Five Years

The first show of the night was about to start and Jenna was standing in a circle with her band. I was excited to see all the bands perform tonight, each band always puts on a good show. Jack came out and joined me while Tonight Alive was getting ready to go onstage.

“Are you ready for the show?” Jack asked and put a hand on my shoulder.

“Yeah, I haven’t been to an All Time Low concert in years.” I laughed. “Plus your supporting bands are fucking awesome! Hopefully we can start off the article on a good note so don’t let me down.”

He pretended to be worried and put his hand on his forehead. “Don’t worry,” he laughed. “Even if we suck I can count on you to make us seem like a good band on paper.”

He patted my back and started to walk away but he turned around. “Do you want to hang out in our dressing room before we play?”

“Are you kidding? I can’t miss the whole concert Jack.” I shook my head and turned to Jenna who gave me a thumbs up before running out onstage. The roar of the crowd was so loud that I just decided to yell too. They had a blast on the stage, and I was having a blast on side stage. I enjoyed their set and they really got the crowd worked up for Pierce the Veil.

Pierce the Veil was about to go onstage now and Jaime motioned for me to jump into their circle. They all started clapping to a beat and they went around the circle singing The Devil Is Everywhere until they finally reached me.

“Hey Shay.”

“Huh?”

“The devil.”

“Damn.”

“The devil is everywhere. P-T-V woo!” I couldn’t help but laugh the whole time, their pre-show ritual was so fun.

“Good luck you guys!” I called out to them and they waved before running out on stage, the crowd roaring once again. I danced and sang along to their set, the guys shot me random funny faces throughout the show and put on an amazing performance. Right before they got off the stage Vic yelled thank you to the crowd and the guys threw off their guitar picks and Mike his drum sticks. They came off stage in a sweaty mass and gave me high fives on their way down to their dressing room. Finally it was time for All Time Low to perform and I was sitting on side stage waiting to wish Zack good luck.

They ran up the stairs from below the venue and came up next to me. All of their equipment was set up and they were ready to go on in just a few minutes. Zack ran up and threw me over his shoulder to bring me over to the circle with the guys. Zack, Jack, and Alex all had their guitars and Rian had his drumsticks in hand. Jack smacked my butt before Zack set me down and I made a grumpy face at him. “If you keep up that sexual harassment I’m going to have to warn any woman who comes near you.” I rolled my eyes and he only wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

“And if you do that here, the woman would be flocking all around me.” He smirked. “Our fans are pretty crazy if you haven’t noticed.” I sighed and they all focused. They said a few stupid jokes before sticking their hands in the middle of the circle and said All Time Low before running onto the stage.

“How are you feeling New York?” Alex yelled into the mic and received an uproar from the crowd.

“I’m feeling pretty horny actually.” Jack said into the mic and the crowd laughed. Right away someone threw a bra onto the stage and Jack picked it up and set it on his mic stand. “We’re starting off strong!” They played into their first song and the energy from their set was contagious. They had me dancing and singing along to their songs and I was having such a good time. Now that I was at one of their concerts it really made me miss the days when I would go on tour with them on my breaks.

Between songs Alex stopped and shushed the crowd. “You know, tonight we have someone very special here with us. In fact, she’s going to be with us this entire tour and it’s pretty awesome to be reunited.”

“Alex, stop talking about your dick, that’s my job.” Jack spoke.

“Shut up man, this is serious.” Alex laughed and turned his head to the side of the stage to look at me. “Tonight Zack’s sister is here and she hasn’t been on tour with us for five years. Shay, if you could come out here please.” I was confused by the gesture, it was weird being called on stage because they only did it once before and that was when Alex asked me to be his girlfriend.

“Little lady!” Jack hugged me and let me go so I could walk over to Alex’s mic.

“Since it’s been forever since she’s been on tour with us I would like to dedicate this next song to her, it’s her favorite. Please help me out on this one, it’s called Damned If I Do Ya and it goes something like this.” He smiled the familiar beat started to blast throughout the venue. The crowd sang along with him and it was the most beautiful sound that I’ve ever hears. I didn’t know whether to go back to the side or just stay on stage so I danced with Jack and sang along with the music. At the end of the show Alex pulled me into a hug, “It’s great to have you back Shay, I’ll try not to ruin this tour.” I left the stage in a daze of confusion, what could he have meant by that?

The concert was over sooner than I had hoped. After they played three encores they had exited the stage for real and rushed down to their dressing room after handing off their instruments. Jack took me down to the dressing room with them and the smell of their sweat was overwhelming.

“You guys smell awful,” I laughed and tried to get out of Jack’s arms.

“That’s just my manliness!” Jack said in a low, southern accent. I laughed and managed to wriggle out of his arms, going down the hall and being pulled into someone’s dressing room. Jenna smiled and linked arms with me, she was all fresh and clean and she didn’t smell like ‘manliness.’

“Did you enjoy the show?” She asked and we walked over to the couch.
I smiled and nodded. “It made me miss the days when I would go on tour with the boys back on breaks, especially summer break when they would go on warped tour.”

“Aww, this is a little nostalgia trip for you then.” She laughed and pulled me into a hug. And she was right. This tour was definitely going to be a blast from the past, and the past doesn’t seem like something I can run away from anymore.

Notes