The Switch [COMPLETED]

Chapter 5

Asher Halen:

I'm really glad I got to meet you on Saturday. Keep in touch?  Xx.

I stared emotionlessly at the text message before deleting it and putting my phone back in my pocket. It was from an unsaved number, but I knew who it was. I had met her at the party on Saturday, and she had invited me back to her place that night. Tall, blonde, great legs, sexy French accent...what had her name been again?

I know what you're thinking: I'm a total jerk. 

But it hadn't been like that, I swear. I didn't even sleep with her. There had been some flirting amidst some kisses, sure, but we had both been too drunk to do anything but pass out on her couch once we finally made it back to her place. The guys didn't have to know that, though...

I took a bite out of an apple and reclined lazily in my chair as I surveyed the rest of the band checking their instruments for tonight's show in Phoenix. It was our third time here as a band, and it was still amazing to me how hot it was even in autumn. The A/C vents in the tour bus were all blaring as we sat around in shorts and tank tops trying to stay cool. 

"So...Chloe, eh?" Zack asked, looking at me coyly out of the corner of his eye as he idly tuned the strings of his guitar. 

"What about her?" I asked cheekily. 

"Come on, man, we've been minding our business for two whole days now!" Leo whined, grabbing hold of my shoulders and shaking me back and forth like a rag doll. 

"We all saw you leaving the party with her," Tucker smirked, twirling his drumsticks between his fingers. 

"You were all too hammered to see anything more than two feet in front of your faces," I retorted, chucking as I threw my apple core at Tucker. 

He dodged it easily, but the distraction had done the trick. The conversation quickly changed to sharing the same old stories that I had heard on repeat ever since the party about how smashed each guy had gotten and the ridiculous things they had done because of it. Leo was right in the middle of demonstrating his drunken table dance when the door of the bus flung open and Ellie walked in armed with all of the necessary equipment to transform us from four dingy boys in sweaty tank tops to the hottest boy band in the world. 

"Which one of you ragamuffins is first?" she asked by way of greeting, bending over to haul her enormous trunk through the door. 

I leapt out of my chair to help her, and she smiled at me when my large hand pushed her small one out of the way so that I could lift it instead. She put her hand on my head and ruffled my messy curls like I was a dog. The action seemed to give her an epiphany. 

"Asher, you first," she stated, tugging at a few strands of my hair. "This mop always takes the longest to tame." 

An hour and a half later, I was thoroughly gelled, moussed, and hairspray-ed into place. After changing into my show clothes, I was set free to wander around the empty stadium until sound check in a few hours. 

I waved to a few unfamiliar members of venue security, and chatted with the regulars that I recognized from previous shows in the area. A few workers and stage hands stopped to ogle at me as I made my way through the winding backstage corridors, but most were too busy with whatever task was at hand to even acknowledge my presence. 

Finally, I stepped out onto the stage and inhaled, my breathing echoing in the empty arena that would soon be filled with screaming fans. I walked to the edge of the stage and sat, letting my feet dangle off and swing back and forth as I observed all of the finishing touches being put on our massive set. 

No matter how many times I performed, none of this would ever stop feeling surreal. 

I'm not sure how long I sat there in silence, just watching all of the activity around me, but I soon realized that I was not alone anymore when the rest of the band suddenly came from backstage. They all looked every inch the part of rockstars, and I grinned at them when we all made eye contact. I knew that they could feel it, too. The adrenaline was already starting to kick in. Our eyes were brighter, our hearts were beating just a bit faster, and our posture had changed. We weren't just four kids from Ohio anymore. Now, we were Ten Minutes to Midnight: top of the charts for the past three years, cover of every gossip magazine from here to Timbuktu, and heartthrob of every teenage girl in the world - and we had a show to do. 

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A/N: Sorry guys, this chapter is a little shorter than the others! You know when you're writing, though, and you just come to a natural resting point where continuing would just mess with the flow of the story? Yeah, that's pretty much what happened with this chapter LOL. The next chapter will be normal length. "Normal" for me is about 1,000 words or so per chapter. 

Do you guys think that's too long or too short? What would you like to see a "normal" chapter length be for me?

Xo, Adrienna <3