“I’ll go find her!” Gavin said, glancing at Carlos. Rian was about to stop him but he had already begun to stride toward their bus. Alex was still backstage, discussing something with Matt, and the others were waiting outside the venue gates to head to a party after their Jacksonville show. Gavin walked into All Time Low’s bus, and swept his gaze around the front room. He called Annabelle’s name but no reply came. He loped into the bunkroom and noticed a curtain was closed. He pushed it open to find Annabelle fast asleep.
“Annabelle?” He said quietly. No response. He glanced around and then lay his hand on her shoulder, brushing his fingertips across her breast, causing electricity to rush through his veins. He shook her slightly. She stirred. He snapped his arm back, but she remained asleep. He didn’t know what to do. He wanted her so badly. He heard footsteps on the bus steps and he jumped up to face Alex.
“Hey dude,” Alex said suspiciously, “what are you doing?”
“I came to find Annabelle, but the kid's asleep.” He indicated at the bunk. Alex smiled tightly.
“It’s okay, I’ll wake her up.” Gavin passed him in the lounge. “Hey, tell the others we’ll just be a minute, yeah?”
Gavin nodded, and left the bus, cursing Alex and his own hesitance.

Alex kissed Annabelle awake. She smiled. Alex pulled away and she stretched. Alex’s eyes roamed her body but remembered the group outside, waiting for them. He poked Annabelle in her prominent ribs and she curled up, giggling.
“Don’t!” She laughed and he shook his head.
“Hurry up! There are peeps outside waiting for us!”
“Oh.” Annabelle rolled out of bed onto Alex’s feet. He grabbed her hands and pulled her up. “Should I get changed?” She asked straightening her outfit.
“I think you look beautiful either way.” Alex smiled, proud of himself for being such an ace boyfriend. She glared at him, and playfully slapped his arm.
“You’re a cheese.” She laughed. “I’m gonna put on my new dress.”
She stripped off and began to put on a new dress that she had bought while she and Kara had went on a shopping venture and the boys were sound-checking. Alex couldn’t help himself and spun her around as she tried to step into the dress, she fell off balance and landed in his arms.
“You’re hopeless.” She said as his hands traversed her body, sending her into a fit of shivers. He observed her shivering and the goose pimples that appeared under his fingertips.
“I’m the hopeless one?” He asked. She shook her head in mock disdain, but he let his fingers slide underneath her underwear and she ended up pinning him against the bathroom door.

***
They were at somebody’s friend’s party. Annabelle was smashed. She was dancing wildly in the middle of the dance floor, Alex had not been able to keep up with her and left to chat to some friends he had not seen in a while. Annabelle did not care, she was having fun, moving to the beat. She loved dancing, and she loved how much dancing she was able to do on this tour. Boys approached her and tried to grind up to her, and she let them. She was beyond caring about anything but the music. She felt her hand entwine with someone else’s and glanced down to see slender fingers amongst her own. She looked up to see Gavin. He smiled down at her, and she smiled back at him, trying to get him to join her dancing. But he mimed smoking with his fingers and she let him pull her out of the crowd.

She stumbled after him as he pulled her through the house, towards the garden, outside and into a corner. Emery was sitting there, calmly rolling a joint. Annabelle watched his nimble fingers eagerly as Gavin pulled her into a triangle. They didn’t speak, only when Gavin puffed out smoke, through his mouth and nostrils like a dragon, did he say,
“Good shit.”
He passed it to Annabelle who took too much; spluttering as she coughed it out, her eyes watering. It was stronger than normal. Gavin laughed, patting her on the back and she frowned, determined to get it right. Snatching it from Emery, she inhaled again, even though her lungs were burning. She breathed it slowly out, concentrating hard. Emery smiled raising his eyebrow at her as she passed the joint back to him.
“Whatever.” She slurred, her head spinning. She noticed she was falling, and she let herself. The grass was cool and she stared up at the clear night, the stars sparkling.
“I think there’s a dragon.” She said. Gavin and Emery exchanged a glance.
“Where?” Gavin asked, lying next to her. She moved her head to his shoulder, and pointed straight up at a cluster of stars. Gavin was too busy breathing her in to care what she was indicating to. She left her head on his shoulder as her arm, heavy, collapsed onto Gavin’s chest.
“Funny,” Annabelle mumbled incoherently, “I thought they didn’t like stars.”
The joint appeared in front of her face, blocking the sky. She took it and inhaled, more than before, used to the burning in her lungs. Maybe she was a dragon. She puffed out smoke into Gavin’s face, which had suddenly appeared above her. He breathed in her smoke and blew it out through his nose, smiling languidly. She closed her eyes.

“Don’t-” Emery breathed sharply as Gavin’s hand drew across Annabelle’s face, a finger sliding past her lips.
“What?” He growled quietly, “You want her, too.”
“You’re an idiot.” Emery said quietly, shaking his head. He looked around, panicking. Gavin let his fingers slide under her chin, his breathing intensifying. Suddenly, he took her chin and kissed her. Annabelle squirmed underneath him, pushing up the grass with her feet. As her hands flew to push him away, Gavin trapped them above her. He pushed his knee between her thighs. Her head spun, so she didn’t open her eyes, she didn’t want to see what was happening to her. The grass felt like spiders writhing below her. She tried to scream, but Gavin’s forceful tongue trapped the sound.
“Dude.” Emery warned, looking around. Annabelle could still hear the party; the bass in the music made the spiders throb, the hum of people, like bees. She continued to squirm like a bug, her dress riding higher. Emery saw her underwear, and swallowed, looking away. Gavin jabbed his knee higher, and she made a noise in her throat that she knew he heard. He smirked. He loosened the grip on her weakening arms, and ran his hands down her sides, climbing on top of her, using his weight against her. She hit at him with useless strikes. Her ineffective attacks were for naught.
“Gav!” Emery whispered. “You’re gonna get us fucking thrown off tour.”
Gavin ignored his friend, gathering up Annabelle’s dress around her waist. Annabelle felt like vomiting. Her head lolled to the side. She watched the grass, the dark green spikes. They quivered, as if sharing her fear. She gasped as he shoved into her, biting her lip as tears rolled down her face. She shut her eyes, but that was worse. Monsters filled the space behind her lids and she screamed.
“Fuck.” Gavin covered her mouth with his hand, pressing her head into the ground hard. All she could do was cry. Her head felt like it was going to crack.
“Think of the fucking band, you fucking cunt!” Emery yelled, and he punched his friend off the girl. She let her head relax to the side once more, and curled up in the fetal position, listening as bones cracked. Emery kicked Gavin over and over again, until he lay unconscious, his blood sinking into the earth. Then he fixed Annabelle’s dress and gathered her up.
“I’m sorry.” He murmured. Her eyes were closed again, but tears were still streaming from them.

When he found Alex, he thought that she was asleep, she had stopped quietly sobbing. He placed her in his arms but didn’t tell him what happened. Although Gavin just did something abhorrent in Emery’s eyes, he was still his friend.
“Look after her” was all he said as Alex looked up at him, confused and horrified.