I will defend the faith
Going down swinging
I will save the songs
That we can't stop singing

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this.” Mark breathed as he took a peak behind the black curtain to reveal the night’s almost 20 thousand capacity crowd, thousands upon thousands of people talking amongst themselves waiting for the lights to go out and the music to begin. It was a sold out crowd yet again thanks to it being Fall Out Boy’s comeback tour and everything, and it had a surreal experience opening up such a monumental tour every night for the past few months.

“And to think, in under a week this’ll all be over.” I sighed sadly, loving the response our band had been receiving after starting this tour. If we thought our numbers improved before with our joint headlining tour with All Time Low, this was some next level shit. Our album was suddenly charting and our single “Heaven Knows” was actually being played on the radio. Now people were no longer wondering who the hell we were touring with the likes of Fall Out Boy, Panic and Twenty One Pilots. No, now they were screaming our names, singing along at the top of their lungs and damn, was it a blast.

“It really flew by, didn’t it?” Jo muttered, grabbing her guitar from our newly hired guitar tech, Brad. She adjusted the strap, making sure it sat comfortably on her figure before readjusting her earpiece, tucking her thick raven hair behind her ear so it was out of the way.

“Well it certainly would for you, given that you’ve spent all your time flirting it up with Josh.” Landon huffed a laugh at his own joke, stretching his arms a few times to get lose for the half hour set we were minutes away from starting.

Jo scowled at him. “So what if I am?”

I felt my jaw go limp, shocked at her lack of denial over such a statement. “You’re admitting you’ve got a thing for him?”

She stared at us as if we had all grown second heads. “Yeah. And he likes me too, so we’re seeing where things go. No need to make a big deal out of it. It’s not like we’re dating, or anything.”

“You’re not dating yet.” I corrected.

If looks could kill, I would’ve been dead where I stood. “Sometimes I don’t know about you, Lawson.” She grumbled, probably ruing the day she decided to let such a girly girl who cared about silly things like romance join her precious band.

I rolled my eyes, getting over Jo’s played out death glare. “I’m sorry, but I can’t help if I think you and Josh would make a cute couple.”

“I thought you were so wrapped up in your own wedding plans to focus on silly things like me and Josh. And by the way, we are not, nor will we ever be...” She shuddered. “...cute.”

I threw up a finger. “Okay. First of all my wedding is pretty much planned at this point. There are a few lose strings here and there, but Jack and I basically got zero hours of sleep last week so we could get everything finalized and set in stone with the wedding planner so we actually have some time to ourselves before our big day. Otherwise we might’ve had to hold off the wedding even longer so we said fuck it and downed I don’t know how much coffee so we could get all that shit done--”

“What a great way to describe your wedding.”

I raised a brow at Jo’s interruption. “When it’s your turn to plan a wedding, you’ll be saying way worse, believe me. I’m just glad I can breath a bit until August.”

Jo huffed at the idea of walking down the aisle herself. “When? Yeah, right?”

I just shrugged. “Hey, I’m just saying. You know how anti-marriage Jack was before me? He’s told me several times he never dreamed of settling down and committing, so who knows, maybe this thing with Josh could change your views on things...” I gave her a hopeful, dreamy smile while she stared back, unamused.

But then unable to hold up that firm front any longer, she broke eye contact and her walls broke down. “Fine. Maybe--hypothetically--I might’ve dreamed about it once or twice.” She muttered, keeping her gaze firmly planted on her black and blue guitar.

“Jo, it’s normal for a girl to daydream like that.” I placed a hand on her shoulder, sympathetic for the tough girl in front of me. “Especially if you like him as much as I think you do.”

Jo took a few deep breaths, mindlessly retuning her strings on automatic before she finally looked back up. “God, I think I’m going off the walls crazy, Lawson. I can’t stop thinking about him. I just always want to spend time with him. I never get sick of seeing him or talking to him and I used to spend my time doing all sorts of random shit but now even when I’m doing important things like going out on stage performing in front of thousands of people, he’s always there.” She huffed, throwing a hand to her forehead in exasperation. “I’m seriously losing it.”

I smirked, recalling how I’d felt when I first met Jack, checking off the list in my mind as Jo listed off her recent woes. “Dude, you’re not losing it. You just really really like him. Maybe, dare I say it, lo--”

“No!” Jo shook her head wildly, causing her long locks of hair to wave wildly in front of her shoulders. “Don’t even think about that yet! We barely even admitted that we had feelings for each other. I can’t already jump to something as huge as love yet, can I? I mean, that’s exclusive for Disney fairytales and sappy couples like you and Jack, no offense.”

I let out a laugh, not feeling offended in the least. “It’s totally possible, Jo. It doesn’t mean you have to rush things of course, but I’m just saying, it’s possible.”

Jo’s shoulder’s fell, unamused by my response as she threw her head back and cursed under her breath. “Fuck.”

“Speaking of lover boy...” Landon snickered, nudging Jo before gesturing loosely towards the other side of the stage where Josh was standing back behind the rest of the scrambling crew as they prepared the stage for our set.

I watched in amusement as Josh shyly waved towards Jo, Jo awkwardly blushing and giving a small wave in return. She then spun around towards us. “I’ll be right back.”

She then quickly shuffled around the crew, expertly stepping over wires and boxes before ending up in front of Josh. Now at that point, I couldn’t hear what they were saying thanks to the crowd and blaring music over the speakers, but it was pretty clear from her body language that Jo was surprised, but happy to see Josh taking time out of his own pre-show practice time with Tyler to instead support her.

I smiled to myself, knowing that Jo may not like it, but she and Josh were a damn cute couple and it was clear to me that there was a very real love blooming between them.

“Thirty seconds to show time.” A voice, Fall Out Boy’s tour manager, announced through our ear pieces and like that, the rest of the crew departed from the stage, the lights going out and ear piercing screams erupting from the audience in excitement. A few lone stage hands helped guide us to our spots with flashlights and as I made it to my own mark centerstage, I noticed out of the corner of my eye Jo hastily saying her goodbye to Josh, kissing him in a flash before rushing back to her own spot stage left.

She watched my amused expression carefully as she readjusted the strap to her guitar. “Don’t say a thing.” She whispered.

I threw up a hand innocently despite wanting to squeal in delight over what I’d just witnessed and ask if that blink-and-you’ll-miss-it excuse of a kiss was their first show of affection, but I somehow managed to hold it in, instead assuring her I’d behave. “I wouldn’t dare.”

She nodded firmly. “Good. Now let’s do this.”

We began our set with the same song that opened up our album, aka the same song that got me into some deep shit with Jack when we were still fighting over my going on tour. Luckily though, any hard feelings I had towards the song was long gone as it had become the perfect opener to our set, moaning and all.

I should repeat that it was no longer my moaning. Again, we’d replaced that with a ‘professional’, deciding to keep the sensual sounds as a way to draw in the listener and get the mood set right away for the song.

As soon as Jo began the opening riff, the black curtain dropped and we were suddenly front and center to twenty thousand music fans screaming at the top of their lungs.

Since I’ve met you I’ve been crazy
Since I’ve been with you I’ve been lost
You make everything seem hazy
Love comes with such a cost

I growled into the mic in front of me, instantly flipping into this character I’d refined over the years. No longer could I pester Jo about her budding romance and instead, I had to focus on the mood of the song. Sexual. Unapologetic. Maybe a bit crazy to boot. I let my long blonde hair fall into my face as the song naturally fell into a bluesy, bass driven first chorus.

Follow me down to the river
Drink while the water is clean
Follow me down to the river tonight
I'll be down here on my knees...

During the second verse, I explored the stage a bit, moving away from the rest of the band as I took advantage of the small catwalk directly in the middle of the stage, separating the GA crowd into two groups. As I sang each word, I looked down into the crowd, watching as more and more people seemed to be digging the song each show, and even more were singing along with me. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I’d be so lucky.

As we approached the bridge, I quickly maneuvered my way back in between Jo, Sam, and Mark just as the tempo changed and the mood switched like something out of dream. I bit my lip suggestively towards one of the large arena cameras, causing another wave of wild screams to ensue. Then, as sensually and suggestive as I could, I began the bridge.

When you're young you always take what you can get
Even bicycles and sprinklers get you wet
Now I know that there's a different way to die
My body breathes
Heart still beats
But I am not alive

Sam waited a good thirty seconds, letting the screams overwhelm us. Then, he began that blues riff once more as we fell back into the chorus twice, adding Jo and Mark’s edgy guitar riffs to give it an extra punch. By the time we finished the end of that first song, the crowd was already begging for more.

“Thank you!’ I screamed into the mic, throwing up my right arm as I took in the audience’s positive feedback. “In case this is your first time seeing us, which it very well might be, we are Midnight!” Another short burst of screams and I took a second to let the crowd die down. “We’re from Baltimore, Maryland, and we’re ready to help our friends from Fall Out Boy save rock and roll!”

Again, I let the predictable screams take over for a beat. “You guys aren’t excited for them, are you? What about...Twenty One Pilots? Who’s excited for them?” I laughed lightly, shaking my head as sprinkling shouts of ‘TOP! TOP!’ could be heard, “Yeah, I’m excited for them too. And how about Panic at the Disco? Anybody psyched for them?” Of course the screams only got louder. “Okay, okay, it looks like we’re all ready to get things rocking, so this next song--” I froze mid-step as my eyes caught a figure in the crowd, sticking out like a sore thumb amongst the younger, overall shorter crowd. My hand flew up to my mouth as I stiffened a scream of excitement, vision glued onto the skunk haired man smiling proudly mere feet from me surrounded by teen girls that seemed too preoccupied with what I had been saying on stage to notice him. “Holy shit!” I gasped, b-lining it as close as I possibly could to my husband without jumping into the crowd myself. I quickly gestured him to come forward, concerned that if he stayed in the GA audience after the girls realized who they were standing next to, well he’d be ripped apart for sure. He nudged himself towards the very front, with a few girls he passed by clearly unaware who he was giving him confused and annoyed glares, but otherwise let him get to the front without frenzy.

I nudged the security guard between the crowd and stage, pointing towards Jack. He got the hint, assisting Jack over the railing and up onto the stage. Once Jack was finally in front of me, I wasted no time and attacked him, giving him a firm hug, knowing all twenty thousand pairs of eyes were now on us.

“Babe, I hate to alarm you, but that security guard accidentally touched me in my special place while getting out of there.” Jack joked loudly, knowing that he was close enough to the mic for his voice to be picked up. The audience erupted in laughter, while the security guard who’d helped him seconds before looked absolutely mortified.

I meanwhile ignored his crude joke, slapping him harmlessly against his forearm. “What are you doing here?!” I whispered as I kept him close with my arms wrapped around him and his around me, and I couldn’tve been more grateful to be feeling his touch once more. “I thought you were flying back to Baltimore to do some writing with Alex!”

I could feel his body reverberate lightly in a chuckle. “I wanted to surprise you and besides, I’m pretty sure he can survive without my genius songwriting skills for a few days.”

I let my lips break out into a wide smile. “Well, consider me surprised...” I sighed as our foreheads touched, noses barely grazing as the rest of the world disappeared for us. I inched forward so my lips brushed against his in a slow, passionate kiss. “Mmm...I missed you...”

“Missed you too.” Jack muttered, leaning for one more kiss before taking a step back. “But I’ll let you get back to your show.” He glanced over towards the happily screaming crowd, then towards the rest of my bandmates who had been patiently waiting for me and Jack to have our special reunion. “Don’t wanna keep everybody waiting.”

I huffed. “And what would be so wrong with that?”

Jack’s smile grew, shaking his head as he found the strength to inch away, nodding towards the backstage area where Josh had been hanging out. “Come on, babe, I’ll be just over there if you need me.”

“Okay, if you must.” I rolled my eyes, knowing I still had a job to do. “Love you!”

As he walked backstage, I figured the crowd deserved at least a little explanation. Returning to the microphone I’d haphazardly abandoned as soon as I realized Jack wasn’t in Baltimore writing new songs with Alex but in fact in the same arena as me, I apologized to the audience, “Sorry about that! My, uh, my fiancee just totally surprised me. I haven’t seen him in two months since we started this tour, and I thought it’d be another week before I saw him so--” I cut myself off, realizing that maybe the song we’d had planned to play next wouldn’t feel right anymore. I quickly waved Jo over, asking if she was okay if we switched a few songs around.

She shrugged, not having an issue with it. “Gives the guys a short break.” she reasoned and once she made her rounds to ask the guys if it was okay, she nodded back towards me. “Go right ahead.”

I smiled, once again returning my focus to the crowd. “Okay, so slight change in plans. I wasn’t going to play this song tonight, but since the guy I wrote this for is here, I figured it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.” I watched out of the corner of my eye as Jo switched out her electric guitar for her acoustic, taking a second before giving me the signal that she was good to go. “Alright, so a while back, I was in a really dark place. I was so lost in my own head with ugly, horrible demons that I thought I’d never escape. But even at my darkest moment, Jack...” I looked to my left to find him watching me with a hypnotized gaze. “...you were my rock. You were what saved me, what kept me afloat. Babe, this song will forever and always be for you.” I took a deep breath, focusing on Jo’s soft strumming in the background. “This is called Break In.”

~*~

Even with our impromptu set change and abrupt change in vibe, the crowd adored Jo and I’s acoustic rendition of Break In. And to be honest, I loved it too, maybe even more so than the original piano version I had recorded for our EP. Keeping in mind we might have to add that to our future setlist, we continued on, playing four more songs that displayed perfectly just who we were as a band.

Before we knew it, our time was up and as the screams for “WOO, MIDNIGHT!” filled the air, we departed the stage, never feeling so fulfilled in our music career.

Keeping up with the support, Jo, Jack and I decided to keep our little monitor party going as we watched Tyler and Josh light up the night with their own 35 minute set, making the crowd go even crazier with their theatrics of backflips, jumping off the piano, and drum battles.
Panic followed, of course bringing everything they got and being the killer musicians everyone knew them to be.

Then finally, the main event.

By this point it was already past nine, but the crowd seemed more alive than ever, buzzing in excitement over not only what they’d already seen, but what they were about to witness as well. After all, Fall Out Boy was a huge influence to nearly every pop punk band following them, and to see them make a grand return in person after being on a three year hiatus was nothing sort of mind-blowing to not only the fans, but us musicians on tour with them as well.
Nothing proved this point more than the acoustic part of Fall Out Boy’s set that night. There was a point in the show where Patrick, Pete, and Joe took out their acoustic instruments and sat in a circle at the end of the catwalk to perform a few songs and normally they’d do their thing and that would be it.

But this time, as they were preparing what we all knew would be “I’m Like a Lawyer...”, one of us (Brandon) couldn’t take it anymore.

“I’ve gotta go join this and have a little fun with them.” Brandon shook his head, itching to just run out on stage right then. “Who wants to join me?”

“...join them?” Jo asked, scrunching her nose as she peered out towards the oblivious crowd. “What, you mean like a big sing a long or something?”

Brandon shrugged. “Why not? It could be the beginning of the end-of-tour pranks or something.”

I licked my lips, never against a friendly tour prank, especially one that involved playing around with my favorite band of all time. “I do love this song.”

Brandon clapped his hands excitedly, clearly hearing all he needed to hear. “Great! Chris is in! Who else?”

“Sure, we’ll go.” Tyler added, sharing a look with Josh who nodded, not about to leave his best friend hanging.

“Then I guess I’ll go.” Jo responded, seemingly turning on a dime the second Josh agreed to the prank.

“Jack, you’re in too, right bud?” Brandon asked, pointing towards my husband.

Like he even had to ask. “I’m not a part of the tour, and I sing like a dying crow, but like hell I’d pass up on an opportunity to make Pete shit himself from laughter.”

So I guess we were all in.

As Pete and Patrick were talking to the crowd, reminiscing over some weird, awkward story involving Patrick and a stripper, we all snuck up on stage, surprising Patrick who’d had his back facing us, stumbling to defend himself over Pete’s crazy ass story. And it was just as they were introducing the song and strumming the opening chords that we chose to sneak up on them.

Patrick openly laughed the second he saw Brandon, who was acting super into the song, clapping and bouncing his body before sitting down across from him in overdramatic wonder.

Last year's wishes are this year's apologies
Every last time I come home
I take my last chance
To burn a bridge or two

We all joined him, sitting down in a small circle as we quickly fell into the sing-a-long. I found myself sitting in between Josh and Jack, joining Brandon’s lead in bouncing and swaying and singing to the classic pop punk song. The crowd couldn’t stop laughing from our antics while the band meanwhile, tried their hardest to keep a straight face but ultimately lost, letting our wackiness win over their once serious rendition of their song.

It was hands down one of the best, most memorable moments I’d ever had on tour and though the following pranks Brendon pulled on Twenty One Pilots and Midnight were also one for the books, nothing would top the campfire style sing along we had with our friends.
Jack ended up staying with me for the rest of the tour which made the bittersweet end of such an epic tour a little easier. We truly were all friends at that point, and to see such a fun time come to a close wasn’t easy despite knowing we all could literally call each other up and hang out pretty much whenever we wanted. Or you know, when ever our schedules would allow, anyway.

One thing was for sure, these guys were at the very least invited to my wedding, which as it was had already grown quite the guest list. I’d have to rearrange a few things and have a talk with Julia, but at this point I didn’t see the harm in inviting another sixteen or so people.
“You don’t think it’ll be a problem, right?” I asked Jack as we were traveling back to our Baltimore home a week later. “It’s not like I’m adding fifty more guests to the list.”

Jack shrugged. “I don’t see why not.”

“And we still have three weeks. I mean, the caterer might hate me but I’ll even volunteer making food myself it that means my friends will be able to go--”

“Wow, that really says something.”

I bobbed my head. “Well I mean it. I may suck at cooking but I’d try really hard not to fuck it up for everyone’s sake.”

He chuckled. “I don’t think you’ll have to resort to that, but I’m sure Julia would appreciate the offer.”

I took a breath, praying that from here on out, everything would go smoothly. We’d set up basically everything, booking the beach for an afternoon, the House of Blues for the evening, and Mark Hoppus after not much pleading at all had agreed to officiate the wedding. Hotels were booked, decorations were picked, dresses and tuxedos were bought. This wedding, after everything, was finally happening. “Can you believe we’re really getting married in three weeks?”

Jack grinned softly towards me. “Why? Is someone getting cold feet?” He joked, nudging me lightly from his spot on the plane next to me.

I glared at him, rolling my eyes as I sarcastically replied, “Yeah, right. Like I’d get cold feet getting married to you for the second time in a year.” Shaking my head, I responded seriously, “I’m just saying that planning this whole thing really flew by and all of a sudden the tours are over and done with and now the wedding is suddenly weeks away and I know we’re already married but now this is going to be official official and we won’t have to keep referring to each other as fiancees and actually call each other husband and wife.”

“We’ll finally get to wear our wedding bands.” Jack added, lifting up the woven neckless he’d kept his on, hidden carefully under his t-shirt. I knew he’d been dying to put his on, to show the world that he was mine forever and always.

“Yeah, and I’ll be able to introduce myself as Mrs. Barakat whenever I wanted.” I smirked at the thought, getting more and more used to taking his last name.

“Mmm, I like the sound of that.” Jack winked, taking my left hand and giving it a squeeze.
“Me too.” I smiled dreamily at the thought, the puzzle pieces that was this mess of a wedding finally coming together. “I mean, I’ll still have to keep my name for professional reasons, but don’t think I won’t be introducing us as Mr. and Mrs. Barakat every friggin’ chance I get on our honeymoon.”

He smirked. “I wouldn’t expect anything less, babe.” He leaned forward, lightly pressing our lips together in a quick, but meaningful kiss.

Eyeing him carefully as he leaned back into his seat, I bit my lip, the topic of our honeymoon still lingering in my mind. After all, it was the one thing Jack had insisted he set up alone, so I was still, even after nearly a year of waiting, completely in the dark about what phase two of our honeymoon was.“Still not going to give me a hint?”

He let out a hearty laugh, genuinely amused by my persistence. “Babe, I’m still not saying a thing no matter how much you ask and give me those sexy looks.”

I raised a brow, not realizing I had been giving him any sort of sexy look, but went with it none the less. Adjusting my shirt so my cleavage was now fully visible, I thrust my chest in clear view of my husband’s gaze. “How ‘bout now?”

“Nuh, uh.” He shook his head, eyes shooting up to the ceiling of the plane as he tried his damndest not to look at one of his favorite parts of my body.

“I’ll let you do all sorts of naughty things to me when we get home?” I whispered huskily in his ear, getting so close I could feel my hot breath bounce back against my own skin.

He gulped and for a second I swore I almost saw him shiver. I loved how even after all this time, I could still make him react that way. Despite this, he stubbornly held his ground, smartly retorting, “You mean naughtier than what we did in the dressing room last week?”

I felt my cheeks grow red at the memory. We had really gone all out the night of our reunion and had basically claimed one of the smaller dressing rooms backstage, locking everyone else out so we could go at it like animals. I’m pretty sure had it not been for Fall Out Boy’s blaring set still going on and reverberating the walls, every crew member and the audience would’ve heard us, we were that loud.

God, was it an amazing night.

Outwardly, I tried my best to hide my blush, instead giving a simple shrug and asking, “Is that a challenge?”

He licked his lips, eyes growing dark and hungrier by the second. “Sally, as much as I want to ravage your body and make that night look like first base, I still have to hold my grounds with this. I can’t tell you, not yet.”

I sighed, sinking down my seat and folding my arms in a pout. “Because you want it to be a surprise...”

Jack nodded. “I promise, you’ll love it. Just three more weeks and then you’ll find out, okay?”

I glanced up at him, mumbling in a huff, “...you know I hate surprises.”

He laughed then, shaking his head at my almost childlike behavior. “You’ve gotta trust me on this, babe. You’ll love it.” He repeated, making it clear I wasn’t going to win this one. He wasn’t backing down on this, the bastard.

“Ugh, fine.” I gave up, the idea of not knowing where we’d be going to our honeymoon for nearly another month slowly driving me insane. “It was worth a shot, anyway...”

Jack just smirked. “And I love you too, Sally.”

Notes

Aaaand another update in three days? Nope, you aren't seeing things! BTW the sing along mentioned above totally happened with FOB, Panic and TOP. I've only seen videos of it but it looked legendary (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-M1N4p-ays). I wish I'd been smart enough and bought tickets for that show. Seriously, that lineup? I'm crossing my fingers now that since ATL is on Fueled by Ramen, they'll at least tour with TOP one day since they're tied for my favorite band EVER. It would be a dream come true, for sure.

Opening lyrics are from "Save Rock and Roll" by FOB. Also used is "Follow me Down" by the Pretty Reckless.

ENJOY!