The Music Or The Misery (FOB FanFic)

Chapter 12

-Patrick's POV-

It was the next morning and Pete was nowhere to be found. I honestly didn't expect him to even return. The three of us remaining were sitting at the table, breakfast in front of us. The only one eating was Joe, I wasn't hungry and Andy was still shook up about everything that happened the night before.

The elevator doors slid open and Alex emerged, all by himself. " 'Morning, guys!" He greeted happily, a smile stretched across his face. We all glanced over at him with dismal expressions on our faces as he approached us. He raised his eyebrow, "Where is Pete?"

"He left," Joe told him.

"He left?" I nodded my head in affirmation. Alex heaved a sigh and put his hands on his hips, "Well, that's okay. We still have the three of you, and as long as you three are here to stay, I'm pretty sure we can still do this."

"What are we going to do next? Let me guess, play another show that ends in the police shooting down our audience?" I questioned, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Actually, yes. How'd you know?"

"Wild guess," I replied, a sarcastic tone in my voice.

"Well, you will be playing another show, however, before that, we're going to do a little bit of advertising," A smirk crawled up on the former lead singer's face. He pulled out cans of spray paint from behind his back and waved them in the air before tossing one can to each of us. "You're going to go around tonight spreading the news that you're going to save rock and roll."

"But vandalism's illegal," Andy and I retorted in unison. We met each other's gazes in surprise as Joe scoffed.

"Really? Come on. Out of all the things that are made illegal in this world, you're worried about a little spray paint?" He remarked. The drummer and I looked over at him. Joe shook his head, "You guys are being a bunch of pussies," He looked over at Alex, grinning widely, "I'm in."

Alex smiled, "Good to hear that, Joe. Hope your friends come around to the idea." He looked over at Andy and me and continued, "I'll be back sometime around midnight to take you out."

"What are we supposed to do during the day?" I inquired as Joe inspected the spray paint can, excitement bubbling up inside of him.

"Practice, hang out, write some more songs, maybe try to convince Pete to come back...whatever you want, as long as you stay here," Alex retorted, "I guess you could say that today's your day off."

"Where's Gabe?" Andy questioned. Alex's cheek grew a deep shade of red. "Alex?"

"Uh...Gabe is...he's...kind of M.I.A. right now," He mumbled under his breath, rubbing the back of his neck with his head tilted down as if he didn't want us to hear him.

"Kind of M.I.A.?" I repeated.

Alex sighed and looked up at us, "It's just, I don't know where he is...no one does. And we don't if he's ever going to come back. So...let's just focus on who we have here for now, okay?"

The three of us stared at him blankly.

"I don't know what else to tell you, guys. I'm sorry." He turned around and walked over to the elevator, pressing the button and spinning around to face us, calling to us across the floor, "I'll be back around midnight, and you better be ready. We have a very small window to do this." The metal doors slid to the sides and Alex backed into the elevator, leaning forward and pressing a button, crossing his arms over his front and standing tall. The doors began to close, but before they could close completely, I got up and ran over, slipping through the narrow space between the doors and falling into the elevator. "Oh my god, Patrick! What the hell are you doing?"

I got back up to my feet and grabbed him by the shirt, "Is it true?"

"Is what true?"

"Is Mara the one who's behind all of this?" I inquired as we started our descent to the floor whose button was lit up on the panel - the seventy-second floor.

Alex lunged forward and pressed the Emergency Stop button, causing the box we were standing in to come to an abrupt halt. We were stuck on the eighty-ninth floor.

He glanced back over his shoulder at me, "So he told you." He being Pete.

"I don't know if I believe him or not," I confessed, picking my fedora off of my head and running my fingers through my hair. I set the hat back down on my head and said, "Should I?"

"It depends," He crossed his arms and turned to face me, "Is it going to make you fight harder knowing that there's a chance you'll see her once this is all over with and the ban is taken down?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "I don't know."

"Well, either way, I made a promise that I wouldn't reveal their identity. I'm sorry, but I can't tell you."

"But you told Pete."

"He made me."

"So it is Mara?"

Alex sighed and pushed the button for the hundredth floor, "Just enjoy your day off, Patrick, and don't worry about Mara's involvement - if there was to be any. I'll see you tonight." We ascended back to the floor the guys and I had been camping out in for the past couple of weeks. The doors opened and Alex moved his eyes, wordlessly telling me to get out. I heaved a sigh and stepped out of the elevator. I turned back around to face him when he asked, his foot on the threshold so that the doors wouldn't close, "Do you still love her, Patrick?"

"What?"

"Do you still love Mara?"

"I don't not love her," I replied, my cheeks burning up, "Why?"

"Just wondering," He smirked, sinking back into the elevator whose doors slid shut.

"What was that all about?" Joe questioned from across the room. He was standing by one of the walls, the spray paint can in hand and a scribble of black on the wall in front of him.

"I have no idea."

*****

"Alright, I'm going to drop you off at this corner coming up," Alex informed us as the four of us drove down the deserted city streets, the sky a dark shade of blue, almost black and speckled with white. "You're going to go around town and leave your mark. We got the street cameras to be disabled until one, so you have a little less than an hour to cover this city."

"Cover the city in what, exactly?" The guitarist asked.

"The phrase 'Save Rock And Roll' and this logo," He took one hand off of the wheel and shoved it into his pocket, pulling out a crumpled up piece of paper and handing it back to us. I took it into my possession and saw that it was a roughly drawn trapezoid with an equally roughly drawn crown hovering above it, and in the trapezoid, the letters F, O, and B. It looked like a really poorly drawn volcano. "Boss drew it up, you like it?"

"It's pretty cool," Andy admitted, looking over my shoulder.

Alex pulled up to the curb and shut the car off, pivoting his torso to look back at the three of us, "You guys know what you're doing, right?" We all nodded our heads. "Awesome. Meet back here at one, no later, got it?" Another nod of the head. "Alright, good luck, guys," He turned back around and the van door glided open. I pulled the black ski mask down on my face and hopped out of the car, followed by my friends. Alex sped away.

"You ready guys?" Joe inquired, shaking his spray paint can up, the metal ball hitting the sides of the can noisily as it mixed up the black paint.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Andy murmured, heaving a sigh before walking down the street, away from Joe and me. Shortly after, he and I split up and went our separate ways, going to "advertise".