Misery Business

As the months progress, Jack’s anger in Alex subsided. He realized that he needed to put his feelings behind him for the good of the band, but that didn’t mean he ever forgave him. By the time of the release of “Don’t Panic,” Jack had enough resistance to force a believable smile on his face when he had to stand next to his best friend.

Jack became more surprised at the fact that only after a few weeks, Victoria had forgiven Alex for everything. She never told him that though, seeing as she feared Lisa would catch them talking and ruin ATL forever. The only conversation she had with him was through Jack sneaking a message to him saying how she forgave him for everything and Jack returning with the message of “I still love you” from Alex. Victoria never replied, knowing Jack didn’t like being the messenger.

And even through the hardships and fear, Victoria still wanted to be friends with Lisa. As for the other girl, Lisa didn’t want anything to do with Victoria. She was constantly on Alex’s watch, also in fear that Alex would leave her at any moment. But he never did, though that never meant she completely forgave Victoria.

The fear of losing Alex was continuously running through Lisa’s head, so much that it caused her to move them both out of the apartment building. They even forced Jack out of his place with Victoria too, using the excuse that Flyzik wanted them closer to Cali again with their new ideas of extending the “Don’t Panic” record.

As much as she resisted, Victoria let Jack go with them, leaving him flabbergasted. She knew their moving was partially about her, and she knew Jack had to be with the band. Things had gotten so mixed up when they all moved in anyway, and if she were being honest with herself, she kind of wanted to go back to working late nights at the theater and sleeping for an entire day in her lonesome apartment.

She just really missed them.

She missed her friendship with Lisa.

She missed sharing her apartment with Jack.

And most of all, she missed being in love with Alex.

--- 9 Months Later ---

Finally it was the day she’d been waiting for, a day to let loose and have fun for once. Victoria had called into work and faked sickness, throwing on her favorite pair of ripped shorts and skull tank. She quickly wrapped her hair in a French braid and threw on her floral vans before running out the door.

Starting up her car, she drove to the arena, blasting Tonight Alive from her speakers. Once she drove into the lot and had a person direct her, she knew she was there: Warped Tour 2013. She hadn’t been to Warped since freshmen year of high school. She never really had the money in high school except for that one time, and she mostly avoided it after school due to ATL always being there. But today, she didn’t care. She wanted a fun day to rock out, and she wasn’t going to let anyone ruin it.

She got in the venue with enough time to catch half of Man Overboard’s set. She never expected the crowd to get as rowdy as it was. She moved over to the other side of the stage, happy she was able to watch Hands Like Houses for their full time, seeing as they were one of her favorites. As soon as they ended, she ran across the way, just in time to catch The Summer Set and then her all-time favorite, Tonight Alive.

She seemed to have been going back and forth across the venue all day, and by the time of two, she got really hungry. Warped hadn’t changed since freshmen year, and the prices were still over the top. But she didn’t care at the moment, she was just really hungry.

She threw the cashier a twenty and paid for water and a sandwich with something fried in it that made her curious. Whatever it was, it tasted good and she didn’t really care that she didn’t know what it was. She even let the guy keep the leftover change, since he was cute but a couple years young for her.

She munched on her unknown sandwich as she walked around the venue, looking down at the set-list. She passed some merch tents, making notes on where she wanted to go when the day was almost done. Just as she was taking a bite of her food, she heard a familiar song.

“Lost in stereo! Lost in stereo!”

Her head perked up from where it was looking at the set-list.

All Time Low.

She looked back down at the list, and surely enough, their set had started fifteen minutes ago.
Her mind kept telling her to keep walking and maybe catch Never Shout Never. But she didn’t really like them a lot, and that became her excuse to why she was walking closer and closer to ATL’s stage.

The crowd was one of the largest she’d seen all day. She decided to stand off a little to the side and she was surprisingly close enough to the stage. She ate her lunch, resisting herself from jumping up and down to the song she secretly knew was written for her. But soon, she couldn’t help it as they played “Lullabies,” a song she knew well from high school.

Rian was the first to spot her, eyes going wide as he saw the familiar girl. She watched as he called over Jack as the song ended, seeing Jack’s brow furrow as he turned and saw her with a wide smile. Fuck, she thought to herself. She still wanted to stay; she wanted to be as close to them as she could for the moment. At least Alex hadn’t spotted her yet.

“This is our last song, ‘Backseat Serenade!’” Alex announced into the mic, and immediately starting to play the tune.

Nope, that’s it. She needed to leave.

She was just starting to back track her steps when Jack jokingly pushed Alex a little on stage with his butt, making his direction turn to the side of the crowd and eyes finding her. His eyes were shocked at first, but soon his mouth turned to the biggest grin. The crowd started looking all around, wondering what the hell their favorite vocalist could be looking at. But he drew their attention back in when he started singing again, and they all went back to rocking out.

He kept looking her way through the song, seeing her beam his way also at the tune she was apparently the muse for. She laughed loud at Jack kissing Alex’s cheek at the end of the song, only leaving Victoria guessing they at least made up for the crowds.

They ended the song and said goodbye to the crowd, and Victoria noticed the situation she was in as Alex looked her way when he started to walk off stage. He was going to talk to her, shit! She started fast-walking the other way, to whichever merch tent was farthest away.

She thought she had finally gotten away when she started walking towards SWS tent, until she heard a familiar voice call, “Hamilton!”

No, no, no, no, she thought over in her head as she spun around to face him. “Yo, Gaskarth!” She threw him a nervous smile. She looked around suspiciously, not spying a certain girlfriend in sight.

He let out a heavy breath of air from running and stuck his hands in his pockets. “Hey,” he gave her the known lopsided smile.

“Hey,” she repeated softly, trying to hide her own smile.

“So―uh, how you been?” He asked, and she could tell he was nervous? Why?

“I’ve been okay.” She shrugged. “Seems like you’ve been doing good.”

He ruffled the back of his hair with his hand, chuckling softly. “Yeah, I guess so.” He made them both laugh awkwardly. “What have you been up to? Still working at the theater?”

“Sadly,” she sighed. “But I used some of the money from Jack’s rent to buy me photography lessons and they’ve helped a lot. I still work at the Regal Cinemas, but I also take up part-time photography jobs when people need me around the area.”

“Wow,” he nodded, giving her an actual proud smile, “you’ve really made a name for yourself.”

She shrugged. “I guess, but whatever pays is good, right?”

He agreed, and they both became utterly silent. She was guessing this was her time to walk away because of the awkwardness, so she put a hand up to wave. “Well, I should go. The Story So Far is playing in a few.” She turned but was stopped.

“Wait, Victoria,” he grabbed her shoulder and whirled her around. She looked at him with wide eyes as he mumbled, “I―uh―I broke up with Lisa.”

She swallowed the lump in her throat, only muttering, “Oh.”

He cleared his throat, not sure what else to say because of her remark. “She never wrote the review, said she loved me too much and understood that things weren’t working out anyways.” He grabbed Victoria’s hands tightly, whispering, “I’ve really missed you, Victoria. And I’m not going to let anyone dictate my life or come between us again.”

“Alex, I―”

“Just say yes,” he smiled down at her.

She looked around, noticing some of the fans ogling her and Alex with excitement. “I have a job and a life.”

“A life you don’t want.” He said, and she realized how right he was. “Just say yes.”

“What about―?”

“We can figure it all out later!” He chuckled. “Just say―”

“Okay, okay, Gaskarth!” She giggled. “I believe you.”

He flashed her the winning Alex smile and held her cheeks. He pulled her close and pecked her softly on the lips. She smiled, looking into his beautiful chocolate orbs as he whispered, “You know, things will never be like they were in high school.”

She shrugged. “Way to kill the mood.”

Notes