ᴡʀᴇᴄᴋᴇᴅ

chapter 1

Tonight was the concert. To say I was excited would've definitely been an understatement. It was going to be amazing, plus I got to share it with my sister who'd never seen the band before. Not only that, I hadn't seen my best friend in forever and she would be there. As I sat, the slight early morning light sifting through the window and illuminating my freshly washed face, I sighed and paused in my makeup endeavor, though I hadn't even started yet.

Quick backstory, the band we were seeing was my favorite band of all time and I not only enjoyed their music, but also the musicians. The 5 of them were awesome and after the shows, if you ended up staying late, they'd come out and hang with you. Of course, that's only because they're not a huge band and security isn't an issue yet.

I smirked as I picked my phone up and saw the text from Ray, my best friend.

Ray: tonight!!! IM SO FUCKING EXCITED!!!

The words were followed by a zillion emojis and a couple extra, unnecessary letters. Well, actually they weren't that unnecessary. I wrote back quickly.

Me: I KNOW!! ITS GONNA BE AWESOME

Ray: i missed my boys

Me: me too

I placed my phone back on the counter, exhaling slowly. Taking a second, I looked over my bare face, the facial lotion sinking in and my cheeks still red from the hot water I'd used to cleanse myself. I frowned only for a moment as I picked myself apart. It's not that I was ugly, I just wasn't... that girl. Scrunching my nose up, I forced myself to smile.

"You're pretty, Eva." I whispered, hoping no one would hear. "Know that." My grin turned into a genuine one and I bit my lip, turning my attention to the makeup on my vanity.

No matter how insecure I was, makeup was always fun and my favorite part of getting ready for anything.

A half hour later, I stood in front of my long mirror, surveying the damage. A long ponytail with my brunette hair curled in one long ringlet and my natural-ish makeup look with fake eyelashes stared me back in the mirror. I watched my reflection for a moment, twisting my ponytail around my finger, just thinking.

I thought of having to work tomorrow, thought of my crap week, thought of seeing my best friend, and lastly, I thought about my favorite band, and about how much their music meant to me. When I last saw them, I met only a couple of the band members, but truly I was overjoyed to see them. One thing that hit me was Nick Anderson and how seemingly perfect he was. Also, that Aaron Kelly was one of the funniest and sweetest people I'd ever met.

I smiled.

Life may have sucked a bit, okay, a lot more than a bit, but seeing my boys in concert for the second time would make up for how crappy I felt.

I jogged into the kitchen, looking for my sister.

"Elena!" I called, skipping to the fridge and pulling it open. Glancing over, I choked at my sister, the zombie, who shuffled her way to me.

"What." She spoke, deadpan. Honestly, Elena looked like total shit. I giggled a little at her, while she turned her attention to the open fridge.

"Are you almost ready yet?" I raised a brow as she rolled her eyes. Elena was definitely the person I'd say hated mornings the most besides me. I was sort of forced to get used to mornings when I started my coffee shop job 5 months ago. Tomorrow, I was scheduled at 9am,  which wouldn't be fun, but it was far superior to 4 or 5am.

"Why the hell would I do that?" Elena stared at me with this terrifying, evil look in her eyes.

"Uh, so we can be barricade...?" Stepping back, I gave her a large, quite sheepish smile, hoping she'd go upstairs and get ready.

"Whatever." My sister shrugged, her eye roll a nice change from the kill face she'd had before. Normally, Elena was sweet and amazing and the closest person I've ever had in my life, but... let's just say in the mornings she was a whole other person.

She meandered to her room and I smiled, grabbing the milk from the fridge. We'd just gotten our own place, late considering I had just turned 20 and Elena was 21. It was small and adorable and sorta trashed in the last week since we hadn't been home for that long in a couple days. No matter how cramped or ugly anyone thought it was, it was our place and I adored it.

I ate a crappy breakfast of milk and cereal, sitting and looking through my Twitter feed while Elena took her merry time getting ready.

Once she came downstairs, her reddish hair wavy and makeup perfect, the outfit she wore fabulous as well, I hopped up.

"Ready?" I asked, my excitement bubbling. I could tell she was finally awake and not grumpy anymore by the grin she wore.

"Hell yes." Elena paused and frowned. "But we're definitely stopping for coffee."

We stopped at the coffee shop I worked at and I got a couple odd looks from coworkers who'd never seen me in makeup, no less cute clothes. Elena got a black coffee and I got my usual, an americano. I wasn't one of those girls who got frappuccinos and lattes because they didn't really like the taste of coffee, just pretended to. My philosophy was that if you said you liked coffee, you'd be able to drink it black and like it.

Elena drove and I DJed, obviously because I was the better DJ. I tried to avoid playing the Wrecks' music as much as possible, wanting to save it for later. Instead, we played the 1975, Dreamers, Panic! At the Disco, Jet, All Time Low, Blink 182 and all the songs and artists I lovingly dub as my emo music. As the first notes of 'Welcome to the Black Parade' started to play, we pulled into the parking lot and looked for a space. I giggled to myself while we sang as I remembered being high and singing that song over and over while our friend threatened to inflict harm on me if I continued to do so.

"Not tired of me singing this song yet?" I smirked, glancing at Elena.

"If Lil was only here." She shook her head, smiling and pulling into a spot. "She'd beat your ass."

We laughed and collected what we needed to camp outside. After we'd paid and walked around the building, I saw Ray and sprinted to her, wrapping my arms around her neck.

"I missed you!" She cried. Ray let go and hugged Elena tightly. "I missed you both!" She stood back and examined our outfits, hands on her hips.

"What do you think?" Smiling, I asked taking a slow turn, my hands in the air.

"Do you approve?" Elena added.

"I was going to say goddamn, you Brook girls are literally perfect." Elena and I laughed.

"Thanks dude." My sister replied. We meandered to the line, although there wasn't one yet, just Ray's blankets and Ann.

"Hey!" I exclaimed and the girl jumped up.

"Eva, hi!" She squeezed me in hug and I almost couldn't breathe. Those were definitely my favorite kind of hugs. "It's been so long, what're you up to?"

"Yknow, working and shit, the usual." I shrugged. Gesturing to Elena, I introduced the two of them. "Ann, this is Elena, my sister."

"Nice to meet you." Elena smiled and shook Ann's hand.

"Nice to meet you, too!" She responded cheerily, adding, "who's fucking excited for tonight?!" We all cheered and went to sit in the line, our blanket laying next to theirs.

The rest of the day went relatively quickly. There were a few bathroom breaks, only two joints smoked, lots of vaping and chatting, some music played and the usual fangirling over the band. At one point, Billy Nally, the drummer, was smoking a blunt by the band's bus and we couldn't help but make stupid jokes and puns about the situation. It didn't help that we were high ourselves.

I simply could not wait for the concert.   

ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ'ꜱ ɴᴏᴛᴇ:

Well, there you go, first chapter down. I'm hoping to get a bunch more writing in in the next few weeks, so stay tuned for more!