A Very Warped Summer (Austin Carlile / OC)

Chapter 14

Danielle burst into her tour bus, shutting the door behind her and taking in slow, deep breaths with her eyes closed. She turned toward the rest of her band; they watched her intently as she slowly walked in to the room.

"So...how was it?" Erick asked.

She let out a small laugh. "It felt amazing."

"We're both talking about the same thing, right?"

Danielle glared at Erick, who smirked and continued tune his guitar. She joined him and Jeff on the couch, satisfied with herself.

Aaron had come in several minutes earlier, asking for her to sing for Repeating Apologies because he knew it would be a fitting song for them to collaborate together on. When he told her Austin didn't know about it, it just gave her a sneaky idea in her head and she agreed.

On her way to the stage, she saw Alyssa bursting out of the Of Mice & Men tour bus across the lot. She just glared at Danielle as she hurried off, giving Danielle an even more satisfied smile. When she actually got to the stage, it was right in the middle of The Storm. She listened to the pain in his voice as he shouted those two lines near the end of the song. In a way, it made her feel sad how fitting those lines were at the moment.

That moment was soon interrupted when a crew member gave her a mic and pushed her toward the stage.

Repeating Apologies began its intro. Aaron nodded toward her, signaling her to get ready. She listened closely to Austin's part before she rushed out on stage and started Aaron's part. The look on Austin's face was priceless; the reactions from the fans were even better.

During the whole song, Austin stared at her with sorrowful eyes. She knew that at any moment, he could just drop it all and apologize right then and there. But they were both too captivated in the song to disrupt it. She got off the stage as fast as possible once it was over because she didn't want to ruin the flow of his set but as she was running across the venue, he caught her eye and a smirk slid onto his face.

"That, ladies and gentlemen, is a girl you never want to fuck with."

She smiled back at him before running off toward the busses.

"So then...are you guys like...?" Jeff asked.

Danielle's smile faded. She shook her head. "Until I know I can juggle a relationship and tour life at one time, I can't be with him."

"You could if you tried. You've done it with Trace and he wasn't even physically with you," Erick put in.

"Austin won't be on every tour with us, Erick."

"I'm just saying..."

Danielle rolled her eyes. "Ronnie's rubbed off on you, I see." She got up and headed for the door. "I'm going to go see Kellin and his band."

"Oh, sorry we're not entertaining enough for you!" Erick said loudly.

"I've barely hung out with Kellin since Warped started! I'm stuck with you goof-balls all night when the bus is moving!"

"It was a joke, Danielle, calm down."

She let out a small, awkward laugh before heading out the door. She walked toward the venue to the Sleeping With Sirens booth. A long line of people were jutting out from the front. She climbed inside where Kellin immediately greeted her with a big smile and hug.

"Daniiiii!" Justin ran forward and picked her up, like the whole conversation back at the bus never even happened. "Hey, look at you, hot stuff." He gestured to her cut-off, baggy t-shirt that slid off one shoulder to expose a nude-color bra strap. "No wonder you're Austin's eye candy."