Perfection Through Silence
This Memory Is Worse Than The Disease
2009
July
Taylah and the guys of Suicide Silence quickly grew to be friends, often hanging out together after shows so she could show them the various shots she took, to talk about the most mundane things or for Taylah to talk the guys into letting her braid their hair. It hadn’t taken much convincing on the guys behalf to learn to like the young photographer, what with her being to energetic and so small they all thought of her as the crazy little sister of the band.
“But, Mitch,” Taylah whined as the man in question dragged her through the partying crowd of the rap up party for the incredibly successful Music As A Weapon IV tour, towards a friend of his. “I just wanna take pictures and get something to eat.”
“I know; you never stop taking pictures, that’s why I’m distracting you. Besides, you’ll like this guy, he’s great,” Mitch looked over the group of dancing people before spotting him on the other side of the room. “There he is,” he said before changing his grip on Taylah’s left hand before leading her over to where two guys were talking before they noticed his approach and turning to him with smiles.
“Mitch! Hey, man how you been?” the shorter, ginger haired of the two asked before noticing the girl hiding partially behind his back. “And who is this lovely little lady with you?”
Mitch laughed when he realised that Taylah was using him as a shield. Moving slightly, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her forward. “This little girl is one of the best fucking photographers I have ever met. Guys, meet Taylah, Tay meet Austin Carlile and Alan Ashby, they’re from Of Mice And Men.”
“Hey,” Taylah said with a slight smile, hands rising up to grip the black camera around her neck, fingers flexing for a moment before she raised her camera and snapped a picture of the two quickly; it was a nervous habit. She’d blinded half the bands on tour when she first met them with her flash. She was slowly getting better, slowly.
August
Taylah groaned as she walked out of the bathroom once again having gotten sick and thrown up. “I’m gonna go to the doctor, this is getting ridiculous, I’ll see you guys in a while. Hopefully it’s just a stomach bug.”
“Want one of us to come with you?” Chris asked from his spot on the small couch.
Taylah shook her head as she grabbed her backpack. “Don’t worry about it, Chris, besides, I don’t know how long this’ll take and you guys have a show tonight. I should be back by then but with doctors you never know.”
“That’s true,” Dan nodded, “I guess we’ll see you tonight.”
“Yeah,” Taylah said with a weak smile. “Have a great show guys,” she called as she walked off the bus and made her way out of the venue, hailing a cab once she was out on the street.
Four hours of sitting in a waiting room later, Taylah was told that the doctor wasn’t sure what she had and that they’d take a blood test and get back to her within the week if it was something bad that needed a prescription.
Brilliant.
Note the sarcasm.
She was by herself on the bus; everyone was at sound check and would be for another half an hour, leaving an incredibly bored Taylah to sit in front of the mounted television and watch cartoons. As a rerun of “Scooby Doo, Where Are You?” began to play, her phone lit up with the doctor’s number.
“Hey, Doc, what’s the verdict? Just a stomach bug right?”
“I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, Taylah, but you have cancer. You’re going to need to have more tests run to find out just how advanced the cancer is. Hopefully we’ve caught it early.”
“Cancer? You’re shitting me right, Doc?”
“Unfortunately not, Taylah, I’m sorry.”
“Oh, okay, well thanks,” she muttered before hanging up her phone, completely frozen.
Taylah sat in the front of the tour bus silently as she stared at her hands clasped between her legs, cartoons still playing in the background. This couldn’t be happening. Not now, this wasn’t in her ten year plan. Hell, this wasn’t a part of any plan she’d ever made in her life.
More tests….hopefully we’ve caught it early….
Tears began to well up in her brown eyes as the truth began to sink in fully. She had cancer of some kind and it was possibly spreading. There was a possibility that it had been caught early but they weren’t certain. Swallowing thickly, Taylah wiped her eyes and sat up straighter before grabbing her bag and switching off the TV.
“I refuse to let this ruin my night,” Taylah said aloud to the empty bus before she slung her pack on and headed out to the venue where the bands were having their sound check.
“I’ll tell them when I know for sure what it is,” she whispered to herself as she walked, refusing to tell the guys when it could be nothing.
December
The door slammed open surprising Taylah from her slumped position on the floor of the bathroom. Mitch stood frozen in the doorway with a horrified and worried expression before he sprang into action, knocking the razor from her hands and grabbing towels to press to her wrists. When the blood began to slow he cleaned the wounds, scared at how deep they were and how close she’d been to hitting the veins. One millimetre off and she’d be dead. Shaking his head, he bandaged her arms and pulled her out to the living room.
“You can’t honestly be thinking about that, Tay. What if you did it only for Danny to get a call tomorrow that the chemo has worked? That you’re cancer free?” Mitch asked, holding Taylah by the hands as he sat across from her on the coffee table.
“It just hurts, Mitch, it hurts so bad,” Taylah whispered with tears welling up in her eyes giving them a glassy sheen. “I know it’s possible that the cancer could go at any moment but what if it doesn’t?”
“Hey,” he whispered, releasing her hands to wipe her tears away, “you’re going to be fine. Cancer is a tricky thing, babe, but you’ll beat it. You beat all odds, every time. This is just a small step in such a huge life that’s a head of you, don’t let something like this keep you down. Keep your head up, Taylah. You only live once, and I’m going to make sure that you live a long time, even if I have to be beside you every step of the way until we’re old and wrinkled with sagging tattoos.”
Taylah smiled weakly at the man she thought of as one of her older brothers. “Promise?” She whispered softly.
Mitch smiled and cupped her cheeks. “Promise,” he kissed her forehead. “Come on, you need stitches and those bandages won’t hold for long.”
“Okay, Mitch, thanks.”
2010
January
“Hey, babe, I know you don’t like meeting new people because you’re an antisocial cunt but there’s this guy that I really think you’ll hit it off with,” Taylah said with a smile as she looked into the computer screen at Lily, they were talking on Skype because at the moment Lily was in New Zealand visiting her cousins while Taylah had gone back to Australia with Danny and Horizon to see their family.
“Argh, what is it with you and new people?” Lily groaned as she leaned against the counter where the laptop was placed, completely oblivious to the fact that her cousin was walking around in his underwear behind her.
Taylah laughed at her friend and shook her head. “You know, meeting new people wouldn’t hurt, after all, it’s kinda how you get far in the music industry, how else will you get big?”
“Um, I’ll have your hook ups with Suicide to support and promote my band?” Lily asked with a raised eyebrow.
Taylah rolled her eyes as she reached for her glass of juice that was beside the laptop. “You’re a lazy shit, you know that? But seriously, just meet the guy. He’s awesome and super nice and I bet you love the band he’s in.”
“Band? Did you say he’s in a band?”
She definitely had her attention now. “Oh yeah, didn’t I mention that? He’s in this band, you might not have heard of them, I think they’re cool and the guitarist is awesome.”
“What’s his name?” Lily was sitting up straight now, looking intently at the ginger through the monitor.
“Uh, Austin, he’s pre chill, spouts some ridiculous shit that I guess is inspirational but I just kinda push him away when he starts.”
“Austin?” the teal haired girl frowned in thought as she mentally scrolled through all the associated bands that have a member with the name Austin, only having to think of two. “You mean Of Mice’s Austin?”
Taylah nodded while taking a sip of her juice. “One and the same, he wants to meet you because apparently I talk about you guys a lot.”
Lily sat there in surprise for a while; the only noise coming from her end was the faint cries of laughter of her little cousins. “You want me to meet the lead singer of Of Mice? Seriously?”
“Yep,” the ginger replied, popping the ‘P’ as she smiled.
“Okay, yeah sure, totally cool. Not like I don’t love the band or anything, no way,” Lily said before she pointed at the screen with an angry expression. “You’ve known Of Mice and you never thought to introduce us before? How long have you known them?”
“Uhhh, since about March last year?”
“Cunt, I could’ve been bros with them by now!”
“Being bros is my job; you just get to meet them because I have the connections. Face it,” Taylah said with I pompous air, “I have a way cooler job then you, I mean think about it, I knew Alan before he was in Of Mice.”
“Whatever,” Lily laughed before she grew serious. “How’s the B.C?”
“I think it’s getting better, I’ve got an appointment tomorrow to see how it’s going.”
“At least you haven’t lost your hair at all, that’s a plus,” Lily said with a smile, “you’ll be fine. If Mitch Lucker said that you’ll be okay, then God damn it, you’ll be okay.”
Taylah laughed and nodded. “I swear Mitch is like this amazing miracle worker. I’d be lost without him.” The door to the apartment Taylah was currently crashing in opened behind her, the sounds of her brothers Danny and Cole talking –arguing- about what motorbike was better reaching her ears while they moved into the kitchen where she was currently sitting. “I gotta go, the brothers just got back and I wanna have some family time while having a 90210 sesh. Talk soon?”
Lily laughed and nodded, “Yeah, yeah, I’ll see you in a week anyway. Have fun.”
Taylah blinked her eyes rapidly hating that she’d zoned out so terribly once again. Zoning out isn’t the best thing to do when you’re getting tattoos. She’d seen what happened to the girl who fell asleep and woke up with a face full of stars.
“All done, Taylah, how do you like it?” Xander asked, a long-time family friend who’d moved over here a year ago.
Humming softly, she looked down at her right wrist and smiled at the cursive writing and black and white bunch of Daffodils whose shading was small dots, the symbol for breast cancer in Australia. “It’s perfect, thanks man.” Xander grinned down at it before he grabbed his phone that was sitting on the table beside her arm and snapped a picture of it to upload on insta at a later time.
Please, don't take this out on me,
'Cause you're the only thing that's keeping me alive.
And I don't wanna wait for the down-set date
'Cause I would rather end it all tonight.
And if I mean anything to you,
I'm sorry, but I've made up my mind.
It was slightly cheesy, she thought, getting lyrics tattooed when you were so close to the band who’d written them but with the placement being directing underneath the scar on her right wrist and the meaning for her behind it, Taylah felt it was a perfect way to describe how she’d felt at the moment.
Shaking out of her thoughts Taylah looked up at Xander as he wrapped her arm in cling wrap. “How much do I owe you?”
“Nothing,” he answered as he finished wrapping and began packing away his things. “This one is the house, darling. We’ve been talking about this here tattoo for the better part of a year and I refuse to make you pay for it. It was a pleasure to do and you’re family. Now get out of here you silly ginger. I’ve got other clients coming in.”
Taylah laughed and hugged Xander tightly before she snapped a picture with him. “I’ll see you soon yeah? Christmas? It’s my turn to host and everyone’s flying out. I better see you there.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be there, now get outta here,” he said, gently pushing her to the door of the shop, laughing as he did so.
With a grin Taylah began the slight trek back to the venue that they were currently at, glad that she’d managed to get her tattoo done before the sound check had even started. Tapping a random beat on her left leg, she pulled her phone out to check if she had any messages just as it started ringing.
“Whuddup?”
“You really need to stop saying that when you answer phones,” Alex said and she could just imagine his amused expression and rolled eyes.
“Okay then, how’s ‘Yo, yo yiggity yo’?” she asked as she stopped at the crossing, waiting for the man to go green.
“That’s a hell no.”
“You pay dirt with KDirt?”
“No, hell no. Anymore movie references you’d like to test out?”
Taylah grinned before answering, “Hello, TARDIS phone, this is Amy.” The sound of Alex laughing on the other end made her smile widen as the light flashed red, allowing her to cross.
“Yes? Is that laugh a yes, I should go with that one?”
“No,” he giggled once more before sobering up. “No, no don’t use that. It’s priceless yes and you do look vaguely similar to Karen Gillan but no. I guess until we think of something else it’ll have to stay as ‘whuddup’.”
Taylah rolled her eyes as she followed her mental map of how many turns she did on the way to XXX Ink. “Whatever, Alex. I’m sure you didn’t call me just to tell me I need to change my greeting. What do you want?”
“Oh, just called to say that sound check has been moved up and you have twenty minutes to get here and tune Jacob’s drums.”
“Ew, a deadline. Fine, I should be there in ten if I have my directions right,” Taylah said as she turned a corner and stood dumbfounded for a moment. When had the venue been this close? “On second thought, I’m right across the road so I’ll see you in a few.”
“Alright, see ya.”
“Bye,” she said before hanging up and walking over to the crossing to wait with a group of girls wearing various band shirts, clearly here to line up early for the concert that was set to start at four. The lights changed and as a large group, they crossed the road and walked over to the venue, the girl stopping behind about ten people who were there also while Taylah walked around them to the barricade.
“Hey, back of the line, Red! No pushing in!” a random girl at the front shouted at her while Taylah paused to grab her I.D from her bag.
The security turned at shook his head at the girl before moving over to them. “Back already?” he asked as Taylah lifted her I.D at him and nodded.
“Yeah, Alex just called saying that sound check was moved up and I had to hurry,” Taylah replied as he opened the large gate a little bit for her to slip in through much to the girl who’d shouted at her surprise. “Good luck with this lot, Luke,” Taylah said turning to look back at the girl. “They’re a bit rowdy today.”
With that Taylah walked over to the large tent that they were set to play in and she sighed. Just once she’d like to play a show indoors. Thank god the next venue was a concert hall.
Taylah rocked back and forth slightly as she took pictures of Of Mice’s set, grinning when Austin stood right in front of her and screamed in her face, which she took plenty of pictures of before the crazy screaming of a girl in particular caught her attention. Turning just as the song finished Taylah spotted the chick who’d had a go at her for go to the front of the line earlier that day.
She watched as she kept screaming Austin’s name while he spoke into the Mike, pointing wildly at a bracelet that was on her arm. Turning around, Taylah watched as Austin finally looked down and stared blank faced at her.
“Hey, Joni,” he said and Taylah couldn’t help but laugh at his expression, snapping a picture of it so she’d have it forever. Apparently the girl, Joni, was still going crazy and pointing to her wrist because Austin nodded and pointed to his where he had an identical bracelet before he went back to speaking to the rest of the crowd.
It was then that it occurred to her that Joni was the chick who’d followed them to the hotel they stayed at last night and had ambushed them, begging for pictures and autographs from everyone even though it was apparent we were tired.
Joni and her friends had kept them almost an hour and normally it was awesome meeting fans but she was so rude to half of us, Lily, Horizon and Shay especially which confused us heaps. Every time Austin stood next to or went in to kiss Lily, Joni would be there to ask him something and by the time that they’d made it up to the rooms, Austin was beyond annoyed.
Shaking her head, Taylah continued to take pictures of the rest of the set, cheering with the rest of the crowd when Mice stepped off stage and Bring Me walked on five minutes later after set change. As always, Oli screamed, pulled faces and simply smiled in her face as she took photos up until Deathbeds where Taylah got the best surprise when Hannah walked out to sing with him.
Smiling at the chemistry between the two and how into the song both got, she made sure to take plenty of shots of the two before she walked around the stage and climbed up to take more pictures of the band, Hannah walking over and hugging her happily during the instrumental.
July
Taylah and the guys of Suicide Silence quickly grew to be friends, often hanging out together after shows so she could show them the various shots she took, to talk about the most mundane things or for Taylah to talk the guys into letting her braid their hair. It hadn’t taken much convincing on the guys behalf to learn to like the young photographer, what with her being to energetic and so small they all thought of her as the crazy little sister of the band.
“But, Mitch,” Taylah whined as the man in question dragged her through the partying crowd of the rap up party for the incredibly successful Music As A Weapon IV tour, towards a friend of his. “I just wanna take pictures and get something to eat.”
“I know; you never stop taking pictures, that’s why I’m distracting you. Besides, you’ll like this guy, he’s great,” Mitch looked over the group of dancing people before spotting him on the other side of the room. “There he is,” he said before changing his grip on Taylah’s left hand before leading her over to where two guys were talking before they noticed his approach and turning to him with smiles.
“Mitch! Hey, man how you been?” the shorter, ginger haired of the two asked before noticing the girl hiding partially behind his back. “And who is this lovely little lady with you?”
Mitch laughed when he realised that Taylah was using him as a shield. Moving slightly, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her forward. “This little girl is one of the best fucking photographers I have ever met. Guys, meet Taylah, Tay meet Austin Carlile and Alan Ashby, they’re from Of Mice And Men.”
“Hey,” Taylah said with a slight smile, hands rising up to grip the black camera around her neck, fingers flexing for a moment before she raised her camera and snapped a picture of the two quickly; it was a nervous habit. She’d blinded half the bands on tour when she first met them with her flash. She was slowly getting better, slowly.
August
Taylah groaned as she walked out of the bathroom once again having gotten sick and thrown up. “I’m gonna go to the doctor, this is getting ridiculous, I’ll see you guys in a while. Hopefully it’s just a stomach bug.”
“Want one of us to come with you?” Chris asked from his spot on the small couch.
Taylah shook her head as she grabbed her backpack. “Don’t worry about it, Chris, besides, I don’t know how long this’ll take and you guys have a show tonight. I should be back by then but with doctors you never know.”
“That’s true,” Dan nodded, “I guess we’ll see you tonight.”
“Yeah,” Taylah said with a weak smile. “Have a great show guys,” she called as she walked off the bus and made her way out of the venue, hailing a cab once she was out on the street.
Four hours of sitting in a waiting room later, Taylah was told that the doctor wasn’t sure what she had and that they’d take a blood test and get back to her within the week if it was something bad that needed a prescription.
Brilliant.
Note the sarcasm.
She was by herself on the bus; everyone was at sound check and would be for another half an hour, leaving an incredibly bored Taylah to sit in front of the mounted television and watch cartoons. As a rerun of “Scooby Doo, Where Are You?” began to play, her phone lit up with the doctor’s number.
“Hey, Doc, what’s the verdict? Just a stomach bug right?”
“I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, Taylah, but you have cancer. You’re going to need to have more tests run to find out just how advanced the cancer is. Hopefully we’ve caught it early.”
“Cancer? You’re shitting me right, Doc?”
“Unfortunately not, Taylah, I’m sorry.”
“Oh, okay, well thanks,” she muttered before hanging up her phone, completely frozen.
Taylah sat in the front of the tour bus silently as she stared at her hands clasped between her legs, cartoons still playing in the background. This couldn’t be happening. Not now, this wasn’t in her ten year plan. Hell, this wasn’t a part of any plan she’d ever made in her life.
More tests….hopefully we’ve caught it early….
Tears began to well up in her brown eyes as the truth began to sink in fully. She had cancer of some kind and it was possibly spreading. There was a possibility that it had been caught early but they weren’t certain. Swallowing thickly, Taylah wiped her eyes and sat up straighter before grabbing her bag and switching off the TV.
“I refuse to let this ruin my night,” Taylah said aloud to the empty bus before she slung her pack on and headed out to the venue where the bands were having their sound check.
“I’ll tell them when I know for sure what it is,” she whispered to herself as she walked, refusing to tell the guys when it could be nothing.
December
The door slammed open surprising Taylah from her slumped position on the floor of the bathroom. Mitch stood frozen in the doorway with a horrified and worried expression before he sprang into action, knocking the razor from her hands and grabbing towels to press to her wrists. When the blood began to slow he cleaned the wounds, scared at how deep they were and how close she’d been to hitting the veins. One millimetre off and she’d be dead. Shaking his head, he bandaged her arms and pulled her out to the living room.
“You can’t honestly be thinking about that, Tay. What if you did it only for Danny to get a call tomorrow that the chemo has worked? That you’re cancer free?” Mitch asked, holding Taylah by the hands as he sat across from her on the coffee table.
“It just hurts, Mitch, it hurts so bad,” Taylah whispered with tears welling up in her eyes giving them a glassy sheen. “I know it’s possible that the cancer could go at any moment but what if it doesn’t?”
“Hey,” he whispered, releasing her hands to wipe her tears away, “you’re going to be fine. Cancer is a tricky thing, babe, but you’ll beat it. You beat all odds, every time. This is just a small step in such a huge life that’s a head of you, don’t let something like this keep you down. Keep your head up, Taylah. You only live once, and I’m going to make sure that you live a long time, even if I have to be beside you every step of the way until we’re old and wrinkled with sagging tattoos.”
Taylah smiled weakly at the man she thought of as one of her older brothers. “Promise?” She whispered softly.
Mitch smiled and cupped her cheeks. “Promise,” he kissed her forehead. “Come on, you need stitches and those bandages won’t hold for long.”
“Okay, Mitch, thanks.”
2010
January
“Hey, babe, I know you don’t like meeting new people because you’re an antisocial cunt but there’s this guy that I really think you’ll hit it off with,” Taylah said with a smile as she looked into the computer screen at Lily, they were talking on Skype because at the moment Lily was in New Zealand visiting her cousins while Taylah had gone back to Australia with Danny and Horizon to see their family.
“Argh, what is it with you and new people?” Lily groaned as she leaned against the counter where the laptop was placed, completely oblivious to the fact that her cousin was walking around in his underwear behind her.
Taylah laughed at her friend and shook her head. “You know, meeting new people wouldn’t hurt, after all, it’s kinda how you get far in the music industry, how else will you get big?”
“Um, I’ll have your hook ups with Suicide to support and promote my band?” Lily asked with a raised eyebrow.
Taylah rolled her eyes as she reached for her glass of juice that was beside the laptop. “You’re a lazy shit, you know that? But seriously, just meet the guy. He’s awesome and super nice and I bet you love the band he’s in.”
“Band? Did you say he’s in a band?”
She definitely had her attention now. “Oh yeah, didn’t I mention that? He’s in this band, you might not have heard of them, I think they’re cool and the guitarist is awesome.”
“What’s his name?” Lily was sitting up straight now, looking intently at the ginger through the monitor.
“Uh, Austin, he’s pre chill, spouts some ridiculous shit that I guess is inspirational but I just kinda push him away when he starts.”
“Austin?” the teal haired girl frowned in thought as she mentally scrolled through all the associated bands that have a member with the name Austin, only having to think of two. “You mean Of Mice’s Austin?”
Taylah nodded while taking a sip of her juice. “One and the same, he wants to meet you because apparently I talk about you guys a lot.”
Lily sat there in surprise for a while; the only noise coming from her end was the faint cries of laughter of her little cousins. “You want me to meet the lead singer of Of Mice? Seriously?”
“Yep,” the ginger replied, popping the ‘P’ as she smiled.
“Okay, yeah sure, totally cool. Not like I don’t love the band or anything, no way,” Lily said before she pointed at the screen with an angry expression. “You’ve known Of Mice and you never thought to introduce us before? How long have you known them?”
“Uhhh, since about March last year?”
“Cunt, I could’ve been bros with them by now!”
“Being bros is my job; you just get to meet them because I have the connections. Face it,” Taylah said with I pompous air, “I have a way cooler job then you, I mean think about it, I knew Alan before he was in Of Mice.”
“Whatever,” Lily laughed before she grew serious. “How’s the B.C?”
“I think it’s getting better, I’ve got an appointment tomorrow to see how it’s going.”
“At least you haven’t lost your hair at all, that’s a plus,” Lily said with a smile, “you’ll be fine. If Mitch Lucker said that you’ll be okay, then God damn it, you’ll be okay.”
Taylah laughed and nodded. “I swear Mitch is like this amazing miracle worker. I’d be lost without him.” The door to the apartment Taylah was currently crashing in opened behind her, the sounds of her brothers Danny and Cole talking –arguing- about what motorbike was better reaching her ears while they moved into the kitchen where she was currently sitting. “I gotta go, the brothers just got back and I wanna have some family time while having a 90210 sesh. Talk soon?”
Lily laughed and nodded, “Yeah, yeah, I’ll see you in a week anyway. Have fun.”
Taylah blinked her eyes rapidly hating that she’d zoned out so terribly once again. Zoning out isn’t the best thing to do when you’re getting tattoos. She’d seen what happened to the girl who fell asleep and woke up with a face full of stars.
“All done, Taylah, how do you like it?” Xander asked, a long-time family friend who’d moved over here a year ago.
Humming softly, she looked down at her right wrist and smiled at the cursive writing and black and white bunch of Daffodils whose shading was small dots, the symbol for breast cancer in Australia. “It’s perfect, thanks man.” Xander grinned down at it before he grabbed his phone that was sitting on the table beside her arm and snapped a picture of it to upload on insta at a later time.
Please, don't take this out on me,
'Cause you're the only thing that's keeping me alive.
And I don't wanna wait for the down-set date
'Cause I would rather end it all tonight.
And if I mean anything to you,
I'm sorry, but I've made up my mind.
It was slightly cheesy, she thought, getting lyrics tattooed when you were so close to the band who’d written them but with the placement being directing underneath the scar on her right wrist and the meaning for her behind it, Taylah felt it was a perfect way to describe how she’d felt at the moment.
Shaking out of her thoughts Taylah looked up at Xander as he wrapped her arm in cling wrap. “How much do I owe you?”
“Nothing,” he answered as he finished wrapping and began packing away his things. “This one is the house, darling. We’ve been talking about this here tattoo for the better part of a year and I refuse to make you pay for it. It was a pleasure to do and you’re family. Now get out of here you silly ginger. I’ve got other clients coming in.”
Taylah laughed and hugged Xander tightly before she snapped a picture with him. “I’ll see you soon yeah? Christmas? It’s my turn to host and everyone’s flying out. I better see you there.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be there, now get outta here,” he said, gently pushing her to the door of the shop, laughing as he did so.
With a grin Taylah began the slight trek back to the venue that they were currently at, glad that she’d managed to get her tattoo done before the sound check had even started. Tapping a random beat on her left leg, she pulled her phone out to check if she had any messages just as it started ringing.
“Whuddup?”
“You really need to stop saying that when you answer phones,” Alex said and she could just imagine his amused expression and rolled eyes.
“Okay then, how’s ‘Yo, yo yiggity yo’?” she asked as she stopped at the crossing, waiting for the man to go green.
“That’s a hell no.”
“You pay dirt with KDirt?”
“No, hell no. Anymore movie references you’d like to test out?”
Taylah grinned before answering, “Hello, TARDIS phone, this is Amy.” The sound of Alex laughing on the other end made her smile widen as the light flashed red, allowing her to cross.
“Yes? Is that laugh a yes, I should go with that one?”
“No,” he giggled once more before sobering up. “No, no don’t use that. It’s priceless yes and you do look vaguely similar to Karen Gillan but no. I guess until we think of something else it’ll have to stay as ‘whuddup’.”
Taylah rolled her eyes as she followed her mental map of how many turns she did on the way to XXX Ink. “Whatever, Alex. I’m sure you didn’t call me just to tell me I need to change my greeting. What do you want?”
“Oh, just called to say that sound check has been moved up and you have twenty minutes to get here and tune Jacob’s drums.”
“Ew, a deadline. Fine, I should be there in ten if I have my directions right,” Taylah said as she turned a corner and stood dumbfounded for a moment. When had the venue been this close? “On second thought, I’m right across the road so I’ll see you in a few.”
“Alright, see ya.”
“Bye,” she said before hanging up and walking over to the crossing to wait with a group of girls wearing various band shirts, clearly here to line up early for the concert that was set to start at four. The lights changed and as a large group, they crossed the road and walked over to the venue, the girl stopping behind about ten people who were there also while Taylah walked around them to the barricade.
“Hey, back of the line, Red! No pushing in!” a random girl at the front shouted at her while Taylah paused to grab her I.D from her bag.
The security turned at shook his head at the girl before moving over to them. “Back already?” he asked as Taylah lifted her I.D at him and nodded.
“Yeah, Alex just called saying that sound check was moved up and I had to hurry,” Taylah replied as he opened the large gate a little bit for her to slip in through much to the girl who’d shouted at her surprise. “Good luck with this lot, Luke,” Taylah said turning to look back at the girl. “They’re a bit rowdy today.”
With that Taylah walked over to the large tent that they were set to play in and she sighed. Just once she’d like to play a show indoors. Thank god the next venue was a concert hall.
Taylah rocked back and forth slightly as she took pictures of Of Mice’s set, grinning when Austin stood right in front of her and screamed in her face, which she took plenty of pictures of before the crazy screaming of a girl in particular caught her attention. Turning just as the song finished Taylah spotted the chick who’d had a go at her for go to the front of the line earlier that day.
She watched as she kept screaming Austin’s name while he spoke into the Mike, pointing wildly at a bracelet that was on her arm. Turning around, Taylah watched as Austin finally looked down and stared blank faced at her.
“Hey, Joni,” he said and Taylah couldn’t help but laugh at his expression, snapping a picture of it so she’d have it forever. Apparently the girl, Joni, was still going crazy and pointing to her wrist because Austin nodded and pointed to his where he had an identical bracelet before he went back to speaking to the rest of the crowd.
It was then that it occurred to her that Joni was the chick who’d followed them to the hotel they stayed at last night and had ambushed them, begging for pictures and autographs from everyone even though it was apparent we were tired.
Joni and her friends had kept them almost an hour and normally it was awesome meeting fans but she was so rude to half of us, Lily, Horizon and Shay especially which confused us heaps. Every time Austin stood next to or went in to kiss Lily, Joni would be there to ask him something and by the time that they’d made it up to the rooms, Austin was beyond annoyed.
Shaking her head, Taylah continued to take pictures of the rest of the set, cheering with the rest of the crowd when Mice stepped off stage and Bring Me walked on five minutes later after set change. As always, Oli screamed, pulled faces and simply smiled in her face as she took photos up until Deathbeds where Taylah got the best surprise when Hannah walked out to sing with him.
Smiling at the chemistry between the two and how into the song both got, she made sure to take plenty of shots of the two before she walked around the stage and climbed up to take more pictures of the band, Hannah walking over and hugging her happily during the instrumental.
Notes
Yay! I updated! Granted half of it is flash backs from the Mitch chapters I have up but still an update!How many of you like the idea of her tattoo?
And of her using the Doctor Who line?
Sorry it's been so long, I've just had no idea what to write about. But hopefully I can update a little bit faster.
In the mean time I have a another story, a Tony Perry one this time so please go check that out here.
I love you all.
fantastic :D
12/28/13