Hey Athena!
I have some good news! The guys and I are doing a gig at the House Of Blues on Thursday. Here's a link to the event. I hope you can come. I would really like to see you again and maybe I can hook you up with backstage passes.
Love,
CC

"DAD! DAD! DAD! AAAHHH!" Athena shouted.

"What?! What's going on?!" Athena's dad burst into the room holding a kitchen knife. He looked over at his daughter, jumping up and down, squealing. "What on earth are you doing? Are you fanning yourself? Wait. Are you... crying?"

"It's called fangirling, Dad." Athena said between short breaths. "Okay. Okay. I'm good... Um... What's with the kitchen knife?" Athena pointed to the knife in her father's hand.

"I thought you were being murdered or something!"

"Oh... Sorry..."

"Anyway, what was so important that you had to scream bloody murder to get my attention?"

"Dad. Black Veil Brides. Thursday. House Of Blues. Must. Go. Please." Athena pleaded.

"Black Veil Brides..." Her dad contemplated. "That's your favorite, right?"

Athena nodded vigorously.

"Well, alright. But how are you going to get there? Don't look at me. I have to work."

"What about Jane?"

"Talk to your sister about it. Is Max going, too? He could drive you, right?"

"Oh, yeah. I didn't think about that."

"I also want to make sure you have someone to protect you from those infamous mosh pits. I know what those are like. And no crowd surfing. We don't need any broken bones."

"Broken bones are the least of your worries when crowd surfing, Dad. But I know, I know."

Athena's dad used to be a hardcore rock concert goer back in his days. Athena pushed him out of the room and told him to tell Jane that she had requested her. A few minutes later, Jane came into the room.

From Max: Grounded :/ Sorry, babe.

"I was requested, your majesty?" Jane asked.

"Oh, yeah." Athena put her phone down on the bed. "Can you drive Lacey and me to the Black Veil Brides concert on Thursday at HOB?"

"Wish I could but I was called into work for Thursday night. Eric can take you guys. He loves Black Veil Brides. I'm sure he won't mind."

"Oh, okay. Great." Athena tried to act as if there was nothing wrong but oh, god.

Eric.
***
"Why won't you sit up front with me?" Eric complained.

"Um, no. I'm good back here with Lacey. She needs my company, anyway." Athena said in return.

The rest of the car ride was silent except for the sound of Black Veil Brides's music filling the car. The only reason Eric had to stay with them was because Athena's dad wanted to make sure her and Lacey had a guy to protect them. Oh, the irony.

"Alright. Let's do this." Eric said, getting out of the car; the girls following his actions.

Eric was pretty intimidating. Standing at 5'10'' with huge plugs, he was intimidating and admittedly kind of attractive but Athena didn't want to admit that to herself. All her thoughts were focused on CC.

They pushed their way through the crowd and to their place in the audience. There were tons of other kids around. Athena couldn't believe she had gotten tickets to a sold out show.

It was nearing seven o'clock and Athena's anxiety was shooting through the roof. The crowd started to scream and Athena looked up to the stage to see the band walking out. She and Lacey jumped up and down and tried to wave to CC.

"Hey! Athena!" It looked like he said from on stage.

A huge smile spread across her face.

"Hey gorgeous." A voice said from behind her.

She turned around to see some random guy trying to hit on her. "Not interested, asshole." Athena said and turned around.

The stranger slid his hands around her waist and spun her around to face him.

"I said back off, jerk!" Athena pushed him away but he kept insisting.

"Hey!" A deep, familiar voice shouted.

Athena looked over and saw Eric...standing up for her? This couldn't be right. He was here to protect her but Athena never thought he actually would if she needed to be protected.

"Quit it, asshole." Eric barked at him. "That's my girlfriend's little sister and no one lays their hands on her."

Except you. Athena wanted to say but decided that it would be best to keep her mouth shut at this moment.

"What are you going to do about it? You're just a pathetic, skinny little scene boy." The stranger said.

"You know, fuck you." Eric said. "What, you come here to a rock concert just to pick up little girls and make fun of the band? Pedo."

"Oh, that's all you got as a comeback?"

"Eric, please stop this. Just let it go." Athena begged.

"No. He touched you and I'm going to make him pay for it."

Something really weird had come over Eric. He was suddenly being very protective over Athena and she didn't understand. She thought that she meant nothing to Eric. She didn't think he actually cared about her.

"Eric-"

And then the first punch was thrown. Let the fight begin.