Ruby's POV

I felt myself ease into consciousness, my eyes still shut and unwilling to welcome the day just yet. I hadn't gotten to sleep until at least 8am, when the effects of the alcohol had finally worn down enough to allow sleep to claim me. A warm breath on my neck suddenly brought to my attention that someone's arm was locked around me and I slowly opened my eyes to see Brian's hand enclosed around my own on the pillow in front of me.

My first instinct was to flinch away, get out of bed immediately, and go get ready for the day. But as he nuzzled into my neck, though I was certain he was still asleep, I found myself unable to find the will to move. His warmth was intoxicating, and I shamefully admitted defeat to the fact that despite what had happened recently, I still felt content in his embrace.

A knock came at the door and I had to restrain myself from flinching at the sound. I squeezed my eyes shut and pretended to still be asleep as Brian suddenly let go and left the bed. I heard the door open, and Dan's voice begin to speak;

"Start waking up, we gotta be on the road in an hour."
"Okay, thanks man." was all Brian said in response, and I heard the door click shut again.

Brian gently nudged me, and I opened my eyes to see him standing in front of me, looking down at me. "Time to get up." he said simply.
"Coffee." I grumbled.
"Right after I take a shower."

I rolled over onto my back, watching him cross the room, lifting his shirt off as he made his way to the bathroom. My eyes scanned his back and I felt a small smile creep across my face at the shitshow of a "Haner" tattoo scrawled between his shoulder blades. I watched the muscles in his back play as he reached for the door handle and felt that familiar spark of desire flare up down below, immediately fighting against it and sighing with relief when he disappeared into the bathroom.

He's an asshole, but damn; He still has one hell of an effect on me...

***

A steaming cup of Starbucks coffee sat upon the table between my hands as I watched the California desert whizz by outside the window. The sun had properly begun to rise and the clock was creeping on toward 10am as the tour bus made its way toward Dodger Stadium for the first leg of Warped Tour. Demi slid into the seat opposite me, smirking at me from across the table.

"So, how'd it go last night?" she asked, wiggling her eyebrows.
"Good." was all I said in response.
"Details, nigga."
"Yeah okay, he fingered me." I laughed.
"Fuck yeah!" Demi grinned, fist-bumping me.
"But that was about as far as it got before Brian barged in..." I trailed off, remembering how I'd woken up later in the morning.
"What a fuckhole."
"It's fine." I waved it off. "We've got all Summer, gives me something to look forward to, right?"
"You'll get dicked pretty soon, I'm sure." she sniggered. "Ben gave me the run-down, Danny's not one to beat around the bush for long."
"I gathered that." I chuckled.

Brian emerged from the bathroom and I breathed in deeply as I took in his appearance. His eyes were darkly rimmed in eyeliner, his leather fedora perched upon his head and the usual chains around his neck. He wore a smokey grey pair of pin-striped jeans, and the very tank he'd worn the day he'd visited me at my home in Chicago; the word "SIN" fittingly repeated thrice upon his chest. The lack of sleeves only accentuated his heavily muscled arms and I had to force myself to look away.

"You still want him, don't you?" Demi muttered, quiet enough that Brian couldn't hear.
"Unfortunately..." I sighed, taking a sip from my Coffee. "I wish I didn't."
"We'll be there, soon." she said, giving me a comforting smile. "And you can go find Danny, he'll distract you."
"I'm definitely going to need some heavy distracting..." I frowned...

***

It was around 10:30am when we finally reached the Dodger Stadium parking lot. Jimmy dashed to the front of the bus, flailing his arms excitedly and bobbing on the spot in front of the door until the bus pulled to a halt. Dan opened the doors and Jimmy practically flew outside.

"I sure hope he's got his cell phone on him, or we've got a problem on our hands." Dan sighed as he watched Jimmy disappear into oblivion within the cluster of backstage trailers and crew.
"More than likely, he's gone to find some booze." Brian chuckled as he made his way toward the door. "Don't worry, I'll track him down when it's time."

The guys left the bus one by one, and Demi and I followed. It was insanity; technicians, stage-hands and personal assistants were running frantically to and fro as they tended to their duties. If you'd told me several months ago that I'd be granted the privilege of being backstage at Warped Tour, I wouldn't have believed you.

I spotted Joel and Benji Madden leaning against their trailer talking among themselves. Ville Valo of HIM, who was ten thousand times more beautiful in the flesh than I had ever imagined; standing to one side and smoking a cigarette as he spoke to someone on his phone. Matt Tuck grinned out at me from the doorway of a nearby trailer, raising his hand to wave at me.

"Hey!" I smiled broadly, skipping toward him.
"How you doin?" he asked as his arms wrapped around me. "Didn't expect to see you here."
"Yeah." I giggled as I stepped back. "I'm tagging along with the guys for the Summer."
"Oh really?" he grinned. "That's fucking awesome, we should party together at some point."

My vision was suddenly obscured as a pair of hands covered my eyes from behind.

"Guess whooo." sang a familiar voice.
I spun around to face him. "Hi."
"Miss me?" Danny smirked.
"A little." I smiled.
"Just a little, eh?" he purred, sliding an arm around my waist, his free hand going into my hair as he pulled me in for a kiss that was perhaps a little too heated for this early in the morning.

"I'll just go fuck myself, then." Matt laughed from behind us.
"Sorry." I giggled, pulling away and turning back to him as Danny's arms embraced me from behind.
"I just can't keep my little paws off her." Danny chuckled, nuzzling into my neck and nipping at me lightly.
"I'll leave you to it." Matt smirked, stepping away from the doorway and out of sight.

"We're actually due onstage soon." Danny smiled, turning me back to face him. "Come watch our set?"
"Sure." I nodded.

He took my hand and led me through the crowds, into the backstage area of the Monster Energy stage. Danny walked off to run through some vocal warmups with Ben and I watched as their technicians ran the necessary checks on all their equipment.

It was all so surreal, getting a first-hand glimpse into the life I had always dreamed of, but had more or less given up on trying to achieve. This was what I should have been doing had I not wasted my time supporting Jack in his band; Decapitated Orphans. Who knows where I might've been right now if I'd just focused on my own dreams instead of his.

"It's time." Danny grinned, approaching me with a microphone in his hand.
"Knock 'em dead." I smiled.
"Do I get a kiss for good luck?" he flirted, leaning in toward my face.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, resuming our heated kiss that Matt had interrupted moments prior, before pulling away and giving him a firm smack on the ass as he jogged away toward the stage. The crowd roared as the members took the stage one by one, James starting up a beat on his drums as Ben, Cameron and Sam ran around the stage psyching up the crowd.

"HOW THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!" Danny yelled. "YOU READY TO FUCKING PARTY?!"
The crowd screamed in response.
"Let me hear you all scream!" he commanded. "OH! MY! GOD!"

It suddenly clicked; I knew this song. I'd never known their band name but had heard Jack play their music all the time and loved it. I hadn't realized they were at a level where they could play Warped Tour, they'd seemed pretty underground.

"IF ONLY HE KNEW! IF ONLY HE KNEW!"

As I head-banged from side-stage, I felt a skinny, tattooed arm lock around my shoulders and turned to see Demi's blue-black mane flying through the air beside me.

"If only he knew about the world without the bullshit and the lies. We could've saved him. They could've saved me. But instead I'm here drowning in my own fucking mind, And I'll be damned if you're the death of me."

Strange how only now, with the song being played directly in front of me, that I realized how relevant the lyrics were to my situation with Jack. From him feeding me all the bullshit about how useless I was and ripping me away from the people whom I knew would've stepped in to help if I'd just asked. One person in particular. But instead I'd let him isolate me and knock me down until I was more or less losing my mind.

"Just stand up and scream. The tainted clock is counting down. You gave in to me. Would you say the nights are far too long now?"

And now it was Brian on my mind; how hard I'd fought against his advances, until he'd finally gotten under my skin and I'd given in. Only for it all to go to shit after we got back from Vegas, and now the nights dragged on without the comfort of his arms. Save for this morning, which was still playing on my mind.

"OH MY FUCKING GOD!" Danny screaming in my face shook me out of my thoughts.

I laughed and ruffled his hair as he bounded away, feeling a dumb grin spread across my features. Okay, so I'd gone through some shit. But right now, I was on fucking Warped Tour, in damn near 100 degree heat, surrounded by music. And I had this scruffy badass in front of me, and even if it only lasted the Summer, he would keep the loneliness at bay for awhile.

They finished the song and Danny jogged back over to me to retrieve a bottle of water.

"Enjoying the show so far?" he grinned.
"You guys are insane!" I exclaimed. "Turns out I actually knew your music, just never knew who you were."
"And now you got the lead singer tryna get in your pants." he laughed.
"Put on a good enough show and I just might let that happen." I smirked.
"You'll love this next song, then." he winked, and made his way back to the stage.

Danny stepped up on one of the risers at the front of the stage. "This song, we're about to shoot a music video for. So each and every one of you, are gonna be seen by hundreds of thousands of people all over the world." he informed the crowd. "READY TO SCREAM, MOTHERFUCKERS?"
The crowd cheered in response.
"This, my friends, is Not The American Average!"

As James started up on his Drums again, Demi tugged on my arm. "I KNOW THIS SONG! I KNOW THIS SONG!"
"I've never heard it?" I replied.
"Because it's new!" she said, throwing her fist into the air as she sang along to the opening verse. "COME ON BABY, KEEP IT DOWN! HONEY, HUSH YOUR LIPS!"



"Clothes trailing from the backdoor, to the bedroom, and I don't even know your name. Give me all you've got, make this night worth my time, Make this worth my time."



"What I would give to live this night again! I knew when I first saw you, You would fuck like a whore! You'd fuck like a whore! I can hear you scream for more!"

Danny looked over and nodded in my direction, winking at me as he sang the Chorus;

"Your thighs were made for cheeks to graze. My lips, your poison, they bring you to your knees. Your thighs were made for cheeks to graze. My lips, your poison, they bring you to your knees."



"Girl, get down, It's almost over! Take it all the way! Oh!"



Danny motioned for the crowd to split in two, and I knew that move; an insane wall of death was coming. For the very first time, I wanted in.

"Demi." I said, turning to her. "Let's get in there."
"Are you serious?" she gasped, practically beaming.
"Deadly." I smirked.

We quickly jogged across the stage, jumping down and motioning for the security guards to help us over the barrier, to which they obliged. Pushing our way through, we made our way over to one side of the parted crowd just in time for the breakdown to begin.

"We can do whatever the fuck we want, so how 'bout we shed some blood and get wild?" Danny spoke into the microphone.

"YOU STUPID. FUCKING. WHORE!"



The crowds charged toward one another, and Demi and I were caught in the throes of the pit. I was knocked to and fro by guys twice my size, and I knocked them back harder. A few punches here and a few kicks there, and I knew they would probably bruise. For the first time, I didn't care. I laughed manically as I fought back, all the anger, the frustration, the shit that had built up inside of me over the past several months were being expelled with which hit.

"And after all of all my dreaming being only you. You're standing there, baby, oh, the things that I could do! Back to the wall with a drink in my hand! Back it up, baby, ride, ride, ride!"

As the pit eased up, Demi and I fought our way out and pushed through to the front.

"I need you guys to reach for the fucking sky!" Danny commanded. "Sing."

Demi and I obeyed, as Ben began to sing;



"And I never told you, that..."





"Breathing and grasping all leads to another messy ending!" Demi sang along from beside me, swaying her arms in the air with a look of contentment on her face.

Just as soon as the beauty of Ben's part began, so did it end;

"Ten inch!"

"With your back against the wall! With your face buried in the pillow! I see you cold! I feel you heartless!"



"Bitch! You stupid fucking bitch!"



Ben jumped offstage and climbed onto the crowd.

"You stupid fucking bitch!"

Danny spat at the ground. "Fucking bitch."

The crowd erupted with cheers and applause once more, and Danny smiled down at me.

"That was for this fucking babe in the front row." he said, pointing at me. "I'm gonna fuck her brains out later tonight."

Notes

Here ya gooo! A nice long chapter.

I fucking loved writing this, I absolutely love the video for Not The American Average, takes me back to how magical Soundwave was in Australia. We don't have Warped Tour here, Soundwave was the highlight of my Summers, and sadly, it got cancelled and taken away from us. HOWEVER; Corey Taylor has mentioned he's working on bringing Knotfest down under, so here's hoping I'll get to go to an insane heavy music festival again someday.

ANYWAY, hope ya'll enjoyed this
I'm loving the forward, playful nature of Ruby and Danny's relationship, if you could call it that

Comment! Comment! Comment!
Or you won't get the Smut that's coming up ;)

Until next time! xx