Hey, I'm In A Band!

Chapter 27

Ashton's POV

I got to Dallas the day before Nameless would be playing their pop up show here, so I could try and figure out which venue they would be at and how far i'd have to go from my hotel. I'm already extremely nervous to be here and talk to her, but I did drive over 20 hours to get here. It's about 5:00 p.m. currently, but the time changes are throwing me off a bit. I wanted to get something for lunch, but I didn't really want anyone to know i'm here until i'm at the concert, and even then I don't want to be bombarded when I was just here to see Abby. Since Set It Off is a bit of a different music scene than us, I was hoping this meant there wouldn't be a lot of people who recognized me, but since Michael adopted Abby and Kalee and it's a well-known fact that he knows Chrissy, it may be harder than expected. I decided to just order room service so I could just stay inside and find the right venue and make sure I brought enough cash. I looked at my phone to see the guys have been trying to get a hold of me all day and #wheresashton2k15 was trending. Just as I was about to text them, I got a call from Calum. As soon as I answered, I heard him mumble something to the other guys. "Dude, where have you been? You weren't home yesterday and you aren't home today. We've been looking all over L.A. for you!" He said. "Sorry, chill, dude," I replied. "Where were you? Mike asked Bryana but she flipped him off and told him she didn't care. What happened?" He asked. "I broke up with her, I-I needed to get out. That relationship was toxic and I needed to get away. I went on a little road trip, it's nothing big," I replied.

"Nothing big? Why didn't you tell us where you were going?! We were worried sick about you! Where the hell are you anyway?" He asked. "I didn't tell you 'cause I just needed to disappear for a bit. I'll be back in a few days, I just need some time away from the city. I'm safe, i'm in a hotel, you guys have no reason to worry. And by the way, you didn't need to tell the whole internet I was gone, it's a personal issue," I said. "You weren't answering your phone!" He said, half shouting. "I was driving, and I made sure to make pit stops in smaller towns to avoid being seen. I'm sure someone recognized me, but no one should've seen me arrive at my hotel. I'll be fine," I replied, angrily, hanging up. I turned on the news and of course the first story is "famous boy-band drummer goes missing" I grumbled and tweeted out something so hopefully people would stop worrying. Hey guys!i'm not dead, just on a little personal vacation. Please dont worry about me I said, before sending it out. I accidentally answered a call from Michael, which did not excite me at all. "Dude, where the hell are you?" He asked. "It doesn't matter," I replied. "Ash, you've been acting really weird lately. Does this have anything to do with that weird tweet the other day?" He asked. "No, don't worry abut it," I lied. "You're lying, I can tell. Ash, are you going to find Abby?!" He asked. "No, of course not," I said, lying again. I prayed I sounded believable this time. "Stay away from my daughter. Where are you?" He asked harshly, but I hung up. Within seconds he was texting me again, the first one read stay away from abby. if she wanted to talk to you,she would. I sighed and put my phone down, looking up all the venues that didn't have scheduled bands playing tomorrow so I could narrow it down.

~~The Next Day~~

I found the venue, this little place by Gexa Energy Pavilion called South side Ballroom, All Time Low play here pretty often. By the time I arrived, only the tour bus was here and about ten fans. I smiled when I saw a couple wearing Nameless shirts. The doors open in half an hour, but very few people know about this show yet. I parked across the street and put on my darkest sunglasses as well as a beanie and jacket, as it's fairly cold today before getting in line. I prayed no one would pay much attention to me and recognize me, but I was mostly worried about being able to talk to Abby. As more people started to arrive, we were slowly being filed in. As we got to the door, we gave them the ten dollars to get in and then we walked through the main lobby, which had merch tables set up around and some hallways leading to other mysterious places. Beyond that was the side of the stage, which was still being set up for tonight's show. There wasn't a barrier set up, which kind of surprised me, but I shrugged it off. I walked down the small steps to the standing crowd room. I stood front row, pushed up against the stage and pretty close to the center. I heard a couple girls chatting excitedly about the concert, completely oblivious to everything.

"I can't believe you found the right venue, Hope!" Said the one closest to me. "Neither can I! Especially early enough to be in the very front!" The other, Hope, said, touching the stage. "Usually at concerts I end up behind really tall people, like that guy next to you," She said, glancing at me. "Wha-oh, yeah. Especially in venues like this, where the floor only has one level, and the other is still pretty short," The other girl said, glancing at me as well. "Oh, sorry...we're not talking bad about you. You're just tall," She said, blushing when she noticed I heard them. "No, no, it's fine," I said with a laugh. "You sound really familiar," Hope said. "Yeah," The other, who I still didn't know the name of, agreed. "Almost like the drummer of one of our favorite bands," Hope said, elbowing her slightly. "What? What? Wait, are you..?" The other asked, gasping. "Uh, hi," I said awkwardly. "I'm KJ, this is Hope. We're big fans. Does Abby know you're here? Should she know?" KJ said, stumbling over her words. "She doesn't know, I came to apologize," I replied. "Oh," KJ said quietly. "You really do miss her, don't you?" Hope asked sadly. "Yeah," I replied, though it came out as barely a whisper. "I'm sorry. You don't strike me as the cheating type, I know you wouldn't mean for this to happen," KJ said. "Aw, thank you," I replied. It's nice to know that someone's on my side, but there shouldn't really be 'sides' to this whole thing, it shouldn't be an argument.

"I hope she accepts your apology, I know how hard this must be for both of you. I honestly hate all of the rumors going on about both of you and how you both cheated and such, it's terrible. It's mostly coming from other 5SOS fans too, which makes it worse. There are so many jealous people who don't take the time to think about who they're affecting and how they're affecting them. They don't seem to realize that all of you guys do care about Abby and that calling her inappropriate names is wrong," Hope said, rambling a bit, but clearly getting her point across. "Yeah, but people will do anything to create drama," I replied as the lights dimmed. I looked onstage and realized it was empty and that the show was starting. The girls got excited and whispered to each other as people pressed up against the stage more. The first one onstage was Becky, who raised her drumsticks in the air excitedly as she headed to the drum set. Next up was Mya, who played a quick riff as she headed to her spot onstage. She was visibly nervous, but she played it cool. Next onstage was Kalee, who had a spot just left of me. Last was Abby, who had completely changed since I last saw her. She was wearing a Set It Off crop top that had their Duality symbol on it with black stripes behind it. The rest of the band started playing, and she was pumping up the crowd as she walked up. She glanced once in my direction, taking a double take as her emotions hardened. "I wanna try something new tonight. Kalee, we tried this at practice earlier and it sounded sick. Know it?" She asked her sister, who nodded.

"I wake up every evening, with a big smile on my face," She starts, and I immediately recognize the song. "And it never feels out of place," She continues, smiling at the crowd. "And you're still probably working, at a nine to five pace, I wonder how bad that tastes," She sings, just before turning to me. "When you see my face, hope it gives you hell, hope it gives you hell! When you walk my way, hope it gives you hell, hope it gives you hell!" She sang to me. I honestly didn't know how to feel, I really hoped she would feel more open and accepting to hear me out. "I'm sorry," I mouthed, but she just sang louder before walking up and putting her elbow on her sister's shoulder. She pointed Kalee in my direction and in response,
Kalee played one of the most beautiful and difficult riffs I've ever heard.

(A.N.: GAHHHH so so sorry for the lack of updates! Hopefully I'll be getting back into updating! Still have big plans for this book! I'll get to work on that now so here's a chapter while you're waiting! -Hope)