"Maybe you'll meet new people here" Danny suggested placing the last box on the floor of my new apartment. I just shrugged and looked around. I was five minutes from his apartment and ten from the beach. I only picked it because it reminded me of home. San Diego. "I still think you're running away"

"I'm not Danny, I don't want to be there" I replied "I'm not running. I'm just starting over"

"Yeah, running " He rolled his eyes. "Listen, I've gotta get to work, I'll come over later to help unpack" He gave me a quick peck on the cheek and shut the door behind him after he left.

I plopped onto the couch and let out a huge huff when someone started knocking on the door.

"What did you forget already?" I said in an annoyed voice while I swung the door open. "Oh, hi" I smiled nervously. The guy on the other side of the door wasn't Danny.

"Hi, I'm Travis, I'm right across the hall" The guy smiled at me, forcing his snake bites to put out from his lips.

"Victoria" I smiled and stuck out my hand for him to shake. He took my hand and kissed it gently.

"Handshakes are for men, women deserve better" He gave this kind of half smile "Do you need any help unpacking or anything?"

"I-I think I'm okay right now, I'll bother you if I need anything?" I suggested.

"It wouldn't be a bother I promise" He winked and walked back across the hall and into his apartment. I stood in my doorway, dumbfounded for a minute. How the hell did he have that affect on me? I closed the door behind me and stared around my new place. All the furniture was in a huge clump. I sighed loudly and opened the door again. I knocked on Travis' door a few times and waited.

"Yeah?" He said as he pulled the door open "Oh, hey"

"Do you think you could give me a hand? All my furniture is kind of bunched up in a corner" I bit my lip nervously again and half smiled.

"Of course! Anything for a pretty lady like you" He winked and followed me back into my apartment.

"So, erm, I'm not really sure where I want my things yet" I scanned the living room, searching for the perfect spot for the couch.

"I've got my couch against the window" He suggested, pointing to the big garden window on the far wall.

"Yeah but the glare on the tv will drive me crazy. How about against that wall?" I pointed to the left wall.

"But then the tv is gonna make it hard to get to your balcony because you need it against a wall. Tv on the left wall, couch halfway through, and that big thing over against that other wall."

"Yeah but then the big thing blocks the balcony door too"

"Couch against the window and we go to ikea to get blackout curtains?" He raised his eyebrows, laughing at my pickiness.

"Okay, but we need to leave room in the corner for Crookshanks castle" I walked over to the couch so we could move it.

"If you have a cat named Crookshanks I'm going to die" He smirked moving the couch with me.

"Don't die!" I shoved the couch infront of the window and Crookshanks jumped up onto the couch.

"It doesn't even look like Crookshanks!" He laughed sitting down and petting her.

"That's exactly what I said! But noooo! Mike insisted we name her Crookshanks!" I threw my hands up in the air, laughing as I did.

"Mike? Is he your boyfriend?" He questioned. I immediately regretted saying his name.

"Uhm, ex" I looked down and played with my hands in my lap. I felt myself shutting down, not wanting to deal with interacting with anyone anymore.

"Oh, I'm sorry" He mumbled awkwardly. "Where'd you move from?"

"I was in San Diego, I moved there with my dad and my brothers when I was seventeen from Jersey."

"I heard it's gorgeous there" He nodded as we placed the coffee table in front of the couch.

"Yeah, I loved it" I smiled. I really did. "It was kind of the reason I picked the beach. I don't know what I'm going to do during the winter though, I'm not used to the cold anymore."

By the time we finished unpacking everything and moving around furniture, it was almost eleven at night.

"Do you want to go get some food?" Travis said before he went back to his apartment.

"Uhm, I don't know..." Honestly, all I felt like doing right now was crawling into my bed and crying.

"C'mon, I know this little diner around the corner. They make the best waffles"

"Yeah. Okay sure" I smiled weakly. I had to act like I was okay, and it's not like Travis was ugly. He was the complete opposite actually. To top it off, he dressed really well.

~

"Can you believe it's been three years since you moved in across the hall?" My boyfriend said, snuggling closer to me in our bed.

"It feels like I moved in yesterday" I mumbled against his chest, I could feel the exhaustion from the beach taking over my body.

"I could spend the rest of my life, just like this, not wanting anything else." I watched him smile down at me, a small smile spreading across my lips too. "What do you think it would be like if we never met?"

I would be happy, I thought.

"I don't know honey"

Don't get me wrong, I loved being with Travis. Sometimes I just wondered if I settled for him because I didn't think I could get anyone else. I was happy enough, sure. But not like I was four years ago. I would kill to be where I was then, right this second. I pictured myself wrapped up in Mike's arms, his scent of weed and cologne clouding my senses. The little kisses he used to place along my jawline, telling me how much he loved me in between every one. I wonder what life would have been like if I never left San Diego. Maybe he would have shown up at my apartment one day and everything would be okay. Maybe he did, just like Leo said he would. Leo. I hadn't talked to her in ages.

"Baby I'm gonna go call my friend Leo okay?" I said quietly. He mumbled an okay as I got out of bed and walked towards the living room. I picked my phone up off of the table and headed out to the balcony, dialing Leo's number on the way there.

"Hello?"

"Leo.."

"Oh my GOD Victoria! I miss you so much! You crazy bitch what the hell!" I almost started crying when she spoke.

"I miss you too. I miss all you guys."

"Hold on" I heard her tapping on her phone "Okay say hi! Maddie and Chelsea are here!"

"Hi!" I said, kind of excited. I felt a warmth growing in my stomach as they both chirpped back their hellos.

"Okay guys I'll be right back" Leo announced. "Okay I'm alone, what's wrong babydoll?"

" I hate everything about me" I practically sobbed. "I hate that all I've done is run away instead of trying to fix things, I hate how I've got this wonderful guy who loves me and I don't feel the same. I feel like there's a part of me missing Leo. I've been gone for three years Leo. I don't like New Jersey the way I did when I was younger. I want to come home" I actually was sobbing by the end of my talking.

"Shhhh, darling you'll be okay. You're homesick. Travis is absolutely wonderful, he is, but maybe he's not for you baby. Maybe you know exactly who you belong with but you're afraid."

"I'm not afraid! He hates me Leo! He stopped talking to me, if he wanted me so bad he could have called in the past three years. I'm sure he's had more then a few shows in Jersey"

"Go put Fuse on your tv right now" Her voice sounded rushed.

"Wh-"

"Just DO it!"

"Okay calm down!" I hissed wiping a few tears from my cheeks.

"Call me when you realize what you're doing" She stated.

"Leo what-" The line went dead.

I sat on the couch of my apartment and turned on the tv with te remote, mindlessly scrolling through the channels. Fuse caught my eye, Mark Hoppus on Warped. I pressed the button on the remote and the program showed up on the screen

"Hey, Mark here with Vic from Pierce the Veil, How are you Vic?" Mark Hoppus' voice came from the tv. I spit my tea out and stared at the screen wide-eyed.

"Babe, what's wrong?" Travis' voice came from the kitchen.

"Nothing, just saw a bug" I lied, my eyes were glued to the screen. Mark asked Vic questions about how they were liking the tour, if they missed home, and how the reaction to the new album was. The boys were doing so well. My boys were doing so well.

"So, a lot of fans have had some questions about a few songs on the album, saying they seemed personal?" Mark looked at Vic, a question in his eyes. "They said the biggest one was The First Punch."

I saw a little smile tug at the edges of Vic's lips.

"Yeah, that one was really personal. For all of us. Mostly Mike though. That's the thing about our band, people assume that since I'm the lead singer, all the lyrics came from me. That song, Mike wrote that song. He's probably gonna kill me for saying this too. He went to high school with this girl we knew, and they were best friends for the longest time. And one day, dude, one day I guess they realized how much they liked each other and they were together for five years. Then we started touring and things got bad. She was so worried about their relationship and they had this huge fight before a show towards the end of the tour and that pretty much ended it. Uhm, literally right after the fight she packed her bags and went back to New Jersey, where she grew up most of her life, and stayed there for a week. They didn't speak at all and I'd never seen Mike so out of it. She came back at the end of the week, but Mike made a couple mistakes while she was gone, so she decided to just be friends or whatever. Everything was like they were in high school again. When we went back on tour they kind of stopped talking altogether. Nothing happened really, it just slowly ended. And it sucks because we were all friends with her, we spent the greatest years of our lives together. She was like our little sister and she always will be, ya know." He sighed before he began speaking again. "But I can tell Mike still loves her, it's been three years but he's still scared to talk to her again. I'm sure some of the fans know her, she was there from the very beginning. She even named our first song for us. It's no secret really, he just doesn't like to talk about it much. So uhm yeah, that's the story behind The First Punch"

"Wow, I hope everything goes for the best with you guys. That's all the time we have! I'm Mark Hoppus, reporting for Warped Tour here with Vic Fuentes of Pierce the Veil! Catch us tomorrow, live from Oceanport, New Jersey"

Oceanport. That's fifteen minutes away. Maybe I could go to see Vic, Tony, and Jaime. Wait, Vic said Mike still loves me. I'm positive I stared at the tv for another ten minutes before Travis came in and sat next to me, pulling me from my thoughts. He leaned over and kissed my lips softly before frowning at me.

"Tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong Travis" I gave him a fake smiled and prayed he wouldn't call my bluff.

"Promise?" He held out a tattooed pinky.

"Promise" I linked our pinkies together and smiled again. "I think I'm gonna go out with Danny tomorrow"

"Alright, I have to work so I might not be home until morning anyway" He replied. Perfect. I was going to go to Warped tomorrow. Travis went to feed the Crookshanks and I pulled out my phone from my pocket and dialed a number I never thought I would again.

"Vic?" I said nervously when I heard the ringing stop.

"I never thought I'd hear your voice again" He said quietly.

"I felt the same way" I sighed "I have a question for you though"

"Anything"

"Is there a way I could get into Warped tomorrow?"