Our bus drove slowly, and pulled to a stop on the red carpet. Someone opened a window, and the sounds of screams pieced through the air, crowds held back by barricades. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that we would be here, much less the third time in a row. Before 3 years ago, I had only been one of those girls behind the barricades, now I was with a band, that was actually a guest, my band nominated for multiple awards, and performing live.
In these years, I had kept connections with as many people as I could. That paid off, since I now had my own record label, my own place back in Toronto, which had shelves stocked with awards.
Before you get too excited, I also dyed my hair blonde again.
"Come on guys and girl, stop writing and get out there!" We all groaned, and Ian put the looseleaf paper covered in words in his pocket.
We stuck our heads out of the bus, and sprayed silly string everywhere. The boys practically leaped out the bus door, running straight to the barricades, to meet their fans. He held out his hand. "Shall we, Ms. Manager?" I rolled my eyes at him. "Don't get all fancy, let's just get out of this bus." We both laughed, and walked hand in hand out of the bus, cueing awws to spread through the crowd. He put an arm around me, and we joined the rest of the group.
"Welcome to the 2016 MMVAS!" Phoebe said, walking over with a Mic. "It's amazing to be here again." Dallas said, looking around, and sending a wink into the crowd. "We love this so much!"
"So, I see this year, you guys changed it up a little bit, showing up with another group...as for you two, just date already!" Said Phoebe, looking at me at the end, making me blush. "The two most badass people in the world should be together."
"Nope, I'm badass, he's just a dork." I said, smirking. Jasper groaned. "I swear, Quinn, if you two are gunna be doing that friends that flirt stuff, I'm throwing myself in front of that bus."
"So. Janoskians, why did you guys bring back the party bus from 2013?" The boys just all started laughing. "Well, we were supposed to get a ride off Quinn's rover, and show up all fancy, but Dallas forgot to fill up the gas last night when he took the car out...so Beau was just like, hey! We should show up in a party bus like before!"
"And Ronnie was like, hey! How about no?" Added Jai, resulting in everyone except for Ronnie laughing. "So Quinn was all for the idea, because she wanted to top Marianas Trench's entrances, so we got Quinn and Ronnie to play rock paper scissors. And Quinn won. So we called up the guy with the bus."
"I think it's pretty close between Marianas Trench and you guys! Now, we have to ask you two. Did you plan on matching?" We looked at each other, remembering the airport incident, and laughed. "Yeah, pretty much. Black and red is kinda Quinn's thing, Ronnie wouldn't let me dye my hair red, though." Ronnie ruffled his hair, and he tried to duck out of my reach. "Wouldn't want the red to seep into your brain, yeah?" Phoebe asked the boys a bunch of other questions, as Ronnie and I hung back, meeting a few fans until they were done.
"Quinn, come back!" Yelled Phoebe. I fastwalked back to the group. "We need to know how you all feel about this whole situation: Have bridges been brunt? Rebuilt? Will this be an awkward night?" I looked at her, confused. What? "I'm not sure I know that you mean." She sent me a look of pity. Something told me that I wasn't going to like what she was about to say. "Jai, Ariana Grande is here nominated for favourite artist/group, and favourite video of the year, both chosen by your fans, up against Army of Crisis. Quinn, Emblem3 is also in those two categories, and you're presenting the award for best pop album where both Ariana and Emblem3 are also nominated, as well as Drew Chadwick. How do you guys feel about this? Nervous?" I froze, and so did Jai. Luke, who was overprotective of both of us, clenched his jaw.
"I don't think they're really a threat to us. But how the two of them feel about this situation, you're gunna have to ask Jai and Quinn." Said Milo. I tried to think up a good answer. "Well, I dunno about what Jai thinks, but I hope the Army of Crisis fans will pull through, like they've been doing for 3 MMVAs now, if Ariana, Drew or Emblem3 win, congrats on winning a MMVA, but we have a case full of them back home. Contactwise, I still text Keaton and Drew, and Wesley and I are friends. I'm 21, and have everything I could ever ask for. To find that, sometimes you have to know what you don't want, to find what you do."
"That's amazing to hear. Jai, what about you?" Jai shoved his hands in his pockets, and shrugged. "I think I've been over her for a while, to be honest, I'm not going to spend more time on that relationship than I already have, which as you can tell, went to waste." Well, things just got awkward. "Amazing advice. I gotta go, but I'll see you guys at the afterparty! Ladies and gents, Army of Crisis and the Janoskians!"
We walked down the carpet, meeting fans, posing for pictures with other people, like Ed Sheeran and Marianas Trench until we got backstage. "You handled that amazingly. I'm proud of how strong you are." Whispered Luke, giving me a tight hug. He was just about to say something else, when I heard a voice call our names. I turned around, to see Keaton running towards us, waving wildly. "Keaterpan!" I screeched, hugging him. "Hey, Luke." He said, doing one of those bro hug things. "Ready to kick ass?"
I raised my eyebrows. "More like kicking your ass, we're totally winning Favourite Artist and Video." He laughed. "Look, I gotta go back to the guys, but it was really nice seeing you both." We both gave him a hug, and he ran back down the hall. "Oh, and for the record, you're pulling off blonde hair and a red dress better than Carly is tonight!" He called, as a burly security guard blocked him from our view. Carly's here too? Well, I didn't see that coming. "Ten bucks he ran away from security to say hi to us." Chuckled Luke. He was probably right. From down the hall, I heard Keaton protest "Don't touch me, my aura is Versace." Keaton and his rhymes...
A crew member walked up to me. "Quinn, you're onstage in 5, come with me." I gave Luke a quick smile. "I'll be back in a little while, don't get into too too much trouble, yeah?" He grinned at me. "Love you too."
-
"And the winner for best pop album is..." I ripped open the paper envelope. Please don't be Ariana or Emblem3, please don't be Ariana or Emblem3... "Selena Gomez!" The audience cheered, and Selena walked out from backstage, giving me a quick hug. "Thanks you guys so much for this MMVA! I just...Wow. This is amazing. Thank you so much!" She was such an adorable sweetheart. We walked backstage, and parted ways. Backstage was actually quite nice, considering they had a lounge and everything, with the show playing on multiple screens. To my excitement, the band won in all the categories that they were nominated in. Unfortunately, their thank you speeches made me cringe. But hey, they're a punk pop band. You don't expect a formal speech out of them, right?
Sooner or later, the show and the afterparty ended, and this time, we called a few cabs, and started on our way home.
Incoming call: Carly Miner
Swipe up to answer
Swipe down to decline
I yawned, groggily swiping down my screen, and putting my phone in my clutch. Probably just a drunk butt dial or something. I stared out the window, trying to block out the flashes and honking coming from outside that was keeping us from leaving the parking lot.
