Hells Kitchen, NYC
Diamond 20/01/2016 14:15pm

"I heard Zeke died." Jake said, shifting on the bar stool.

He was sipping on a bottle of water. George was perched on the stool next to him, toying with a lose thread on his skinny jeans.

"That's a damn shame." He murmured, leaning his elbows on the bar to look at what Ashley was doing.

Ashley was sitting behind the bar on his hands and knees. He was messing around with the beer tap. His forehead was creased and his lips were pursed together in a thin line. He grumbled under his breath, uttering swear words to himself.

"Jake, the beer on this tap doesn't foam properly." He snapped.

Jake glanced at George then back to Ashley before sliding from the stool and marching round the bar.

"See, the gauge isn't right. For someone that knows his drinks, you really suck at this." Jake chuckled when Ashley went to hit him.

"I'm like George," Ashley grinned then. The assassin quirked an eyebrow. "The pretty one."

"Can't argue with the facts." George agreed, casually shrugging.

"Yeah, yeah, you're both beautiful." CC walked by, laughing.

Ashley gave him the finger and chased after him. Andy reappeared from behind the stage and shot Ashley and CC a scathing look. They stopped play-fighting.

"I heard you got a new singer." Paul said. He was sat on the stage, barely glancing up from his phone.

"We did." Andy confirmed, stepping down and carrying one of the bass guitars.

"She's pretty cute." Ashley cut in.

"Of course you'd say that," Paul said. "Given your status."

Ashley pouted and gave him the finger. CC laughed and the two of them rushed off before Andy could tell them off again. It was a fairly common occurence with Ash and CC. As they made their hasty retreat they grabbed Ringo as he was walking through, camera round his neck.

"Biersack's got PMS." Ashley laughed.

The three of them disappeared fairly quickly. Andy sat on the stage, glancing at Paul, who tilted his phone screen away, shooting Andy a dirty look.

"Where's John?" He asked.

Jake shrugged and George did the same. Andy angled his head to look at Paul, who was frowning and typing something out.

"He went home early." Came the response.

"There's some bird in his appartment block that he's fallen in love with." George laughed.

"Kinda like how Andy's in love with our new singer." Jake smirked, and Andy's cheeks went pink.

"Fuck off."


*************************

Two Swans Motel
20/01/2016 16:30pm
Abbie POV

"Thanks for your help, Abbie." Kellin smiled.

I offered a friendly grin in return. Kellin was Vic's longtime boyfriend. Vic had nipped to the doctors today and I had been left with Kellin. He had gone to get some shopping and I had manned the help desk.

To be honest, I was a little alarmed by the amount of people checking in just to sleep with prostitutes. These things were unheard of where I was from and sex wasn't discussed.

Schools taught abstinence and if you touched yourself then the big guy in the sky would smite you. I had rebelled against that quite early on, but these people were too blatant, even for me.

"That's cool." I said.

"You look shocked." He noted, grinning, cheeekily.

"I was just alarmed by the amount of people booking rooms for themselves and prostitutes." I admitted, and he laughed.

"Well, this is New York." He said, rolling his eyes.

I stepped out from behind the desk and he took my place, checking through the sign-in book. His face broke into a smile.

"Mr James is here today, I see." He giggled.

"Who's he?" I asked.

"He's some rich, old guy. I heard he likes to be tied up and whipped." Kellin continued.

I laughed too and the door opened. Vic appeared, looking stunned by our laughter. He rolled his eyes and walked over, hugging Kellin. He hugged me too. i guessed I was part of their family.

Vic had started to treat me less like a guest and more like his little sister, which was quite sweet. He reasoned that he had a little brother named Mike, who he didn't get to see often.

Due to their kindness, I had invited Kellin to watch my perform this weekend. I was so excited and had compiled all my best songs together and then I'd grown frustrated because I didn't think they'd be good enough. I wanted to impress everyone especially Andy.

I got the sense that he wasn't my biggest fan and only hired me because Ashley had liked me. I wanted to show him what I could do.

"Thinking about that hot boss of yours again?" Kellin said, nudging me.

"No way." I laughed, shoving him playfully.

"But he's so dreamy." Kellin replied.

***********************

Midtown Starbucks
20/01/2016 17:15pm
Kacee POV

"So, what does your Mum do?" John asked.

How had I ended up here again? I vaguely recalled sitting in my appartment watching daytime tv when he knocked at my door. I had been hesistant to go anywhere as I was still under the impression that he wasn't all that interested in me and had been bored.

"My Mum owns boutiques, lots of them." I said, sipping my hot chocolate.

We were sat by the window and it was a pretty good view. From where we were, you could see across to Times Square and streetlights were starting to flicker into life as the day drew into evening.

"Wow, how classy." He chuckled, and I could kinda tell he was being sarcastic.

I quickly learnt that was John's humour. It was dry and quick. I actually didn't mind that he was like that. It made me laugh, plus I could just give as good as I got.

"And your parents?" I asked, and I observed how his brown eyes changed suddenly.

His expression shifted and I couldn't tell whether he was annoyed at me for asking straight up. He had asked about my Mum so I just assumed I could ask about him. It was only fair.

"Raised by wolves." He said, shrugging.

I shook my head, taking another gulp of my drink. It was clearly a sore point and I really hoped he wouldn't ask about my Dad. People always knew my Dad and they would talk about him because they thought that's what I wanted to hear. I was proud of Dad, but he controlled me.

"So, what do you do for a job?" I changed the subject deliberately.

"I'm self-employed, actually." John replied, leaning back in his chair.

"Self-employed? Doing what, though?" I pried, and he gave me that same coy smirk.

I had to admit that John was a difficult person to crack. I guessed that he'd open up to me with time. Maybe he didn't want to discuss his parents because they'd let him down a lot and he didn't like to be vulnerable around people he didn't know.

His phone buzzed and he glanced at the screen, frowning, before deciding to answer it. The conversation sounded odd though. There were a lot of pauses and I sipped my drink in a bid not to listen. I waited till he had hung up.

"Friend of yours?" I smiled.

"Yeah, I guess you could call it that." He replied.

We finished our drinks and walked back to GreenView. New York night life was quite hectic and it seemed like things were just starting to pick up. A group of girls walked by wearing designer dresses and the highest heels. They were accompanied by some guys. One of the guys pushed past me and I nearly fell.

Strong arms grabbed me and secured me. My heart palpitated when I realised John had broke my fall. I was literally pressed against him. He steadied me and I could smell his aftershave. He was lean and I was tempted to stay cuddled up to him. I pulled back, very quickly and with a few fumbled apologies. God, I was so awkward. We got home in one piece, thankfully.

After my embarassing ordeal I didn't think he'd ever want to see me again. I whirled round to face him, offering a sheepish smile.

"Sorry about nearly falling on you earlier." I said, shifting from foot to foot.

"It's fine. Would you wanna watch a film, or something?" He asked.

"Y-yeah, I mean, that sounds really good."

I wasn't expecting him to end up in my appartment. We sat on the couch and I stayed a fair distance from him. We were friends. Just friends.

Notes