wild and running || a.b. (series on hold)

Chapter 5

We drive up at a huge apartment complex and for some reason , in that moment, I realized that I was still in my work uniform. Ah yes, very impressive. I follow him inside and we take the elevator to the fourth floor. He seems to be walking really fast, maybe he's hungry or I'm just a lot shorter than him. He opens the door for me, room E, and let's me go in first because I've been carrying the food. I stand frozen in the middle of a beautiful apartment as he turns on the lights. There is an open brick wall with vintage grey and dark red furnishings. I love the feel of this place. His light laughter causes me to come back to reality, "You can sit down you know, just put the food right here." He says pointing to the small, black coffee table. I place out food and drinks down and take a seat on the couch, sinking about halfway into the cushion because of the unbelievable amount of fluff that seems to be shoved into the cushions. He's scrolling through his phone as I look at him. He sighs, "Do you mind if some people came over for a few minutes? We are trying to sort out some business."

Ah, strictly business... "Um..." I say with millions of possible thoughts flowing through my head, "That's fine." I say. It's his apartment anyway. I remind myself of the way I came in, just in case I need to run and call someone for a ride. "Do you want to watch a movie or something?" He asks. I shake my head, "I'm not really into movies and all of that. Sorry." I don't know what I have against TV and movies but I've never really enjoyed it. "Alright. How about some music?" I nod as I begin to pull out our food and organize it along the table. He gets up from the table and goes to a section of the apartment I haven't examined yet. Along the wall are records and tons of CDs. He bends down trailing his fingers along the albums until he finds the one he wants. We takes a few strides over to the sound system that looks like would cost my mother's whole house, and slips he CD in. Acoustic music starts to play as he turns around and smiles at me. I froze to try to listen to the music.

Is that his voice?

"Is that--" My question was interrupted by a knock on the door, he pauses the music and looks back at me. He looks at the table of tacos, seeing that I've almost eaten half of them. "Hey, save me some." He says with a smile and answers the door. "What's up?!" Is the first thing I hear. Oh dear... Are these people drug dealers? Terrorists? I watch while holding my poor, innocent taco with a death grip as four other men walk into the room. The first man I see is dressed in all black attire with aviator glasses and hints of leopard print. The next three men are dressed in all black and spikes. I notice that the first man is a bit more fashionable than the rest and I look down trying to hide my smile. "Who's this?" The fashionista asks. "Oh," Andy says walking over to me, "this is Ivory." I stand up and hold my hand out to introduce myself. "Ashley." The man says ignoring my gesture. What is with these people and ignoring all of my attempts to be polite. I bring my hand back down to my side. "Jinxx." "Jake." "CC." "Nice to meet you all." I say sitting back down and taking a sip of my drink while Andy sits next to me and begins eating the tacos I ever-so-kindly left for him. They taste awful, but I was hungry as hell.

"Ugh.." He says with an adorable yet disgusted look on his face, but I would never tell him I thought it was adorable. "How did you eat these?" He throws the taco on the table, "...fucking cardboard tacos." Was all I heard him mutter, and it caused me to giggle.

"So..." Ashley said looking at me, "what exactly are you wearing?" I look down at my black pants, converse, and purple shirt printed with the logo, "Books-A-Million." "Um..." I say hesitantly, "I just got off of work." Ashley laughs. "I'm pretty sure our work is a lot better than yours." I sit back. "What?" The four boys laugh, except for Andy. "Alright, let's get this done so you guys can leave." He says with a strict tone. He gets up from the couch and the rest of the boys do too. "We'll be right back, Ivory." One of the men says with a smile and a wink. He has a gap between his two front teeth, I believe he is CC? That must be his nickname. I watch as the boys all laugh and joke around with each other as they go up the stairs, each one of them covered with ink. This place has two levels? "I'm pretty sure our 'work' is a lot better than yours." My curiousity gets the best of me and I walk over to the sound system across the room.

I open up the CD player and see that the disc he put in has to title and no cover. What is this? I glance around the player to see other albums from old time rock bands and see four other blank discs laying in a pile. I close the CD player and turn the volume down so the boys don't hear me playing anything. I nervously hit the play button and listen carefully to the intro of the song, acoustic guitar and soft violin. "I open my lungs dear..."

That has to be his voice.

I start putting pieces of the puzzle together. He must be singer and songwriter. Are those boys possible clients for him? I sit in amazement. I turn the volume up a bit more and restart the song. I instantly fell in love with it. This must be why he was tapping rhythms and writing in Literature class. He's a writer, just like me. I smile. He's just like me. Old time rock bands, singing, writing. I thought we were complete opposites. I wonder what all he writes about. Does he write poetry like me? Does he journal? Does he write and read every word like its new? I feel something brush up against my leg and I jump back. I look down to see a black and white kitten staring at me, purring so softly it's almost barely audible. I kneel down and pet the cat as it climbs on me. It somehow manages its way onto my shoulder, and I reach for its collar. "Crow" the name tag reads. "Hello, Crow." I say giggling as he rubs against my face. I didn't even hear the boys coming down the stairs when they suddenly appeared in the room. I was so absorbed in the music and the adorable kitten that I tuned everything out. I hear Andy laugh and my head snaps to him. "Crow." He says walking over to me and pulling the cat off of my shoulder. "Sorry.." I say and get off of my knees. "It's fine. I'm not sure why you apologize for everything." He says with a confused look spread across his defined features.

I turn off the music and let the boys finish talking. Soon enough, Ashley, Jinxx, Jake, and CC leave. "So... Who are those people?" I ask him. He smiles, "Come see." He takes me upstairs and down a small hallway. We enter a room full of notepads, binders, instruments, and microphones. "This is our band room." He says proudly. I gasp and cover my mouth as I examine the room. On the furthest wall is a giant poster with Andy and the rest of the boys titled, "Black Veil Brides." I turn to him in amazement while he stands there shyly, "You have a band?" I ask him. He nods. "Wow... Andy... This is incredible." I say looking around the room. "We just started so we aren't very big yet; we are still working on our first album." I turn to him and make some strange noise that I can't really explain, but j know it was out of excitement. "That's amazing!" I say to him.

He begins to explain about how the band came together. Apparently all of those boys, except for Ashley and CC, went to school together and came up with the idea of a band, Ashley and Christian, his full name is Christian, were outside friends of the boys. They recently all went through with the idea of a band. "You're the vocals?" I ask him. "Yeah... Ashley sings backup sometimes too." It's amazing how he's just like me. I've always had the dream of being a singer. I have a secret YouTube account with recordings of me singing. I can say I have a pretty decent amount of subscribers. "Do you sing?" He asks, seeming to be reading my thoughts. "Um..." I say feeling my face turn red. Yeah jut go ahead and turn into a tomato because that's exactly what I want to do. "A bit..." I say. "Hm... I might just have to hear it some day." He says. I say a silent thank you that he didn't ask me to sing him something. I pull out my phone to see that it's gotten pretty late. "I think I should be going..." I say.

"Oh... Yeah it's pretty late. Sorry about the stuff with the boys." He says. "No, no. It's fine. I'm glad I got to meet them." I say. "Can I have your number?" He asks. "Oh, yeah." I say. I pull out my phone and we exchange numbers. We walk back downstairs and I help him clean up the "cardboard tacos" as he said. I say goodbye to Crow and take one last look at the amazing apartment and follow Andy out the door. He brings me to Books-A-Million, we say a short, awkward goodbye, and I get into my little, black car and drive away. I strangely find myself missing his company... I change into some sweatpants and tank top and begin journaling about today. It was a good day today, it truly was.

After letting all of my trapped thoughts go, I lay in bed and think about the one song I heard from Black Veil Brides. I wish I could listen to it again, it was beautiful. I eventually fall asleep while repeating the lyrics I remember in my head.