Be My Escape

Conversations and First Sets

Present Day

Alex's Perspective

I was watching Kaelyn and Lisa talk together. It looked kinda intense, but then they hugged. Chicks. I felt eyes on me and I looked over to see Jack glaring at me.

"What the hell's wrong with you?" I asked.

"We need to talk," he said.

I rolled my eyes. "There's a lot of that going around, apparently."

He grabbed me by the top of my arm and pulled me over to the port-a-potties. "Jeez, dude! Lay off," I cried, trying to shake him off, but he was surprisingly strong. "Now what did I do?" I asked.

He sighed loudly. "You need to back off Kaelyn."

"We're just friends," I said.

He scoffed. "You might be able to lie to yourself and Kaelyn might not have figured it out for herself, but everyone can see you pining over Kaelyn. Especially Lisa, ya know, your girlfriend."

I crossed my arms and tilted my head to one side. "How do you know Lisa knows?"

"You're not subtle at all! You're all over Kae and acting like Lisa isn't even here."

"Aren't you the one who told me to find someone besides Kaelyn? I'm doing that," I spat.

He threw his hands up. "I expected you to do your whole Manwhore bullshit, not get back with Lisa, who should really know better at this point considering you've fucked her over multiple times—"

"Was there supposed to be a point somewhere in there?" I asked.

"The point is, you're playing with fire. Kae's still hurt by what happened with Brandon and you already have Lisa who, might I add, is fucking crazy about you," he said.

I scoffed. "Whatever."

I really didn't see what the big deal was. Kaelyn and I were always really clingy and cuddly, and like I kept telling people, I just didn't want her to get hurt. So I had feelings for her, so what? Maybe it was wrong to string Lisa along, but she made a good distraction, if nothing else.

Speaking of distractions, I still had to find Shaant and talk to him. So I headed over to their merch tent, hoping he'd be there. That'd certainly make my life easier. Sure enough, I found him helping their merch girl hang up t-shirts. When he saw me, he put his hands up.

"I didn't do anything, I swear," he said and his merch girl gave us a weird look.

I chuckled awkwardly. "Can we talk, bro?"

He nodded. "Sure."

We walked somewhere away from everyone else. "So uh...about earlier...that girl was my friend Kaelyn."

"The one you wouldn't shut up about on winter tour." He arched his eyebrows and smirked.

"Yeah, well."

"Are you guys..."

I shook my head. "Nah man, I'm with Lisa."

"So then why'd you flip out on me?"

I shrugged. "She didn't want me to tell you the real reason, but let's just say her last relationship ended kinda badly and she's still a bit shaken up by it. I just don't wanna see her get hurt."

He nodded. "I get it."

"She's just been in my life for so long and I care about her so much," I said, my voice getting thick with emotion.

"Dude."

"I know."

"You're screwed." He laughed humorlessly.

"I know."

"You better get over Kaelyn and under Lisa, and fast. A girl like Lisa won't have any trouble finding someone else if she has to."

"You're right."

We changed the subject and just talked about guy shit. Whatever.

--

Kaelyn's Perspective

The guys were about to take the stage. Kara, Lisa, and I decided we wanted to be in the crowd to watch them. There was a decent sized crowd already. The guys ran onstage and everyone cheered.

"Hey we're All Time Low! How's everybody doin' today?" Alex yelled into the mic. He was met with screams and more cheers. I could see him smile and bite his lip. "That's good to hear. We're gonna play some songs for you, is that cool?" The crowd cheered again. "I SAID IS THAT COOL?" More cheers. "Thank you, that's better. This song's called The Party Scene."

I loved this song because it reminded me that the boys had started out playing on the party circuit, when their set was My Paradise, an Anti-Flag cover, and a few Blink covers, played loudly and badly. But of course, when someone like Alex was brought to "the party scene," chaos and heartbreak ensued.

Soon, the set was over and we were cheering along with the crowd as they wrapped up with Jasey Rae.

"We're All Time Low! If you liked what you heard, please go pick up our EP and some booty shorts from our merch booth! We'll be over there to say hi!" Alex yelled.

They exited the stage and headed over. The girls and I met them with water bottles and clean towels.

"Thank you, ladies," Alex said with a smirk. He threw an arm around Lisa and she flinched, but giggled.

"Ew, you're all sweaty!" She cried.

"You love it, babe!" He laughed, kissing her cheek.

I handed Zack his water and a protein bar. His face lit up. "Thank you."

I smiled. "You're welcome."

"Hey, how come I didn't get a snack?" Jack asked, pouting.

I flicked his nose. "Until you start lifting as much as Zack does, you don't need snacks."

He crossed his arms and frowned. "Everyone has a pretty girl to bring them stuff except me."

I rolled my eyes. "Come on, you know I love you best, Jacky." I kissed his cheek. I felt the heat of Alex's stare, but I chose to ignore it.