All Again For You

"Alan, what is that? It tastes good!" I said after taking a sip of Alan's alcoholic beverage.

"Um, I'm not really sure actually. I know that there's Jack in it, but that's all I know."

"Oh, that's why I like it." I shrugged it off, laughing as Alan did at my comment.

We sat in PTV's dressing room for Night 2 of the New York shows, both drinking a little. Benji wasn't here yet with Frankie, so I was hanging out with Alan for the meantime. People kept walking in and out of the room, up and down the hall, all trying to get ready for tonight. Jaime was sitting by the mirror straightening his hair up in spikes as best as he could, with help from me from time to time.

Tony was on his phone, no worries as usual. I think he was texting his girlfriend. Vic was picking out what t-shirt he was going to wear on stage tonight and Mike was sitting there banging his sticks on the tennis shoe of Casey, his drum tech.

I was trying to forget about last night entirely and as best as I could. But all I could think of is if Austin was sorry, and what he said about me that pissed off Mike that bad. I wondered if he felt guilty just as I felt, for being the cause. Or, if he was laughing this whole thing off and trying to act tough for his friends.

Apparently, news of the fight leaked online, I don't know how or by who, but online blogs such as PupFresh and Alter The Press were talking about it. All I know is that if my name is mentioned, which I'm sure it was, I'm gonna be in big trouble when I get back to work in a couple of days. All of Austin's fangirls were telling me shit on Instagram and Twitter; I didn't really care because I don't give a fuck about 13 year olds.

I looked over at Mike, whom was calmly drumming on Casey's rubber shoe and studied the newly printed black eye that was barely noticeable last night. He was the last person I wanted dragged into any of this, I didn't want anyone dragged into it. I was talking to Tal last night and he said that Austin told him what happened but he kind of believes Mike's side of the story because just like I've been saying, Austin isn't one to let things go; not easily at least.

I looked down at my engagement ring and only imagined the wonderful future and life that Mike and I would spend together. I couldn't wait to marry him, and be his wife, and have this amazing marriage, and pop out little babies, and growing old with him, really. That's what I was most excited about. Thinking about all of this made it all so easy to forget about the drama going on in my life. Even Austin's dad told me congratulations, but not Austin. He wasn't happy for me, and that's okay, but don't punch my fiancé in the eye over it. (Am I right?)

"Luce, you're kind of spacing out. Are you high or something?" A voice sounding much like Jaime's said as he was now standing in front of me and not sitting in front of the mirror anymore.

I laughed a little, "Sorry, I was just thinking about some stuff." I adjusted my sweater by pulling it down a little. "And no, I'm not high."

Mike looked over to me and half smiled, his brown eyes not leaving me for that moment. I smiled back at him then shyly looked back down at the beer bottle in my hand. Whenever he looked at me like that I felt nervous. It felt like a million butterflies were surrounding me and then all entering my stomach at one, not caring that I was trying to breathe correctly over here.

Mike got my attention by making eye contact with me once I looked back up from my bottle. "You okay?" He asked silently, not wanting anyone else to join the conversation, just moving his lips. I nodded slowly, because I really was okay, I was just thinking.

Tino popped into the room with that perfect and big smile of his. "Hey Alan, can you come to our room for a second. Our fearless leader wants to talk to you about something." He said speaking of Austin, making everyone, including Mike and I, laugh.

Alan nodded, then walked past Tino to his dressing room. Tino said hi to all the guys, even though I'm sure they already said hi by now. Tino sat beside me on the couch and greeted me also adding a tight squeeze along with it. "Sorry about yesterday, Luce. If it makes you feel better, we're all basically Team You and Mike because Austin's kind of a dick at the moment."

I chuckled, "Thanks. But it's okay, Tino. Ain't no thang, Zing Daddy Millz."

Tino let out a bellowing laugh, "Zing Daddy Millz." He said, repeating what I said softly as he laughed, then left the room.

The guys and I all looked at one another and laughed at Tino's bizarre behavior, but it was nothing new. Mike came and sat next to me, putting his arm around me and bringing me into a little hug. I looked up at him and he gave me a kiss. "You're black eye makes me sad, but at the same time it's kind of cute." I said softly making him laugh.

"Is it? Does it make me look tough, Luce?"

"Just a little bit, buggie." I smirked at him, feeling bittersweet that I was with him, but tonight was the last night with him for a couple more weeks.


--


After the show, Benji, Frankie, and I stayed at the bar hoping not to see another PTV / OMM Fight Night Round 2. Frankie was telling us all the stuff that Benj and I could do in the next couple of days that we had left here in New York. I was ignoring him talk for a moment while I was observing the room.

My eyes went to this one girl who had been sitting at one of the tables for a while. She was dressed in all black and wearing a black Pierce the Veil t-shirt. She was on her phone, with a giant smile on her face. I noticed that she had a hot pink wristband on, meaning that she got to go to the Meet and Greet. I wondered if she was telling her Internet followers all about meeting Pierce the Veil, letting all the fans know that haven't met them, how they are personally.

It brought me back, and I never got to meet some of my favorite bands. I think one time I saw Travis Barker, Tom Delonge, and Mark Hoppus of Blink 182 eating at this burger place after the show, but I didn't want to bother them. I think that's my thing, I just feel like I'd bother them if I went up to say hi and tell them how much they meant to me and how much they changed my entire perspective on life with a three minute song.

My gaze went back to Benji whom was talking to Frankie. Why hadn't it hit me that I was sitting with quite possibly my most favorite guitarist and singer. I mean, this is Benji Madden from Good Charlotte; one of my all time favorite bands. He was sitting here with me, he was one of my very best friends. How the hell did this all happen?

A soft voice brought me out of my little thinking zone, and to the girl that I was looking at previously. "You're Lucy Garcia right?" She asked, her eyes wide. "You write for Alt. Press magazine?"

I nodded, giving her a gentle smile, "Yeah, that's me."

"I seriously love your writing style. I've been reading Alt. Press forever and ever since you came on board, your articles and reviews are literally what I look forward too every issue."

"Aw, thank you! That really means a lot." I didn't even think that people read my articles. I thought only some bands did to see what I wrote about them or thought about their new albums. I think what most importantly freaked me out about this girl coming up to me, was that she said, "You write for Alt. Press magazine." and not "You're Mike Fuentes' fiancee."

"Mike is pretty lucky to have someone like you in his life. You could see it on his face, too. I met them earlier at the meet and greet and I was telling him how much I adore your writing, because I wanna be a writer as well, and his eyes lit up at the mere mention of your name."

I smiled at my new young friend and everything she had to say. I never really get fan praise so this was new to me. I kind of liked it though. Some fans hated me because of what I had to say about their favorite bands' songs and albums. This one time, I gave some Black Veil Brides song not a too good review and the insanity I got from their fans was well, insane.

The young PTV fan told me thank you, then left back to the table. She was back on her phone and typing away. A couple girls came up and sat with her at the table, all talking together. They had hot pink wristbands, too. "I guess you're famous now, Luce." Benji said with a grin.

I shook my head, "No. I never get people who actually give a shit about my writing. They are always like, 'Oh my god, aren't you dating Mike?!' and then they walk away. That was kind of nice." I smiled, then looked down at my phone as I had received a text from Mike. It said to go back there with him. "Alright boys, I'll be right back." They nodded and continued talking and drinking. I grabbed my bag and walked back to the backstage area.

As I was walking back there, I saw Austin standing outside of his dressing room carrying his bags. No one else was in the hallway, it was just him. He was fixing his headphones so he could go back on his bus. His eyes made immediate contact with me as I was getting closer and closer to him. "Lucy, can I talk to you for a moment?" He asked, his voice almost gone after a show of screaming.

"Make it fast, I have to see Mike." I said quickly and coldly. I studied his face and saw that he also had a black eye and a bruise on his chin.

"I know that I crossed the line, a number of times. I know last night was my fault, but I just wanted to say that I was sorry. I apologize for everything. I don't want you to forgive me, you should be mad at me, more often than you've ever been. But, I just really wanted to say that I was sorry for saying things about you and then starting with Mike. That was wrong and immature of me."

"You know what's funny? I don't even know what you said about me. But, it had to be bad enough to make Mike mad enough to hit you." I looked at him, then walked away to go into the PTV dressing room. All of this brought me back to when Mike had fought Jakob back in the day, all because Jakob had said something bad about me. Mike really was protective of me, but it was nice to have someone that had my back.

I walked into the room and all four boys looked up at me with smiles as they packed up their bags. "Hey." I said smiling. They each said their hey's and I walked over to Mike. "Great show, buggie." I smiled, standing on my tippy toes to kiss him.

"Thank you." He said, kissing me again, then smiling on my lips.

"I'm kind of really sad that you guys are leaving tonight." I said, before my phone started ringing. I saw the name and my heart instantly was beating out of control. My boss, Mike Shea, was calling me.

I answered it quickly, "Hey Shea!" I tried to sound like I was okay.

"Hey Luce, I know you're on vacation right now, but I wanted to talk to you about something."

I sat down on a chair and sighed, "Yeah, sure. What's up?" Mike looked at me with worried eyes, as did everyone else. They knew that I could potentially get into trouble about the whole fight thing, since it does involve me.

"Well, I know that you're in New York visiting Mike, but I heard about an altercation between him and Austin from Of Mice and Men."

"Um, yeah. That happened last night." I began to feel nervousness running through my body. This can't be good.

"So it is true? I was reading about it on some music blogs, but I wasn't sure."

"Yes, it's true."

"Okay, and I'm not sure what it's about, giving that these articles are saying it was about you, but I want you to know that even though you are on vacation, you are still representing Alternative Press. And, you've worked hard to get to where you're at now..." My eyes began to water as my biggest fear seemed closer than I had ever imagined; getting fired. "I don't want you to throw that away. But, I wanted you to cut your vacation short and be back in Los Angeles ASAP, so we could talk about this. I will be flying in tomorrow."

It began to get hard to swallow with the lump in my throat. "Okay, I can do that. I can leave to the airport after everyone leaves the venue and head back home."

As soon as I said that, Mike's face fell. It had guilt written all over it. I didn't want him to feel guilty, I expected this. I had a feeling that I was going to get in trouble for being involved. I am, afterall representing Alt. Press. "Okay, sounds good. I'll see you tomorrow around 3, Lucy."


"Bye, Shea." I said then hung up the phone. I took a very deep breath and felt like crying.

"Baby, what did he say? Are you fired?" Mike asked, freaking out.

"Well, my vacation is cut short because he needs to speak with me about all of this tomorrow. He's flying in from Ohio and said he'll see me at three. I have to go straight to the airport, now and find a flight to LA. And, I'm not sure if I'm getting fired. He said that even though I'm on vacation that I'm still a representation of Alternative Press, which is true."

"But you didn't do anything?" Tony added.

I shook my head, "Yes, I did. I was involved and it was about me. All those music blogs already reported it to the T, and he found out and read it. Since my name was brought up, I'm automatically involved."

"This is such bullshit." Vic said, in shock it seemed.

"Guys it's fine. I'm just gonna have to find out what happens tomorrow." I looked at Mike, not wanting him to worry about anything. I'm a big girl, I can handle things on my own and take responsibility for my own actions.

Notes

GUYS! What do you think is going to happen now that Lucy has to leave early? Do you think she'll get fired or in trouble?

And, what are your thoughts on Austin's apology? Did it seem sincere or just another one of his sorry apologies?

Leave your questions, comments, concerns at the bottom and we'll see what happens next :)

Love you forever,
Amber