Run Away From The Pain

I'm The Cat's Meow.

I woke up to streaks of soft morning light pooling in from the window of the bus, and a warm hand softly rubbing my shoulder. 

"Alex.. Wake up." Steven cooed. 
My eyes fluttered open, and I saw a knee-weakening grin plastered across his face. 
I looked around the room, remembering that I was angry at him last night, so I came and slept in the tour bus, instead of the bedroom. 
I also looked down at the sheets of the bed, which were ruffled, and messed up on both sides of the bed.

"You came and slept with me last night..?" I asked, amazed. 

"Yeah." He smiled, and then let his smile fade into a soft frown. "I'm sorry about last night." 

"It's fine. Honestly, I didn't even know why I was mad. I just was." I sighed. "I guess I was just tired, and overwhelmed." 

"Well, is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" He grinned. 

"Nope." I chuckled, and kissed him playfully. 

"So how was dinner with your father?" He asked.

"It was more like breakfast, but it was nice.. He's a cool guy." I smiled, remembering the evening I spent with Andrew. "He and Isabella want to follow us to Texas... apparently they have something important to talk to me about..."
I thought about what I just said, and then laughed a little.

"As if they haven't already dropped enough 'important information' on my already." I scoffed. 
I rolled over to get out of bed, and heard the crinkling of papers beneathe me. 
I peered down at the glossy cover of the magazine I had bought from that antique shoppe back in Pheonix, a week or two ago. 
My eyes grew wide with shock, and I almost choked on my own spit. 

I jumped out of bed, still fully clothed, boots and all, and sprinted out of the bus, with the magazine in hand. 
"Alex! Hold up!" Steven ran after me, but I didn't bother waiting. 

I ran back to the hotel, and up to the concierge desk, remembering that my father said something about him and Isabella staying in the same hotel for the duration of their visit. 
"Ma'am, what room is Isabella, and Andrew Dawson staying in?" I asked.

"May I ask who is calling for them?" She was cleary appauled by my flustered appearance. 

"Their daughter...." I snapped, "And it's urgent." 
She sized me up, and then checked the log where she kept each room number, and the guest that was staying there. 

"Room 215, Ma'am." She smiled, just as Steven ran up to me from behind.

"Now where are you going?" He asked, out of breath.

"To the elevator." I grabbed his hand and pulled him along. 
We both got into the elevator, and seconds later, stepped off as we reached the second floor. 
I quickly navigated through the hall to find room 215, and began to pound on the door.

"Andrew Dawson! Open this damn door right fucking now!" I snarled. "Isabella, open it" 
I didn't stop pounding until I heard the lock behind the door click. 
The door creaked open, and my father stood rubbing his tired eyes. 

I stormed into the room, to see Isabella lying in bed yawning.
"What is all this about?!" She demanded an answer, and then looked at the clock on the bedside table. "It's 7 in the morning!" 

"You can get your beauty rest another time, your highness." I snarled and threw down the magazine infront of her. "How come you didn't fucking tell me?!"

I looked at the now, upside down magazine, which read out; 'Queen Isabella, and King Andrew give birth to a Princess; Anastasia Cecilia Elena Dawson.'

I stood there, fuming. 
"Why didn't you tell me! This is something you should fucking tell someone." I snapped. 

"Don't you dare talk to me like that.. I am your mother." She hissed, earning a red glow across her face. "I was planning on telling you today, but now that you know.. My job has been made easier. You're going to pack your things and come back to Samarinia with your father and I. That's an order." 

"Who the fuck do you think you are, ordering me around?! I'm an adult. The only people I take orders from, are myself, and my dad, Victor Hastings. You're no fucking mother of mine. A mother wouldn't ABANDON her child." I growled. "A mother wouldn't barge in on a daughter she hasn't seen in 15 years, and just expect her to love, and trust her.... and above all, a real mother would go and look for her child if she was ever fucking kidnapped." I dangerously narrowed my golden gaze. 

"You're no mother of mine." I scoffed. 

Heartbreak clouded her terrifyingly similar narrow gaze. 
"You are my daughter. The Princess of Samarinia. As Queen, I order you to come back with us, and that is final." She snapped.

"And as Alexandra Hastings, and the girlfriend of Steven Tyler, I say; Fuck you. I'm finishing out the tour with the band, and you can go fuck yourself, and your bullshit country." I stormed out of the room, only to stop at the door way, where an astonished, and bewildered Steven stood, blocking the exit. 
I grabbed his hand and pulled him out the door.

As the elevator doors closed, and I pushed the button to reach the top floor, in a spur of the moment decision, I stopped the elevator and sunk down to the floor. 

"What the fuck just happened?" Steven just gasped, and sunk down next to me, sliding his back against the cool metal wall. 

"I don't know... This is definitely some crazy dream... my life is like a fucking soap opera." I laughed a little, trying to hide the pain in my voice. 

"You're a Princess..." He muttered, then burst out laughing. "You're the cat's meow! The bee's knees!"

"Bee's don't have knee's, asshole." I laughed, and then leaned my head against his shoulder. "What the fuck do I do?" 

"I don't know.... but I kinda liked the idea of you staying here with me." He smiled, and placed a finger under my chin, lifting my face to his. 
He planted a soft and slow kiss on my lips, which instantly lifted my spirits. 
"Come on, baby. Let's get upstairs. There's a bed waiting for us." He grinned, and stood up, holding out hands for me to grasp.

When I successfully stood to my feet, he pressed the button which made the elevator spring back to life, and move up to the penthouse floor. 

As he fumbled to open the door to the hotel room, I needed to ensure something.
"Steven, please don't tell the guys... I don't want to be treated differently... please.." I begged him. 

"Of course, love. Your secret's safe with me." He smiled, and unlocked the door. 
I gasped at the mess that was around me. 
There were bodies litering the floor.

Joe and Elyssa were lying in the bed, while the slutty twins were lying on the floor near the couch they were sitting on before I left. 

There were empty beer cans, and red plastic cups scattered across the room, and cigarette butts, pot resin and even pre-cut lines, were diffused across every flat surface the room had to offer. 
More sleeping, or unconscious, people that I've never seen before were lying across the floor.

I managed to make out a few other people; I saw Joey curled up next to a red-headed chick, while Tom, and his recent wife Terry were sprawled across the floor, by the foot of the bed. 
Brad however, was nowhere to be seen.

"The fuck did I miss?" I whispered to Steven.
"I don't know, I must've missed it too!" He giggled. 

I tip-toed across the floor, being careful not to step on anyone, and made my way to the bathroom. 
When I creaked open the white door to the room, I found Brad, and this groupie Lori, cuddling in the bathtub. 

"I found Brad!" I whisper-yelled to Steven, who came to my side, to marvel at the sight. "What time are we leaving today?" I asked him. 

"Whenever these assholes wake up." He chuckled. 
I grabbed my suitcase, and then creeped out of the bathroom. 
Steven grabbed his things, and we went back down stairs, and loaded our luggages in the bus.

After I set my luggage down on the bed of the back room, I turned around and bumped right into Steven.
"Well hello." I smiled up at him, who circled his arms around my waist, to keep me close to him. 
"Hi." He grinned, leaning down to kiss me.
Just as our lips touched, there was knock on the door of the bus.
I continued to press my lips to Steven's, ignoring the following knocks.

"We should answer that." He mumbled, between kisses. 
"Just ignore it." I pulled his face back down to mine, and kissed him again.

"Ace, just open up!" I heard my father call from outside the bus. "I know you're in there."

"God damn it." I huffed and broke apart from Steven, who only smiled.
"Ace?" He chuckled. "I told you it sounds good."

"Yeah..." I chuckled. "He said he always used to call me that as a kid." 

I walked to the door of the bus, and then faintly smiled at Steven; I returned my gaze to the door, opened it, and stepped outside, closing it behind me.
When I stepped off of the bus, I was greated by a cold wind, chilling me to the bone. 

"What?" I grumbled, crossing my arms, partially out of attitude, and partially to lock in whatever body heat I had.

"Ace, you shouldn't be so harsh on your mother..." He sighed.

"Who? Julia? Last I checked, Mom is back in New Jersey, waiting for the day when her little girl escapes from some perverted dickwad, and comes back home." I snapped, sounding a little more harsh than I expected. 

"Isabella is a good woman." He sighed, "She loves you. We both do... Always have and always will.... Look, Ace, you need to realize that this is just as hard on us, as it is on you."

"Yeah, okay.." I snorted, rolling my eyes. 

"Anastasia Cecilia Elena Dawson, you listen to me." His voice hardened, and he sounded like a regal king, rather than the man I had breakfast for dinner with, the night before. "It absolutely killed me to not see you for 15 years... It was even worse to hear that some sick fuck took you away from the only protection we had for you. My entire world had gone black, and I felt like the world's worst father... I wanted to keep you with us, and raise you to be the best Princess the country has ever seen, but that couldn't happen, and I hate myself every day for it."

The heartbreak in his voice, shattered my heart into a million pieces. 

"Please, be kind to your mother." He repeated. "I spoke with her about the situation.. I can tell how much you love Steven, and how much you want to stay with him on tour. I told her, we would discuss your return to Samarinia when the tour commenced." 

"But I don't want to rule a country, or be apart of some royal family." I whined. "I'm not cut out for prim and proper. I'm the girl that wears jeans and band t-shirts. I don't brush my hair, and I wear heavy make-up. I belong with a band, not playing dress up in some castle out in East Bumblefuck." 

"We'll discuss this later." He repeated in a cold, stern, and regal voice. 

"Fine.." I huffed, and turned to the bus, but stopped. "Just... don't tell anyone about this... I made Steven promise not to tell the band, but don't tell like.... anyone about my title, or the situation. Got it?"

"Got it." He smiled and turned back toward the building, as I stepped into the bus, and closed in the heat behind me.