Falling With No Grace

Long Night

~Ashley

Walking into the lounge, Jake looks up from the TV and smiles at us. "They're alive!" I smile and shake my head, Jinxx hitting him over the head with a pillow. "What? They are! See? They didn't kill each other!" he says, rubbing his head with a frown on his face.

"Jake, please. Ashley's too nice, and Andy couldn't kill Ashley if he tried. He's got no muscle at all." CC says laughing. Andy growls under his breath and punches CC in the shoulder. They start bickering over Andy's strength, or lack of, and Jinxx throws me a smile, obviously pleased with me. I smile back and sit on the couch next to Jake, who's still nursing his head. Wimp.

"So, now that everybody likes each other again," Jinxx says, looking from me to Andy smirking. Shut up, Jinxx. "how about we go get something to eat?"

"Fuck that, lets go clubbing!" CC says, ignoring Andy once more. Jake grins, agreeing.

"Sure, when's the last time we went to a club?" I say. It has been a while. We've been really busy with shows since our new album came out. Andy has us doing at least six shows a week. We really don't have that much time for ourselves.

"Hey, lets invite Maria and her band." Andy chimes in. Jake and CC give him knowing looks. "What? I mean--"

"Shut up, you like her. We already know." Jake says, grinning at him. I try to tune that out. That stings a little... Andy's face turns bright red and looks down, not denying it. CC slaps him on the shoulder and Jake laughs.

"Don't look ashamed, bro. She's hot, we get it." CC says, making Andy turn even brighter red. My skin crawls. Why does he have to like her? I mean, she's pretty and everything, but come on, he barely knows her! "So yeah, we'll invite them. Maybe you'll get some." Jake winks at Andy, who puts his head in his hands as CC laughs. Jinxx looks over at me, and I shake my head. I'm not gonna let this affect me. We just stopped fighting. 

"Hey, I'll go invite them. Calm lover boy down, okay?" I say, surprising myself. Jinxx's eyes bulge and Andy flips me off. I giggle lightly at his embarrassment, shaking my head, and head out the door. Why am I doing this? God, I'm an idiot! I slap my hand to my forehead, sighing. Well, now I have to find them.

I walk down the hallway, listening for someone, maybe a security guard to lead me to them. The backstage area is fucking huge! Fuck where the hell am I? Turning the corner, I slam right into a brunette chick with short hair. "Oh, I'm sorry!" I hold out my hand. I need to watch where I'm going. 

"No, it's my fault, sorry." she takes my head, pulling herself up, looking embarrassed. I look her over. She's tall and thin with short brown hair that goes to her shoulders and wide blue eyes. She's carrying an electric blue bass. Oh I know who this is!

"You're Ariel, right? Maria's girlfriend?" I ask, letting go of her hand. She's really pretty, her and Maria must look great together.

"Yeah, I am. And you're Ashley, right? Maria's told me about you. You rock on bass!" I smile. Awwh, thats so nice.

"Thanks, you're really good, too." I mean it, she plays ridiculously well. She smiles at the compliment.

"Thank you. Were you looking for something? You looked lost." Hell was I ever.

"Yeah. Me and the guys were just wondering if you and the band wanted to go to the club with us. Just for fun, yknow."

She smiles widely. "Sure! That sounds like fun. We'll meet you by the busses in, say, a half hour?"

I nod. "Sounds great! Just let me tell the guys. And can you tell Maria thanks for me?" Ariel smiles and nods knowingly. She waves and walks away, and I attempt to find my way back to the guys.

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

We're waiting outside by the busses, watching for Maria and her band. Jinxx is texting Sammi, Jake and CC are fighting over something as always, and Andy's leaning against the bus with a smoke in his hand. God he looks so good... He's wearing a skin tight Misfits shirt and equally tight black skinny jeans. His hair is loose and he's not wearing make-up. His eyes are closed and his mouth is open, blowing the smoke from his lungs. Oh my god. I have to look away before I get a...problem... that I can't really take care of right now. That would be so embarrassing...

"Hey guys!" a familiar voice calls. We turn and see Maria and the band rushing up to us. She looked damn good, and thats coming from a gay guy. Ariel was right beside her, pulling down her tight black dress that was riding up as she ran. Two guys were following right behind them, I assume the guitarist and the drummer. I haven't met them yet, but they looked nice enough.

"Hey, there you are. What happened to a half hour, Ariel?" I say, cocking my head at her. She blushes and punches me in the shoulder.

"Shut up. Me and Maria got...distracted." I laughed, catching on, and she turned even redder. At least she's honest.

"Well, at least we're here now." Maria says from behind Ariel, changing the subject. She gestures to the two men next to her. "Guys this is Drake Labroz and Hunter White. Drake's our drummer and Hunter's the guitarist." They waved, smiling. Drake was tall with black hair and blue eyes, and Hunter had red and black hair and a big smile. I decided I liked them.

"Hey. So ready to go?" Jake says looking at Andy and smiling. Andy's eyes are caught on Maria. My heart drops a little.

"Hell yeah!" Hunter says, high fiving Jake. Maria and Drake laugh. I open the door and we all get in. The engine roars to life and I sit down on the couch next to Andy, who still hasn't looked away from Maria. I sigh. This is going to be a fucking long night.