Novocaine Hearts

Lexa's POV

"Parker, please come with me... What if Jake talks to me?" I whined as I stumbled off stage after our set.
"You're going to have to talk to him sometime. And, maybe he'll be cool. He might not hold any grudges" Parker shrugged as he packed up his guitars.
"You didn't see how upset he was."
"If anything, just find out where Riley is. Avoid Jake, at least for today" Parker continued.
"Yeah, but she's not actually on Warped. She's probably just seeing Ashley off" I retorted.
"Babe, I don't know what you want me to tell you" Parker said in frustration.
I sighed and left to clean myself up.

It had been a long time since I had talked to anyone who was close to any of the members of Black Veil Brides. I was nervous that I would run into other past 'friends', such as Juliet, but so far, I was okay.
Black Veil Brides set was at 7:30 pm, so that was when I made my way over.
I wanted to talk to Riley alone, without interruption of any of the members.
I reached the main stage through all the back entries and saw Riley standing side stage, lightly head banging and singing.
I went up behind her and tapped her shoulder.
"Riley!" I yelled over the music.
"Hey!" She grinned and hugged me again.
"Can we talk somewhere else?" I said, eyeing the stage.
Riley nodded and took my hand. She led me back stage to BVB's gear trailer.
"So glad you came to see me. I was worried you didn't want to catch up" she said sweetly.
"Nahh, I mean, it's great to see you. So unexpected. I can't believe you're not on the tour!" I whined.
"Yeah, I've been touring a lot. Remember I got to tour with Pierce The Veil, then I finished the record when I got back, so that meant another tour. So I'm kinda over it right now. I'll do Warped next year" she shrugged.
"Suppose."
"So, how have you been? I know everything that happened, well Jake's side anyways..."
"Umm, Jake's side is the only side. I cheated on him. I was drunk and probably high and I regret it every day. But I'm doing good. It was all a wakeup call" I smiled, knowing I had Parker now. "How's Jake doing?"
"Jake has been... He was pretty down after you left, but he's been okay. He actually met someone about 6 months ago. She's here today too. They have been dating and she seems to make him happy" she smiled nervously.
"Is he happy though?" I pressed.
"Look, I really don't know her. I've been so stressed out, I don't have time."
"Literally nothing has changed with you" I chuckled.
"What do you mean?" She seemed genuinely confused.
"Oh come on Riley, you're the biggest workaholic I know. If you got offered to tour with another big band you would take it. If there was extra work to do at the bar, you'd stay late. If someone asked you to do a YouTube video, you'd do it" I listed.
"Because I'm a professional. I do my job" she clarified.
"But do you get to spend any time with Ashley?"
"Of course I do. Not as much as I used to, but we're both in the business, we understand that one of us is going to be on tour. It's our life" she shrugged. "Hey, we're meant to be talking about you! Don't turn this on me! What have you guys been up to?"
"Oh, us, we are very close to finishing our second album. Single is out, but yeah, it's a process" I shrugged.
"Fun. How have you been? Meaning with the addictions?" She asked carefully.
"Umm, it's been a lot better. When I got back home in San Fran, Parker really helped me through it. I've been clean and sober since I left."
"Wow, that's great!"
"Yeah. I'm really glad I was able to do it."
"Well, I'd say lets go out and celebrate, but yeah..." She trailed off.
I was about to ask Riley something when I heard the roar of fangirls, cheering for an encore.
"Ohh, they're gonna be done soon, I'm gonna head off. I don't want to run into Jake. I'm not ready to talk to him" I said stumbling to my feet and exiting the trailer.
"Oh, okay, well it was good to see you!" Riley called after me.
"You too!"

Jake's POV

"So, guess who I ran into" Riley asked rhetorically as myself, Ashley and Andy sat on the couches in the bus.
"Humor us. Who'd you meet?" Andy said with sarcasm.
"I ran into Lexa. Jake's ex" she said, eyeing me.
"What?! She's on the tour?!" I said a little too loudly.
"Yeah, we must have missed them. I didn't even know Novocaine Hearts were invited" Riley shrugged.
"What'd she say?" I asked, the words just escaping my lips.
"Oh, not much. New album coming, been clean and sober since you dumped her. Nothing major" she said playfully.
"Well that's good. That girl could not handle her drugs" Ashley commented.
"Shut up Ash" I shot. "What do you mean clean and sober? Like completely?" I questioned, unsure of myself.
"Apparently" Riley shrugged. "Why?" She asked, her eyes narrowing.
"No reason. I should probably talk to her. See how she's doing" I felt my lips curl into a smile.
"Oh no..." Andy sighed.
"What?" I said, looking at him.
"I know that look. You want her back" Andy sighed again.
"You know you can't do that to her. It's not fair" Riley added.
"No, I don't want her back, I just wanna clear the air."
"You guys were nothing more than a Summer fling that burned out. She's not the kind of girl that can be tied down. Beside's you're with that model, Inna?" Ashley said.
"We're on this tour together, I'll have to talk to her eventually..." I shrugged.
"Okay, well this has been fun. I have to go, or you guys have to go..." Riley said, prying herself away from Ashley.
"Babe, no! Stay? Hang out at the next city?" Ashley whined.
"Ash, you know I can't stay" she said sadly.
"Please? We've barely seen each other" he continued, holding her wrists.
"Riley, it's okay, take the bunk at the back, it's bigger" Andy smirked.
Riley eyed each of us. Unsure why we were taking Ashley's side.
"I guess I'm staying. But only tonight. I have to go home tomorrow."
Ashley's smile was contagious.

Notes

-Tina xx