Running with Scissors

Three.

    All night I was super warm and it felt like I was cuddling with someone; however when I woke up the bed was empty and everyone was up getting ready for the day.
     "Morning, Sleeping Beauty." Andrew said to me with a smile. I sat up and began stretching, "We have to be out of here by noon."
     "What time is it now?" I got out of the bed.
     "Almost 11 so start getting ready." He spoke and began grabbing bags to take down stairs.
I went to my bag to pull out something that wouldn't be to hot during the show tonight, I decided to wear ripped up black skinny jeans and a long sleeved grey shirt. I pulled my hair up into a messy bun and put on my vans, I had a feeling it was going to be a super long day but at least I wasn't hungover like everyone else; I was just slightly confused. I grabbed all my stuff and went downstairs all the buses where sitting in front of the hotel so we could all load out stuff up. Thanks to Nikki I was going to ride on the I See Stars bus all tour, which meant I'd have to talk to Devin eventually.
     I walked onto the bus and thankfully it was only Nikki and Jeff on it and they seemed to be figuring out  who was going to sleep where.
      "Hey Stella I'm so glad your shooting this tour." Jeff came and gave me the biggest hug. Jeff had always been the sweetest guy and always made sure I never had any issues with security and getting back stage on Warped Tour.
     "Me too. I love shooting you guys." I beamed up at him. "So which bunk is mine?" I set down all my camera equipment on the table by the sink and walked farther into the bus with my other two bags.
     "That's what we are tying to figure out, do you just want a bottom bunk?" Nikki asked me.
    I nodded "Yeah that's fine with me. I'm pretty sure I'm the shortest one on the bus so that'll be easy on me."
     Nikki smiled then told me I could put all the rest of my bags in the back of the bus, where there was a closest for clothes for pretty much all out stuff and a very cute back lounge that I had a feeling would be absolutely perfect for editing pictures. The three of us began getting things situated since this would be our home for the next two months. I was in the back lounge setting up my laptop so I would be fully charged tonight after the show.
"Guess what we just bought?" Andrew yelled as he walked onto the bus.
"I swear if it's more nerf guns I'm going to be so mad." Nikki immediately responded.
Andrew just started laughing "Okay of course we bought more of those but we also got 6 cases of monster that are currently being loaded under the bus."
I walked out from the back lounge and literally ran into a pretty solid figure.
      "Oh my gosh I'm so sorry." I said as I realized who is was.
     He chuckled softly "It's alright Stella." Devin looked down at me with those mesmerizing blue eyes. As I looked at up at him I realized how I might actually have true feelings for him and that maybe I shouldn't be afraid of them.
"So what bunk is yours?" I spit out just to have something to say.
"The middle left one. What about you?" He did his signature smile and I swear I could have melted right then and there.
"The bottom left one." Small talk was good then I wouldn't have to explain to him why I ran off after the kiss we shared.
"So I'll be on top of you all tour then?" I felt myself turn tomato red when he said that "Chill Stell, I meant sleeping wise."
     "Oh well okay. I should be going. I want to get a few pictures of the venue." I started to move around him when he grabbed my wrist and whispered into my ear:
"You're one special girl Stella. And I'm going to make you mine sooner rather than later." I felt chills go down my spine as he spoke. He let go of my wrist and I hurried out of the bus making sure to grab my camera and a few lens.
      The venue was a 5 minute walk from the hotel and I was glad for the space from everyone, I was feeling super flustered from my conversation with Devin, obviously he wasn't mad about me ditching him after warped tour but his words really got to me.
I walked in front of the venue and there was already quite a line, I took a few photos of the marquee and the people who were in the front of the line, they'd been in line for 16 hours just to have the chance to meet one if not all of the bands. I made sure to get their names just in case I could help them out some way.
The security for the venue let me in with no problem thanks to the tour passes we had. I could hear sound check going on so I went towards the stage; Asking Alexandria was on stage playing my favorite song off of their new album The Black.
"So send me home
I have lost my way
And I don't even know if we'll make it through today
Take another step, take another breath
I fill my lungs with deepest regrets
And I don't know if I'll make it home again
Take all that I've got
All I need is one more moment
I just have to end this torment
Take all that I've got
We'll get lost on time that's stolen
Take my hand and lead me home again
Just take my hand" Denis sang those lyrics so beautifully; I started taking a few pictures of it and hummed as I did so.
Ben noticed me and smiled, it was nice seeing them; all of last summer I ran merch and took pictures of Escape The Fate and they happened to be super close to Asking Alexandria so all summer they partied together and we all hung out together.
      They finished playing Send Me Home which was amazing to finally hear live.
     "How'd that sound?" Denis asked, I forgot how much I missed his voice.
     "Fantastic!" The sound guy said to him.
     "Oh Stella!!" Ben's voice boomed over the sound system. I waved up at him. "Come up here and give me a hug."
     I rolled my eyes but climbed over the barricade, then hopped up onto Ben's side of the stage. He pulled me into a hug, " I missed you kiddo."
     "I missed you too Ben." I pulled away from him and then proceeded to hug Sam, Cam and James.
      "We are so excited that you are our photographer for this tour. The last guy we worked with seemed to hate taking showers." James told me after we hugged.
     I laughed at his comment "Well I promise to take showers as much as possible. You guys sounded amazing by the way."
      "Thanks, Love it was nice getting to play that song." Sam spoke.
     "I want to do some promo shots of all the bands later on tonight if that's okay?" I turned asking Ben.
     "Of course. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go call Ciara and start getting ready for the show." Ben gave me another hug and walked off stage.
I turned to my left and the only person left on the stage was Denis, you could definitely feel the tension in the room.
"Stella." He said looking me up and down.
"Denis." A rush of emotion hit me as I looked at him I wanted to slap him, kiss him, beg him to tell me why the hell he broke up with me, I wanted to scream at him that he broke my heart. But instead I just walked away; I was getting pretty good at that.
I wandered around the venue for a little while and found Asking's tour manger, we chatted for a little while I told him about the fans who waited 16 hours in line he thought that it was really cool and gave them meet & greet passes for Asking Alexandria which was pretty cool.
There were three Meet & Greets that I would take pictures for, first was I See Stars, then Born of Osiris and then Asking Alexandria. I loved taking Meet & Greet photos because every fan had a different idea of what they wanted to do and of course all the guys went with it making it just a really fun atmosphere. The guys from I See Stars were running late so JJ had the fans start playing a game were they had to guess the song, it was mostly I See Stars songs but the fans were having a fun time.
"Hey Guys!" A beaming Oliver walked in with the rest of the band, "Sorry we are so late someone couldn't find their phone." All the fans laughed at him knowing he was talking about himself.
Their Meet & Greet was pretty quick they only had about 15 fans, all of which were super sweet and you could just tell they were all thrilled to have the opportunity to meet them. I loved being able to watch Devin in his element watching him interact with each one of them; they told him stories about how much the band meant to them and how some songs gave them hope even on the darkest days. Each time he would give them his full attention and showed how much he cared; it was extremely heartwarming.
After their Meet & Greet the guys from I See Stars went up to the balcony that happened to be in the venue to look down on the rest of the Meet & Greets. We did the Born of Osiris Meet & Greet and theirs was just as short but they all seemed to have a great time getting to talk to all their fans; they even had a huge group photo at the end which I really liked.
Finally Asking Alexandria came in and their Meet & Greet took about an hour, when we finally got to the last girl she was an absolute knockout and would give Nikki a run for her money in the looks department. I watched all the guys jaws drop but she only seemed interested in one guy; Denis. The way she looked at him I couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of jealousy.
After she hugged all of them; making sure her hug with Denis was the longest. Tom Asking's tour manger spoke up "Okay guys time for a picture." He pointed to me, "just look over here to Stella."
I felt super awkward because I watched Denis' arm go around that girls waist but I just took the picture and tried not to over think whatever was happening between them. They began letting the fans back outside so everything could finish getting set up. But the gorgeous girl stopped to talk to Denis.
"So do you think I can get a backstage pass?" She spoke pressing super close to him and running her perfectly manicured finger along his chest.
"Absolutely." He responded without hesitation.
I was so pissed off, I couldn't stand to watch him flirt with some girl, I turned and punched the wall next to me and walked out of the venue, not even thinking about the slight audience that saw what I had just done.

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Hey,
As always thank you so much for reading this story of mine. I truly hope you like it. If you have any ideas well I'm definitely up for hearing them.
xo