Alan making sure she was okay, and this huge disgusting scene between them, acting all cute together. We got up to the front doors after a bit of a wait, I could feel the bass from whatever music was playing inside. Probably something techno or dub-step, I was pretty impartial to both, but hey, it was something to dance to, and I wasn't complaining. We all got through with no problem, but the bouncer gave Alan a weird look and thoroughly checked his ID to make sure it wasn't a fake. I mean... Yeah he was dressed like he was about 16 or 17 tonight, but it was hot, his deep red skinnies and an anthem made tee, along with his messed up hair made him seem way younger than he was, but still.

After we got in and found our way around the relatively new club, we decided on a table outside in case it started to get a little hot and over crowded inside. We ordered a round of drinks and just after the waitress left Ben Bruce from Asking Alexandria came by, holding a drink in his hand, It was quite odd he didn't seem drunk yet... maybe he'd just gotten here and came to check out the terrace, never the less he sat down next to Melanie, while him and tino were talking about how ridiculous their last tour had gotten, Melanie started to slide closer to Alan, and of course, he put his arm around her protectively, as if Ben was going to even try something. How was Alan supposed to know that Ben and Danny had something going on, he was too blind to see that sort of thing even if it were to bite him in the ass.