Ain't It SALTY

You're not the big fish in the pond no more

Dalton's POV:

"Nice sound check!" I smile at Will. "Thanks bro." "I still can't believe I met the Hayley Williams. I'm fangirling so hard right now..." I roll my eyes at him. "Stating the obvious." Will grins. "Well what's your excuse for drooling? I'm a hardcore Paramore fan, but you're... Something else."

"Whaaaaaaaaaat?" My high pitched intonation is always a major tell, and I know that, but sometimes it's all I can do not to completely turn red. Will always knows when I'm starting to notice a girl. It's like clockwork, really (pun intended).

I sigh and give in to his guessing. "Well, she is pretty. And talented... And just really friendly. I know... I just met her, but not gonna lie, I might be a little interested..."

Will loudly slurps his tropical smoothie. "Yeah? Keep talking..."

"Well, I still think her failure to keep the same crazy hair color for more than a month is a bit concerning..." Will rolls his eyes. "Again with the sass... If you like her, just admit it already! You know Dalty, being salty isn't everything."

"Ummmm... I don't know about that Will." But I couldn't keep the smile off of my face even though I was being serious. "I mean, I've heard of Paramore before briefly from you I think, but I never bothered to get to know them until..." "Until now, on the cruise?" I nod my head after Will finishes my thought for me.

"Well, this is a five-day cruise. You'll have plenty of time to figure it out." I nod my head. "Yeah, I guess so. Maybe I'm just hesitant about it because she's like, this huge rock star and I'm just lil' ol' Dalty from Texas who just happened to get third place on American Idol." Will nods. "I see what you mean but that's still a huge accomplishment! You have every reason to be proud of yourself too." I shove my hands through my gelled hair. "Maybe."

I tried to fight the heat rising up in my cheeks, but it was starting to climb up my jawline like a vicious virus. The smirk spreading over my face was a tell-take sign that I have a thing for Misery Business. "Oh wow, Dalton, you should see your face right now. Just wow!" I roll my eyes at Will. "I can feel my face right now, believe me."

Hayley's POV:

"Well, are you into him or what?" I stare down Taylor's pointed question with resolve, but then break into a smirk instead. "Well geez Taylor, I met him like an hour ago..." "So? That's purely irrelevant..." I shrug my shoulders. "Okay here's the deal: I just met the guy so I don't know him enough to say for sure, but he seems kinda sweet, in a sassy way. And he's definitely cute... and the dude can sing! I really like the tone of his voice..."

Taylor and Zac exchange glances. "Well I think this is great!" Taylor smiled at me. "Really?" I ask. I honestly can't believe the guys aren't being more critical of Dalton. I mean, he has the appearance of a tough rocker dude, even if he has the inner essence of a marshmallow. At least, he seems that way so far. "I assumed you guys were going to be more protective of me like you are with guys I've had my eye on before..." Taylor and Zac exchange knowing glances. "Oh, believe me, we will be. But I don't know, I swear this guy seems different. Kind of genuine. We'll give him a chance. But if he hurts you, he's dead. Fair enough?" Taylor has his arms crossed now, trying to be serious but I can't mistake the smile creeping over his face. "Ha ha yeah, I guess so..." Then Zac ruffles my hair like a big bro would. It helps that he's also taller than me, and Taylor is too. Heck, a lot of people are taller than me - I'm only five-foot-two.

That might be why the boys are so protective of me... There was that one time that I was really into Vic Fuentes. I met him at Warped Tour a few years back. Things heated up fast, and then he cheated on me with some random chick with a ton of piercings. How punny. I was pretty broken after that, and my band mates literally showed up at my house with a crap load of Ben and Jerry's, tissues, and revenge plots. But I told them not to get arrested, so they just went with the mean Tweets instead. I'm not proud of it but I'd say I felt a tiny bit better when I saw how furious the other chick was after that on Facebook...