Every Breath You Take (Denis Stoff, Denis Shaforotov, Asking Alexandria)

1

Emma-

I sat in the airplane, sketching as I began my descent into the city of Los Angeles, a sinking feeling ever present in my stomach.

I'm Emma Cassells, sister of Hannah and James Cassells, also known as 'the middle child'.

Middle child syndrome is defined by the urban dictionary as:
When a middle child - typically of a family of three kids who are close in age - feels left out or neglected.

Because the bigger sibling is the first born and typically an over-achiever, they are the most important and get the most privileges. A younger sibling is the 'baby' of a family and gets away with more as well as being the most looked-after. Middle-child syndrome starts when the middle child is squeezed between these two and have trouble finding their 'niche' in the family.

Middle children will sometimes...
-misbehave to get attention
-go with the flow
-work as little as possible
-be less parent-dependent then their siblings
-become the 'loner' of the family, not participate in family events unless told to.
-play the peacemaker
-be more likely to go to a friend for advice than a parent
-be very creative

In short its where the older child gets all the awards, the younger gets all the love, and the middle gets nothing.

Everything in that definition applies to me, the middle child.

Two years ago when I moved into university my parents didn't even show up to say goodbye. James had a gig that night, and of course Hannah had a date the next day and they couldn't miss seeing their precious baby off, so I moved in on my own.

I made the decision to drop out of law school this year in pursuit of my art, which enraged my parents, but they allowed me to do it, they owed it to me, under one condition: I would go and live with James while he was on tour.

They couldn't possibly have me at home when they were supposed to be empty nesters, Hannah just went off to university to study Maths.

So here I was on my way to meet my brother who I was not very happy about seeing my last visit three years ago had not ended so pleasantly.

The closer the plane got to the airport the more the knots in my stomach increased and made me want to turn around and go back to York right away.

The plane stopped at the gate and I took a deep breath as I got off and began to walk to my baggage claim where I was supposed to meet James and his bandmates.

As I walked out into the baggage claim area I was so engrossed in checking my phone that I ran into a man's chest, dropping my phone and causing him to drop his as well.

"Shit sorry!" We both exclaimed at the same time as we squatted down, both glancing up at each other as we grabbed our phones from the ground.

He was gorgeous. He had tousled brown locks that fell just past his ears, deep brown eyes, a light dusting of freckles across his nose and a ring in it. I noticed how tall he was as we stood up and I only reached his chin, leaving me eye level with his shirt which had two A's on it, on with a British flag, and one with an American flag.

"Asking Alexandria." I muttered. "Of course." It was a distinctive design, after all James sent every piece of merch imaginable to our parents.

"You a fan?" The man raised his eyebrow, a small smirk on his face.

"No. I'm most definitely not a fan." I took a step back. "Now if you'll excuse me I have to be going." I said, rudely pushing past him.

"It was nice to meet you miss 'Not a fan.'" He called after me as I rolled my eyes, walking to baggage claim where I saw James standing with Cameron, Sam, and Ben.

No Danny. Not that I was disappointed by this. Danny and I had never particularly gotten along.

"Hello Emma." James smiled hugging me.

This was already awkward. I hadn't seen him in person for two years.

"So where's the new guy?" I didn't even bother to say hello back.

"Checking at the desk to see when your flight landed." James chuckled.

"You sent him to run your errands?" I raised my eyebrow.

"He's the newbie." They smirked at James's comment. "He's like our little brother." They chuckled.

"He's lucky he's not the middle child." I muttered under my breath.

"What?" They all asked.

"Nothing." I played it off quickly. I really wasn't thrilled to be on the road with them.

"There he is!" Sam chuckled as I heard footsteps behind me.

I quickly whirled around to see the attractive man from earlier.

No fucking way.

"Emma, this is Denis our new vocalist." James sounded proud.

"Denis this is-" he was cut off by Denis.

"Not a fan. We've met." He chuckled.

I was suddenly embarrassed by my rude behavior towards him earlier. If I had known that I would be living with him I probably would have made a better first impression.

They all chuckled.

"You just go around saying you aren't a fan of ours?" James asked.

"What I go around and say about anything really isn't any of your business." I shrugged. "Now are we just going to stand around in this airport forever or are we going to go." I asked, grabbing my bag off of the conveyor belt.

"Yeah uh....I guess we will go." James said as he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, I could tell he was surprised by the fact that I had grown a backbone in the past few years. I had always listened to mum and dad, done what I was supposed to, but I couldn't anymore, and that one quiet, obedient girl, was gone.

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A/N: So here is the first chapter of my third Denis book! I hope you all enjoyed it and I am looking forward to writing it! Leave your feedback in the comments and as always, much love <3 -Anon