Rock 'N Roll Ruined Everything

Nine In The Afternoon

A/N: Hi everyone! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. I just wanted to get a little bit of a background story as to why Sarah ends up in LA and at her first, of many, Panic! Concerts. Don't worry, things will kick into gear soon!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[Sarah's POV]

"Fuck." I muttered under my breath as my alarm rang off the next morning, my head pounding. Picking up my phone to shut the alarm off, I nearly flew out of bed, realizing the time. "Fuck, fuck, fuck." Amy was meant to be picking me, and my things up, at 6:30 this morning, as to avoid Alex before he left for work. I had called her almost immediately after everything that had happened the previous night.  To say she was pissed was an understatement.

My phone read 6:45am

I scrambled around the room as quietly as possible, so as not to wake Alex and gather most of the things that could be carried out of the house on my own. After two separate trips downstairs, I had a duffel bag slung around my arm and a box of things gathered at my feet, just as Amy pulled into the driveway. I guess waking up late had it's advantages sometimes.

"Jesus Christ, Sarah!" Amy whispered, as she ran out of the car and towards me. "Are you alright?" My friend asked, searching my eyes with her own, frowning at the noticeable bruise forming on my cheek. 

"I'm okay," I replied, my voice hoarse. I just wanted to get out of there before things got anymore heated. 

"I can't believe he hit you. What a fucking piece of--." She lets her sentence trail off when she notices me nervously looking back between the house and her. Taking my duffel bag from me, she gives my shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Let me take this."

"Thanks." I reply, turning back to the house to grab the only other box I had left. Picking it up in my arms, I walked down to the driveway, setting the box in the back seat as Amy and I both got into the car. "Now, let's get the hell out of here. He should be waking up any minute."

"You don't have to tell me twice."  Amy says, flooring it out of the driveway and back to her house.

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  We get to Amy's around 8:00am, both exhausted and drained, not bothering to bring any of my things in just yet. We sit in the car, parked in the driveway momentarily. Neither of us wanting to move.  

"Food." I mumble almost inaudibly from the passenger seat. It elicits a laugh from my long time best friend, patting my thigh gently. 

"There's coffee and bagels in the house." Amy says, stepping out of the car, and grabbing my duffel bag which had most of my essentials. "Let's get you inside." She says, opening up my car door. I begrudgingly remove myself from the vehicle, and follow her inside.  Once inside, she drops my stuff gently onto the couch in the living room, while I head straight to the kitchen. I hop up on one of the stools seated in front of the island and begin making myself a cup of coffee.

"So," Amy says as she pads into the kitchen, fixing herself a cup as well. "Wanna tell me what the hell happened?" 

I sip on my coffee for a minute, so I don't have to answer her right away. "I told you on the phone," I say, absentmindedly picking at the bagel in front of me. "I told Alex about the concert, he got mad, told me that I couldn't go and when I attempted to stand up for myself....he hit me." I say, adding the last part quietly. I hated the fact that it even happened. That he had done that to me.

Amy has a frown plastered onto her lips, and I can see that my friend is hurting for me. "Sarah," she starts, coming to take a seat next to me. "The guy's an asshole. We've all been telling you that." She continues, which earns a look from me. "I'm not trying to say I told you so, because I'd be a shit friend if I did that. I just want the best for you. And Alex isn't it."

I nod solemnly, " I know." I say with a shaky breath. "I just thought..."

"That'd he change?" She interjects. 

I nod. "Yeah. I don't know why I didn't see it before."

"He put on a good show." Amy says, "Hell. He had us all fooled." I nod, staying silent now, taking a bite of the bagel in front of me. "But, hey, you know what. This week is going to fly by, and Friday morning we're  flying out to Cali and we're gonna go to the concert and you're going to have the time of your life. I promise." I try my best to give her a smile. "C'mon, Orzechowski, I know you can do better than that." 

I smile this time, and it feels genuine, all things considered. "Better?" I ask.

"Much." Amy replies with a grin. "But I know something that'll get you smiling."

"Like what?" I ask, with a playful roll of my eyes.

"Brendon Urie."

I raised my eyebrow at her in question, "Isn't he the guy who sings for the band we're going to see?" I ask.

Amy nods, her eyes full of excitement. "Yup."

"What's so great about him?" I ask.

Amy let's out a much louder than necessary gasp, eyes wild and shocked. "You're kidding right?" She asks. When I shake my head, her jaw falls slack. "Sarah, have you seen him!?" She asks.  Again - I shake my head.

As if the world was going to end, Amy yanks my wrist and mumbles, "Follow me." And takes me up to her room.  As we enter her room, she plops down in front of her computer and opens up a tab on YouTube. The video begins to play and is of Brendon and the band playing at some radio station.

 "Back to the street where we began

Feeling as good as lovers can, you know

Well, now we're feeling so good  

 Pickin' up things we shouldn't read

It looks like the end of history as we know

It's just the end of the world

 Back to the street where we began

Feeling as good as love, you could, you can" 

The video plays and a voice floats through the speakers. Amy's fidgeting in her seat, excitedly pointing to the screen and saying, "That's him! That's Brendon." A small smile curves at the corners of my lips, because my attention had already been on Brendon, long before Amy had even pointed him out. "Isn't he gorgeous?" She says, gushing over the brunette man, singing and playing to his heart's content.

"Yeah, I whisper quietly to myself, still watching the video of Brendon playing. "He is."