Riley slammed the car door shut before going back to the trunk and opening it. Immediately, she was met with Iggy wagging her tail excitedly and trying to give kisses. Before she could try to jump out and escape, Riley put her on a leash and signed for her to get out. The only reason Riley didn’t trust the labrador to follow without a leash this time was because she had no idea what was going to come. All she knew was that it had been nearly impossible to find a place to park and that there was a very long line outside the venue in which All Time Low was going to be performing a hometown show that night. While Iggy was a trained service dog, a gigantic group of screaming teenage girls would distract anybody. Riley just didn’t want to risk it.

After walking for fifteen minutes, the venue finally came in sight again. The line had gotten even longer and Riley would have felt exasperated if she had to go stand in it as well. But, lucky for her, she happened to be the girlfriend of the lead singer of the band playing that evening, coming inside was way easier for her. She could just walk past the line of mostly girls and go straight to where Alex told her the back entrance was. Nobody even seemed to mind, but it wasn’t like they knew who she was. While her relationship with Alex was official, it wasn’t social-media official yet. Alex was still trying to find a way to slowly ease people into it.

Things like that weren’t easy. Taking too much time would let the fans make up as many rumors as possible up to the point that everybody hated her before even knowing her properly. Doing it too directly and quickly would create such a shock that nobody would know how to deal with it and also cause a lot of hate. So, practically it would lead to hate either way unless done at the perfect moment and speed. Alex just hadn’t figured out how to ease it in yet.

Once Riley reached the back entrance, she pulled out her ID and handed it to the security guard. He quickly looked over it before reaching for his radio and saying something. Riley had no idea what was being said since he was mumbling, but she did understand what he meant when he gave the ID back and opened the door for her just seconds later. She gave him a smile as a thank you and tugged on the leash so that Iggy would follow her inside. The security guard told her a few things, pointing in some directions and closed the door behind her.

The only problem was that she had no idea what he had told her. It was probably directions to where All Time Low’s dressing room was, because she literally had no clue where to go. She was in a hallway that branched off to the left and the right just a couple of feet further. It was the perfect place to get lost in. The only solution was to pull out her phone and text Alex, which annoyed her a little because she wanted to surprise him, not just by showing up but also by having made her way there all by herself.

However, then she saw bright orange tape stuck to the floor in the shape of an arrow pointing forward. Alex did tell her they always had to put directions everywhere because they would often get lost in the venue, so she decided to take the chance and follow the tape. Eventually, she had to turn to the right and take another left soon after. But as she passed those two points, she arrived exactly where she wanted to be. There it was, an open door with a sign saying ‘ALL TIME LOW’ right beside it. Riley took the last couple of steps and hoped that Alex was actually there, or things would have turned awkward pretty quickly.

She didn’t have time to even look around before Iggy pulled away and rushed over to Alex, having heard his voice as he spoke. The leash was still hanging from her collar, only having pulled out of Riley’s hand. Over time, Iggy had developed such a great bond with Alex that she treated him just like another owner. Alex looked up in shock when he was suddenly attacked with the labrador’s hugs and kisses. She kept whining in excitement as she tried her best to climb up his body.

When Alex finally registered what was going on, he couldn’t help but laugh and get down on the floor so Iggy was free to do whatever she wanted. He hugged her back, feeding off of her excitement and had to utter the classic sentence, “who’s a good girl?”

While that was going on, Jack was the one to jump up at the sight of Riley. “Riley, you’re here!” He screamed out despite knowing that Riley couldn’t hear him. Just like Iggy had done with Alex, Jack enveloped Riley in a hug that nearly winded her.

The other two members of the band stared in shock at the loud chaotic mess that was going on around them. Just seconds before they were having a casual conversation as friends, and now one was on the floor playing with a dog while the other was unnecessarily screaming at a blonde girl. Of course, they knew Alex’s girlfriend was coming over to meet them and see the show, but they expected to be a lot quieter with the whole being deaf thing and stuff.

Riley just patted Jack on his back to reciprocate the hug, more than eager to see her boyfriend. Sure, she was happy she got to see Jack as well again, but she wasn’t there for him. So, as soon as Alex stood back up from the floor, she was about to push Jack away. However, Alex was there first and shoved his best friend away before taking his place and tightly hugging Riley to his chest. There, of course, wasn’t much point telling her that he missed her while hugging, so instead he decided to show it by putting his hands on her cheeks and planting a firm kiss on her lips.

As soon as their PDA was finally over, Alex pulled her further into the room and brought her straight to Zack and Rian. They were now completely ready to meet her, knowing that whatever was going to happen now was not going to be any stranger than that initial moment. So, they basically already had a first impression but still wanted to meet her despite it not being the greatest.

Iggy immediately joined, once against lacing back and forth between Riley’s legs as she finally noticed there were people she actually did not know. She still hadn’t gotten rid of that habit and Riley was starting to believe she was never going to get her over it. But, hey, at least the good natured dog wasn’t attacking people for no reason, that would have been even worse.

“Ok, Zack, Rian, this is Riley, the girl I’ve told you a bit about,” Alex introduced Riley to the guys first before turning to Riley and going over to the sign language he had been practicing every single day in the safety of his bunk or in the shower. ‘This is Z-A-C-K and R-I-A-N.’

Riley smiled both to come off as a nice person and because she was so proud of Alex being able to spell their names right in one go without hesitating. She didn’t know how often he had been practicing since he realized how quickly the hometown date was coming up, but that didn’t really matter. To her, Alex was getting better at it and she couldn’t have been more impressed.

They all went to sit back on the couches. Iggy had a hard time choosing who to sit with between Alex and Riley despite the fact that they were sitting next to each other. Eventually, she decided to push away Alex’s legs from the couch and lie down behind them, deciding she hadn’t seen him in such a long time. All Alex could do was laugh and give her more space. He would have killed to see his own two dogs, which Riley was taking care off, but he knew it was a little too much to ask if she could bring them here as well. She had already voiced how difficult it was to walk all three of them, he could only imagine the extra chaos that would have occurred if they were here as well.

At one point, Jack nudged Riley and asked in a slow and clear voice, “do you want anything to drink?”

Riley got out her trusty notebook and opened a blank page to start scribbling on for the evening. ‘Yes, please. Just nothing alcoholic, I’m driving.”

Jack stopped in his tracks and read the note with a confused expression. “You’re driving?”

Riley sighed, having had this comment way too often before. She didn’t get to logic those people had. ‘I’m deaf, Jack, not blind.’

“So you can drive?”

‘How else would I have gotten here?’

“Right…” He nodded and went to the cooler, not feeling like he understood any better than before. Of course, blind people couldn’t drive, but deaf people also couldn’t, right? But then again, what did you need your hearing for other than having to endure the honking of other people?

The sight of Riley’s notebook reminded Alex of something. He jumped up, scaring a sleeping Iggy in the process, who immediately scoured underneath Riley’s legs instead. Riley looked down at the animal and giggled, making both Zack and Rian look at her in surprise. It sounded so natural, something they hadn’t expected from somebody who had been deaf since birth. Anybody could understand why it was Alex’s favorite sound.

After scrambling through his bag, Alex pulled out a thin long wrapped box while Jack handed Riley a soda. Most people would have guessed that the gift was some fancy necklace that was carefully placed on some velvet and covered in tissue paper. But, no, he had gotten her something she would appreciate much more. He had seen her work with simple pencils and pens she found lying around, but nothing that was just a little more ‘artistic’. So, when he saw a little art store in one of the cities they were playing in, he had to go in and see what he could get her. Of course, he also didn’t want to get a large selection of something for it to turn out that she did not like the medium.

He handed the box over to Riley, who inspected it before raising her eyebrows up at him. It was like she was unsure of what to do. Alex just shook his head a little and told her to open it both by gesturing and speaking. Riley gave him one last look to tell him that he shouldn’t have, but soon after started carefully peeling the tape of paper away. When she saw a small tin of charcoal pencils, she smiled brightly and signed out ‘thank you’. Alex leaned in to kiss her to acknowledge it, but it was cut short by Riley reaching out to her notepad again.

At first, Alex was confused, not thinking that she needed to write out anything to thank him more than she already did. But then she started flipping a few pages back. It took a while for her to find what she was searching for, but once she did she didn’t hesitate to rip the page out. Alex shortly found out what was going on when he saw Iggy, Sebastian, and Peyton all drawn on a full page, all of them asleep and curled up together.

“It’s the doggos!” Alex gasped at how he was able to recognize them all in no time. He knew Riley was great at drawing, but she never failed to amaze him.

Now it was Riley’s turn to be the one to be amazed.

As the time when All Time Low went up on stage started nearing, the boys actually had to start getting ready by putting in their in-ear-monitors and grabbing their first instruments. The last step was always done side stage since it was easier to keep equipment there and not shove it around constantly. So, as the ten-minute mark hit, Riley went along with Alex and left Iggy in the dressing room. It wasn’t a really good idea to bring her along with so much noise. Maybe Riley could deal with it really well, but Iggy definitely couldn’t.

Soon the intro started playing and the boys started getting pumped. Alex turned to Riley one last time before walking out to play a show for his fans. She herself was getting very excited especially since all the energy was so great.

She kissed him deeply when they had thirty seconds left and signed, ‘I love you, good luck!”

Alex signed ‘I love you’ back before Riley took a few steps back so that she wasn’t in the way in the last few hectic seconds. And then all the lights turned off. Rian was the first to run out behind his drums while the other three men slowly walked to their positions. It was all so calm. They took a few seconds before the first vibration spread through the floor. Then another came, and another, until it became a nonstop dancing of colorful waves accompanied with flashing lights to create a visual show as well.

Riley stared at her feet for a little while, never having felt music this way before. Yes, she had been in the car with Alex blasting music before, meaning she occasionally felt the bass, but this was a whole different experience. She wanted to feel it better, not just through a small part of her body, so she did the one thing you normally couldn’t do while at a concert and sat on the floor. The vibrations now went through her entire legs, some already becoming more distinct than others. Only once she put the palms of her hands flat on the floor as well, was she able to make out a few different vibrations. There was a sharper more constant one that she guessed were the drums, a very low humming one that fit the description of a bass, and then the rest all blended together to create a jumble that fit together.

She watched with awe as the band’s movements fit perfectly with what she was feeling. It was like they were one: Alex singing loudly into his mic while bouncing along with the song, Jack running around like crazy, Zack’s calm stepping, and Rian’s erratic hitting of the drums. She could finally appreciate music as well. This was why people like it so much. It just made sense; it was beauty in a new form.

Once a few songs had been played, Riley mainly noticing the changes when the lights changed slightly or when there was a brief pause, there was a longer break. The entire band stopped playing their instruments and Alex and Jack went to their microphones after taking a drink. Jack was the first to start to talk. The vibrations were pretty low, however there was something in them that suggested a higher pitch as well. As soon as Jack had said whatever he wanted, Alex replied. Riley stared at him as his lips moved against the microphone and she could feel his voice through her entire body. It was smoother and just a little deeper than Jack’s, but she wasn’t focused on that. All she could think about was that she was actually experiencing Alex’s voice. This was him. She didn’t know why, but it nearly brought tears to her eyes. All this time, voices had been unknown to her, but here she was getting to feel them.

Alex briefly looked to the side and made eye contact with her. She gave him a small wave to show that she was ok, that she didn’t decide to sit on the floor because something was going on. All she wanted was for him to turn back to the microphone and start talking or singing again. She wanted to feel it another time.

This was unusual.

Notes

I HAVE AN OFFER FOR ANYBODY WILLING!
Ok, so, I've been having some trouble writing this story. It's not because I don't have any ideas, my motivation has just gone down. It's been happening with all my stories even though I have quite a lot of time now, but mainly with this story, hence the whole month of waiting.
So, what I thought would be cool was to maybe get a cowriter for this story or somebody who would like to write a chapter occasionally (even only one would work). Of course, you'll get full credit for your work. Now, don't say 'but my writing isn't any good, I don't want to ruin this story/I'm not worth it', because the only way to improve is by actually writing. Trust me, I've been there. Go read my first story, and no, not the one of here, I came a long way before starting here (if you really want to, go over to the Pierce The Veil fanfiction website. I cringe when I read it, so I prefer nobody to read it anymore. I don't understand how it got so many views at the time). I'm offering this as an opportunity for anybody who wants it.
Don't worry about responsibilities. Yes, you'll be writing for this story, but no things won't be on a tight schedule. You can write as often as you like, even if it's only once every two months or something. I, myself, am not very consistent either. There won't even be an order. Most co-written stories are like one person writes a chapter then the other writes the next and so on, but it can be all over the place. Also, you can quit anytime you like. I won't force you to do anything you don't feel like doing anymore.
I just don't have so much motivation to write, but don't want to give up on this story as a whole. So, anybody who really does love this story can now contribute even more than I have already been telling you to.
I now also realize there is a high chance nobody would want to, since that often seems to happen, and that this long-ass message is for nothing. But it's worth a shot.