All Again For You
Storm and Stress
A few months had passed and Mike was finally home from touring all over the U.S. and Europe and I was so happy having him home for Christmas. He felt so guilty about not being home for my birthday, but that didn't matter to me. Him being home for the holidays was enough of a belated birthday present for me. I had always hoped that back then that I was too young to deal with a boyfriend who was touring. But, I think it came as a shock to me because Pierce the Veil was a newborn baby at that time, and I went from having him every single day since the day I had met him, to him throwing it on me that they were gonna be gone for the next six months.
We'd been together for five straight months and dealt with it pretty nicely. He told me last night that he's kind of glad that we had that time apart, because it let each of us grow into who we were supposed to be.
Him and I were having dinner with Vic and Katelynne. Mike and Vic had cooked a fabulous meal for us and it was just a fun night of having a few drinks. I was happy Vic was back too because the look on his face when Mike spilled about his drunk stories was priceless.
"Dude, you were so fucked up with Alex. Rian and I were dying as we watched you two. It was possibly the greatest moment of my life." Mike spoke with an exaggerated tone.
Vic laughed as his dark complexion had a sudden light pink tone to it. "Man, fuck you. You and Jack were on another level of wasted about ninety-nine percent of that tour."
"But little big brother, it is expected of me to be wasted, not you."
I chimed in, nodding my head in agreement with Mike. "He's got a point there, Vic."
"Whatever, guys." He said as Katelynne laughed and shared some stories when she saw them in the UK with Bring Me The Horizon.
I loved nights like these. Just calm, cool, and spent happily with my favorite people.
The next afternoon, I was sitting in my office, focusing on an interview with Tonight Alive, my newest obsession without a doubt, and their newest album The Other Side. I clicked 'Send' as I emailed the questions to Marc, my editor. A knock came on my office door and not paying attention, I said, "Come in."
In walks Austin Carlile, someone I hadn't seen in a long while. We talked every now and then after the whole little argument, but it wasn't ever the same between us.
My eyes lit up, "Austin! Oh my god, what are you doing back in LA?"
He chuckled as we walked over to me and gave me a hug, "I'm back. We finally finished the album."
"That took forever, take a seat." I said gesturing towards the chairs before me. "How was Jersey?"
"It was great. This record is going to be amazing, I guarantee it, Luce."
"I have a feeling it is. I saw every Instagram picture and video regarding it. It sounds great so far."
He paused for a second and stared at a framed picture sitting on my desk. It was that picture that Mike had of him and I back when we worked at Target; my hair a mess and soda all over us and that white clean-up powder all over us too. "Cute picture." He softly chuckled, "Is this from when you lived in San Diego?"
I nodded with a half smile, "Yeah. That picture is really old."
"I wanted to apologize." He said, moving his eyes from the picture to me. "I really got mad and I feel like that's the most selfish thing I've ever done. I had to leave, and Jersey couldn't have come at a better time, to be honest with you. You didn't break my heart, Luce. I was more than happy to get that off of my chest because it had been eating me up. I don't know, I've toured with Mike countless times and from what I'd seen back then, he didn't deserve you. But, I see it, like this picture and this is a totally different Mike. I feel like this is the real Mike. I feel like he's only like this with you. He's not trying hard to impress anyone, he only has eyes for you.
I don't know what your relationship was like with him. And, it's not fair of me to judge him based on a Mike that I've toured with from who he really is. I see how happy he makes you, and that's honestly the only thing that matters to me is to see you happy. And this smiling Lucy right here, is one I haven't ever seen up until recently. So, I'm sorry for being really disrespectful and just selfish. You don't deserve that." He finished his speech, looking from his hands to me, nervously.
"Austin, it's okay. Look, I didn't tell you that it was him because I felt like if I hadn't kept him private, then I would lose a piece of him, and I didn't want that. And, I apologize for being really ugly and yelling at you." I stuck out my lip and he chuckled.
"Are we best friends again or have I gotten replaced since I've been gone?"
"Best friends. And, you've been a teeny bit replaced." I joked, laughing.
"What's been going on since I've been gone?" He asked.
"You'll never believe who my brother and I met up with a few months ago." I trailed off, explaining the whole meet-up with my parents and telling him about Mike and I being together and how Matt and I have rekindled our relationship since the whole parents thing.
We talked for a while as I worked, and he kept me entertained with stories from New Jersey and New York. I was happy that things were going to get back to normal around here.
This two hour drive a couple of times a week was killing me and my wallet. I didn't know how annoying it would be to see my boyfriend. I was jamming out to Tonight Alive's new album because frankly, I'm obsessed with it when I got a call from an out of state number on my phone.
"Hello?" I answered, lowering my stereo.
"Is this Lucy Garcia?" The voice of a man came across the other line.
"Yes, this is she." I was a little confused and weirded out to be honest.
"This is Jann Wenner and I wanted to speak with you about something that could be huge."
I sat in a daze once I had pulled up to Mike's house. I felt like I had been sitting there for ages. I finally got out of the car and walked up to the house with my bag in hand. I rang the doorbell and Mike answered it grinning. "Hey, baby." He bent down and kissed my lips.
"Rolling Stone Magazine just called me for an interview." I blurted out, still in shock.
His eyes grew wider than mine were, "Are you serious?" He shut the door behind him and we both stood there wide-eyed.
"I've never been so serious in my life. Rolling Stone wants me to interview for them, Mike."
Suddenly, the biggest grin formed on his face and he started jumping up and down, "Oh my god, Lucy! Oh my god! This is great!"
It had finally hit me and I started shouting and jumping up and down with him, earning stares from Jaime, his girlfriend Jessica, Tony, Vic, Casey, Mal, and Jaxin and Natalie Hall. We hadn't even noticed they were looking at us.
"Um, why are you guys jumping and yelling?" Tony asked, super creeped out as he stared at us then around the room.
Mike ignored them, "Who called?"
"Their editor. Their fucking editor called me and asked me when I was available to fly out there and have an interview!" I answered Mike, also ignoring everyone around us.
"Oh my god, this is amazing. I told you this would happen! I called this like six years ago, Luce. Oh my god, congrats baby!" He kissed my lips and I kissed him back. "When do you go?"
"In a couple of days." I grinned, super excited that the biggest music and more magazine called me for an interview. I couldn't even believe it.
"So, is anyone gonna share what's happening or?" Vic asked.
Mike turned around to face everyone and excalimed, "Rolling Stone Magazine called Lucy for an interview! They are interested in my baby!" He shouted and everyone was shouting how great it was and he hugged me tightly, "I'm so proud of you."
Mal stopped cheering and asked suddenly, "Aren't they in New York?"
"Yeah, what do you mean?" I questioned.
"I mean that if you get the job, you're moving to New York, Lucy." She bit her lip and looked down sadly. Once everyone realized what she had said, they looked sad, also.
I felt like the room went dead, and I looked up at Mike. His happiness had fallen as well as everyone else's, including mine. I don't know why I didn't realize this earlier. If I can't even handle the two hour commute between Mike and I now, how the fuck am I going to deal with being on the other side of the country?
We'd been together for five straight months and dealt with it pretty nicely. He told me last night that he's kind of glad that we had that time apart, because it let each of us grow into who we were supposed to be.
Him and I were having dinner with Vic and Katelynne. Mike and Vic had cooked a fabulous meal for us and it was just a fun night of having a few drinks. I was happy Vic was back too because the look on his face when Mike spilled about his drunk stories was priceless.
"Dude, you were so fucked up with Alex. Rian and I were dying as we watched you two. It was possibly the greatest moment of my life." Mike spoke with an exaggerated tone.
Vic laughed as his dark complexion had a sudden light pink tone to it. "Man, fuck you. You and Jack were on another level of wasted about ninety-nine percent of that tour."
"But little big brother, it is expected of me to be wasted, not you."
I chimed in, nodding my head in agreement with Mike. "He's got a point there, Vic."
"Whatever, guys." He said as Katelynne laughed and shared some stories when she saw them in the UK with Bring Me The Horizon.
I loved nights like these. Just calm, cool, and spent happily with my favorite people.
The next afternoon, I was sitting in my office, focusing on an interview with Tonight Alive, my newest obsession without a doubt, and their newest album The Other Side. I clicked 'Send' as I emailed the questions to Marc, my editor. A knock came on my office door and not paying attention, I said, "Come in."
In walks Austin Carlile, someone I hadn't seen in a long while. We talked every now and then after the whole little argument, but it wasn't ever the same between us.
My eyes lit up, "Austin! Oh my god, what are you doing back in LA?"
He chuckled as we walked over to me and gave me a hug, "I'm back. We finally finished the album."
"That took forever, take a seat." I said gesturing towards the chairs before me. "How was Jersey?"
"It was great. This record is going to be amazing, I guarantee it, Luce."
"I have a feeling it is. I saw every Instagram picture and video regarding it. It sounds great so far."
He paused for a second and stared at a framed picture sitting on my desk. It was that picture that Mike had of him and I back when we worked at Target; my hair a mess and soda all over us and that white clean-up powder all over us too. "Cute picture." He softly chuckled, "Is this from when you lived in San Diego?"
I nodded with a half smile, "Yeah. That picture is really old."
"I wanted to apologize." He said, moving his eyes from the picture to me. "I really got mad and I feel like that's the most selfish thing I've ever done. I had to leave, and Jersey couldn't have come at a better time, to be honest with you. You didn't break my heart, Luce. I was more than happy to get that off of my chest because it had been eating me up. I don't know, I've toured with Mike countless times and from what I'd seen back then, he didn't deserve you. But, I see it, like this picture and this is a totally different Mike. I feel like this is the real Mike. I feel like he's only like this with you. He's not trying hard to impress anyone, he only has eyes for you.
I don't know what your relationship was like with him. And, it's not fair of me to judge him based on a Mike that I've toured with from who he really is. I see how happy he makes you, and that's honestly the only thing that matters to me is to see you happy. And this smiling Lucy right here, is one I haven't ever seen up until recently. So, I'm sorry for being really disrespectful and just selfish. You don't deserve that." He finished his speech, looking from his hands to me, nervously.
"Austin, it's okay. Look, I didn't tell you that it was him because I felt like if I hadn't kept him private, then I would lose a piece of him, and I didn't want that. And, I apologize for being really ugly and yelling at you." I stuck out my lip and he chuckled.
"Are we best friends again or have I gotten replaced since I've been gone?"
"Best friends. And, you've been a teeny bit replaced." I joked, laughing.
"What's been going on since I've been gone?" He asked.
"You'll never believe who my brother and I met up with a few months ago." I trailed off, explaining the whole meet-up with my parents and telling him about Mike and I being together and how Matt and I have rekindled our relationship since the whole parents thing.
We talked for a while as I worked, and he kept me entertained with stories from New Jersey and New York. I was happy that things were going to get back to normal around here.
This two hour drive a couple of times a week was killing me and my wallet. I didn't know how annoying it would be to see my boyfriend. I was jamming out to Tonight Alive's new album because frankly, I'm obsessed with it when I got a call from an out of state number on my phone.
"Hello?" I answered, lowering my stereo.
"Is this Lucy Garcia?" The voice of a man came across the other line.
"Yes, this is she." I was a little confused and weirded out to be honest.
"This is Jann Wenner and I wanted to speak with you about something that could be huge."
I sat in a daze once I had pulled up to Mike's house. I felt like I had been sitting there for ages. I finally got out of the car and walked up to the house with my bag in hand. I rang the doorbell and Mike answered it grinning. "Hey, baby." He bent down and kissed my lips.
"Rolling Stone Magazine just called me for an interview." I blurted out, still in shock.
His eyes grew wider than mine were, "Are you serious?" He shut the door behind him and we both stood there wide-eyed.
"I've never been so serious in my life. Rolling Stone wants me to interview for them, Mike."
Suddenly, the biggest grin formed on his face and he started jumping up and down, "Oh my god, Lucy! Oh my god! This is great!"
It had finally hit me and I started shouting and jumping up and down with him, earning stares from Jaime, his girlfriend Jessica, Tony, Vic, Casey, Mal, and Jaxin and Natalie Hall. We hadn't even noticed they were looking at us.
"Um, why are you guys jumping and yelling?" Tony asked, super creeped out as he stared at us then around the room.
Mike ignored them, "Who called?"
"Their editor. Their fucking editor called me and asked me when I was available to fly out there and have an interview!" I answered Mike, also ignoring everyone around us.
"Oh my god, this is amazing. I told you this would happen! I called this like six years ago, Luce. Oh my god, congrats baby!" He kissed my lips and I kissed him back. "When do you go?"
"In a couple of days." I grinned, super excited that the biggest music and more magazine called me for an interview. I couldn't even believe it.
"So, is anyone gonna share what's happening or?" Vic asked.
Mike turned around to face everyone and excalimed, "Rolling Stone Magazine called Lucy for an interview! They are interested in my baby!" He shouted and everyone was shouting how great it was and he hugged me tightly, "I'm so proud of you."
Mal stopped cheering and asked suddenly, "Aren't they in New York?"
"Yeah, what do you mean?" I questioned.
"I mean that if you get the job, you're moving to New York, Lucy." She bit her lip and looked down sadly. Once everyone realized what she had said, they looked sad, also.
I felt like the room went dead, and I looked up at Mike. His happiness had fallen as well as everyone else's, including mine. I don't know why I didn't realize this earlier. If I can't even handle the two hour commute between Mike and I now, how the fuck am I going to deal with being on the other side of the country?
Notes
What do you guys think about this chapter? Austin apologizing? Mike being back home? The San Diego-LA distance? AND WHAT ABOUT HER INTERVIEW WITH ROLLING STONE THAT IS COMING UP?If she gets the job, do you think that she'd leave LA, So. Cal, her friends, family, and most of all, Mike? After all, it's been her dream to work there and write for them.
Leave your questions, comments, and concerns and we shall find out on the next chapter.
T H A N K Y O U F O R R E A D I N G xoxo, Amber
@kelseyyy_lee: You're welcome! Thank you for reading xx
12/5/14