~*Rachel’s POV*~
There, making their way towards us, was none other than Alex Gaskarth and Rian Dawson of All Time Low alongside Tony Perry and Mike Fuentes of Pierce The Veil. Looking over at Lottie, I could tell that she was going to do one of two things; cry or freak out and not the good kind of freak out - I‘m talking about a sever panic attack freak out. Her breathing was speeding up and I could tell that she was trying so hard to level it out again. I grab her hand and give it a quick squeeze as she looks away from the guys and at me, a small smile appearing on her lips as she nods her head once, silently letting me know that she’s alright.

Myself, on the other hand, couldn’t stop the smile from spreading from ear to ear, my whole body shaking with the strongest urge to jump up and down with excitement as I stare directly at Alex Gaskarth. He is seriously so much better looking in person, photos never seem to do his good looks any justice. Ever since I first started listening to All Time Low, I have dreamed of the day where I get the chance to meet him, to tell him just how much his lyrics mean to me and now…I can tell him that every single day for six months until we have to head back home.

All four of the band members stop in their tracks before they reached out, each one of them talking quietly now before Rian, Tony and Mike walk off towards the direction of the hotel car park where I assume the tour bus was parked, ready to be driven in a couple days time. Alex on the other hand, stayed where he was standing just long enough to give myself and Lottie a chance to calm down before he walked over to us, his signature smile plastered across his handsome face.

“Hey there, are you two young ladies the lucky competition winners?” He asks politely as he gives us both a hug in welcome before we even have the chance to reply.

I am almost one hundred per cent positive that I said something back to him along the lines of ‘yeah, we are’ but Lottie turned towards me, her eyebrows raised high in a questioning manner as a smile stretched across her features, her body shaking as she tries to stop the laugh that I knew wanted to desperately escape through her lips.

“I think what she means is, that yes we are indeed the competition winners that you speak of, it’s very nice to finally meet you, Alex.” Lottie replies politely as she turns to give him one of her rare, warm smiles; one that she usually only shows to people who she feels completely comfortable around, which I shall be taking this as a good things as it would be a really awkward six months if she wasn‘t comfortable around him.

“What did I say?” I ask her in a hushed voice as I lean towards her but she just let out a light giggle before turning to face me again.

“You didn’t actually say anything, it was more of a moan...I thought that you were slipping into your own little fantasy world there for a second.” She smirked playfully as she nudged me towards him, and I couldn’t help but shoot her a warning glare as my jaw fell open in embarrassment.

“Now that‘s a world that I wouldn‘t mind taking a wonder through.” Alex winks at me as he lets out his own little laugh and I couldn’t stop my cheeks from beginning to turn a very embarrassing shade of pink as I close my mouth and look down at the floor, the tip of my right shoe bouncing nervously against the step in which we were standing upon.

“Right, well you both seem to know who I am, so there’s no need for me to introduce myself so why don’t you beautiful young ladies tell me who you are. Or better yet, let me try and figure it out!” Alex smiles widely as he looks between myself and Lottie a couple of times before his eyes eventually end up resting on me. “You must be Lottie, correct?”

I let out an amused giggle before shaking my head and hooking a thumb in the direction of my best friend who had bought her hand up to cover her mouth in an attempt to muffle her laughter. “Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m Rachel…That’s Lottie.”

“Ahhhh, I am so sorry!” Alex apologizes quickly, his voice filled with a genuine apologetic tone as he turns his gaze from me and walks towards Lottie before wrapping his arms around her shoulders, her face pressed up against his toned chest. “Hello, Lottie!”

Its times like these that I really wished that I was Lottie, or at least said that I was her. I would seriously kill to be in her shoes right now, just to be close to Alex with his arms wrap tightly round my shoulders while I rested my head against his chest, absorbing in his sweet scent would be a dream come true. When he pulled away from the embrace, Lottie smiled apologetically at me before looking down at the ground, it was almost as if she was scared to even look me in the eyes.

After straightening out his shirt, Alex then proceeds to turn and face me, his soft looking lips set in the littlest pout possible as he puts on a really cute voice before saying, “Aw, Rebecca…would you like a Lexi-hug too?”

I’m not going to lie, I was seriously starting to get upset. It wasn’t just the fact that Alex had thought that I was Lottie, I understand that he took a gamble and just picked one of the names that he was given by his tour manager in a hope that it was the right one; it was more to the point that he had called me ‘Rebecca’ instead of ‘Rachel’, sure they both start with the letter ‘R’ but they don’t sound anything like each other.

Lottie must have picked up on my emotions as the next thing I know she’s leaning towards Alex as she rubs her left arm nervously before murmuring in his ear. “Erm, Alex…Her name is Rachel…”

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Alex’s jaw drop in horror as he looks between us before he regains his composure and heads straight towards me, pulling me into a tight embrace.

“Oh my God, I am so, so sorry! Really, I am seriously so bad with names…” He explains as he rests his head on top of mine. “Honestly, I really am sorry; if it makes you feel any better, I‘ve forgotten my own name before. Myself and Zack, our bassist, were recording a little acoustic set for a YouTube Channel and in the introduction, instead of saying my name I said Zack‘s and called him Alex, when obviously it should have been the other way around.”

I let out a small chuckle as I wrap my arms around his waist in order to return his hug. I didn’t let him know that I knew what video he was talking about, it’s one of my personal favourites. After a few seconds, I pull away from him and say, “It‘s okay, Alex; you don‘t have to apologize.”

In all honesty, it was pretty far from being okay; my one and only idol, who I looked up to and respected more than anyone in the world, had just called me by the wrong name, TWICE! I felt absolutely terrible but I try not to let it show in my body language or facial expression. Instead, I place a big smile on my face in the hopes of reassuring him that there was no harm done, even if I did feel as though my heart was shattering into a tiny, million little pieces. Okay, so I’m being a little over dramatic, its no wonder why Lottie occasionally calls me a ‘Little Drama Queen’.

“I do have to apologize, I am really, really sorry, Rachel!” He says sweetly, making sure that he puts as much emphasis on my name as possible; as if forcing his mind to remember it for future reference.

I look over to where Lottie is standing, a nervous chuckle escaping through her lips; I think that she could feel my embarrassment; she has always been able to pick up on other people‘s emotions, it‘s like a little gift that she has. But, it may be because we have known each other for almost as long as I can remember so it seems like we can feed off of each others emotions without even being in close proximity to each other, hell; we were practically sisters.

“It’s really okay, Alex. No harm has been done.” I tell him with a smile fixed firmly onto my face as I look up into his gorgeous chocolate, brown eyes; how can anyone stay mad at anyone with eyes as perfect as his. “Say, where did the other guys go? Didn‘t they want to meet us?”

I’m not going to lie, he looked a little taken aback by my last question, but he just brushed it off as he looks over towards the direction where the other band members had disappeared to. “Oh! They had to go and meet up with Rian‘s girlfriend, she‘s leaving to head back home for a few weeks before she starts working on her own album, and Mike said something about meeting up with a new ‘friend‘ of his, as he likes to call her…” Alex explains before sending a smile in my direction. “They should be coming back in a few minutes though.”

An awkward silence soon follows his words as he looks back over towards where the others had gone, Lottie just stands where she is occasionally rubbing at her left arm nervously; another little habit that she had picked up over the years while I took it upon myself to look anywhere but at Alex; which is when I notice that Matthew was stood behind us, both of our suitcases still in his grasp.

“Shit, sorry Matthew. I…” I start to say but he just cuts me off.

“It’s not a problem, ma’am.” He replies politely, a friendly smile etched upon his face.

“Yeah, we should probably go and…We were told that our room was already booked so we should probably go and see where it is and get checked in.” Lottie explains as she looks between Matthew and myself before resting her gaze on Alex, her voice soft as she finds the right words to say.

We were just about to turn and head up the last few steps towards the entrance of the hotel when Alex‘s voice stopped me in my tracks. “That’s probably a really good idea, actually I better find out where we‘re staying too…I vaguely remember Matt, our Tour Manager, telling us that our rooms are connected, so I may as well just join you in the room hunt. That is, if you don‘t mind of course.”

Connected rooms? Well, you can definitely join us on the room hunt…and then the bed hunt. I think to myself and I soon find myself smirking at my own inner monologue, causing Lottie to send a weird glance in my direction.

“What are you smirking at, girlie?” Alex asks as he nudges my side with his elbow, his eyebrows raising in curiosity as he looks me over, causing my cheeks to flush a deep shade of red.

“N-nothing…” I stutter, shaking my head quickly as I turn to face the hotel entrance, my head tilting to the side slightly before asking with my own raised eyebrows. “So…room hunt. Shall we?”

“Sure, yeah. Okay.” He nods in agreement as he motions for me to walk in front of him, to which I obliged after a few seconds hesitation, Lottie going on ahead of me with an amused smirk across her face.

I steal a quick glance back at Alex before turning to walk through the revolving door to the hotel and into the spacious lobby, with Matthew following close behind us with our suitcases in hand. As we were walking, there was only one thing that was running through my mind and that was; that I would do everything in my power to make sure that Alex didn’t know how I felt about him. The last thing that I wanted to do was make this tour awkward.

I could feel the Goosebumps rise up and down my arms as Alex brushes his arm against mine as he walks past me and over to the front desk to ask the receptionist about the location of our rooms. I took this as my opportunity to fan girl with Lottie.

“Can you believe that all of this is happening?” I murmur to her as she shakes her head in reply. “If someone would have told me three weeks ago that not only we would be wondering around backstage at a Pierce The Veil show without permission, but that we would also be touring with them and All Time Low for six months; then I would most likely have laughed in their faces and told them to get real. But now…”

“I know, this is such an incredible opportunity…I am so glad that you told me to turn the volume up on my laptop and told me to enter.” Lottie smiles as she crosses her arms over her chest and sways slightly from side to side in peaceful content.

I lean in a little closer to her and whisper softly in her ear, “I am trying so hard not to jump Alex’s bones right now…” Lottie burst out in a fit of pure laughter at this before she ducked her head down as she notices Alex glance back at us over the top of his shoulder.

“Why?” She asks me as the laughter dies down.

“Because I like him…” I murmur as I feel my cheeks burn a deep crimson colour once more.

“Oh, that’s right…I forgot.” She says in a thoughtful voice as she takes a moment to read my expression, nodding after a moment as she obviously understands what’s going on through my mind. “Don‘t worry, I won‘t tell him anything. I swear.”

I nodded at her reply. I’ve known her long enough to be able to tell from her tone of voice that she was telling the truth, and I trusted her to keep it a secret from him until I was ready; that is if I ever got up the courage to tell him about my feelings, that is. I have always been able to trust Lottie’s words and she’s never given me a reason not to in the past.

“Alright, thank you.” We hear Alex say to the receptionist before walking back towards us, a smile placed firmly on his features as he looks right at me. “Our rooms are apparently located on the sixth floor.”

With those words, Lottie and Matthew head over towards the elevators as Alex and I follow behind them, our bodies just merely inches apart from each other; I think that if he moves any closer to me then I am seriously going to lose my cool. As the elevator doors pinged open, we all stepped into the small confined space; reaching over to press the button for the sixth floor, my hand was accidentally greeted by Alex’s as he too reached for the same button, both of us hitting it at the same time.

“I’m sorry…” Alex murmurs softly, his face turning an adorable shade of pink as he looks round the elevator at anything but me.

Why is he blushing? I wonder as I look down at my feet, my hands fiddling with the hem of my shirt, a habit that I must have picked up from Lottie. I shrug slightly as the elevator doors open, deciding not to let it bother me right at this moment in time as we step out onto the sixth floor and down towards where our rooms were located.

Before I know it, we stop outside room 234, which was allocated to myself and Lottie, room 235 has been allocated to All Time Low and was on the right whilst room 233 which has been allocated to Pierce The Veil was on our left. Alex reaches into his pockets and pulls out two separate card keys which he hands to both myself and Lottie.

“Alright, so you have each band on either side of you, so if you ever need anything then just knock on either one of our doors and we’ll try and help you out.” He explains as we gladly accept the card keys. “So, are you two girls hungry by any chance?”

We both look at each other before nodding in response to him.

“Good, as me and the others were thinking about grabbing something to eat as soon as we checked in.” He states as he looks between us before taking a step towards his own hotel room. “Okay, erm…why don’t you girls go and put your stuff in your room so that you don’t have to drag it around all day, then we‘ll go and find the rest of the guys and find somewhere to grab a bite to eat, sound good?”

Me and Lottie nodded again in response to his question and allowed him to continue.

“Okay, I‘ll meet you both in the lobby in about five minutes time; I just need to find the little boys room…” He giggles before unlocking the door to his own room and takes a step in, but not before he closes the door behind him with one last smile.

“Thank you so much for your assistance, Matthew. We can take our bags from here.” Lottie informs him with a smile and a little nod as she reaches for her suitcase which Matthew hands her without question.

“It was my pleasure, ma’am.” He says with a bow before placing my suitcase next to the door to our room and turning round to walk back down the corridor towards the waiting elevators.

Too excited to wait a second longer, I jam the card key into the slot and shove open the door, grabbing the handle of my suitcase I take a step into the room and let out an excited gasp. I was in heaven just looking round at the enormous room.

“Oh. My. God…” Lottie whispers as she follows behind me, her mouth open wide as she releases her hold on the suitcase she was pulling and walked over to the king size bed with the cream comforter whilst I walked over to the one next to it that had a similar comforter on top.

Everything about this room, made me want to cry out with happiness, it was amazing. The light coloured walls and the fluffy carpet beneath our feet made the room seem light an airy. I lean back against the soft duvet but soon sit up straight when I hear the toilet start to flush a few feet away from us. There was someone in our bathroom.

Without thinking, I jump up to my feet and reach for Lottie’s arm causing her to look at me before I nod in the general direction of the bathroom. As she turns round, the door handle begins to turn and the door slowly opens to reveal a very confused looking Tony Perry as he spots us standing in front of him.

“Erm…This isn’t my room, is it?” He asks us in his quiet voice.

Unable to find the right words, we both slowly shake our heads as we stand there paralyzed with surprise and a little bit of shock, at the fact that the one and only Tony Perry had just walked out of our bathroom. I was about to tell him that his room to the right as he left but I could start to feel Lottie’s body shake under my touch which caused me to close my mouth and give her a little shake.

“Oh, are you two the contest winners?” He asks us, realisation coming into his expression as we both nod our heads in the same slow manner as we shook them previously. “It‘s really nice to meet you and I don‘t mean to be rude but I guess that I have to go and find out where my own room is. I will definitely see you both in a little while though…erm, what are your names, again?”

He looked genuinely sorry that he didn’t know our names, but I just said in a polite tone, “I’m Rachel and this is Lottie.”

I give him a quick smile as he thanks us and excuses himself, leaving us alone in the room once more. I take this chance to look back at Lottie was had a look of complete and utter shock on her face; hell, I’d be that shocked too if I saw the man that I was insanely in love with step out of our bathroom, unfortunately for me, he was peeing in his own right next door to us. I let out a little sigh at that realisation but shook my head straight after.

I think that it is safe to say that this seriously can not get any better than this.