I am not feeling this outfit, I thought as I studied myself in the mirror. “You look so fucking sexy, Ava!” My best friend and roommate, Alexis, said from somewhere behind me, totally disagreeing with my thoughts. Later on that night, we would be going to a Pierce the Veil and A Day To Remember concert. I was more or less going for Pierce the Veil, but I was way more into both bands than Jackie, who preferred much heavier music, but she decided to go with me anyway. The catch, however, was that she could drag her boyfriend, Jason, along with us, and that she could pick out my outfit.

“I look like a cheap whore, Alexis. I can’t tell if I’m overdressed or underdressed.” I frowned at my reflection. Alexis had pulled out some dangerously short black, leather high-waist shorts and a matching black leather bandeau out of her closet for me to wear. She also did my hair and makeup; she’d tied my long hair into a high, straight ponytail with a dramatic hump in the front. My eyeliner was heavy, black and winged. My lips were red. She’d also tried to make me put on some tall, red pumps, but I’d decided enough was enough and threw on my red vans instead.

“What? Nah, you look hot!” She came to stand next to me in front of the mirror. She was dressed pretty casually, with black jean shorts and a sea-foam colored strapless top. She, however, went all the way with tall sea-foam pumps and wild, curly hair. “Actually, I stand corrected: we look hot!”

I rolled my eyes at my dramatic best friend. “Alexis, would you wear heels to a BMTH show? How the hell are you gonna mosh?”

“Ava, please. They don’t mosh at a Pierce the Veil concert. They’re way too soft for that!”

“They are not! Can we just leave before you make me change my mind?”

“Yeah, let me just call Jason and see where he is.” I nodded in understanding and walked away as Alexis pulled out her phone to call her boyfriend. I walked to the kitchen and pulled out my bottle of Jameson and a shot glass. I took two shots of the burning liquor and tried to forget the ridiculousness of the outfit I was currently sporting. “He’s pulling up outside,” I heard Alexis say. I turned to see her leaning against the doorframe of the kitchen. I picked up my clutch and my wallet off the counter and followed Alexis, sighing heavily. I was certainly not looking forward to third-wheeling with “Jalexis,” which was their ship name.

Despite the fact that I loved Alexis like a sister, we were very different, and this night already wasn’t going as well as I’d hope, but I was refusing to let it ruin my good spirits.

The ride to the venue was awkward…for me. I sat in the backseat of Jason’s Jeep with my earphones jammed into my ears while Jalexis sat in the front presumably swooning over each other. When we got to the venue, Jason had barely parked the car before I unbuckled my seat belt and jumped out. But when the car didn’t turn off, I tapped on Alexis’s window. She opened her door and looked at me like a kid caught stealing cookies out of a jar.

“Are you not coming?” I furrowed my eyebrows at her and leaned against the open car door.

“Um…” She looked at Jason for help, but he just shrugged and motioned for her to keep talking.
“Jason and I are going to get some shots before the show,” she said quietly. “You know, since there’s like an hour before the doors open anyway.”

“What the hell, Alexis?”

“I’m sorry, okay? But you know I didn’t want to come to this concert,” she spoke as if it were my fault that she was ditching me.

I glared into her piercing blue eyes. “Don’t bother coming back. I’ll get my own fucking ride.” I slammed the door angrily and stormed off toward the line of fans forming outside the venue. I put my earphones back into my ears and shut out the looks I got from the teenagers I was surrounded by. Most of them we dressed in band tees, hoodies, and skinny jeans. Had Alexis refused to come with me in the first place, that’s exactly how I would’ve been dressed. I felt so chilly and out of place.

Something told me something was wrong. I furrowed my eyebrows at my own sudden, and hopefully meaningless, concern. I opened up my clutch and did a quick inventory. Phone…check. IPod…check. Keys…check. Chap-stick….check. Wallet…no check? I gasped and dug my hand around as much as I could in the small bag, almost as if my wallet would suddenly reappear out of nowhere. I groaned, realizing that my ticket had been in my wallet. I immediately knew that I’d left it in Jason’s car, and there was no way in hell I was going to try and get it from them. I did have about forty dollars, though, which I figured I could use for taxi fare.

I walked around the venue trying to shake away the tears that stung at my eyes. I was having one of the roughest nights I’d had in a while. I was dressed so uncomfortably, my best friend ditched me, and now I couldn’t get into the concert I’d been looking forward to for months. Fuck. My. Life. I saw the main road as I reached the other side of the building. Irritated by the happy song blaring into my ears, I ripped the headphones out of my ears and shoved them into my clutch, clamping it closed.

I looked up at the darkening downtown L.A. sun as my first few tears fell from my eyes. I wiped them away quickly, not wanting to look like a rejected whore with running mascara and leather clothes.

I looked to the right to see two tour busses parked next to each other. One was green with a big mustache on the front of it, and I immediately recognized it as Pierce the Veil’s bus. I smiled, happy that they were here, about to put on a great show and make some kids feel a sense of hope, even though I wouldn’t be there to witness it myself.

An obnoxious whistle shook me out of my lightening thoughts. I looked around and saw five guys looking at me from across the street. They were dressed in tank-tops, shorts, and sneakers, but none of them looked particularly clean. They weren’t that big, either, in either height nor muscle, but because there were five of them, and one of me, I was admittedly intimidated. I wrapped my arms around my torso as a feeble attempt to cover myself.

“Wassup baby?” one of the guys yelled at me as they were crossing the street.

I ignored him and looked around, silently begging anyone for help. “What’chu doin’ out here all alone, shorty?” another one said as they got closer.

Goddamnit, Alexis, I thought to myself as I looked down at my revealing outfit. I continued to ignore the guys as I looked for any place to run away to and hide. Seeing none, I sighed, and looked for a taxi. I saw two in a row, but when I tried to get them to pull over, they sped off. I groaned in frustration.

“Going somewhere, baby?” I heard a third voice say to me. It was closer this time, and I looked to see the group of guys about ten feet from me.

“I’m not your fucking baby,” I said sternly.

All the guys except the one that’d just spoken laughed and made fun of me for standing up for myself. “Listen here, bitch,” he said before violently grabbing my upper arm. “You’re gonna be whatever I say you are, because you’re mine tonight.” I could smell the revolting odor of cigarettes and morning breath, though it was evening, radiating out of his mouth. I practically gagged due to the smell of this idiot’s breath and the fear I was feeling.

“Is there a problem here, fellas?” I heard a vaguely familiar voice say from behind me. Go away, dude. I can handle myself.

The man who was holding me tightened his grip on my arm and looked over my shoulder to respond to the question. “Nah, bro. Just havin’ a talk with a pretty lady.” I didn’t gush over his compliment like I normally would. In fact, it pretty much disgusted me.

“Alright, well, conversation’s over.” The voice was getting louder and closer. Damn, this guy’s persistent!

“Listen. This is none of your goddamn business. Go back to wherever you came from, alright?” The guy who was holding me was getting pretty damn upset, and it kind of scared me. I looked over my shoulder to try and figure out who my unwanted knight-in-shining-armor was, and before I knew it, I was face-to-face with Mike Fuentes: drummer of Pierce the Veil.

Up until this moment, I’d played the scenario in which I would meet my favorite member of my favorite band over and over again, but I never imagined that it would be this way: while I’m being tormented by five obnoxious pieces of shit.

“Anything concerning my girlfriend, is my fucking business.” Mike spoke sternly, evidently growing impatient.

“You think I’m stupid? This ain’t your girlfriend.”

“Wanna bet?” Mike rolled up the sleeve of his hoodie, revealing a sleeve of beautiful tattoos. Ones that I’d spent countless hours swooning over through pictures, imagining the day I could trace every line of them with my fingers. Once he stepped under the dim street light next to us, his neck tattoos became visible as well.

The man holding me let go with widened eyes at the sight of Mike’s tattoos, and I stumbled backwards into Mike’s arms. “Fine. Take your fucking girlfriend. We didn’t want her anyway.” Then, all five guys turned on their heels and walked away, probably to harass some other unfortunate girl.

“Thanks for that,” I said once the guys were out of sight.

“No problem. What’s your name?” Mike shot me an award-winning smile.

“Ava,” I held out my hand for him to shake, and he took it gently.

“Mike,” he said, introducing himself.

“I know.” We both chuckled.

“Well, Ava. Are you here to see the show?”

“Um…I was, but I left my wallet along with my ticket in my friend’s car, who’s out drinking somewhere with his girlfriend. So I was trying to get a cab to go home.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” he gave me a genuine smile, and it warmed my heart. “But, I could get you in to see the concert from backstage, if you’d like.”

I thought about his offer. As tempting as it sounded, I just couldn’t bring myself to accept it. “I would absolutely love for that to happen,” Mike’s eyes lit up. “But…I’m just having a really rough night, and I just wanna go home and sleep.” His face fell.

“I totally understand. I would definitely take you home myself but…”

“You have to perform, and meet fans, and the whole nine yards. I get it, Mike. It’s totally fine.” I giggled, and he chuckled.

“But I can help you get a taxi.” I agreed, and we stood on the sidewalk, waiting for another taxi to drive past us. “Do you always dress like that to a rock concert?” Mike asked me, breaking the silence that’d fallen over us.

“Oh! No, my friend picked out this outfit. I would much rather be in a t-shirt and some jeans.”
,
“It seems as though your friends are kind of your Kryptonite, Ava,” he said, earning a laugh from us both.

“They’re not as bad as they sound, I swear.” I saw a yellow cab making its way toward me, and I jumped up, waving my hand at it. “Taxi!” The taxi slowed down to a stop about fifty feet away from me, and Mike walked me to the door.

I had just opened the door and was about to get in before he stopped me. “Ava, wait.”

“Yeah?” I looked at him from over my shoulder.

“I’d really love to…um…take you out…maybe…sometime?” he stammered nervously. I giggled and handed him a card out of my clutch with my number on it.

“There’s a drive-in movie event going on this weekend, and I’d love for a certain drummer to take me there. Call me, okay?” I gave him my sweetest smile.

“Definitely.” Mike planted a quick kiss on my cheek, and I blushed, getting into the cab. He shut the door behind me and waved as the driver drove off, and I swooned over the quick turn for the better my night had just had.

When the taxi pulled up to my front door, I paid the driver and stepped out in front of the apartment building in which I lived. The sun had just set as I stuck my key in the lock of the large, metal front door. I walked up six flights of stairs to the third floor and stepped into my apartment. I walked through the open-floored flat and turned on every light switch I walked by. I’ve always loved horror movies where things pop out at you when you’re home alone in the dark, but I was taking no chances of that happening in real life.

Finally, I reached the bathroom. Immediately, I rid myself of the ridiculous getup I was sporting and started up the bath. When the tub was all filled up with warm water, I stepped in cautiously, not wanting to burn myself. Then, I reached over the edge of the bathtub and grabbed a Jodi Picoult novel that was resting on top of a tall pile of books on the floor. Whenever I was stressed out or anxious, I would run a hot bath and read one of my favorite books. Then, I would cuddle up in my bed with a glass of white wine and my laptop, probably to scroll through Tumblr or work on some writing of my own.

I was in the bathtub for about forty-five minutes before I decided to get up and get into my bed. It was only about eight, and I wasn’t yet tired, but when I was scrolling down my dashboard or typing away furiously on Microsoft Word, the time really flies by.

At about eleven, I heard the front door open, followed by giggles and heavy footsteps. I knew a very drunken Alexis was home, and even though I was still technically mad at her, I wanted to make sure she was okay. From the sounds of things, she was alone, so I walked out of my room wearing just my bra and short shorts.

“Hey there!” she called out once she saw me, collapsing on the couch in a fit of giggles and drunken slurs.

“Okay, Alexis. Time for bed.” I walked over to her and draped her right arm over my shoulders, pulling her to her feet.

“No! I have to get back to Ava!” I chuckled slightly at her confusion, but decided to go along with it.

“Who’s Ava?”

“She’s my best friend. She’s very pretty,” Alexis slurred before letting out a hiccup.

“Where is she?”

“I let her go to a concert alone. I’m such a bad friend! I have to tell her I’m sor-“ Alexis’s sentence was cut short when she covered her mouth with her own hand. Puke, I thought as she ran off to the bathroom. I ran after her and caught up to her just in time to move her curly blonde hair away from the mess. When she was done puking, I made her use some mouthwash, despite all her protests, then I led her to her bedroom, where I helped her get undressed and get under the covers. “Wait!” she called as I turned to leave the room.

“Yes, Alexis?” I cocked my eyebrow in her direction.

“Would you tell Ava I’m sorry?”

I chuckled. “Sure, Alexis.” With that, I turned away, closing the door behind me. When I got back to my room, I saw that I had a text message from an unknown number with a different area code than mine.

Unknown: Hey, Ava. It’s Mike!

I smiled at how quickly he’d made contact with me. He’d probably just gotten off stage or something. I quickly thought of something to respond back to him: something that wouldn’t make me seem to desperate, but at the same time, I didn’t want to seem uninterested, either.

Me: What’s up?

I figured that was a good enough response. Right? Almost immediately, Mike texted back.

Unknown: I just got back on the bus and wanted to talk to you before I went to sleep.

I blushed at his message.

Me: Aw! Don’t forget about the drive-in this weekend!

Unknown: Never! Goodnight, Ava ;)

I thought a bit about the winking face he’d put at the end of that last message. What the hell did that mean? Don’t start over-thinking shit so soon, Ava, I scolded myself and typed a quick response.

Me: Night ;)

After that last message, I saved the number into my phone under ‘Mike’ and put my iPhone on the charger before getting into bed and dozing off.

Notes

So...Since Bulletproof Love is just about over (with the exception of the Epilogue, which I am currently writing) I decided to post this chapter for Wonderless I've had collecting dust on my desktop for a bit. Before I post the sequel to Bulletproof Love, I wanna get this going, so subscribe, and keep your eye out for more chapters of this!

And of course, if you haven't already checked out Bulletproof Love, I suggest you do that verryyy sooon.

Love y'all!