The Irony of Your Perfection (An Asking Alexandria Fan Fiction)

Chapter Fourteen

I sit in the RV while the guys buy their instruments. I don’t understand why they couldn’t have paid someone to ship them over but I guess it’s good to change everything at once. It adds to the thrill.

It adds to the loss, too, but I’ve been trying not to focus on that.

We’ve parked in a lot near Wal-Mart. It’s not the best, but it’ll do for a while. The gig is in an hour so they had better hurry. I’ve been texting Elias this whole time. It’s mostly been smalltalk since we’re each silently wondering if the other will bring up the subject of today’s events. I don’t want to talk about it, though, and I don’t think he particularly does either.

The door of the RV bangs open and Ben’s face, framed with his glossy, straight hair, pops inside.

“Is there anything in the bathroom?” he asks.

I frown. “No, why?”

“Because there’s about to be,” says Ben, and his head pops back outside again. A moment later, he’s helping James carry a brand-new disassembled drum kit into the RV. When they’ve brought them all inside Ben clears everything out from beneath the big bunk and shoves it all into the small bathroom, closing the door behind him. James begins stashing the drums under the bunk.

I raise an eyebrow. “Okay, so now the bathroom is full of junk and there’s no storage room under the bunk anymore.”

Ben shakes his head. “Oh, the joys of touring. We’ll get a trailer soon to store this shit in but for now, we’re taking all the space we can find.”

I notice James is grinning from ear to ear. “I got such a good deal,” he says. “The kick is less heavy on these, too, so it’ll sound fucking sick in our demos.”

I smile, amused at his enthusiasm. “That’s great, James,” I say, and I see Cameron walk in with two guitar cases and Sam with one.

“Take your guitar, you lazy ass,” says Cam.

He shoves one of the cases at Ben, who reels backward, clutching the case, and just barely catches himself by pressing his back against the wall.

“Shit, Cam!” exclaims Ben, and Cam ruffles his hair.

I look up at Danny as he enters the RV, awkwardly holding two amps.

“We ordered some custom Sommatones but we’re renting these in the meantime,” he says. He stashes them beneath the bunk with the drum kit and sits down beside me on the couch. I lean into him and he slides an arm around my shoulders, dipping his head down to mine and momentarily veiling us with his dark hair as he leaves a fleeting kiss on my lips. His breath is hot on my collarbone; a chill runs down my spine. Slowly, Danny lifts his head back up.

 “Alright, now that we’re nearly broke we can go to the gig. It’s Sam’s turn to drive.”

Sam pouts but makes his way to the front. I settle against Danny; Cam and James chill in the bunk as we start the drive to the venue.

“You’ve really taken him under your wing,” says Cam.

I look up at him and blink. I know he’s talking about Elias. “It’s the least I can do.”

Cam nods. I can tell he understands. He always understands.

He cracks open the cooler and hands out beers; first to James, then to me and finally to Danny. As I sip, I lose myself in thought and vaguely notice the boys cracking open another beer, and another…

When we get out of the RV, they’ve all had around four beers each. Surprisingly, they seem almost sober.

“Fuck,” says Danny. “We should’ve stopped at the second beer, mates. The lights are going to make me even dizzier.”

When Sam sees the state they’re in, he shakes his head and turns to me. “No worries, they’ve played shows in worse condition.”

I feel a buzz in my pocket and pull out my phone.

Elias: Be there in twenty. Dad went out. Don’t know when he’ll be home.

My heart leaps; the last thing I want is for his dad to come home to an empty house, but at the same time I know that Elias hates that house and all that’s happened in it.

Azalea: See you then. :)

Sam and I haul the equipment through the back door of the venue with nearly no help from the rest of the boys.

“Sometimes I forget you’re the youngest,” I say to Sam, choking back a laugh as Danny tangles himself in a cord from one of the amps. “You’re certainly more mature than the others.”

Sam glances at me and smiles. “Yeah. It’s weird, how it works. I suppose somebody needs to take charge when Ben’s had a bit too much.”

I nod. “Fair enough. He’s basically the ringleader, am I right?”

“Yeah, I suppose. I’m kind of the new kid so I’m not too familiar with how it all works yet, but he organizes most of our gigs so I guess he’s kind of the manager. He founded the band, too, so yeah, I guess he really is the ringleader,” says Sam. “Thank God he doesn’t act all high and mighty about it, though.”

The guys follow us into the venue. When we walk in, we find a smallish room with a few couches and a door that leads onto the stage. The guys organize their instruments and disappear into the stage area, and after lounging on the couch for a while I join them.

Afer about ten minutes of watching them scurry around adjusting things I notice that Danny has disappeared. Quickly, I slip back into the lounge area and find him on the couch.

I sit down beside him and he seems to slide closer to me without even realizing it. He turns his head towards me and I reach my hand up to his scruffy chin.

“Ginger beard,” I say.

Danny snatches my hand away, grinning. “Azalea Walsh, you have my permission to shut the fuck up.”

My lips curve into a smile. “Why’d you ditch soundcheck?”

He shrugs. “Don’t feel like it. There are never really problems with the mic. Plus I thought that you’d come find me and we’d make out, but that remains to be seen.”

I’m not in the mood to. Really, I’m not.

But then I think of Joe and suddenly, I have never wanted to be closer to Danny in my life.

Instead of replying, I move my hand to Danny’s face and pull it down to mine. Our lips clash and soon his hands are moving slowly up and down my back and I’m biting his lip, and I move my mouth to his neck and start a love bite as he slides his hand up my shirt…

And the whole time it’s Joe’s mouth, Joe’s hard breathing, Joe’s hot touch…

And then I hear a knock on the door. Startled, Danny and I spring apart. After a short pause he tries to pull me back to him, but I stand up.

“I think it’s Elias,” I say apologetically.

“Boner kill,” he mutters, and he grins when I stick my tongue out at him.

 I open the door and smile wide when I see Elias. He steps inside and I close the door behind him.

“When do they go on?” he asks, carefully draping his jacket over the couch.

I look down at my phone. “Ten minutes,” I say.

Elias nods.  Almost hesitantly, he says, “A couple of my friends are out there.”

I grin. “That’s awesome. Thanks.”

Danny casually scratches a speck of something off of his Chiodos shirt and stands up.

“I should go get the guys,” he says, and I nod. He walks into the stage area, closing the door behind him.