All Again For You
Victims of Love
I sat alone in my living room, faint sounds of a reality show coming from the tv. My focus was on my laptop, typing this interview out. I had the recorded tape on my work laptop, pressing pause and p,any every now and then. There was shouting and knocking coming from my door, and I groaned getting up from my comfortable spot, to answer it.
Flashing their prettiest smiles, was Alan Ashby, Austin Carlile, and Tal Cooperman. They were all dressed quite nicely in black pants, and nice button up shirts. The smiles fell once they studied my appearance, wearing black leggings and an old, grey tank top that had a skull on it.
"Holy fuck, what time is it?" I exclaimed as I let them in and grabbed my phone to look at the time.
"It's 7, ya know, the time we'd say we would be here so we could go to dinner." Tal said annoyed,
I chewed on my lip and frowned, "I'm so sorry, guys. I got caught up in typing up the Pierce The Veil interview! Give me like fifteen minutes and I'll be ready." I shouted as I ran to my room and started applying my makeup. I'm thankful that I showered earlier, because I would not have had time for that right now.
Once done, I let my hair out of it's top bun and let my natural waves take control of the situation as I found for something to wear. I picked out a black dress that showed a little of my chest region, but not my boobs, with its sheer material. Finding shoes to match was the hardest part, but I did it, and put those heels on. I ran a hand through my hair, silently praising the Hair Gods for giving me good hair to work with in times likes these. I walked out of my bedroom door and to the boys, announcing that I was ready.
Tal smirked looking at his watch saying, "That was seventeen minutes, actually."
"Fuck you, let's go." I said as I was putting on my earrings, gold watch, and rings to accessorize my outfit and handed Austin my bag to hold as I was doing so.
They laughed and we piled into Tal's car, a Misfits song boring through the stereo. I had shotgun so I could examine myself in the mirror. You don't look bad for having seventeen minutes, Luce. Way to go.
At dinner, we sat at a table where Benji Madden was sitting with his older brother, Josh. I had met Josh countless times as he DJ'd a lot and also worked for a magazine, Nylon Men. We kept in touch often and emailed back and forth.
"Beautiful Lucy, how are you?" Josh questioned, giving me a small hug and a light kiss on the cheek .
"I'm doing great, how are you?" I asked, walking to his brother, whom I had a teenage crush on back in the day. I'm telling you, I had all the posters, t-shirts, albums; everything. I loved this dude and his band more than anything. I'd actually like to take this opportunity to say that I would not have survived my teen angst phase, without Good Charlotte and the whole early 2000s pop punk era singing to me daily.
Benji shot me that beautiful grin of his and gave me a hug, "Hey Lucy! It's nice to see you again." I took a seat in between him and Tal, then looked around the table at all these fine men I was sitting with.
"It's very nice to see you again, Benj." I smiled, those teenage years coming over me and instantly embarrassing me; like he knew. "Is Joel coming?"
He shook his head, "Him and Nicole are having a date night tonight. The kids are at her dads."
I nodded then lightly hit his shoulder to get his attention, "Oh my god, I have to tell you that Alt. Press is doing this Take Me Back to 2002-2003 thing and all the writers are doing pieces on what bands and albums shaped us during that time. I chose Blink 182, Fall Out Boy, and of course, Good Charlotte."
A smile grew on his pink lips and his eyes twinkled, as if it were the strangest thing to have somebody consider his band good enough for an honor like that. "Lucy, no way! That's so awesome! Thank you so much, that's such an honor."
"No, my dude, thank you. But yeah, I'm really stoked. That's my next big piece after the one I'm doing now."
Tal nudged me, speaking softly, "How'd that go by the way?" He was referring to Mike, and I didn't know what to say. It had been three days and Mike and I had spoken everyday, of course, but there was still no change. I'm not sure if I wanted it, though. Believe me, I love Mike, but I wasn't going to push him into something that he wasn't ready for. Even though the BBQ at his house told me different, I'm not a pusher.
"It went fine. I got to catch up with him and the guys. Katelynne likes Vic, Vic is like obsessed with her." I shrugged it off like he should've already known the answer.
He gave me an annoyed looked and I smirked, looking up and catching Austin's gaze at me. He shot me a smile then flirted with the waitress as she took our drink order.
"So, what are you guys doing tonight?" I asked them as they all arose in excitement over some party at a club tonight that Benj and Josh would be djing at.
"You should come." Austin insisted, but I shook my head.
"I have deadlines to meet, dude. This has to be completed and perfected by Tuesday, the latest Wednesday. I have three days to get it done. Coming to dinner tonight was the only reason I was leaving my house this weekend."
He stuck out his tongue, "You suck."
I waved my hand, ignoring what he said, "Whatever."
He laughed then continued to make faces at me, thinking I thought they were cute. I rolled my eyes and joined a conversation between Tal and Benji. I loved their relationship. Tal always said that he owed everything to the Madden Brothers. It was Benji and Joel that let Tal into their little crew and let him out his artistic and stylistic edge on their clothing line, DCMA Collective. This was a couple of years before I moved here.
I received a text as Austin excused himself to go to the restroom, Alan joined him. I looked down at my phone and an instant wave of happiness hit me.
"Whoa, there's that smile again." Tal smirked, trying to read my text.
I blushed as he had got both Benji and Josh's attention, too. Their eyes met mine as they noticed my smile.
"Whatever, fuckhead." I said, replying to the text message I had gotten.
"Is it Mike?" Tal pressed on, wrapping his arm around my neck.
"Ooh, who's Mike?" Benji played along, causing a laugh to come from Josh as he kept his comments to himself.
"Her ex-boyfriend that she still loves and misses and-" Tal informed him.
"-Okay, that sounds creepy as hell. Let me explain." I went on to tell Benji and Josh the quick version about Mike and I. I told them about what happen when I saw them the other day and whatever.
As I finished, and before they could put in their input that I kind of secretly wanted, Austin and Alan came back to the table laughing. Oblivious to us suddenly getting quiet as they were talking about some joke. We went on with dinner, with no more Mike questions. That is until Benji kept a soft conversation with me, Tal-free. It was nice to vent to my hero about boy stuff.
"So, you're in love with this guy, huh?" He asked with a smirk.
"Is it that obvious?" I admitted to the one and only, Benji Madden.
"Your eyes lit up when you talked about him. That's the number one sign to outsiders such as myself."
"I don't know what to do, though. I'm trying not to be obvious with him, you know? I'm pretty sure that he doesn't think of me in that way anymore. I mean, it's been years."
"Lucy, I'm a guy. From what you explained to me, the dude still loves you. Now, the thing is, it's been what, six years since you guys were together?" He asked me for reassurance and I nodded, "Well, a lot can happen in six years. Y'all will have to start from a whole new perspective. You're in this position now, and he's in this one. It's going to be frustrating at times, but the outcome will be marvelous." A bright smile like his is the one that makes me feel like this will work out.
I returned the smile to him and said, "Thank you, Benji."
He grabbed my phone from in front of me and added his number, "Now, if you ever need advice, feel free to call me because I have plenty of it to give."
I grinned, "I will absolutely do that."
I was back in my leggings and t-shirt, typing away. I thought about what Benji had to say and realized that if Mike and I really did want to work on our relationship, there would in fact be some effort needed from both parties.
Just as I got up to grab a cup of hot coffee that I had made to keep me awake, there was a knock at my door. I grabbed my cup and went to go answer it. Standing there was Brandon and Mike, with grins plastered across their faces.
"What are you guys doing here?" I asked, shocked to see them both here, in LA at my house, to be honest.
Brandon waltzed right in with Mike behind him, "We came to visit. San Diego gets boring ya know?"
I shut the door, "I mean, I'm happy to see you guys, but there's no party going on here. I have deadlines to meet." I repeated for the second time tonight, already irritating myself with saying that more than once.
Brandon went and raided my fridge, tossing a beer to Mike, and taking one for himself, "So? Steph is with her family and Mike was bored."
"So, you drove two hours to LA to be bored at my house?"
Mike smirked at my sassiness then took a sip of his beer. Brandon chuckled then walked into the living room, where I had papers and all my electronics spread out. Mike and I followed him into the room and they both plopped onto the couch and the recliner beside the couch. I sat down top, furrowing my eyebrows at them and continued to work, as they both flipped through channels until they landed on some movie I've never seen.
"Nice house you got here, Garcia." Mike smiled, looking around at every wall he could in this room. It reminded me of when he first came over to my apartment before Shannon's party, years ago.
"Thank you." I softly smiled, going back to finish typing out this interview.
"Are you almost done?" Mike questioned, getting up from the recliner and moving my work laptop that held the video, onto his lap, and sitting beside me.
"Almost. I'm typing the past few questions, then I I've to upload the pictures we're using, then placing them onto the template."
He nodded, trying to peek over at my work so far. "No! You can't look yet." I tried covering the screen with my hand, knowing he could still see because my hand was too small. "It has to be perfect before anyone sees it."
"Well, I happen to not care if it's not perfect."
"I do." I challenged him, earning a crooked smile to come from him. "I promise that I'll show you when I'm done, Mike."
He groaned, "Fine, you suck, you know?"
"I've been told." I rolled my eyes and went back to typing. I finished up, typing up the questions and responses and saved it. Now, all I had to do was make these photos fit in perfectly with it.
Brandon got up and went into my room because his phone rang. It was probably Steph.
I ended up showing Mike the spread, and to see if he liked where I had positioned everything. "This looks incredible," He said truly amazed. "You like doing this, huh?"
I nodded and smiled, "More than anything. This one has to be extra perfect, though."
"Why?" He smirked.
"Because it's not just anyone's cover spread, it's yours." I admitted, adding a small bite to my lip out of habit. He stared at me in my eyes and I was soon in a trance in this brown beauties of his. It was almost like I was swimming in them, him jumping in with me and us swimming together.
His gaze went to my lips and I didn't know if I could hold back anymore.
From how close he was to me, I wasn't sure if he was able to either.
Flashing their prettiest smiles, was Alan Ashby, Austin Carlile, and Tal Cooperman. They were all dressed quite nicely in black pants, and nice button up shirts. The smiles fell once they studied my appearance, wearing black leggings and an old, grey tank top that had a skull on it.
"Holy fuck, what time is it?" I exclaimed as I let them in and grabbed my phone to look at the time.
"It's 7, ya know, the time we'd say we would be here so we could go to dinner." Tal said annoyed,
I chewed on my lip and frowned, "I'm so sorry, guys. I got caught up in typing up the Pierce The Veil interview! Give me like fifteen minutes and I'll be ready." I shouted as I ran to my room and started applying my makeup. I'm thankful that I showered earlier, because I would not have had time for that right now.
Once done, I let my hair out of it's top bun and let my natural waves take control of the situation as I found for something to wear. I picked out a black dress that showed a little of my chest region, but not my boobs, with its sheer material. Finding shoes to match was the hardest part, but I did it, and put those heels on. I ran a hand through my hair, silently praising the Hair Gods for giving me good hair to work with in times likes these. I walked out of my bedroom door and to the boys, announcing that I was ready.
Tal smirked looking at his watch saying, "That was seventeen minutes, actually."
"Fuck you, let's go." I said as I was putting on my earrings, gold watch, and rings to accessorize my outfit and handed Austin my bag to hold as I was doing so.
They laughed and we piled into Tal's car, a Misfits song boring through the stereo. I had shotgun so I could examine myself in the mirror. You don't look bad for having seventeen minutes, Luce. Way to go.
At dinner, we sat at a table where Benji Madden was sitting with his older brother, Josh. I had met Josh countless times as he DJ'd a lot and also worked for a magazine, Nylon Men. We kept in touch often and emailed back and forth.
"Beautiful Lucy, how are you?" Josh questioned, giving me a small hug and a light kiss on the cheek .
"I'm doing great, how are you?" I asked, walking to his brother, whom I had a teenage crush on back in the day. I'm telling you, I had all the posters, t-shirts, albums; everything. I loved this dude and his band more than anything. I'd actually like to take this opportunity to say that I would not have survived my teen angst phase, without Good Charlotte and the whole early 2000s pop punk era singing to me daily.
Benji shot me that beautiful grin of his and gave me a hug, "Hey Lucy! It's nice to see you again." I took a seat in between him and Tal, then looked around the table at all these fine men I was sitting with.
"It's very nice to see you again, Benj." I smiled, those teenage years coming over me and instantly embarrassing me; like he knew. "Is Joel coming?"
He shook his head, "Him and Nicole are having a date night tonight. The kids are at her dads."
I nodded then lightly hit his shoulder to get his attention, "Oh my god, I have to tell you that Alt. Press is doing this Take Me Back to 2002-2003 thing and all the writers are doing pieces on what bands and albums shaped us during that time. I chose Blink 182, Fall Out Boy, and of course, Good Charlotte."
A smile grew on his pink lips and his eyes twinkled, as if it were the strangest thing to have somebody consider his band good enough for an honor like that. "Lucy, no way! That's so awesome! Thank you so much, that's such an honor."
"No, my dude, thank you. But yeah, I'm really stoked. That's my next big piece after the one I'm doing now."
Tal nudged me, speaking softly, "How'd that go by the way?" He was referring to Mike, and I didn't know what to say. It had been three days and Mike and I had spoken everyday, of course, but there was still no change. I'm not sure if I wanted it, though. Believe me, I love Mike, but I wasn't going to push him into something that he wasn't ready for. Even though the BBQ at his house told me different, I'm not a pusher.
"It went fine. I got to catch up with him and the guys. Katelynne likes Vic, Vic is like obsessed with her." I shrugged it off like he should've already known the answer.
He gave me an annoyed looked and I smirked, looking up and catching Austin's gaze at me. He shot me a smile then flirted with the waitress as she took our drink order.
"So, what are you guys doing tonight?" I asked them as they all arose in excitement over some party at a club tonight that Benj and Josh would be djing at.
"You should come." Austin insisted, but I shook my head.
"I have deadlines to meet, dude. This has to be completed and perfected by Tuesday, the latest Wednesday. I have three days to get it done. Coming to dinner tonight was the only reason I was leaving my house this weekend."
He stuck out his tongue, "You suck."
I waved my hand, ignoring what he said, "Whatever."
He laughed then continued to make faces at me, thinking I thought they were cute. I rolled my eyes and joined a conversation between Tal and Benji. I loved their relationship. Tal always said that he owed everything to the Madden Brothers. It was Benji and Joel that let Tal into their little crew and let him out his artistic and stylistic edge on their clothing line, DCMA Collective. This was a couple of years before I moved here.
I received a text as Austin excused himself to go to the restroom, Alan joined him. I looked down at my phone and an instant wave of happiness hit me.
"Whoa, there's that smile again." Tal smirked, trying to read my text.
I blushed as he had got both Benji and Josh's attention, too. Their eyes met mine as they noticed my smile.
"Whatever, fuckhead." I said, replying to the text message I had gotten.
"Is it Mike?" Tal pressed on, wrapping his arm around my neck.
"Ooh, who's Mike?" Benji played along, causing a laugh to come from Josh as he kept his comments to himself.
"Her ex-boyfriend that she still loves and misses and-" Tal informed him.
"-Okay, that sounds creepy as hell. Let me explain." I went on to tell Benji and Josh the quick version about Mike and I. I told them about what happen when I saw them the other day and whatever.
As I finished, and before they could put in their input that I kind of secretly wanted, Austin and Alan came back to the table laughing. Oblivious to us suddenly getting quiet as they were talking about some joke. We went on with dinner, with no more Mike questions. That is until Benji kept a soft conversation with me, Tal-free. It was nice to vent to my hero about boy stuff.
"So, you're in love with this guy, huh?" He asked with a smirk.
"Is it that obvious?" I admitted to the one and only, Benji Madden.
"Your eyes lit up when you talked about him. That's the number one sign to outsiders such as myself."
"I don't know what to do, though. I'm trying not to be obvious with him, you know? I'm pretty sure that he doesn't think of me in that way anymore. I mean, it's been years."
"Lucy, I'm a guy. From what you explained to me, the dude still loves you. Now, the thing is, it's been what, six years since you guys were together?" He asked me for reassurance and I nodded, "Well, a lot can happen in six years. Y'all will have to start from a whole new perspective. You're in this position now, and he's in this one. It's going to be frustrating at times, but the outcome will be marvelous." A bright smile like his is the one that makes me feel like this will work out.
I returned the smile to him and said, "Thank you, Benji."
He grabbed my phone from in front of me and added his number, "Now, if you ever need advice, feel free to call me because I have plenty of it to give."
I grinned, "I will absolutely do that."
I was back in my leggings and t-shirt, typing away. I thought about what Benji had to say and realized that if Mike and I really did want to work on our relationship, there would in fact be some effort needed from both parties.
Just as I got up to grab a cup of hot coffee that I had made to keep me awake, there was a knock at my door. I grabbed my cup and went to go answer it. Standing there was Brandon and Mike, with grins plastered across their faces.
"What are you guys doing here?" I asked, shocked to see them both here, in LA at my house, to be honest.
Brandon waltzed right in with Mike behind him, "We came to visit. San Diego gets boring ya know?"
I shut the door, "I mean, I'm happy to see you guys, but there's no party going on here. I have deadlines to meet." I repeated for the second time tonight, already irritating myself with saying that more than once.
Brandon went and raided my fridge, tossing a beer to Mike, and taking one for himself, "So? Steph is with her family and Mike was bored."
"So, you drove two hours to LA to be bored at my house?"
Mike smirked at my sassiness then took a sip of his beer. Brandon chuckled then walked into the living room, where I had papers and all my electronics spread out. Mike and I followed him into the room and they both plopped onto the couch and the recliner beside the couch. I sat down top, furrowing my eyebrows at them and continued to work, as they both flipped through channels until they landed on some movie I've never seen.
"Nice house you got here, Garcia." Mike smiled, looking around at every wall he could in this room. It reminded me of when he first came over to my apartment before Shannon's party, years ago.
"Thank you." I softly smiled, going back to finish typing out this interview.
"Are you almost done?" Mike questioned, getting up from the recliner and moving my work laptop that held the video, onto his lap, and sitting beside me.
"Almost. I'm typing the past few questions, then I I've to upload the pictures we're using, then placing them onto the template."
He nodded, trying to peek over at my work so far. "No! You can't look yet." I tried covering the screen with my hand, knowing he could still see because my hand was too small. "It has to be perfect before anyone sees it."
"Well, I happen to not care if it's not perfect."
"I do." I challenged him, earning a crooked smile to come from him. "I promise that I'll show you when I'm done, Mike."
He groaned, "Fine, you suck, you know?"
"I've been told." I rolled my eyes and went back to typing. I finished up, typing up the questions and responses and saved it. Now, all I had to do was make these photos fit in perfectly with it.
Brandon got up and went into my room because his phone rang. It was probably Steph.
I ended up showing Mike the spread, and to see if he liked where I had positioned everything. "This looks incredible," He said truly amazed. "You like doing this, huh?"
I nodded and smiled, "More than anything. This one has to be extra perfect, though."
"Why?" He smirked.
"Because it's not just anyone's cover spread, it's yours." I admitted, adding a small bite to my lip out of habit. He stared at me in my eyes and I was soon in a trance in this brown beauties of his. It was almost like I was swimming in them, him jumping in with me and us swimming together.
His gaze went to my lips and I didn't know if I could hold back anymore.
From how close he was to me, I wasn't sure if he was able to either.
Notes
Another update for my favorite people. I hope you enjoy!What do you guys think is gonna happen next?
By the way, I had to add Benji Madden in there because he really is / was my crush back in the day. I'm going to make him a valuable voice of reason in this story :)
xoxo
@kelseyyy_lee: You're welcome! Thank you for reading xx
12/5/14