Little Doves & Bonafide Heroes ~ Archie Cruz

Little Dove, Pt. 1

"Where is he?" I thought to myself, pacing as I waited for him to call, when, ironically enough, his name popped up on my screen as I was about to dial his number.

"Hey, where are you?" I answered, shouting over the music as I headed deeper into the backstage area.

"Side door, right side," he clarified. "There's a security guard here, asking me for a pass."

"Give him the phone for a sec."

He mumbled something before passing the phone to whoever the security guard was.

"Hello?"

"Hey, this is Lucy Downe, Taime's daughter. Archie is on the list, but I haven't given him his pass yet. Just send him in, please."

"Who?" the man asked boredly, clearly annoyed.

"Taime Downe, the lead singer of Faster Pussycat- the band that's playing tonight," I said, growing impatient as I looked for the pass that Taime had given me, "I'm his daughter. I invited Archie; please let him in."

"Unless I can have proof of that, it's not going to happen," he said. "And I don't care who you know; unless he's on-"

"Well, great. It doesn't matter anyway," I snapped, opening the correct door and handing the pass to Archie, making the security guard jump in surprise.

"Thanks," I said bitterly, taking the phone from him and giving it to Archie.

"Hey, if he's not on the-"

"Oh, fuck off," I grumbled, taking Archie's hand and leading him inside, flipping off the man from over my shoulder.

"I don't think he liked me," Archie said with a laugh, following me to one of the rooms backstage.

"You're fine. He must be new, because I know everyone who works here," I said, rolling my eyes.

"So you come here a lot?"

"Sort of. My, uh, 'people' come here a lot, and through them I've met everyone."

"Oh. That's cool. By the way, it's nice to see you again," he said, pulling me into a hug.

"Nice to see you, too," I said with a smile, looking up at him. He kissed me, which made me to melt into his soft lips, only to break away when we heard someone walk into the room a moment later.

"Gross," they said, and I rolled my eyes when I recognized Brent's voice.

"Thank you for your commentary, Muscat," I said, looking over my shoulder at him, still wrapped in Archie's arms. "Shouldn't you be getting ready for the stage?"

"I would be, but Taime is dragging his ass," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Isn't he usually?" I joked, hoping that Brent wouldn't let anything slip.

"Yeah, for about thirty years now... Who's your friend?"

"Oh, this is Archie. Archie, this is Brent Muscat, Faster Pussycat's guitar player."

"Nice to meet you man," Archie said excitedly, reaching out to shake his hand. "I'm a pretty big fan; you're awesome!"

"Thank you! It's nice to meet you, too. You look familiar... where have I seen you before?" Brent asked, tilting his head as he thought.

"Well, my band Santa Cruz toured with Sebastian Bach for a while, so maybe that's it," Archie suggested.

"Oh, that must be it," he said, snapping his fingers. "I'll have to catch you guys live some day."