Is This Real, Or Am I Dreaming? ( An Alan Ashby Story)

Chapter Eleven: Another Way, Another Day

He took me by the hand, leading me up the steps towards their dressing room. You could see the lights from the stage peering through the staircase.

“EVERYONE TO THE STAGE IN FIVE!” Is all I hear when Alan lets go of my hand. I see everyone frantically trying to be prepared. I look back at my hand from how he left it. I feel a sudden breeze go past me. The breeze was Alan. I was incoherent for some reason, but I snapped out of it and looked straight at him.

His eyes made me feel comfortable. The contact made me able to hear again, “Noe, it’s time for me to go onstage.” I nod, “I know, I guess I’ll see you out there.”

He nods taking his right arm wrapping it around my shoulders while nuzzling his head in my neck. He inhaled and exhaled. The warm airs making a tingly sensation go down my back. “You smell so good,” His voice cracks a bit. He gives me a quick peck and runs toward the stage. Being a bit surprised, he didn’t trip on his way over.

I hear my brother’s voice roar through the speakers, “Hey everybody, we’re Of Mice & Men and we’re here to give you a kick ass night.”

The show kicks off with Still YDG’N. I haven’t seen them performed with Aaron before this being my first time. Might I say he’s a good replacement for Shayley. I remember before the show Alan was imposing Aaron to let him say a line. In addition, Aaron being Aaron, he let him.

I watched how Alan would jump and run across stage with a huge smile on his face. Seeing him happy made me smile and feel fuzzy inside. Especially when he would glance over to the side of the stage to where I was and he would display that smirk.  Every time he would the cuteness overload meter would be on extreme.

Within a few minutes of their set, I drifted out to being incoherent. Just staring at my feet and zoning out. Thinking to myself how lucky I am. Then something interrupts me. Bunches of sweaty bodies hugging me, making me come out of my zone and to pay attention, it was all of them. Phil, Tino, Aaron, Alan, and Austin, All giving me a sweaty group hug.

I was so used to this, it was normal to me. I finally was covered in enough sweat, “Okay you guys can stop hugging me now, you’re making me uncomfortable.” All the sweaty bodies were increasingly letting me go, except for one.

Yes, you guessed it, Alan.

“I don’t care if I’m sweaty, I just want to hug you….forever.”

“You can give me plenty of hugs when you aren’t sweaty.”

He let go of me, my shirt was drenched with Alan’s sweat.

He looked at me and smiled, “You know…I never thought that I would like you, I mean you’re Austin’s sister. I remember when we hit it off for the first time and Austin got all upset. He said you were completely in love with me,” He chuckled, “I thought you were really cool.”

I gulped. It is as if he knew about me liking him ever since, but there’s no way he could know that. Austin may have said something but they joke around with each other all the time why would that be such a serious thing? I watched as he turned around to give his guitar to his guitar tech, Justin. He took my hand in his while lacing our fingers together.

“Noe, you look like you’re going to be sick. Let’s go back to the hotel.”

He was right, I feel sick. Very sick all of a sudden.

“You got the hotel for another night?”

He nodded while looking at me sensibly, “Yeah, of course, hotels are fun. We also get some more time to ourselves without Austin, Phil, Aaron, or Tino bothering us.”

I nodded not really understanding what point he was trying to come across.

He sighed, “Okay, the real reason is the guys are having a party back at the house, that’s why I wanted it to be just us.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.” Even though it really did not make sense to me, he’s not being the usual Alan. Why did he not want to party with them? He normally always wants to party and drink.

He put his other hand on my forehead, “You’re burning up, let’s get you out of here, sweetie.”

He called me sweetie, so he now decides to call me cutesy names. He now was taking me by the hand, leading me through the back way of the venue towards the exit. As we came out of the door, his car was to our left. He quickly took his keys out of his pocket to unlock the two doors.

He opened the door for me, put my seat belt on for me, and closed the door. He quickly ran to the other side opening his door and shifting himself into the driver’s side while putting the key in the ignition. Putting the gear in drive and rolling along the road.

I liked looking at him concentrating on the road. Sometimes if I tried distracting him, he would tell me to stop. The main reason was that he didn’t want me to get hurt if we got into an accident.

He must have felt me looking at him because he turned to look at me. He smiled, “Noe, I know I’m extremely hot but no need to stare at me.”

I sighed and rolled my eyes, “You’re so arrogant Ashby.”

He smiled putting his right hand that was tattooed on my leg, “You are too, don’t even act like you aren’t big headed either.”

It suddenly hit me. The nauseous feeling, as if I were getting sea sick, but instead carsick. I tried pulling my seat lever so I could lie down.

“Alan, are we almost there? I seriously don’t feel good now.”

“Oh, uh, yeah, we’re here now.” He pulled into the same parking spot he had this morning.  He put the gear in park then glanced at me. “Do you need any help? I don’t want you walking if it’s going to make it worse.”

I thought that this would be a nice time to be a satirical little shit, “Can you carry me? My legs are so wobbly.” I made the best dramatic act that I could.

He sighed for a long time, “Okay. Fine, only because you aren’t feeling well.”

He unbuckled my seat belt putting one arm under my bent knees, and the other around my back. On the other hand, as most people call it, bridal style. “Gosh Noe, you’re really light.”

He carried me into the room to where he put me down back onto the ground. I quickly ran into the bathroom, to the toilet, and just started puking my guts out. Alan was quickly after me. He put my hair in a ponytail so I would not throw up on myself.  When I eventually stopped, I turned around to face Alan. He was sitting up against the wall.

He looked at me, “Come over here Noe.” He said suggesting to his lap. I quickly crawled over and sat on his lap, putting my head on his chest. He started petting my hair, “I hope you’re okay. I don’t like seeing you so sick. It’s okay; I’ll take care of you Noe.”

Him saying that made my heart clench inside my chest, “Alan, you’re so sweet, that made my heart hurt.” He started laughing, “I’m serious, it really did hurt.”

He said, “Well, how about you take a nice hot shower to wash away your troubles and I’ll go get us some dinner?”

I nodded, “Sounds fine to me.” He kissed my forehead before helping me up off the floor and leaving to go get dinner. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------

This one is kind of shitty....but hey, anything for my fellow readers who were begging for an update. I hope you enjoy.