Run Away From The Pain

And We're All Here, Cause We're Not All There.

Steven and I got dressed, after an hour or two's worth of 'fun'.
I changed out of the sweatpants, and sweatshirt I was wearing, and into a pair of tight jeans, and a Rolling Stones t-shirt. I pulled Steven's leather jacket, on over the t-shirt, and a pair of boots on over the bottoms of my jeans. 

Steven changed into a pair of leather pants, and a button up shirt, and pulled a long coat on over his entire ensemble. 
"We should go wake-up everyone else, and get on the road.. we've got a long trip." I smiled, and kissed Steven full on the lips. 

"Let's get em'." He grinned, and interlocked his fingers with mine. 
As we walked towards the front of the bus, the door swung open, and a clearly groggy, and hung over Joe Perry, stepped onto it. 

"Well good morning." I laughed, as he shot me a dirty look. He was followed by Elyssa, and those twins, that I clearly didn't like. 

They both just shot me a dirty look, then instantly blushed as they peered down at the physical connection between Steven and I.
I smirked, and said hello to Elyssa.

"Ladies, this is my girlfriend Alexandra," Steven introduced me to the twins. "Alex, this is Lisa, and Theresa. They're good friends of Elyssa's." 

"Nice to meet you." I smiled. Now that I had a name to go with the face, something in my mind clicked that they were, infact, human beings, and deserved to be treated as such. The menacing tone I once had in my voice, dissolved and a genuine smile was placed on my lips, as I reached out and shook each of their hands. 
I assume they began to feel the same way, because they were both smiling, and returned the shake. 
"Are you guys coming on tour with us?" I asked, politely.

"No, we were just helping Joe get his shit onto the bus." The one on the right, which I'm assuming was Lisa, answered first. 

"Ohh... Okay." I muttered. 
Suddenly, the door flew open again, and this time, Tom, and Joey strolled in, each with a bag in hand. 

"Where's Brad?" I asked, as a smirk danced across my lips. "Still sleeping in the bathtub?"
Everyone giggled a little bit.

"Hey, go fuck yourself." Brad grumbled as he slowly made his way onto the bus. "I'm going back to bed."
He groaned as he shuffled into the back bedroom and closed the door behind him. 

Eventually, all the girls kissed their boyfriends goodbye, and promised to meet us at the next venue in Austin, Texas. 
Ralph made his way onto the bus, and hopped into the driver's seat, mentally prepared for the long drive ahead of him. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was about 3 or 4 hours into the trip; Steven was sleeping next to me on the couch, Joe was sitting on the couch across from us, playing simple licks on his guitar. Joey and Tom were both eating, and Brad was still sleeping in the tiny bedroom. I pulled out the magazine from my bag, and began to flip through it's contents, trying to find out more about my 'old' life. 

Apparently, my brother Nicholas is 5 years older than me, and is the heir to the throne of Samarinia, but should anything happen to him, I would become the sole heir to the entire kingdom.
"Born February 14th, 1955, the Princess Anastasia Cecilia Elena, is the healthy, beautiful baby girl of King Andrew, and Queen Isabella. The King and Queen lead a fair, and peaceful reign over the soverign country of Samarinia, which is located off the coast of the boot of Italy."

I continued reading, intrigued by all the information this tabloid had to offer, until a voice broke me out of my trance.

"Hey, isn't that your aunt and uncle, on the cover of that magazine?" Joey asked, amazed, "Or is that you?! I can't even tell, it looks so much like you.."

"Nope, just some old couple.." I flustered to hide the magazine, and quickly tried to change the subject. "So... how many more hours do we have?" 

"Well, it's a 14 hour drive, and we've been on the road for 4 hours.." Joe scoffed, "You do the math."

"I'm sorry, my knowledge is being greatly dimished each waking moment I spend with you idiots." I laughed and threw a small pillow at him, who caught it and threw it right back, accidentally hitting Steven in the face. 

"The fuck!" Steven jolted up out of his slumber, with an annoyed expression streaking his face. 

"Sorry dude, I was aiming for the princess over there." He laughed, as I froze in place, and Steven shot me a funny look, "Her royal highness wouldn't even get up off the couch to get her magazine, she made me toss her bag to her."

Steven instantly relaxed, because he knew this was just the way Joe jokes around, and he, infact, had no idea that I was actually a princess. 

"Relax darlin', it was a joke." Joe smirked, clearly sensing my anxiety. 

"Okay." I chuckled a bit, and went back to reading my magazine, being careful to flip the cover back, so it wouldn't be seen.
I continued reading, and re-reading each page, trying to dig out all the information about this life, that I could. 

An hour later, Brad woke up, and came out of the bedroom, moped over to the table, and sat down in one of the boothes. He slammed his head down onto the table, resting it in between his arms.

"Well good morning, sunshine." I giggled.
His responce was an exasperated groan, and a middle finger, shot in my direction, which resulted in me laughing some more. 

"I need food." He eventually spoke. 

"Well, your majesty, we can stop at a diner on the way, or you can eat whatever's left over in the mini fridge." I laughed.

"Can you find me something?" He pleaded, picking his head up off the table, and giving me the puppy dog pout.

"Only because you look like you're about to die." I rolled my eyes, and walked over to the mini fridge, which was literally like 10 feet away from Brad to begin with. 
I knelt down infront of the open door, but to my dismay, found nothing but a few beers. 

"Shit... we've got no food..." I huffed, picking up a beer, and popping the cap off.
I went back to my seat, next to Steven, and slumped down, taking a sip of the beer. 

"Hey Ralph, can we stop by a diner?" Steven called to the body guard, while snagging my beer, and taking a sip of it. 

"Or you can take my beer.. that's cool too." I rolled my eyes, and got up to get another one. 
"While I'm here, does anyone else want one?" I called to the bus. 

I turned around to see everyone, with their hands in the air. 
"I'm not your slave, guys...." I joked, and began to hand out beers. "By the way, Brad, drinking more only makes it worse." I said, popping off the cap to his bottle, and setting it down infront of him. 

Again, he flipped the bird, as he took a sip.
I, too, popped the cap off of the last beer, and took a sip, while returning to Steven, and picking up my magazine. 
As I sipped my beer, and poured through the same pages, a hundred more times, I couldn't help but think what life would be like in a palace..
I'd hate it, right?
I mean, I hate depending on people... so being waited on, hand and foot, would get pretty annoying.
Also.. being prim and proper all the time? Fuck that. If I have to burp, I'm gonna dam well burp, and it's gonna be loud.

Dresses? Nope. I'll refuse. 
Maxi skirts, I can do, but full on gowns are out of the question. 
And, let's be real, I can't even control my anxiety, nevermind an entire sovereignty. 
I couldn't do it. I'd refuse.
Plus, my brother Nick is still alive, and able to be king, so they're set.

He's probably been training for this his whole life, where as I just found out I had been living with my uncle for the past 10 years. 

Yep. I definitely wasn't doing this. 

"How many times are you going to read the same damn article?" Tom chuckled. "I bet you could recite that front and back by now." 

"I probably could." I exhaled. "Are we at the diner yet? I'm starving."

"Almost, your excellency." He chuckled, and bowed his head slightly.

"Can you guys stop that?" I snapped. "I'm not royalty, and I hate being treated like I am..." 

"Are you crazy? I'd kill to be treated like a king." Joe scoffed. "Oh wait, I already am."

"Oh shut the fuck up." I laughed, rolling my eyes.
Minutes later, we pulled into the parking lot of a shnazzy, western - looking diner. 

There was a decently long line of people who were waiting for seats, I assume.
We strolled up to the front to check out how long the wait would be.

"About an hour or so," The hostess stammered "But... M-Mr. Tyler, we can definitely make an exception for you." 

"Thanks, love." He grinned that same old knee-weakening grin, and I could've sworn I saw her legs tremble beneath her.

"So much for not being treated like royalty, heh?" Joe whispered into my ear, making me chuckle, as I slapped his arm. 
We were seated instantly, and after we placed our orders, the conversation instantly struck up again.

"So what was in that article that was so interesting, you had to read it a million and one times?" Joey placed his chin in his hands, and rested his elbows on the table, feigning interest. 

"Can you guys drop the article? It's just something about this stupid foreign family." I sneered and took a sip of my water.

"No, I wanna know what it's about." Joe smirked, knowing this would get on my nerves. 

"You guys can go fuck yourselves." I chuckled, trying not to let this get to me. I really really didn't want to tell them what it was actually about.

"That's what groupies are for." Brad winked.

"You guys are pigs! Ew!" I laughed and threw a wad of napkins at him.

"But seriously." The 4 of them, Brad, Joey, Joe, and Tom, all pushed for an answer. "What's it about."
I sighed because I knew I wasn't going to win this. 

"There's this little country just off of the boot of Italy, called Samarinia, and they're a sovereignty, or like... a monarchy or whatever. And it's a really old article about how the king and queen had a daughter. And how she was taken away or something." I huffed, and then quickly shut up, realizing I gave more information than what was actually in the magazine. "I told you it was stupid."

"That's actually interesting.." Joey smiled a little, clearly trying not to hurt my feelings.

"How old's the article?" Brad asked
"About 18 years old." I answered.

"Well that means she's legal." Joe winked. "Is she hot?" 
"Is she still in Samarinia?" Tom added.

"Well, they don't show a picture of her now, obviously." I rolled my eyes at Joe's comment, and then turned to Tom. "Dunno." I simply shrugged my shoulders.
The waitress came out with all of our food, and we all began to scarf it down.

With in about 10 minutes, we finished everything on our plates. 

"Hey, I've got an idea.." Joey giggled with excitment. "If they haven't found the princess yet, maybe we can do a show over in Samarinia, to raise awareness for her.. see if anyone know's where she might be."

"If she's even still alive." I scoffed.

"Why do you say that.." Joe questioned my remark, considering I spoke out, a little too quickly.

"Because it's been 18 years since the atricle was printed, if she was kidnapped 18 years ago, I mean... let's be real, she's probably not alive.." I paused, thinking about something that would convince them. "I mean... I was only captive for 5 years, and I cheated death on multiple occasions. I'm no princess, I'm used to kicking ass and taking names.... imagine some frilly little spoiled brat that has everything handed to her on a silver platter? Nah. She wouldn't last." 

There was a haunting silence looming over the table.

"That was really harsh, Alex..." Tom gasped a little, and then shook his head.
Fuck.
I didn't want them all to start thinking I was a heartless bitch.

"I... uh..." I fumbled for my words, as a lump swelled in my throat. I tried so hard not to cry. 
"Come on! You know it's the truth! If I was handed everything in life.. If I was waited on, hand and foot every day of my life, I would never have gotten out alive. He would've killed me, and that's almost a promise. And you all know that's the damn truth." I argued my valid point, which infact wasn't so valid. 

"She's right guys." Steven came to my rescue. Finally. "I mean, Alex is a strong girl. She's not like many other people, and it's a miracle that she made it out. Not many people could." 

"Yeah..." A few of them grumbled. 
After a few more minutes of awkward silence, we paid the check and then left. 
God damn, that was a close call. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I sat on the bed of the tour bus, with the bedroom door closing me off from the rest of the band.
I have to be more careful when I talk to them about this... I mean.. I almost blew my cover.
What's so bad about them knowing... I mean, they're like my brothers, right?

I can't have them exploding from the emense pressure they're all already under. Adding the fact that they have a princess on board with them would make things 10x worse. 
Plus, I don't want them treating me any differently.. I mean... they wouldn't... would they?

Joe poked his head into the door, breaking me out of my train of thought.
"Hey, can I come in?" He asked a little too kindly. 

"Sure." I smiled slightly, and then bowed my head, still embarassed about the conversation from the diner. 
He slid all the way into the room, and then closed the door behind him. 

"Anastasia, I know." He smirked a little. 

"Funny joke, Joseph, any way how much longer til-" I stopped, and stared in disbelief. "What did you just call me?"

"Your name." He grinned.

"Uh... my name is Alex.." I scoffed, trying to play it off. "Nice try though." 

"Okay, Ace..." He playfully lowered his eyes, into narrow slits. 

"Okay... Fine.." I played it off. "How do you know?"

"I've got great hearing.." He smiled. All I did was raise an eyebrow, to show him I wasn't fucking around. "I over heard you and your Uncle talking out on the balcony yesterday morning. I was the only one that heard, because I was close enough to the door... so don't worry, I'm the only one that knows."

"Are you sure... Like... no one else knows?" I asked, trying to keep my cool. 
"Nope. I mean... unless you told your boyfriend." He chuckled.

I laughed a little with him, but then, I froze.
"Wait.... Victor and I never said anything about being the princess, yesterday... I didn't even know until this morning.... so... how do you know?!" I questioned so warily.

Wrong move.

"Yeah, and I'm the queen of England." He howeled with laughter.
Thank god, he didn't know.

"Haha... yeah.. you're right." I smiled, and leaned back on the bed. 
He gave me an extremely strange look, but shook it off.
I stood up from the bed, and walked out of the tiny room, and into the even smaller bathroom.
I closed the door behind me, and looked in the mirror.
Every single time I looked into a mirror now, I feel like I'm no longer looking at a reflection of myself, but rather an image of Isabella. 
She is my mother... more like my twin, but mother just the same.