“Let's drink to feelings of temptation. You and I, we're an over-night sensation.”

The shows across California were nothing short of wonderful, but Cassadee knew that once she stepped onto the lit up stage of Amnesia Beer & Music Hall in San Francisco, it would surely be her favorite.

So far, this was the smallest venue. This would make the fourth show in California so far, and both All Time Low and Hey Monday had a very pleasing showing of fans from around the country already. There was always excitement for the first state of the tour.

“Hey!” Cassadee announced cheerfully, leading Hey Monday out on the stage. “Are you ready for some music?” There were several shouts along the floor as she glanced over the crowd. She chuckled once she saw the two bartenders behind the bar in the back, pumping their fist in excitement.

“Okay!” she continued, grabbing the microphone from the front of the stage. “This one is called Homecoming!”

But as soon as Cassadee took a breath to sing, there was a mixture of laughing and screaming. She raised an eyebrow and turned around to see the boys of All Time Low behind her. They had replaced her band and were looking too eager.

“We’re ready to play!” Alex shouted as he clutched Mike’s guitar tightly. Zack was laughing as he did a few strokes on Chris’s bass. Jack was there too, very shirtless, and expressing his desire to drink. He began promising a kiss to anyone who could bring him a drink.

Cassadee knew Rian was there when she heard the drums sound from the back of the stage. She turned to see him, and when they locked eyes, he quickly winked and smiled warmly.

Oh, hell.

“What the hell? Where is my band?” The audience began to laugh louder as the prank continued. Cassadee rolled her eyes. She should have expected this right off, given the fact that they had toured together before. Actually, this might have been the fourth or fifth – or probably the millionth – prank they had pulled since this tour began.

“We kicked them out 'cause we're better. We are your band now!” Jack shouted, now successfully kissing a young blonde on the top of the head as she handed him a large mug of beer. “Wow, look at this drink.”

Even if the pranks continued at some “awkward” times, it was one of Cassadee’s favorite parts. It gave her a chance show that girls were way better than boys at pranking. Just last week, she had managed to put itching powder in a pair of Jack’s socks. He vowed to get her back.

And he did. The next day. When he stole her bra and wore it on stage. But hey, who even knew it was her bra anyway? That boy collects bras in the instrument trailer.

But now, as the four of them “replaced” her band on stage, she began to think of different ways she could get them back.

“Okay, okay.” Alex laughed as he walked up to the microphone she was holding and spoke into it. “Hey guys, we are All Time Low. We will see you a little later, but for now, enjoy the always amazing…Hey Monday!”

Then, her actual band emerged onto the stage and took back their instruments. Thankfully, they were able to begin their set and with no problem – except Jack swaying on and off stage, blowing kisses to the blonde who brought him the beer.

Songs were sung in the venue that night – tunes such as Homecoming, How You Love Me Now, I Don’t Wanna Dance, Should’ve Tried Harder, and many more – and with each one, more people would join in and sing along. That was the incredible part. Here they were, the people who supported them up to this moment. The people who loved their music and sang every word.

Cassadee now sat on the edge of the stage with her guitar in hand waiting for Mike to join her with his acoustic. She waved at a few girls who were waving back at her frantically. She grinned then, seeing how the smaller girl screamed a little and turned to the other girl, slapping her arm wildly.

“Alright guys, this might be our last song for the night – “ people began to boo, which caused her to laugh. “Hey, don’t worry. We’ll be around. Besides we have to let All Time Low on the stage.” With that said, the boos stopped and the cheers irrupted. “Anyway, this is called Candles!”

She and Mike began to play. “The power lines went out, and I am all alone,” Cassadee sang, closing her eyes as she memorized this moment. The moment where everyone was singing with her. And she could cry, maybe. But she didn’t. She just smiled and realized that instead of just her voice, the fans sang loudly too. Probably louder than her. This was their song, and they were making it worth singing.

The song ended, and she opened her eyes, seeing grins and cheers, and even some tears as she stood back up. “We are Hey Monday, and you guys were awesome!”

+

Because of the time used to change the set on stage, Rian had managed to sneak out early from behind the stage to get to the bar. Maybe then, he would see the last of the Hey Monday set. He moved along the crowds quickly to grab a few drinks for the rooms in the back.

He really wanted to kiss Cassadee again.

Somehow, tonight he might try.

She kept running away from him, even though it was clear that she had some amount of feeling there. He had wanted to kiss her for days now, and was even at the point of gaining satisfaction from a brief “hello” from her.

She had been avoiding him ever since the incident at the AP photoshoot a week ago. He didn’t know how she did it, but she had made sure that they were never alone together. It was almost like she was at high alert all the time, hell-bent on not being alone with him.

Rian liked to think that it was because she was trying to hide her feelings from him, but he thought it wasn’t likely. They were adults, not teenagers. Why was he even putting this much effort in anyway?

He grinned at the thought that she could be hiding feelings. He also grinned at the memories of their first ever kiss and the feelings that revolved around that entire situation. At that time, he had just broken up with his ex-girlfriend, but to him, that’s what made it more special. He had trusted Cassadee with whatever sad and pained emotion he was burdened with…and it led to something as sweet as a kiss?

And wow, the butterflies from that.

It was reasons like this that caused him to want to work for her trust. He wanted to work for the chance of a sweet kiss all the time.

And hell, she was so cool. She was always so nice to everyone around her, and always in a good mood. She had this way of being so happy. And wow, did she love her job. And her music and her fans. She had this way of loving her life.

She was great.

And then, he thought he had a chance with her. At the photoshoot. At first, it was just risky and more of a joke. He knew she was going to pull away. But he decided to try anyway and press his luck. He had cozied up to her on the bench and when she didn’t pull away, he wasn’t sure if his heart would stay in his chest or not. He had messed up then when he almost demanded her to kiss him, and watched as she stumbled away from him. He had decided then that he would try and talk to her about it, maybe apologize.

But then this week had been really awkward and he didn’t get a chance, because she was practically running away from him if she felt like she needed to.

He thought about this more as he grabbed the drinks from the bar and returned to the rest of his band. He was thinking so much, he then decided to ask for advice.

“Dude, stop scaring her,” Alex said as he searched through the few hats he brought in his bag. “She’s literally running away.”

“Yeah, maybe you could just talk to her?” Zack said it like it was so simple.

Jack shrugged, finishing up his fan-given beer. “Why not make her jealous?”

With that, Rian raised an eyebrow. Jealous? No, surely not. That wouldn’t work. She kept running away as it is. If he flaunted another girl in her face, then it would just give her a reason to think he wasn’t interested in her anymore.

“I would just like her to talk to me again. She’s been so freaked out.”

Zack chuckled. “Probably because you want to kiss her all the time.”

It sounded so weird – but accurate – when he said that. Rian raised an eyebrow. He couldn’t figure out how he let himself get so frazzled all of the sudden? He had known this girl for years and she was just now having some sort or aggressive effect on him? Maybe he could just snap out of it.

Matt walked in then and said, “maybe you shouldn’t act like you’re going to kidnap her,” like it was common knowledge. He picked up from of the bottles of beer and shrugged.

Okay, that settled it then. Rian nodded, deciding that he wouldn’t try to pursue her now. He would just try and gain her trust.

But wow, was it hard to do.

He first noticed it once All Time Low took the stage. He saw Cassadee out in the audience, surprisingly, as she was having a drink with a few fans. And that was great that she was so close to them, but he got a little uneasy once he saw the bartenders eyeing her.

And then, he wasn’t entirely sure if he messed up the entrance to Backseat Serenade or not because he was too focused on the way the taller bartender was trying to talk to Cassadee.

And then, after that, Rian actually thought that he broke his drumstick as he watched the kind of hug that tall bartender gave Cassadee before she decided to pull away from him.

Rian concluded that this was a lot harder than he thought. But also, he wondered if he would still be as mad if he didn’t already have a few bottles of beer in him. And there he was again, that lanky bartender grabbing at his woman – or oh wait, his friend – again as he got a little too touchy.

Damn, he should have known this was going to be a lot harder than he thought.

But he didn’t, apparently, as he failed to realize that he was actually passing people currently in an effort to make it to the boy who was handling his girlfriend.

Friend.

It almost hit him like a bullet as Matt grabbed hold of his arm. “You look crazy, man. Come here.” He had stopped him from walking and pulled him aside, back towards the stage. “Look, I know you care about her. But you can’t kill the kid for hugging her.”

As Rian released his tension from his upper half, he realized just how much of an idiot he was acting like. How the hell did she have this kind of effect of him?

Realistically, it was beginning to scare him. They had kissed a few times now, had sex once, and have been on no dates. She was running away from him currently, avoided everything that could potentially be a conversation. She barely said one word to him in a week.

And somehow she still affected him like this?

He didn’t even act like this with his ex-girlfriend. Sure, he cared, but not enough to go punch some guy for giving her a hug.

“You guys have a few more songs to do. Have a drink and relax. Don’t go hurting fans.” Matt raised an eyebrow and smirked before stalking off towards backstage. Rian realized he was right.

Okay. He could be calm.

He resisted the urge to glance back towards Cassadee as she mingled with more fans. Maybe if he didn’t look, he wouldn’t want to hurt the bartender. Maybe he wouldn’t mess up any more songs tonight.

Maybe he could get through the night without wanting to kiss her every second.

+

She had taken so many pictures tonight and it was fantastic. She had lost count of how many fans she had said “I love you” to, but it had to be over 20 maybe, and she had even recorded someone’s voicemail. Now, most fans were letting her rest now at the bar.

Cassadee took a moment to breathe slowly as she clutched her small drink given to her by the tall bartender.

Now, he wasn’t unattractive.

Actually, he was very attractive. He had long blonde hair, tattoos everywhere, seductive blue eyes, and a sweet smile. And not to mention…dimples. The best.

And it was not unusual for her to feel extremely attracted towards the attractive boy giving her the drink. However, it was unusual that she wasn’t very into it. She wasn’t very into him. Right, he was cute, but still.

But she was here. She had given him a smile and accepted the drink. She took another slow breath as she looked at the drink. She hadn’t let herself drink since the night that she had spent with Rian.

“You guys had a great set.”

She was pulled from her thoughts by the attractive bartender. “Thank you.” When she connected eyes with him, she was met with a very toothy, yet slightly sensual grin. She half smiled back, realizing – and was very annoyed by the fact – that she missed Rian’s smile.
This was getting ridiculous.

It was one night. Why was that so thought consuming?

Maybe it was because it was practically exhausting trying to avoid someone every minute of every day, even if she thought it was for the best.

Right then, in an act of preventing her mind from thinking any more of the subject, Cassadee decided to take a large gulp of the lightly colored drink.

“Want to take a shot with me?” The bartender asked, already pulling the whisky from the shelf. She eyed him carefully before giving a stiff nod, already regretting it.

Her light drink failed, seeing as Rian entered her mind again, causing her to think about what happened after the photoshoot. She had run to Bridget – who actually laughed in her face – and tried to explain the whole thing. Cassadee had been screaming and shocked and very turned on all at the same time, and was waving her arms frantically in the stylist face. Bridget was saying that “it was a shame that they just didn’t date and get it over with” like it was something that was actually meant to happen.

No, it wasn’t meant to happen.

It was a brief – very brief – fling that lasted for the span of a night. It wasn’t supposed to happen. And it won’t happen again.

Even if she enjoyed every bit of it. Or, everything she remembered.

Damn it.

“Here you go, sweetie,” he said, just as Backseat Serenade started. There might have been a lost beat in the music, but Cassadee didn’t think it was likely. She took the shot and tossed it to the back of her throat as the bartender did the same. “Yum.” He smirked.

“Yeah, pretty good.” She shivered at the sudden heat in her throat, but ignored it. “I think I’ll just stick to whatever this is.” She pointed at the bright pink drink and turned away from the bar, now facing the stage.

People really loved them. She saw a few girls jumping in the front. And wait, oh! One of them actually made it over the security! Cassadee laughed as the girl ran directly at Zack and jumped all around him before hugging him. How did he keep playing? She didn’t know, but she loved how he wasn’t pushing her away. He smiled and kept playing, jumping with the girl as she jumped with excitement.

“They sound pretty good,” said a voice from beside her. Cassadee glanced over to see the bartender now on the seat next to her, closer than she would normally prefer. “Can your biggest fan have a hug?”

She noticed the ounce of lust in his voice, but she leaned in anyway, allowing the hug. Even if he was overly flirtatious, he was a fan. Cassadee only let the hug go on for a moment, due to his hands quickly finding their way to her butt.

At that time, the music on stage had taken a break for only a minute, but she hadn’t thought much of it. It was only then when she thought she saw Rian coming towards them.

But Cassadee did see Rian, she was sure now. She could see his face. And his eyes were on her...and was he actually coming towards them? She didn’t have time to find out once she saw Matt grab Rian so quickly, it was almost unnoticed.

What was that?

It caused her heart to leap slightly as she thought she caught his eye.

Fuck, what was that?

Notes

Hey!
Have a great day guys!
Thanks for reading this, I really appreciate it.
<3