Through the Lens

We all stood there wide eyed as we noticed our friends and family had jumped out from behind the sitting booths and bar as confetti fell down from the ceiling.

"Mom?" I looked to see her standing there holding a bouquet of purple roses in her hand. My best friend Trista was there with her as well.

Vic had set this up, probably with the help of John, my boss. I knew he was up to something earlier.

Without any hesitation I ran to them and hugged them both tightly. I had missed them. It was going to be the longest I had been away from home and in another country. I was definitely a little homesick.

Vic's girlfriend was there, Tony's mom and his sister, a few of Mike's best friends and Jaime's friends as well.

"Hey, Vic, you trying to abduct my favorite photographer?!" I heard an extremely familiar voice call out from the gathering.

I looked to see Kellin standing there. Yes, Kellin Quinn.

"What the hell? Kellin?!" I smiled wide.

"One and only!" He walked up and gave me a big hug.

Trista turned pale as she stood next to me being hugged by Kellin as if we were best friends. I knew at this moment that I had to embarrass her, knowing she would probably kill me later, but it was so worth it.

"Kellin, this is my best friend Trista. She loves your music." I smiled as I gestured to her.
I felt her pinch my arm. Yep, I was definitely getting killed later.

"Hi, Trista!" Kellin hugged her tightly.

"Uh- hi." That was all Trista could manage as he hugged her.

Kellin let her go and she stood there stiffly.

"So, Rax, you and Tony, eh?" Kellin looked to me with a huge smirk, raising his eyebrow.

I blushed. "Who told you?" I whispered.

"Vic." He responded immediately.

"Of course." I chuckled slightly.

After about 30 minutes I had met everyone's friends and family. Tony told me he wanted me to meet his mom and sister. I was very nervous. It had been a long time since I was in a relationship serious enough where I had to meet someone's parents.

"Tony, are you sure? I mean... what if she doesn't like me." I whispered as he held my hand walking to where his mom and sister sat.

"Are you kidding me? She'll love you!" Tony had no doubts whatsoever. At least he wasn't nervous.

We arrived to the table and Tony continued to hold my hand. "Hey, mom?"

His mom looked at us and smiled, already knowing who I was. "Raxella, the talented photographer."

"... and my girlfriend." Tony added.

Oh boy, here we go.

His moms face lit up and she stood up to hug me tightly. "Oh, goodness! She is absolutely gorgeous, Antonio!" It was cute hearing her called him his full name.
But then I realized that she had just referred to me as gorgeous. I blushed.

"It's so nice to meet you, hunny." She said letting me go.

"It's very nice to meet you too." I replied.

We sat and talked for a couple of minutes. His mom was curious about me. It had went better than expected.

At one point I noticed Trista had disappeared as well as Mike, but then looked over at the bar to see them drinking like fish... and getting awfully close. I raised an eyebrow and took the opportunity to go check on them to see what they were up to.

I walked up to the bar and sat on the stool next to Trista who had Mike's arm over her shoulder.

"One rum and Coke, please." I said to the bartender who nodded to me.

I poked Trista's side. She jumped a bit and looked at me.

"D-don't scare me like that!" She screeched slightly.

I chuckled. "Sorry, sorry." I replied, not being sorry at all. I looked next to her and eyed Mike for a moment before looking back to my best friend. "You and Mike?"

Trista shrugged a bit and took a sip from her mixed drink in her hand. "You never know."

The bartender put my drink on the bar in front of me. I pulled $5 out of my pocket and handed it to the bartender who thanked me for the tip. I jumped off the stool with my drink in hand, carefully watching the two little love birds.

"Mike." I snapped.

He looked at me and blinked. "What?"

"If you hurt her, I will kill you." I warned, sort of jokingly, but I would probably kick his ass if he did anything bad. I skipped off to go find my boyfriend. I did a couple of moments later as I saw him sitting with Vic and Kellin at a table that had something that like... a karaoke machine...? Oh no. There were drinks all around the table, noticing all 3 of them were pretty drunk already. Tony looked up as he was laughing at something Kellin had said and saw me.

"Baby, come here." Tony said as he reached his arms out to me.

I hesitated for a moment and then took a step towards him. His arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me into his lap. He looked into my glass and then looked up at me.

"Is that still your first drink?" He asked, sounding slightly disappointed.

"Yeah. I had to have a clear head to bitch at Mike for a moment." I chuckled.

"Hmm... we need more drinks. Hey, Kellin?" Tony looked over to Kellin who was having a drunken conversation with Vic.

Kellin looked up. "Eh, yeah?"

"Can you go grab a couple more drinks? Rax likes rum... so rum?" He asked with slight puppy eyes.

Kellin laughed and got up from the booth. "Alright, Alright. I'll bring a few." He walked towards the bar with his hands in his pockets.

I looked over to see Vic messing with the karaoke machine and sighed a bit. "We doing karaoke tonight?"

"Yup. Kellin and Jaime really wanted to." Vic laughed.

"Speaking of which, where is Jaime anyways?" I asked looking around a bit.

"No idea, he ran off a little bit ago with his friends and he was tipsy." Tony answered as he took a drink from his glass.

"Drunk Jaime, oh great." I chuckled at the thought. Last time he was drunk, it was 'Hime Time' all night, and he almost stripped completely and ran around the streets Paris naked.

At that moment, Kellin came walking up with Jaime at his side, both holding lots and lots of alcohol in their hands. I had a feeling this was going to be another one of those nights.

"Raxxxxxxx!" Jaime cheered as he put down the drinks on the table and hugged me and Tony tightly once his hands were free. I could smell the alcohol on him. He was definitely drunk. "Kellin told us you like to singgg."

I raised an eyebrow and looked to Kellin who raised his hands up and shrugged, acting like he had no idea what I was talking about. "I'm innocent, I swear."

"Bullshit." I gave him a look of disbelief.

"Okay, fine. I know how much you like the song King for a Day-" He started to say but was quickly cut off by me.

"Stop there." I took a swig from my drink, finishing it and took another glass from the table and took a swig from it as well. I put the glass down and looked at Vic. "Vic, I'm stealing your lyrics."

Vic smirked and nodded as he started to mess with the karaoke machine again.

I got up from Tony's lap. Jaime started calling people over. I was at the point of drinking where I didn't care who watched or if it sucked. I'd be having the time of my life singing with Kellin. Mike and Trista walked over holding hands and Jaime's friends came over as well.

I smirked and took another drink from my glass and eyed Tony for a moment. I took my phone from my pocket and handed it to him. "Take some videos for Instagram."

Tony nodded without hesitation.

Kellin picked up two microphones and handed one to me as he began to speak into the other. "So, how's the party?"

Our mini audience gave a cheer.

"Come on, you can be louder than that. I know most of you are piss drunk." Kellin said sounding slightly disappointed.

They started wailing and cheering just like the fans at the concerts.

"Yeah, that's better. So, for those of you that don't know..." Kellin pulled me over with his arm over my shoulder. "This is Raxella - PTV's photographer AND... Tony's girlfriend."

Some people in the crowd whistled a bit.

How many times was I going to blush from embarrassment tonight?

"She wants to sing for us tonight. Well, actually, we're making her sing since she was singing with me last year when she was our photographer. So this is King for a Day without Vic. SPIN THAT SHIT!" I don't think I've ever seen Kellin so drunk and excited before.

"I'm not a DJ!" Vic yelled back drunkly as he pressed play on the karaoke machine.

The song began to play and that's when I got nervous. I could do this, right?

Dare me to jump off of this Jersey bridge
I bet you never had a Friday night like this
Keep it up, keep it up, let's raise our hands
I take a look up at the sky and I see
Red for the cancer, red for the wealthy
Red for the drink that's mixed with suicide
Everything red!

Kellin was in my face as we sang and screamed to each other. We had the crowd singing with us as well and cheering us on.

Please, won't you push me for the last time
Let's scream until there's nothing left
So sick of playing, I don't want this anymore
The thought of you's no fucking fun
You want a martyr, I'll be one
Because enough's enough, we're done.

You told me think about it, well I did
Now I don't wanna feel a thing anymore
I'm tired of begging for the things that I want
I'm over sleeping like a dog on the floor.

By this time, we were both standing on the table having the time of our lives. I held my drink in my hand and took a sip every once and a while in between singing.

The thing I think I love
Will surely bring me pain
Intoxication, paranoia, and a lot of fame
Three cheers for throwing up
Pubescent drama queen
You make me sick, I make it worse by drinking late

Scream until there's nothing left
So sick of playing, I don't want to anymore
The thought of you's no fucking fun
You want a martyr I'll be one
Because enough's enough, we're done!

You told me think about it, well I did
Now I don't wanna feel a thing anymore
I'm tired of begging for the things that I want
I'm over sleeping like a dog on the floor.

Even though Kellin and I were shit faced drunk, we never faltered. I wasn't sure at what point Vic had made it louder, but our voices filled the club, basically having our own concert. I could see Tony standing at the front with my phone is his hand taking a video of us.

Hail Mary, forgive me
Blood for blood, hearts beating
Come at me, now this is war!
Fuck with this new beat
Oh!

Now terror begins inside a bloodless vein
I was just a product of the street youth rage
Born in this world without a voice or say
Caught in the spokes with an abandoned brain
I know you well but this ain't a game
Blow the smoke in diamond shape
Dying is a gift so close your eyes and rest in peace!

Before I knew it, Kellin had dived off the table and into the crowd of our friends, still singing with me and surfed across the crowd for the last part.

You told me think about it, well I did
Now I don't wanna feel a thing anymore
I'm tired of begging for the things that I want
I'm over sleeping like a dog on the floor
Imagine living like a king someday
A single night without a ghost in the walls
We are the shadows screaming take us now
We'd rather die than live to rust on the ground.
Shit.

Notes

Fun little chapter! I've always wanted to sing with Kellin Quinn n.n