Escaping Grace

The hotel room was great. I roomed with Vale, of course, and our beds were the softest I'd ever slept on. Our room connected to Clarke and Nates, so we were all right together. Andy and Ashley were rooming together two doors down, CC on a different hall which irked Vale. I listened to her complain about it the entire time we were getting ready to go out.
There was some club in town Ashley was wanting to go to, and Nate was dying to go.
" Why do I have to go?" I frowned, sitting on the edge of my bed. "I don't want to."
"Leah, everyone is going." Vale rolled her platinum shadowed eyes at me. "Don't be a downer."
I glared at her. "You'll have more fun without me."
She rolled her eyes. "Don't you want to go and make sure no one hits on Andy?" she raised a brow at me in the mirror as she examined her different clothing prospects.
"No. He can do whatever he wants, I'm not his girlfriend."
"The way you two were huddled on the bus could have fooled me."
"Vale, seriously."
She gave an exasperated sigh and turned to glare at me, hands going to her hips despite still holding her clothes. "Leah, now you listen to me. I am not going to let you stay here by yourself in this room all night. Now while we both have men who are willing to be seen in public with us, we're going to enjoy it."
Well, when she put it that way... "I don't have anything to wear."
"Leah," Vale grabbed my bag and pulled out some of my clothes and threw them at me. "You're the fucking frontwoman for Escape from Grace. Don't be a loser."
I
frowned at her, then hurried into the bathroom to change my clothes. I didn't wear a crop top, but my shirt was short enough and my jeans low enough that my tattoos showed off. I glanced at my forehead, and sighed. I plastered as much concealer as possible without it becoming a paste, and then flared my eyeliner out a bit to draw more attention to my eyes then anything else.
"Vale!" I called. "Help!"
Vale stepped into the bathroom, and eyed my makeup. "If you would show some boob no one would even look at your face." "You're not helping."
She shrugged, then help me with my eye shadow. Then she tugged down my shirt, clucking at me. "Now you look ready to party." she told me
. I glanced at the mirror, then away. Now my face looked like a girly Rambo movie. I sighed, and followed her out of the bathroom. I grabbed my jacket and slung it on, slipping my phone in my pocket.
Vale called CC to see if they were ready to go, and then we headed down to the lobby.
"How long do you think this will take?" I asked as we waited for the guys. "We've been waiting for ten minutes."
Vale looked annoyed. "They take more time to get ready then we do." I pulled out my phone while we waited and scrolled Facebook
. "Um, excuse me?" I looked up, seeing a gitl and two guys standing a few feet away from us. "Are... Are you Leah?"
"Yes."
"OMG!" the girl squealed. "Can I take a picture with you?" I glanced at Vale, and she grinned. "Of course," I stepped over to her, and one of her friends snapped a picture of us.
"You too!" I grabbed Vale and pulled her to me. They took another photo, and then just chatted with us. They were here for the show, and now were even more excited after having met us. One of the boys cornered Vale, asking about her techniques and favorite something or others, and the girl clung to his hand
. The remaining guy talked to me about my music and some of the bands he liked. "Yeah, that's a good band actually," I smiled up at him. "You have good taste."
"Ha, thanks, " he beamed at me. "It means a lot. I love the way your voice can get all throaty when you want it too. You can hit some amazing notes."
I chuckled. "Thanks."
I felt an arm slip over my shoulders, and looked up. Andy sent me a smile, but his gaze narrowed as he looked at the fanboy.
"Who's this?" he asked, and I rolled my eyes.
"This is Josh. He's a fan." I replied, eyeing him. Was he jealous? Josh had went full fanboy at the entrance of the leader of the Fallen, and so had his friends as the rest of our bands filed into the lobby It was all we could do to get away from them and make it outside.
"Was that necessary?" I asked as we all started toward the club a few blocks away. Andy glanced down at me, and we slowed until we were at the back of the group
. "Was what necessary?"
"You know what I'm talking about." I frowned at him. "He was just a fan and you went into alpha mode."
"Alpha mode?" his lips twitched. "I wasn't aware."
Bull, I thought, but let it drop. I didnt want to fight with him.
We finally made it to the club, and the line literally wrapped around the corner.
Ashley looked crestfallen. "Look at the wait! We'll never make it in tonight," he complained.
"What? Is your rockstarness not enough to get you in everywhere?" Danny asked.
Ashley glared at him.
I chuckled, and spied the bouncer easily. I grinned. I strode to the front of the line, everyone hurrying after me. The bouncer was glaring at the line of people with the most ferocious look his baby face could muster.
I tapped him on the shoulder. "Ey, dvigat'sya v storonu!"
He glanced down with a scowl, and then registered who I was
. "Liliya!" he grinned, and then it melted away as he saw what my makeup couldn't hide that well apparently. "What happened to your face?"
I glanced back at the group. They weren't quite to us but I switched to Russian regardless.
"Vy dali Romochka moy nomer?" I asked, frowning at him.
"On skazal, chto vy delali svoyu vinu," his eyes widened, and he gave me a puppy dog look. "On sdelal eto dlya vas?"
"YA nikogda ne budu vozvrashchat'sya k nemu, Alexei, kogda-libo," I shook my head, and the rest of the group arrived.
I'd asked Alexei if he'd given Romochka my number, which of coursehe had because apparently we were "making amends." like hell. I never would go back to him.
"Danny!" Alexei brightened as he saw my brother and they clasped hands briefly.
"Why are you bouncing, man?" Danny asked.
"Gotta make some extra cadh," Alexei shrugged, and I could tell he was feeling guilty.
"Why don't we head inside?" I suggested, and Alexei nodded hastily. He sent me another apologetic look as he moved aside so we could enter the club, and I flashed him a smile.
Music thrummed through my shoes the second I stepped inside, and multi-colored lights basically blinded me to everything. I squinted, and as a group we moved to one of the booths in the VIP section, and I would definitely not be leaving it as packed as the floor was.
"How about some drinks?" Ashley shouted over the music as he eyed the dance floor.
"Sure!"
Ashley disappeared into the crowd, and Nate wasn't far behind.
"Let's dance!" Vale grabbed CC, who looked horrified at the idea. I smiled. She pulled him off onto the floor, and I looked over.
"What? Are you not scoping too?" I teased Andy.
He grinned, and turned to look at me. "I didn't know that I needed too."
I tried to hide my smile, but I couldn't. I twisted in my seat, and propped my chin in my hand as I gazed at him. God, he was so ... Andy. There was no other way to describe how not perfect he was, and didn't try to be, and that made him so amazing.
"You want a drink?" he asked, and I nodded. "What do you want?"
"Surprise me," I told him, and he nodded, leaving the table.
"Leah, if you tell me you aren't dating him, you're lying." I rolled my eyes as I turned to look at my brother.
"I'm not dating him, Daniil."
"But you're sleeping with him."
My face flushed. "Danny!"
"There's nothing wrong with it," he said, gazing at me, "but you do need to be careful, Lee. Don't get too attached."
I frowned at him. "I'm aware, Daniil. I'm not naive"
"I know you're not," he reached out, tucking my hair behind my ear. "But you're my baby sister, and I want to keep you safe. He seems like a nice guy, but not the kind for you."
Believe me, I knew he wasn't for me; I'd never eventertained the idea. I felt a twinge of disappointment though. This just made me believe more then ever I needed to break off the deal we had. Danny was trying to protect my feelings, maybe I should start doing the same
. I forced a smile as Andy came back, sliding a drink to me. "If I remember correctly, you're not too big on drinking. Try this," he ordered, and I gave him a skeptical look. I took a sip, and I could just barely taste any alcohol in it.
"This is good," I said in surprise, and he nodded, downing his beer. "I figured it was more your style."
I glanced back at Danny, but his attention was diverted to some girl at the bar who kept shooting him glances. After a few minutes he seemed to gather his courage, and he went over to her. Good for Danny.
I looked back at Andy. He was listening to something Jake was saying, and I pressed my lips together. I mean, I didn't have to break off the deal. I could wait until the last concert was over, wasn't that our thing? It would just be easier to let it be and then ... And then there was the tour.
Oh god how was I going to deal with this? I chewed my lip, listening to the intense dance music for a few minutes. I was worrying way too much, I needed to start taking my medicine again, much more often, I decided. I was giving myself a headache.
The guys all started dispersing into the club, and Andy grabbed my hand. I looked over. "You wanna get out of here?" he asked softly, and my eyes caught his.
"Yeah." I did. We needed to talk
. I slipped out of the booth, and we quickly escaped out the door. I gave a wave to Alexei as we did, and he shot me a grin back. We started down the street, and Andy caught my hand afyer the first block of silence, pulling me to a stop under a streetlight.
"Leah, what's wrong?"
Shit. I wasn't ready yet. "Nothing."
"Come on, it is something. You've been giving me weird looks all night, and you practically moped all in your drink." he frowned at me. "Are you feeling sick again? Do you need too ---."
"No!" I interrupted, shaking my head. "I really wish you'd stop babying me, I'm fine."
Andy narrowed his eyes. "You... Leah, look at me." I reluctantly raised my eyes to his. He took a step forward until he was standing right in front of me. "You can talk to me, " he told me softly, his blue eyes burning into my green. "You know that."
I hesitated, staring up at him. I wanted to, I just didn't know what to say.
He cupped my face with one hand, and then leaned down, kissing me. My chest tightened, but I kissed him back. I couldn't do it, I was a chicken. After a moment, he pulled away with a grin.
"That's more like the Leah I know. Wanna come back to my room?"
My lips twitched. "Only if Ashley isn't there."
Andy chuckled, his fingers tangling in my hair as he kissed me again, in public, in the middle of the sidewalk where anyone could see us.
Maybe I could hold out, make this work. As long as I kept my feelings to myself, this would be okay.
And if Andy could kiss me in public without giving a fuck, then why couldn't I?

Notes