Finding Grace

"Leah!"
I turned, and sent Andy a smile as he caught up with me as I came off the stage. He caught my hand, pressing a kiss to my knuckles.
"Hey! I've been looking for you all day, whereve you been?" I asked, gazing up at him. The sun was unbelievably bright today, and he was wearing sunglasses so I couldn't see his eyes. He already had some stage makeup on, black smeared and sort of melted on his cheeks, and he wore his black prophet vest over one of his ripped Ts, reminding me how good he could look and not even try.
"I've been running around with the guys," he shrugged, his hands slipping down to rest on my waist. "You wanna get out of here for a while? There's a great little diner down the road we could eat at."
The thought of food right now made me feel kind of nauseous.
"Um, I'll go, but I'm not really hungry." I told him, resting my hands on his chest. "Is everything okay? You seem... I dunno, tense."
I frowned up at him worriedly. He was stiff beneath my touch, which had told me something was wrong. He was usually so relaxed.
"Yeah, it's all good," he gave me his goofy grin. "Let's get going."
"Okay."
His fingers threaded through mine as we started through the crowd, his skin warm from the sun.
"I gotta be back by three, I have another show," I told him quickly, his pace quick and difficult for me to keep up with as he hurried towards the gate. "And slow down! I have short legs, remember?"
"Sorry," he slowed as we left the gate.
"Hey guys!" I turned, seeing Ashley and Nate trotting toward us. I sent Ashley a smile, and he returned it after glancing at Andy.
"Where are you guys heading?" Nate asked, tugging on his shirt were the sweat was starting to build.
"Out." Andy replied, sort of stiffly, and I pinched his arm slightly.
"We're gonna get something to eat, you guys wanna come?" I asked, and Nate perked up.
"No thanks," Ashley said immediately, and Nate frowned at him. "We're good. We have fans to meet, right, Nate?"
"Uh," Nate blinked.
Andy tugged on my hand. "Cmon, Leah, let's get going. Time restraint, remember?"
"I---."
"See ya guys later!" Ashley said, giving us a wave as he dragged Nate behind him, my drummer looking very confused.
I was starting to feel very confused.
"Andy, what's going on?" I asked, stopping abruptly and forcing him to come to a halt.
"What do you mean?" he asked, turning to look at me, my reflection the only thing I could see.
"You're being weird! And so was Ashley. Is everything okay? What's going on?"
"Nothing. Ash is always weird. Let's get something to eat, I'm starving." he tugged on my hand again.
"Andy." I could tell something was wrong, I wasn't stupid. "If you don't tell me I'm going to ask Ashley. And you know I can drag it out of him."
All I had to do was get him drunk.
Andy huffed, releasing my hand as he turned to face me, still wearing his sunglasses. I wanted to see his eyes, not my distorted reflection.
"Well?" I demanded, putting my hands on my hips as I waited impatiently. We were standing on the sidewalk, the sun hot on our backs despite the breeze the cars created as they drove past us on the highway. I wasn't going to stand out here all day and get a sunburn on top of my sunburns.
"Are you sure you don't want to just get something to eat?" he asked, almost pleadingly. "They have great waffles."
That did sound tempting.
I suddenly would've loved a waffle, and Andy saw it on my face.
"With lots of syrup and butter, smeared with whip cream and maybe even strawberries?" he tempted me, and I sighed.
I wanted a waffle.
Andy grinned, and grabbed my hand, leaning down to give me a quick kiss.
"Come on, babe, let's go eat."
Forty-five minutes later, after I'd literally had like two waffles smothered in the aforementioned toppings, I stood back at the stage, leaning into Andy as he kissed me, tasting like butter and syrup.
"I gotta get on stage," I murmured, and he chuckled against my lips, cupping my face so I couldn't move.
"You could always skip," he murmured, and shook my head, grinning.
I felt my backpocket buzz and sighed, fishing my phone out.
"Will you put this in the bus for me? I meant to do it but you distracted me with waffles. It needs to be charged."
"Yeah, babe," Andy took my phone, slipping it in his pocket. "I'll see you when you get done."
"Ok." I smiled, and gave him another quick kiss before I darted back towards the stage.

Andys POV

That had not gone as planned. I was gonna tell her, but she had looked so happy, and I didn't want to ruin it...
Fuck.
I pulled her phone from my pocket as it buzzed, irritated. Why the hell couldn't she just turn it off, or leave it in the bus? It was so hot out here the batteries always died quick.
I frowned as I saw she had two texts from Cerulli.
I glanced at the stage where I could hear her music, then back down at her phone.
Well.
I unlocked it (she never passcoded her phone like I had told her to so many times after the Nate incident), and clicked on her texts.
Cerulli: hows the shows going? We'll see you in a couple days
Cerulli: you doing okay?
Bastard.
He just wanted to know if I'd told her.
Well, I knew MIW had to miss a couple shows before they showed back at Warped, so that gave me a couple days to grow some balls and tell Leah.
It shouldn't even be a big deal, and I had no idea why everyone kept making it one.
I scowled down at her phone.
I didn't want him telling her before me, though.
I switched apps, tapping on the one she had downloaded for blocking numbers, and added Cerullis. Now the fucker could text all he wanted and I wouldn't have to worry about it.
I frowned at myself.
I need to just tell her and stop being a wuss about it, but I didn't want to ruin her day, and I didn't want her mad at me and screaming at me in Russian again, either.
So this would do for now.
I'll tell her tomorrow, I told myself, turning and heading for her bus.

Notes

Well, how long do you think that plan is going to work?
And now I really want a waffle.