Through the Lens

I flopped down onto my bed. "Oh my god!" I squealed out loud.

Having come home from the office just a few minutes earlier, I was still bursting at the seams with my energy and excitement. "I'm going on tour with Pierce the Veil as their photographer. In Europe. For a MONTH!" I was still letting all of this information sink in.

As I stared at the ceiling for a moment, out of instinct grabbed my phone from next to me on the bed and looked at my lockscreen, seeing the time. It was now only noon. "I really should pack a little bit..." I tossed my phone to the side on my bed and sat up looking around my room a bit. "Ugh... but where do I start...?"

Standing up from my bed, I walked a few steps over to my desk and pulled out a drawer on the right top side, rummaging through a few things. "Hm..."

I closed the drawer and then opened the one under it, still rummaging. "No passport here..." Moving to the other side of the wooden desk, I opened one more drawer. "Ah, of course." I pulled out a small metal lock box from the third drawer. It was a retired safe deposit box with a little lock on it. I took the box and placed it on top of my desk.

My hand moved to the underside of the desk, feeling around. My fingertips found the key that was taped to the bottom and I peeled it off. I moved my hand to the small lock, inserted the key and turned it, unlocking the box. Putting the lock to the side with the key still inside of it, I opened the top of the metal lid to the box. This box was full of important things. Birth certificate, irreplaceable photos, and of course, my passport.

After digging through some of the things in the box, I found the small blue booklet that was my passport. I placed it to the side on the desk. "Alright. Got that out of the way at least. Now for actual packing..." I then turned to look at my room. Gosh, it was a mess. Some clothes were strewn across the floor, but then there was a neatly folded pile of clothes next to my closet, a mixture of shirts, pants and shorts. They had just been washed the previous night. "Okay, packing my not be as hard as I thought it would be." I walked over and quickly decided what to bring and what not to.

I put the clothes I would be packing onto my bed. My eyes wandered over to my phone which had a notification on the screen. I picked it up and saw that my friend Matt had texted me. Oh, just wait till I told him the news. I opened the message and began to reply back. 'Sorry, I wont be able to make it tonight. I'm sorta going to be hanging out with PTV. And going to Europe on tour with them for a month.' Sent.

I put the phone back down onto my bed and turned to continue packing.

DING!

Well, that was a fast reply. I sighed and turned back around to see the new notification. 'WHAT?!' I chuckled. I proceeded to text him the whole story about how I woke up this morning very grumpy because of John calling me at 7am, and how I drove home from the office with a huge smile on my face after meeting the guys.

After I sent the text, I held my phone in my hand for a moment and then reached into my back pocket for the folded piece of paper with their numbers on it. "I guess I should get the info for tonight..." My eyes looked immediately to Tony's number. I bit my lip as I began to input it into my phone to text him.

'Hey, It's Raxella. Just wanted to get the info for tonight. Surprisingly, I'm almost done packing.' I read it over quickly to make sure I didn't mess up somewhere and then sent it.
Before I forgot, I saved all of their numbers in my phone.

I placed my phone back onto the bed and then turned around to my dresser. My hands reached to open the top drawer where all of my underwear was. No frilly or lacey things. It was plain and simple. Mostly black or purple. I then noticed a bikini set that I haven't touched for probably over a year. it was black with white polka dots all over it. "I wonder if this still fits...?" I grabbed the top and turned to look into the mirror, holding it over over my chest.

As I was deciding if it would still fit, I jumped as my phone notified me of another text. I lunged over to my bed dropping the bikini top to the floor. I felt my face get warm with a blush as I noticed that the name 'Tony Perry' came up with the text. My heart was skipping all over the place to the point where the screen went black again because I didn't swipe it to read the message. I blinked and then unlocked my phone to see what he had said.

'Hey Rax. We're staying at a hotel right on the coast. It's a Hilton. We're staying in room 617. You can probably follow the smell of alcohol down the hall. Maybe head over around 7? See you soon. ;)' That winky face at the end did it. My heart wanted to leap out of my chest right then and there.

I looked at the bottom of the text to see he was typing something else as a '...' displayed. A new message came through and it was a photo. It was a selfie of Tony and the other guys all holding plastic cups. I smiled and then another '...' displayed. Again, I waited. Another photo arrived of the room they were in. It wasn't just a room, it was a suite. I could see a small table in the back filled with multiple kinds of alcohol bottles. Two more photos arrived. One showing off the view of the ocean from the window and the other showing the separate rooms. There were TV's set up in both rooms with PS4's attached to them.

"Tonight is going to be fun." I said to myself.

After pulling down my suitcase from the top of the closet, almost dropping it on top of my head, packing some stuff, taking a shower, eating dinner and getting ready to go, it was 6:15pm. I sent a quick text to Tony letting him know I was on my way as I hopped into my car. I got no reply. They were all probably drunk by now. I giggled at the thought.

I looked into my rear view mirror to make sure they would still recognize me. I had put on a little bit of eye make up and actually did something with my hair. In reality, I just curled the ends a bit.

As I was satisfied with the fact I may make some bad decisions tonight and there was alcohol involved, I started the car, backed out of the driveway and left, heading towards the hotel on the coast.

It was a short drive, only about 15 minutes. I pulled into the valet lot for the hotel. A man in a suit walked up from a ticketing stand as I stopped the car in the front. I opened the door to my car and I could instantly feel and smell the sea breeze.

I grabbed my purse and camera and stepped out of my car and the valet greeted me. "Good evening, miss. Will you be staying over night?" He asked.

I had to think for a moment. Would I be here all night? Or would I only be here for a few hours. I smiled and then nodded to him. "Staying for the night."

He pulled a ticket booklet out of his suit pocket and began to write some things down, including the make, model and license plate of my car. He ripped the ticket in two and handed me half. "Enjoy your stay."

I handed him the key to my car and walked towards the large sliding glass doors. They opened and I entered the large, bright lobby of the hotel. I felt totally out of place here with my purple tank top and shorts. Most of the people gathered in the lobby looked so "businessy".

I walked towards the elevators and stopped in front, pressing the up button. I waited for a few moments. I looked up to see that the elevator was descending down.

The elevator made a dinging sound as it arrived to the lobby. The doors opened and I stepped inside. I had this one to myself.

"6th floor..." I pressed the number 6, and the doors closed. The elevator began ascending.

1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6...

Another dinging sound as the elevator slowed to a stop. The doors slid open once again and I stepped out. Looking around for a moment, figuring out which way to go. There was a sign a little bit down saying '601-620 -->'.

I turned right and began to walk. Right then was when the reality began to sink in. "Oh man, oh man... I hope I'm not too awkward." I just continued to walk, looking for room 617. "612... 613... 614..."

I began to smell the distinct smell of alcohol. Tony was right. I could also hear the sound of Vic clearly losing at a video game.

"615... 616..."

I stopped and looked to see the door labeled 617 to my left. Pausing for a moment, I took a deep breath and stepped towards the door, reaching my hand out and knocking on it a few times.

A shushing sound was heard and then footsteps heading to the door. I could hear the door unlocking and then opened with Tony standing there with a smile. "Heya, Rax. Just on time."

I smiled back. The way he called me 'Rax' made my heart pitter patter again and again. "Thanks for having me."

"Come on in." Tony said, opening the door and letting me into the room. His breath already had the smell of alcohol on it, but he wasn't drunk. Yet.

Immediately I could see Vic and Jaime sitting next to each other in front of the TV on a couch, controllers in hand and a table with a few glasses filled with their drinks. Vic looked to me and then got up, completely abandoning his controller and teammate.

"Raxella!" Vic cheered, running up to me and hugging me tight, picking me up a bit.

I laughed a little. "Hey, Vic."

Vic put me down and then looked back over to Jaime. "Get your ass over here!"

Jaime sighed and put down his game controller too and came over to say hi as well. "We were losing anyways."

Mike appeared from the other room and waved as he went to the table with the drinks to pour another glass.

It was strange, having met the four just this morning and they already treated me like a friend. It was a nice feeling to know my favorite band liked me too.

I had Vic show me where I could place my things, which was in the other rooms closet. As I came back to the main room, the other guys were already pouring themselves new drinks. Tony held two glasses and motioned for me to come over. He handed me a glass with a shot of what smelled like rum. My favorite.

I took the glass and watched Vic pour himself a drink. He turned to us as we stood in a circle around him.

"As cheesy as it sounds, I want to make a toast for Rax here..." Vic began. "... Without her, we wouldn't have a photographer with us for our tour."

I smiled at him and blushed a bit. It felt good being counted on by them. It felt amazing, actually.

"To Raxella!" The guys all cheered as we brought our glasses together for the toast.

Notes

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