Life's A Riot.
Fourty Four.
JC POV.
I stretched as I stepped off the tour bus and surveyed the field/car park/backstage area around us.
“Well at least it’s a bit warmer than when we were last here.” Commented Zacky as he stepped down beside me. I gave him one of my looks.
“That’s not exactly difficult is it?” He snorted and remained quiet as the rest of the guys joined us. Syn’s arm tucked around my waist. I rested my head on his shoulder as we surveyed the comings and goings of the people around us. Eventually Bruce appeared. Exactly five minutes after we all got off the bus.
“What’s up guys?”
“Not a lot. These guys owe me ten bucks each.” I replied, grinning. Bruce frowned.
“What?”
“I told them you’d wait five minutes before jumping us, they thought you wouldn’t. Bada-bing-bada-boom I win the bet, they all owe me a tenner.” I grinned even wider as Bruce pulled a long-suffering look at me.
“Charming. Anyway, here’s the plan for the weekend. Today: Zacky – Interview with Download TV. Matt – Radio interview with Kiss FM. Syn – Interview with Guitarist Magazine. Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee – Kerrang TV Rock Box.” I high-fived Johnny.
“Result.” Bruce just sighed.
“God knows why they wanted you two.” We grinned simultaneously at him. “Anyway, tomorrow: Group meet and greet and show.”
“Any chance of some free time A) to breathe and B) to actually let JC see some bands? She’ll kill you if you don’t.” Asked Syn, raising an eyebrow. I stuck my tongue out at him and elbowed him in the ribs. “What? It’s true.” I sighed.
“Fair enough.” I agreed.
“When you’ve finished with all of your fixtures today, you’re free to watch any bands that you wish. You’re gunna get access all areas wristbands in a minute. The space between the meet and greet and show is yours to watch bands and you get all of Sunday to hang here too. Is that acceptable JC?” I nodded approvingly.
“It’s acceptable.” Bruce just laughed and shook his head.
“Good, I’m glad that I meet your approval JC. Ok, someone will be up to give you your wristbands shortly then you’ll all head off to your interviews. Catch ya later.” He disappeared off, leaving us to wait for our wristbands. Syn moved, pulling me into a hug, wrapping both of his arms around my waist. I slid my other arm around his waist and snuggled into him, enjoying the few moments of calm we’d get together before we had to do interviews. Matt looked around at us and frowned.
“Everyone seems way to quiet. Come on! We’re at fucking DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL people!!” I shrugged. Suddenly I was in the air and thrown over Syn’s shoulder. He began to run around the field that we were in, yelling.
“WASSUPPPP DOWNLOAD?!?!?!?!”
“PUT ME DOWN YOU FUCKING DICK!! I AM NOT A SACK OF FREAKING POTATOES!” He ran past the guys, who were all laughing. I caught a glimpse of Johnny turning to Matt.
“Are they excited enough for you now?”
~*~
I could feel myself shaking. And not just a little bit. I was shaking as if I was stood on a vibrating floor. In front of me, the Main Stage at Download was set up for us to play. I’d seen the crowds that the main stage attracted yesterday when we were watching people play. Massive didn’t even begin to describe it. Fucking massive, maybe. I’d refused to even take a brief glimpse of the crowd gathered to see us. I felt like I was going to puke, I was so fucking nervous. I wasn’t just going to drum. Oh no, in order to ‘celebrate’ their biggest UK performance to date, the guys had bullied, coerced, begged and blackmailed me into singing three songs with them while Arrin drummed. I was not amused. Two arms wrapped around my waist as my blackmailer snuck up behind me.
“Stop fretting you’ll be amazing, Cait. You always are.” I let my expression harden into a glare.
“Don’t talk to me. I don’t appreciate my boyfriend blackmailing me in order to get me to sing onstage.” He laughed and kissed my neck.
“You know that I didn’t mean it babe.”
“I don’t care! That was private information! I don’t appreciate you using it like that!” I felt him smile into my neck before kissing my jawline.
“I love you.”
“Whatever.”
“Five minutes!” I shrieked as one of the millions of techs yelled out the countdown. My stomach heaved as I thought of the crowd.
“I’m gunna hurl.” I mumbled, dashing out of Syn’s arms.
~*~
“It’s your fucking nightmare!” I let the mic drop to my side as the crowd screamed and cheered for us. Matt stepped up next to me.
“So what do you think Download? You want another one from Riot?” The crowd upped the volume appropriately. “Alright then, Riot, take it away.”
“Ok, I wanna hear you guys screaming the fucking words to this one, alright?” The crowd cheered again as Syn began to play the intro to Seize The Day. As the song finished, the stage blacked out and we all ran off for a quick break, before we headed back on to finish the set. I gratefully took a bottle of water from one of the techies, downing half of it in one go. My brother stepped up next to me, slinging a very sweaty arm around my shoulders. In return, I wrapped my equally sweaty arm around his waist.
“You ready for your last song?” He asked. I nodded, my nerves have lessened, but not that much.
“I swear, I will kiss my drum stool when I get back up there.” He laughed.
“You won’t want to after Matt’s sat on it.” Commented Zacky as he walked past, getting ready to go back on. I pulled a face.
“Good point.”
“I heard that!” Yelled Matt from behind us. We all laughed, looking around at each other.
“We ready?” I asked, surveying the group. Everyone nodded wordlessly, but Syn seemed quieter than the rest of the group. I frowned, he’d been fine on stage. I shrugged it off, I’d ask him about it later. “Good. Shadows,” I turned the full effect of my glare on Matt. “Don’t. Damage. The. Drum. Kit.” I warned. He laughed and saluted me as he headed off to sneak up onto my kit. A few seconds later he was in position and began to sing the intro.
“There comes a day when we all find out for ourselves
That once we have the words to say,
There's no one left to tell
I know why you're running away.” The crowd cheered as the rest of the band kicked in and we ran onstage, with one difference; Matt was drumming instead of Arrin and I was taking the lead vocals.
“There's a place where nothing seems to be assembled quite cohesively
It's all your mind, all your mind!
Something little shouldn't feel this way, We got a million thoughts we can't convey
It's all your love, all your love!
It's four in the morning, you got one more chance to die
Like beautiful stories the greatest chapters flew right by
There comes a day when we all find out for ourselves
That once we have the words to say, there's no one left to tell
I know why you're running away.
These things don't happen here; another fictional reality
It's all you'll find; all you'll find!
It's just as good as any other day, I'm gonna teach you about mortality
No it's not right, it's not right!
It's four in the morning, you got one more chance to die
Like beautiful stories the greatest chapters flew right by
There comes a day when we all find out for ourselves
That once we have the words to say, there's no one left to tell
I know why you're running away.
In many ways I guess I'll never let you go
I'm close behind but I've got room here left to grow
Until our second chance, just enjoy the dance, and find out who we are
(These dreams will never leave you)
Let's find out what we are,
(These dreams will never leave you, never leave you asking why)
It's four in the morning, you got one more chance to die
Like beautiful stories the greatest chapters flew right by
There comes a day when we all find out for ourselves
That once we have the words to say, there's no one left to tell
I know why you're running, I know why you're running away.” I let the final notes of the song fade away before handing the mic to Matt as he came down from the drum platform.
“DOWNLOAD GIVE IT UP FOR OUR VERY OWN JC RIOT!!” I saluted the screaming crowd and began to head up to my drum kit in order to finish the show.
“Hey JC, wait a minute will ya?” I turned to face Syn, frowning slightly. What the hell was he up to? I grabbed the extra mic that a tech ran onstage to me.
“What?” I asked suspiciously. He laughed.
“Chill out Cait.” I rolled my eyes and waited for him to continue. “I know that we’ve not been together all that long, but you mean a hell of a lot to me. I love you Cait.” The crowd was silent. I tensed. Was he seriously going where I thought he was with this? “I seriously can’t imagine my life without you in it. That’s why…” He handed his guitar off to the same tech that had given me a mic. “I’m not going to get down on one knee, because you’d kill me, but Jacqueline Caitlyn Seward will you marry me?” I froze, in absolute shock that he had asked me A) to marry him and B) in front of how ever many thousand people at a fucking festival. Everyone was silent, all eyes trained on me, breaths held, as the band, the techs and the crowd waited for my answer.
“No.” The silence remained, as if everyone was in shock at what I’d said. Syn’s face was frozen in between shock and dejection. I shook my head and laughed. “Of course I’ll marry you, you fucking idiot.” His face changed instantly into the picture of happiness. I threw myself into his arms, letting him pick me up and spin us both around as the crowd screamed. “I am going to kill you and feed the pieces to the dogs for doing this onstage.” He just laughed and pulled back slightly so that he could kiss me. The crowds’ cheers increased as we kissed.
“Alright, alright, alright. Let go of my baby sister now, so we can finish the show.” I glared at my brother and stepped out of Syn’s arms, stomping up to my drum platform.
“How many fucking times must I fucking tell you to stop fucking calling me your fucking baby sister?!” I snapped throwing one of my spare drum sticks at him. It bounced off his head as he stared at me in shock.
“Charming. Absolutely charming. She gets proposed to and she starts throwing stuff at me.” Grumbled Johnny. Syn grinned and threw a spare pick at him.
“Quit complainin’, start playin’.”
~*~
I stepped into Syn’s arms once we’d finished playing the set.
“I cannot believe that you actually proposed to her onstage!” Exclaimed Val as she ran over to us. I snorted.
“I can. He lives to make my life a living hell. This is just one more thing to add to the list. What I can’t believe is that these jokers knew and still let him do it.” I glared at Matt, Johnny and Zacky, who were all grinning at me. “Don’t you dare grin at me! Sleep with one eye open when we hit the road again! All of you!” They just laughed. “Oh I’m serious. One day you’re going to wake up and your Mohawk will be gone.” Johnny abruptly stopped laughing.
“You’re kidding.” I raised an eyebrow at him.
“Just keep telling yourself that.” Next to me Syn sighed.
“Stop threatening the guys Cait. It was me that proposed to you onstage not them.”
“Yes but they let you do it.” He sighed again.
“Because they knew that I’d do it anyway. Just let it go. There’s something else that I need to ask you.” I resisted the urge to bury my face in my hands. Barely. Instead I just leant against him.
“Oh please God, no more surprises. I don’t think that my heart, brain or stomach can take any more surprises.” This time Syn laughed.
“Chill out. It’s not a surprise. Just a question.” I looked up at him curiously. He looked nervous again. I smiled softly and kissed his cheek.
“Stop looking so nervous. What is it?”
“I know your opinion on engagement rings.” I raised an eyebrow and smiled. He carried on before I could go off into one. “So I had an idea, if you don’t like it then you can go and chose your own engagement ring and I won’t complain but…”
“Stop bumbling and spit it out man!” Ordered Val. I laughed, she looked more excited than I was. More nervous too. Her grip on Matt’s hand was crushing. Syn just rolled his eyes at her and moved his hands from my waist. He pulled a ring off his little finger.
“Will you wear this as an engagement ring? I know that it’s probably too big, but I can get it resized or something …” I cut off his rambling by pressing a finger lightly to his lips.
“It’s perfect.” I whispered, taking it out of his hand and slipping in onto my thumb. “See.” I held my hand up to show him. He grinned, kissing me lightly on the lips.
“You do like to be different.” I laughed.
“Yes, yes I do.” I replied closing the gap between us so that I could kiss him again.
I stretched as I stepped off the tour bus and surveyed the field/car park/backstage area around us.
“Well at least it’s a bit warmer than when we were last here.” Commented Zacky as he stepped down beside me. I gave him one of my looks.
“That’s not exactly difficult is it?” He snorted and remained quiet as the rest of the guys joined us. Syn’s arm tucked around my waist. I rested my head on his shoulder as we surveyed the comings and goings of the people around us. Eventually Bruce appeared. Exactly five minutes after we all got off the bus.
“What’s up guys?”
“Not a lot. These guys owe me ten bucks each.” I replied, grinning. Bruce frowned.
“What?”
“I told them you’d wait five minutes before jumping us, they thought you wouldn’t. Bada-bing-bada-boom I win the bet, they all owe me a tenner.” I grinned even wider as Bruce pulled a long-suffering look at me.
“Charming. Anyway, here’s the plan for the weekend. Today: Zacky – Interview with Download TV. Matt – Radio interview with Kiss FM. Syn – Interview with Guitarist Magazine. Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee – Kerrang TV Rock Box.” I high-fived Johnny.
“Result.” Bruce just sighed.
“God knows why they wanted you two.” We grinned simultaneously at him. “Anyway, tomorrow: Group meet and greet and show.”
“Any chance of some free time A) to breathe and B) to actually let JC see some bands? She’ll kill you if you don’t.” Asked Syn, raising an eyebrow. I stuck my tongue out at him and elbowed him in the ribs. “What? It’s true.” I sighed.
“Fair enough.” I agreed.
“When you’ve finished with all of your fixtures today, you’re free to watch any bands that you wish. You’re gunna get access all areas wristbands in a minute. The space between the meet and greet and show is yours to watch bands and you get all of Sunday to hang here too. Is that acceptable JC?” I nodded approvingly.
“It’s acceptable.” Bruce just laughed and shook his head.
“Good, I’m glad that I meet your approval JC. Ok, someone will be up to give you your wristbands shortly then you’ll all head off to your interviews. Catch ya later.” He disappeared off, leaving us to wait for our wristbands. Syn moved, pulling me into a hug, wrapping both of his arms around my waist. I slid my other arm around his waist and snuggled into him, enjoying the few moments of calm we’d get together before we had to do interviews. Matt looked around at us and frowned.
“Everyone seems way to quiet. Come on! We’re at fucking DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL people!!” I shrugged. Suddenly I was in the air and thrown over Syn’s shoulder. He began to run around the field that we were in, yelling.
“WASSUPPPP DOWNLOAD?!?!?!?!”
“PUT ME DOWN YOU FUCKING DICK!! I AM NOT A SACK OF FREAKING POTATOES!” He ran past the guys, who were all laughing. I caught a glimpse of Johnny turning to Matt.
“Are they excited enough for you now?”
~*~
I could feel myself shaking. And not just a little bit. I was shaking as if I was stood on a vibrating floor. In front of me, the Main Stage at Download was set up for us to play. I’d seen the crowds that the main stage attracted yesterday when we were watching people play. Massive didn’t even begin to describe it. Fucking massive, maybe. I’d refused to even take a brief glimpse of the crowd gathered to see us. I felt like I was going to puke, I was so fucking nervous. I wasn’t just going to drum. Oh no, in order to ‘celebrate’ their biggest UK performance to date, the guys had bullied, coerced, begged and blackmailed me into singing three songs with them while Arrin drummed. I was not amused. Two arms wrapped around my waist as my blackmailer snuck up behind me.
“Stop fretting you’ll be amazing, Cait. You always are.” I let my expression harden into a glare.
“Don’t talk to me. I don’t appreciate my boyfriend blackmailing me in order to get me to sing onstage.” He laughed and kissed my neck.
“You know that I didn’t mean it babe.”
“I don’t care! That was private information! I don’t appreciate you using it like that!” I felt him smile into my neck before kissing my jawline.
“I love you.”
“Whatever.”
“Five minutes!” I shrieked as one of the millions of techs yelled out the countdown. My stomach heaved as I thought of the crowd.
“I’m gunna hurl.” I mumbled, dashing out of Syn’s arms.
~*~
“It’s your fucking nightmare!” I let the mic drop to my side as the crowd screamed and cheered for us. Matt stepped up next to me.
“So what do you think Download? You want another one from Riot?” The crowd upped the volume appropriately. “Alright then, Riot, take it away.”
“Ok, I wanna hear you guys screaming the fucking words to this one, alright?” The crowd cheered again as Syn began to play the intro to Seize The Day. As the song finished, the stage blacked out and we all ran off for a quick break, before we headed back on to finish the set. I gratefully took a bottle of water from one of the techies, downing half of it in one go. My brother stepped up next to me, slinging a very sweaty arm around my shoulders. In return, I wrapped my equally sweaty arm around his waist.
“You ready for your last song?” He asked. I nodded, my nerves have lessened, but not that much.
“I swear, I will kiss my drum stool when I get back up there.” He laughed.
“You won’t want to after Matt’s sat on it.” Commented Zacky as he walked past, getting ready to go back on. I pulled a face.
“Good point.”
“I heard that!” Yelled Matt from behind us. We all laughed, looking around at each other.
“We ready?” I asked, surveying the group. Everyone nodded wordlessly, but Syn seemed quieter than the rest of the group. I frowned, he’d been fine on stage. I shrugged it off, I’d ask him about it later. “Good. Shadows,” I turned the full effect of my glare on Matt. “Don’t. Damage. The. Drum. Kit.” I warned. He laughed and saluted me as he headed off to sneak up onto my kit. A few seconds later he was in position and began to sing the intro.
“There comes a day when we all find out for ourselves
That once we have the words to say,
There's no one left to tell
I know why you're running away.” The crowd cheered as the rest of the band kicked in and we ran onstage, with one difference; Matt was drumming instead of Arrin and I was taking the lead vocals.
“There's a place where nothing seems to be assembled quite cohesively
It's all your mind, all your mind!
Something little shouldn't feel this way, We got a million thoughts we can't convey
It's all your love, all your love!
It's four in the morning, you got one more chance to die
Like beautiful stories the greatest chapters flew right by
There comes a day when we all find out for ourselves
That once we have the words to say, there's no one left to tell
I know why you're running away.
These things don't happen here; another fictional reality
It's all you'll find; all you'll find!
It's just as good as any other day, I'm gonna teach you about mortality
No it's not right, it's not right!
It's four in the morning, you got one more chance to die
Like beautiful stories the greatest chapters flew right by
There comes a day when we all find out for ourselves
That once we have the words to say, there's no one left to tell
I know why you're running away.
In many ways I guess I'll never let you go
I'm close behind but I've got room here left to grow
Until our second chance, just enjoy the dance, and find out who we are
(These dreams will never leave you)
Let's find out what we are,
(These dreams will never leave you, never leave you asking why)
It's four in the morning, you got one more chance to die
Like beautiful stories the greatest chapters flew right by
There comes a day when we all find out for ourselves
That once we have the words to say, there's no one left to tell
I know why you're running, I know why you're running away.” I let the final notes of the song fade away before handing the mic to Matt as he came down from the drum platform.
“DOWNLOAD GIVE IT UP FOR OUR VERY OWN JC RIOT!!” I saluted the screaming crowd and began to head up to my drum kit in order to finish the show.
“Hey JC, wait a minute will ya?” I turned to face Syn, frowning slightly. What the hell was he up to? I grabbed the extra mic that a tech ran onstage to me.
“What?” I asked suspiciously. He laughed.
“Chill out Cait.” I rolled my eyes and waited for him to continue. “I know that we’ve not been together all that long, but you mean a hell of a lot to me. I love you Cait.” The crowd was silent. I tensed. Was he seriously going where I thought he was with this? “I seriously can’t imagine my life without you in it. That’s why…” He handed his guitar off to the same tech that had given me a mic. “I’m not going to get down on one knee, because you’d kill me, but Jacqueline Caitlyn Seward will you marry me?” I froze, in absolute shock that he had asked me A) to marry him and B) in front of how ever many thousand people at a fucking festival. Everyone was silent, all eyes trained on me, breaths held, as the band, the techs and the crowd waited for my answer.
“No.” The silence remained, as if everyone was in shock at what I’d said. Syn’s face was frozen in between shock and dejection. I shook my head and laughed. “Of course I’ll marry you, you fucking idiot.” His face changed instantly into the picture of happiness. I threw myself into his arms, letting him pick me up and spin us both around as the crowd screamed. “I am going to kill you and feed the pieces to the dogs for doing this onstage.” He just laughed and pulled back slightly so that he could kiss me. The crowds’ cheers increased as we kissed.
“Alright, alright, alright. Let go of my baby sister now, so we can finish the show.” I glared at my brother and stepped out of Syn’s arms, stomping up to my drum platform.
“How many fucking times must I fucking tell you to stop fucking calling me your fucking baby sister?!” I snapped throwing one of my spare drum sticks at him. It bounced off his head as he stared at me in shock.
“Charming. Absolutely charming. She gets proposed to and she starts throwing stuff at me.” Grumbled Johnny. Syn grinned and threw a spare pick at him.
“Quit complainin’, start playin’.”
~*~
I stepped into Syn’s arms once we’d finished playing the set.
“I cannot believe that you actually proposed to her onstage!” Exclaimed Val as she ran over to us. I snorted.
“I can. He lives to make my life a living hell. This is just one more thing to add to the list. What I can’t believe is that these jokers knew and still let him do it.” I glared at Matt, Johnny and Zacky, who were all grinning at me. “Don’t you dare grin at me! Sleep with one eye open when we hit the road again! All of you!” They just laughed. “Oh I’m serious. One day you’re going to wake up and your Mohawk will be gone.” Johnny abruptly stopped laughing.
“You’re kidding.” I raised an eyebrow at him.
“Just keep telling yourself that.” Next to me Syn sighed.
“Stop threatening the guys Cait. It was me that proposed to you onstage not them.”
“Yes but they let you do it.” He sighed again.
“Because they knew that I’d do it anyway. Just let it go. There’s something else that I need to ask you.” I resisted the urge to bury my face in my hands. Barely. Instead I just leant against him.
“Oh please God, no more surprises. I don’t think that my heart, brain or stomach can take any more surprises.” This time Syn laughed.
“Chill out. It’s not a surprise. Just a question.” I looked up at him curiously. He looked nervous again. I smiled softly and kissed his cheek.
“Stop looking so nervous. What is it?”
“I know your opinion on engagement rings.” I raised an eyebrow and smiled. He carried on before I could go off into one. “So I had an idea, if you don’t like it then you can go and chose your own engagement ring and I won’t complain but…”
“Stop bumbling and spit it out man!” Ordered Val. I laughed, she looked more excited than I was. More nervous too. Her grip on Matt’s hand was crushing. Syn just rolled his eyes at her and moved his hands from my waist. He pulled a ring off his little finger.
“Will you wear this as an engagement ring? I know that it’s probably too big, but I can get it resized or something …” I cut off his rambling by pressing a finger lightly to his lips.
“It’s perfect.” I whispered, taking it out of his hand and slipping in onto my thumb. “See.” I held my hand up to show him. He grinned, kissing me lightly on the lips.
“You do like to be different.” I laughed.
“Yes, yes I do.” I replied closing the gap between us so that I could kiss him again.
7/16/13