The Rock Show

“Uh―h―hey, Tay.”

The brunette vocalist turned at the familiar voice. Her breath hitched in her throat as she smiled a little too obviously big at the sight of Jack Barakat. She became such a dork in front of him. She wished she was more outgoing like Victoria was, and she did take some tips the fellow girl gave her. Even though Tay wasn’t on the best of terms with her at the moment, she had a feeling Victoria did something to make Jack come here as an apology. And whatever it was, Tay was going to take it.

“Hey, Jack.” The brunette beamed, playing with her hands nervously in front of her. “What brings you to this tent? If you came to find Alex, he isn’t―”

“I’m not here to find Alex.” He threw her a small smile. “I’m actually here to talk to you.”

Tay’s eyes widened as she frantically tried to keep her breathing steadily. A million questions were running through her head, but she managed to keep herself slightly together. “What about?”

“Uh …” The guitarist did his little nervous smile as he rubbed the back of his neck, one of things Tay found incredibly cute about him. “I came to … um …” He looked away. “Fuck, I think I forgot.”

Tay stifled a giggle as she hit his chest a few times, a tip Victoria had told her to use as a sign of flirting. “You still manage to surprise me, Jack.”

“Wait, I remembered!” He chuckled and blushed a little at Tay’s touch. “I was―uh―actually wondering if you were doing anything after the venue shuts down for the night?”

Tay let out a breath, trying to keep in the rest as her insides knotted together. “Besides having a Star Wars marathon?” She giggled. “Then nope, nothing.”

“Well, I―uh―I kinda know this pizza joint close to the venue. They have, like, monstrous pizzas and huge ass milkshakes and a bunch of other stuff.” He breathed out a little and smiled big. “So do you maybe wanna come with me tonight to it? My treat.”

Tay could feel her loss of breath and she grinned bigger than ever. Sure, she was a little pissed at Victoria for everything and now this in which she possibly told Jack her infatuation with him, but all that instantly vanished at Jack’s invitation. Wait―was she sure he was asking her out?She didn’t want to get herself too excited too quickly. But, yes, she was sure of this. Jack Barakat had asked her, Taylor Jardine, out.

She thought that the fact that her guts were twisting inside of her would cause her loss of speaking, but she still managed to say, “Yeah, I’d love to.”

Jack held the same smile as her. “Cool, cool.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’ll see you later.”

She bit the end of her fingernail as he walked away. “See you later, Jack.”

---

The hot sun became too much for the day, and Vinny let Victoria go to the bus for an hour to cool off in the air conditioning. This is why Vinny was one of her favorites. She turned up the conditioner to full blast and sat down on the couch, flipping through random channels until she settled on the Food Network.

She heard the door open and footsteps walk up the small steps into the front lounge, but she still stayed where she was. That was until she heard a low voice say, “We need to talk.”

Victoria’s eyes widened. She faked a yawn and stood up, muttering, “Wow, look at that. I’m suddenly sleepy.” She started walking to the bunks. “Maybe I should―”

“Victoria,” Alex called, “please.”

She sighed and sat back in her place on the couch, saving a spot for him next to her. The conversation with Jack went better than expected, but Victoria was really unsure how this was going to be. She threw him a fake smile and said, “So what’s up?”

“I think I should be asking you the same question since you’ve been ignoring me the past week.” He shot her a glare. “Would’ve thought you’d been a little nicer to me since I basically helped you from hyperventilating when you got your first tattoo.”

She turned to him, narrowing her eyes. “Oh, I’m sorry! I should totally thank you for that and trying to beat up your best friend too. My apologies.”

“You didn’t have to scream at me! I react with my fist, what can I say?”

“Alex, you tried to fight one of your best friends over me. I have a right to be angry with you. Do I look like a prize to be won between the two of you? I’ll be alone, for all I care. I don’t want to be viewed as the trophy after the fight to the death between you two.” She shook her head at him as he looked down. “How do you think the fans will even react to this if it hits the web? ‘Best friends, Alex Gaskarth and Jack Barakat, Fight Over Merchandise Girl.’ How ridiculous does that sound?”

“As ridiculous as what Lisa approached me about today,” Alex sighed, playing with his hands.
Victoria’s eyes panned to his. “What did she approach you about?”

“It’s not that big of a deal. Don’t worry about it.” He waved away the subject. “Just continue with your rant and I’ll keep rolling my eyes.”

“Alex, seriously, what did she say?”

“It’s nothing, really. She just asked me questions about our said ‘relationship.’ I didn’t say a lot to her because …” He trailed off, shrugging. “Well … we’re not together anyways, so there was nothing to be said.”

Victoria rubbed her forehead. “Jesus fucking Christ, this girl …”

Alex then shifted his eyes to hers. “Is there something you’re keeping from me?” He questioned in a serious tone, making Victoria glance at him. “Like, is there another reason you were avoiding me besides being angry with me?”

She turned away, ignoring his eye contact. “No …”

“Victoria,” he said, hesitantly reaching for her shoulder, “is there something that happened with Lisa you’re hiding from me?”

She bit her tongue, blowing out a sigh. “Well … possibly …”

“What the fuck, Vic?! You scream and yell at me for doing all this stupid shit that’s been happening lately but you suddenly decide not to speak about something big that involves you and Lisa? The irony astounds me.” He scoffed under his breath. “Now I have a reason to be mad at you. There, we’re even.”

She let out a snort, leaving him to give her a confused look. “I just never thought I’d hear you say ‘astound’ in a sentence.”

He rolled his eyes. “Enough with the jokes and tell me what happened.”

And so she did. Everything that she’d been dying over the last week to say, she finally let it out to the one person she needed to tell. To say he was in denial at first would be an understatement. He called her a liar a few times, saying Lisa could not be that smart to set up yet another blackmail but remembered her connections again. He wasn’t quite defending, but he was also insulting her way of thinking too, which Victoria thought to be funny. In the end, Alex understood and wanted to fight back.

They were all going to beat Lisa once and for all.

Notes

BARADINE!!!<3
Omg I just loved writing the first part, and the second part is really to just rev you guys up! Let's see what they'll do to get rid of Lisa.. ;)
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Rock on \m/