I Will Never Look Back

Chapter 8

I groaned as I woke up from my slumber. I saw that my head was on Alan's shoulder. We would be landing in New York in a little bit. I hated flying. It drove me nuts.

"What's up?" Alan asked me, looking at me.

"I hate flying," I told him, making a face as we began our decent.

I held on for dear life as we did. I hated it, hated it, hated it. Alan grabbed my hand in his, calming me down. Flying seriously freaked me out.

Alan chuckled as he stood after the plane landed. I looked up at him and he was grabbing our carry on bags. I gave him a look as I stood, staying close to him as we got off the plane.

Going through the gate, we were met by a blonde and brown haired man with a lip ring and a black haired man with an eyebrow ring on crutches.

"Raakel, it's been too long!" Brad exclaimed as he pulled me into a hug.

Which made me laugh. When he let me go, I noticed that Neil was walking up to us with mine and Alan's luggage.

I ruffled Matt's hair, getting him to swat my hand away.

"Don't do that, RaaRaa," Matt told me, sticking his tongue out at me.

I rolled my eyes before I turned to Alan, "Alan, this is Matt and Brad Walst," I explained with a grin. "The brothers I was telling you about one day at Warped. And this is Neil Sanderson. Guys, this is my boyfriend Alan Ashby. Also, where is Barry?"

"He went to find your favorite pizza," Neil answered, laughing as he and Brad carried our luggage out to the bus.

We all followed him and I ended up helping Matt. At least he wasn't gonna hurt himself again. I hope anyways. He is so much of a klutz!

"Welcome to home away from home, Gorgeous! And Alan."

I laughed as Barry popped up out of nowhere. I rolled my eyes as I opened the pizza box, taking a piece of the deep dish macaroni and bacon pizza. What? I had a craving for it every time I went through New York.

"Want some?" I asked as I took a seat at the table.

"No thank you," Neil said, making a face as he started to carry our luggage to the back of the bus. "Oh, Raakel, you and Alan get the back room. We had a feeling you two might want it. So, we made it into a bedroom."

I nodded as Matt took a seat across from me and Alan sat next to me. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders. Grinning as he did so.

"So, how did you two meet?" Matt asked me as he snatched a piece of pizza from the box.

"Well, the screamer of my band was the first to talk to her on Warped," Alan told him with a grin. "He dragged me to their first concert that day and it went from there. How did you guys meet?"

"Well, RaaRaa here was backstage when my old band opened for Three Days Grace," Matt explained to him. "And she was backstage with her dad since it was her nineteenth birthday."

The rest of the day, the trip to the first venue, consisted of the guys getting to know Alan and them catching up with me when they weren't interrogating him. Which was pretty funny if I'm honest. Their version of getting to know him was interrogating him.

"Oh, I forgot to ask, how did you break that damn leg?" I asked him as I took a beer from Neil.

"Mel, Brad, and I were running around the beach while we were at Myrtle Beach for a vacation," he stated.

"And him being the idiot he is, decides to take a running start before he goes to jump off the pier, ends up slipping and breaking the leg," Brad finished, rolling his eyes.

"I am not an idiot, Brad!" Matt retorted, trying to glare at his older brother.

"Would Mel say the same thing?" Barry asked him as he looked up from his acoustic guitar.

Matt just started grumbling in response. Making the five of us smirk. We knew we had won.

"I see you're scared of your big sister, huh?" I asked, smirking.

Matt stuck his tongue out at me. I had hit the nail on the head. I knew she was back with her husband in Michigan.

"Hey, how's JT and Mel?" I asked before I took a drink of my beer.

"They're doing great," Brad answered as he took a drink of his own beer. "Mel is six and a half months pregnant. Little boy. She and JT are thinking of the names Anthony Michael or Jean Paul."

"She's thinking about naming him after the idiot?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"JT's idea," Brad replied, laughing.

I shook my head. These guys were something. I knew I would have to catch up with her and JT when we stopped in Michigan. And she would have to meet Alan. And I had to get a CD from Merch for Famous Last Words.

This was the life.