They Don't Know About Us (Casey Moreta)

Chapter 1

2017 

I held up my sign reading 'Hey Violet' at the airport while waiting for my friends to get off the plane, and tried my hardest not to get lost in their crowd of fans who were doing the same.

I couldn't see very well over the crowd of people to notice when they were getting off the plane, but I could tell when it did happen from the screams that had erupted as soon as they stepped into the building. 

So much had happened over the last few years. Hey Violet signed to a label, they toured a couple of times, and had started to get big. I finished junior college before getting a job at a clothing store nearby mine and Casey's apartment. But we always somehow were able to make time for each other.

Well, secretly, of course.

When Casey and I had started dating, he'd been scared that his fans would give us hate for our relationship. That lasted a few months of us being extremely secretive. So secretive that nobody else had known. Not our families, or our friends, even. We didn't do anything that even resembled a couple unless we were alone. By the time we'd both been ready to tell people, the band had a management team, and they didn't want it to go public. So, we'd continued to fly under the radar, without anyone that wasn't us noticing.

I jumped up and down with my sign, finally catching glimpses of them looking around for me until Rena finally noticed, and pointed me out to the rest of them. They'd then spent the time taking pictures with the fans that had come out to see them before hugging me hello.

"Alright, car's in the lot. You guys ready to go?" I asked once they had their bags.

"Ready," they all chorused before following me out to where my car sat, and we'd all piled in.

I dropped them all off at their places, Iain first, then Nia and Rena at their place, and finally Miranda, leaving me and Casey alone in the car, when he finally reached for my free hand as soon as I'd started driving again.

"You have no idea how much I missed you," he said, intertwining his fingers with mine.

"I think I've got a pretty okay idea," I told him, pulling into the parking lot of our complex. "Do you know who else missed you?"

"Who?" he asked, before realization set into him.

"Halen," we said at the same time before he grabbed his bags and ran inside.

"Halen!" he yelled, setting his bags down in the doorway as the Australian Shepherd jumped up to greet him, barking happily.

Halen had been a present from Casey for our first anniversary, named for Van Halen. He was about to leave for their first tour with 5 Seconds of Summer, and didn't want me to be alone for that long. I hadn't been able to travel to any of their shows aside from the ones nearby since I was still in school and starting to work, so it had been lonely aside from welcoming Halen into the family.

It was only after Halen had settled down that Casey stood up and gave me my first proper hug before kissing me for the first time since he'd left for tour.

"Hi there beautiful," he said, a huge smile crossing his face. "I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you too," I said, squealing in surprise as he picked me up over his shoulder and carried me over to the couch, where he sat me on his lap, and I wrapped my arms around his neck, laying my head on his shoulder.

"What all have I missed, what's been going on while I've been gone?" he asked, wrapping his arms around my waist.

"Well, a lot of work." I said, "And I'll come home and make dinner. Maybe see a couple friends that night. Usually watching Netflix with Halen on the couch, reading, or watching Hey Violet videos. I might look through your vinyl collection if it's a reading night, play something, and make dinner. And Halen and I snuggle at night."

"Sorry bud, I'm booting you off the bed tonight," Casey said, looking down at Halen and giggling. "You can rejoin us tomorrow night, but we're going to be a little busy."

I rolled my eyes, looking up at him. "So tell me about tour. I want to know all about it."

"Well, Europe's a lot of fun." he said. "And I hope one day you can join us out there. London's my favorite because I speak the language, although I feel very out of place without the cool accent. But I did get you a small present from every country we visited the past couple months."

"And how's everyone doing?" I asked him then.

"We're all doing really well." he told me. "Got some work done for the album. Made a lot of McDonald's runs. But do you know what I'm missing?"

"I really hope the answer is Kraft mac and cheese because that's what I got for tonight." I said, and he nodded, his smile getting even bigger.

"As a matter of fact, that was exactly the answer I was looking for." he said, hugging me tighter before releasing me so I could go into the kitchen with both Casey and Halen following close behind.

As much as I loved being with Casey like this, we knew the secret couldn't last forever. Not from our friends and family, anyways. I didn't like keeping it from them, but it was the only way we knew that the secret could be safe. Simply speaking, if the secret got out, then there was a possibility Modest! would drop Hey Violet since we didn't play by their rules. So we've kept it under wraps for the past few years because we couldn't risk anyone letting it slip.

It's not easy keeping the most important part of your life from the most important people in your life. But somehow, we managed to make it work best we could. We loved each other, and for the time being, that was all that mattered.