Carefully Keely looked around the corner of the hallway, making sure she was hidden almost entirely. The hallway was completely inoffensive, the beige walls typical of a hotel. She had the hood of her baggy grey hoodie pulled over her rather tell-tale hair, hiding her from anyone that might have the chance to recognize her, the hood shadowing her face as well.

Finding that there was a clear path, she hastily moved down the hall, running as lightly as she could manage.

At the door with the right number, Keely skidded to a halt, peering over her shoulder to make sure no one was watching. Once again seeing nothing but empty hall, she turned the door knob, sneaking into the room quickly.

With a sigh, she closed the door softly, leaning back against it with her eyes closed.

“What are you doing?”

Unsurprised she just pushed the hood off her head, shaking her hair out of her eyes as she finally looked further into the motel room. “I’m hiding from the cameras,” she replied to Seth, pushing off her sweater completely as she shoved off the door and moved into the room.

Slinging her sweater over the chair in the fancy room, she just frowned, crossing her arms over the baggy striped tank top she was wearing. “What are you reading now?” she questioned, peering down at where he was lying on his back with his head on the pillows, the book he’d been reading still posed above him despite her abrupt appearance.

“Victor Hugo,” he replied, running a hand lightly over his face and sending her that crooked grin.

Stepping closer, she leaned over the edge of the bed, hoping to see the pages. “Language?” she interrogated.

“French,” he answered, moving so that the tattered paperback was held in just one of his hands. Keely frowned slightly as he shifted forward towards her, but didn’t have the presence of mind to back off before he was gripping her lightly by the hand and tugging her forwards onto the bed.

Startled laughter escaped her lips as she fell forward inelegantly into the comfortable mattress. Not staying long in her sprawled position, she crawled hastily up so she was kneeling on top of the soft duvet.

Gripping one of the many pillows having been provided, she smacked him lightly across the face, making Seth laugh loudly, snatching it from her hands and tossing it to the side. “I knew there was a reason I didn’t like you,” she accused jestingly.

“You love me,” he joked, sending her a quick look through his smiling eyes before turning his gaze back to his book.

Even though it was said in a joke, her whole body tensed in nerves. He couldn’t know, could he? Training her facial expression, she twisted around, sending the door a distrustful look. “Do they know where your room is?”

“I’ve been able to keep it hidden for now.”

With a sigh of relief, Keely flopped back, landing beside him companionably. Being stuck in the bus with Meredith and Ewan for the entire trip had been bad enough – she wasn’t in doubt that they’d show the shot of her in the morning to the entire world – but they followed her wherever she went since they’d gotten to California. She’d found that her best defense was simply to cut away from the boys, meaning that Meredith and Ewan had to make the choice of following her about or NSR.

But at the moment, she knew very well that their two person camera crew had gone out with Marco and Colton for a late lunch. And since they knew where her hotel room was, she’d fled to Seth’s. So as long as they didn’t find them here, this was her safe haven away from the constant camera lens focused on her.

Not to mention Seth being there wasn’t a horrible addition.

Huddling closer to him slightly so she could read the words, she found that he hadn’t been lying; the book was really in French. “What is it about?” she whispered, unsure why her voice had gotten so soft.

“It’s a poem anthology again,” he returned, his voice barely above a murmur. The slight rasp to his whispered voice from the tour caused a shiver to run up her spine. “This one is called More Strong than Time.”

“What does it say?”

As if it was the most natural thing in the world, Seth shifted so that he could wrap his arm behind her, pulling her closer.

Although her mind went blank for a moment and her body tensed, Keely let out a deep sigh, curling towards him. With one hand scrunched between them and the other lying lightly on his chest so she could feel every breath he took, she leaned her head back against his arm, pulling in a deep breath of his scent.

“Okay, this is just the beginning,” he replied. “Depuis j'ai mis mes lèvres…” Seth continued, but she stopped focusing on the words, knowing that it was helpless for her since she knew nothing of the language except hello and goodbye.

Instead she just let her eyes drift close comfortably, listening closely to the sound of his voice. Just because she had no clue what he was saying didn’t mean she didn’t like the way he said it, his voice running smoothly over the French words. With a sigh, she leaned her head against his chest above his heart, with her cheek pressed against his warm chest; she could hear the thud of his heart beneath her ear.

When he stopped speaking, she finally opened her eyes, turning her head slightly so her eyes could take in the yellowing pages, her cheek moving against the soft cotton of the shirt he had on. “What does it say in English?”

“You should just learn French, it’d make it easier,” Seth put in, the arm that had been her headrest moments before shifting so it wrapped closer around her.

When she didn’t respond, he gave a sigh, shifting comfortably back into the mattress. “Okay, but this is just what’s coming from me reading the French version, I’ve never read a translation so I might get it wrong,” he warned.

Grinning slightly, Keely replied, “I don’t care.”

“Okay, well, here we go. “Since I have set my lips to your full cup, my sweet, Since I my pallid face between your hands have laid, Since I have known your soul, and all the bloom of it, And all the perfume rare, now buried in the shade; Since it was given to me to hear on happy while, The words wherein your heart spoke all its mysteries, Since I have seen you weep, and since I have seen you smile, Your lips upon my lips, and your eyes upon my eyes.””

As he took in a deep breath, Keely tipped her head up so she could look up into his eyes. “It’s beautiful,” she murmured, feeling languid beneath his eyes that focused solely on her face.

“It’s better in French,” he replied, his gaze remaining intense on hers. “My favorite part isn’t until the end though. “My heart has far more fire than you can frost to chill, My soul more love than you can make my soul forget.””

Unsure how to respond, she just stayed silent, unconsciously running her thumb up and down across his chest as she searched his face.

Before either of them spoke, the moment was broken as the door of the hotel room opened with a bang. Not ready to move away just yet, Keely swiveled her head about in surprise as she found the door.

“… Seth’s room,” finished Colton, talking to Meredith and Ewan behind him. However the moment he looked forward, the boy halted in his tracks.

For a moment she just dropped her head back on his chest, squeezing her eyes shut. Maybe if she pretended that they weren’t there, they’d disappear? It appeared her hypothesis wasn’t logical, because after a long moment she heard footsteps coming further into the room and felt the muscles in Seth’s chest contract as he stretched up to look at them. With the shot of desire that flashed into her stomach, she found that it would be time for some space even if there weren’t people in the room.

With a groan, Keely finally peeled herself away, swinging her legs around so she could hop easily off the bed. Just mere moments after she left, she was already missing the heat he gave off. “And now I’ve got to go,” she announced, swiftly snatching her hoodie up and pulling it over her shoulders.

“Where are you going?” questioned Seth from behind her, his voice sounding husky for some reason.

Shoving a hand absently through her hair so it fell away from her face, she turned around; finding him still sprawled across the bed. For a moment her mind went blank, did she have anywhere to go? Her number one mission was to avoid the cameras, but not because she hated them so much but because they’d been zoomed in on her far too much for her liking lately. She just wanted to feel as if her every move wasn’t being documented.

“I’ve got sound check,” she decided at random. Although it was very true, she did have her sound check, though not for at least another couple hours. “I wanted to talk to Will about something before and… yeah, sound check.”

Although Meredith and Ewan had been quiet since they’d walked in the room, the woman decided to pipe up at that point. “Can we come with you?” she asked eagerly.

With one eyebrow arched, Keely simply stared at her for a moment; really? After all this? “Yeah, let’s go,” she sighed, turning towards the door without waiting for them. Yet when she got to the door, Keely sent a helpless look over her shoulder to find Seth still lying in bed with Marco and Colton at the sides.

In response, they all just sent her bright grins, making her scowl back at the trio.

Zipping up the front of her sweater, she tugged the hood over her head again before trudging down the hall, the camera crew buzzing around her.

“Okay,” Meredith began, trotting beside her. “We’ve gotten around to asking Marco and Colton these quick questions, but we need to ask you and Seth still. So are you fine with answering them now?”

With a small smile, Keely brushed her bangs from her eyes as she looked towards the camera. “As long as you’re fine asking them in a cab.”

As it turned out, the two were very fine with asking her the questions in cab. And it led her to sitting squished against the door of a rather questionable smelling taxi, the driver sending them suspicious looks over his shoulder.

“How do you feel about a clap reel in a song?”

“Freddie Mercury already made it cool,” she replied, leaning her head against the warm window. “Why not use it?”

“What’s going on between you and Seth?”

Wrinkling her nose slightly, she turned her head so she was giving them an incredulous look. “You asked Marco and Colton that?” However, when they didn’t answer, she just gave another sigh, returning her head to its previous resting position. “Nothing, he’s a good friend, my producer and co-writer. That’s all.”

“What’s your favorite color?”

“I don’t know… purple?”

“Favourite movie?”

“Forrest Gump.”

“Favorite song?”

“Intervention – no, it’s We’re Going To Be Friends­. Oh, no, never mind, it’s Lounge Act. Actually Strawberry Fields Forever. No, no, no, definitely Little Lion Man, no, it has to be But Honestly, but maybe Marigold, no Shine On You Crazy Diamond. Oh Ramble On. But wait–”

Finally Meredith found it was time to stop her rant after she and Ewan shared a look. “So I guess it’s safe to assume you don’t have a favorite song?”

For a moment, Keely considered it, sending them an amused glance. “Well, not one.”

“What’s your idea of the perfect date?”

“A concert.”

“One thing you want to do before you die?”

“Play at Reading or Leeds.”

Before another question could be asked, the cab driver pulled into a stop in front of the stadium that they’d be playing at for two nights before they moved onto the next city, they had countless California shows to play.

The moment the stadium came into sight; she straightened, tossing bills at random in the driver’s direction before shoving out of the door. It wasn’t that she hated cameras, she actually loved to take pictures and videos, but that was with friends. It felt awkward though when it meant more than just making faces and saying random things.

Following beside her Meredith continued to ask question while Ewan hurried ahead of them, singling her in the frame of the camera. “How old are you?”

“Eighteen,” Keely replied, shoving through the front doors.

“Are you excited for the movie premiere tomorrow night?”

Thrown off by the question that didn’t seem to fit with the rest, she sent the girl a confused look, yet replied all the same. “We’re so excited, Jenny Cooper is a good friend of ours, not to mention Marco’s girlfriend. We wouldn’t miss being there for the first showing for anything. Marissa James is flying down here for it as well, it’s like a miniature reunion even though we haven’t been apart all that long.”

“Is being in the music business serious for you?”

“Deadly,” she answered, quirking her lips up in a little smile as she followed the directions to the stage, finding stairs quickly.

However when Meredith didn’t ask another question, Keely just gave a sigh, glancing over her shoulder to where the two were trailing behind her down the stairs. “It’s serious,” she reiterated, looking forward because it wouldn’t be surprising if she tumbled down the stairs. “I left my entire life and family to go to New York; it’s serious.”

Not quite sure if she even wanted to know what their next questions would be, she hastened her pace down the steps with the stage in mind. Only when the last three steps came into view did she look up, the empty stadium around her giving a familiar nervous jolt in her stomach. However she ignored the feeling, it was becoming quite easy for her to do so, and focused her attention on the plain black stage, walking through the chairs that were yet to be set up correctly for the floor seats.

She was just in time to see The Cavern Jets had finished their sound check, standing about and chatting with the sound engineers. Will was still sitting behind his drums talking to a light guy who went by the name of Max, he laughed lightly, wiping his face with a towel before standing up.

It was then when his eyes caught her, lighting up excitedly.

“What are you doing here?” he called out loudly, causing all eyes to snap to him before they landed on her moving towards the stage. “Your sound check doesn’t start for a while.”

With a shrug, she made a face at him, thankful that the camera crew was behind her so they didn’t catch it. “I had a plan. It backfired,” she explained simply, taking the hand he offered to pull her up onto the stage.

Finding Aaron on the stage, she sent him a sugary smile, giving him a little wave. “Hey, sweetie,” she greeted.

Sending her a scowl, he tore his gaze away, turning back to talk to the guys that were with him. Keely pressed her hand to her heart and sent Will a mockingly hurt look. “Why doesn’t he like me?”

Will just rolled his eyes. “I think something about you making him into a bitch in front of hundreds of people, not to mention everyone who is going to watch that clip once it hits the internet.”

“He made himself a bitch,” she returned, dropping her hand with a smile at him.

Letting his gaze fall, Will once again muttered, “Thanks.”

Seeing as he was either constantly thanking or apologizing to her, Keely didn’t even bother to respond. Side stepping him, she rounded his drum kit, plopping down in the stool. Thoughtfully she ran her hand over the smooth drums, she’d never actually played them but that didn’t mean she wasn’t interested.

Picking up the drum sticks that were just strewn over top, she pointed one straight at Will whose mouth was twitching up in amusement. “I’m going to play your drums and you’re not allowed to laugh at me since it’s my first time,” she informed him.

“Scouts honor.”

Snorting lightly in the back of her throat, she chose not to comment as she put her foot on the pedal for the bass drum. Although she’d have liked to do a Dave Grohl impression, she held it in, knowing that the people around them wouldn’t appreciate her unskillful drumming, especially if she tried to be loud.

Instead she just kept up a steady beat with the bass as she began to tap the drums experimentally. She was finding so far it wasn’t hard to keep time and the steady rhythm as she went, consistently adding new factors into her simple playing as she kept up.

“You’re actually not that awful,” Will pondered aloud, looking down at her with his arms crossed over his chest.

Grinning even when she rolled her eyes, Keely kept tapping lightly, wondering how on earth Neil Peart drummed the way he did. “It’s because I can keep time,” she told him, “It makes me not that awful.”

“So what song are you going to do with NSR tonight?”

Giving a little shrug, she shook her head quickly in order to get her bangs away from her eyes. “We’re going to do some Joan Jett, she’s always a crowd pleaser; they go crazy when we do a cover. But I’m so tired of doing Bad Reputation all the time, I don’t care how much they like it, we’re going to do I Love Rock and Roll.”

As if he was about to respond, Will opened his mouth, but quickly did a double take. “What are you guys doing here now?”

Confused, Keely glanced to the side where his gaze was directed to see NSR strolling casually down the floor towards them as well. Biting her lip she couldn’t help when her eyes lingered on Seth who was wearing the same long sleeved cotton shirt he’d been wearing at the hotel shoved up to his elbows, his jeans hanging off his hips appealingly, held up by the plain brown belt.

The moment it happened Keely winced, for the first time falling out of time with her soft, boring drumming, her hand having paused and missed the beat. Squeezing her eyes shut, she turned her head back so when she opened them she was looking back at the kit.

“We were bored,” answered Seth, his voice running goosebumps up her spine as if he’d run his hand along it causing Keely to heave a great sigh.

Now she was just being irrational, wasn’t she?

“What are you guys up to?” questioned Marco’s voice, causing her to glance up at him.

Only then did Keely find that the sound and light guys had left the stage completely, probably setting up for her sound check that she was still much too early for. But what she did find was that the rest of the boys were huddled around the drums.

“We were going to go check out the dressing rooms,” said Aaron casually, “I think we might have gotten an actual room.”

Smirking at him, Marco shoved him in the shoulder. “Ha,” he spoke the one word with more enthusiasm than Keely would have believed possible. “We actually get three rooms now, one for each of us.”

Will sent him a confused look, his face scrunching up. “How is that fair?”

Amused Keely stopped playing, just resting her hands holding the sticks on top of the drums. There was much more bickering between the boys before they were out, rushing towards backstage, apparently with the intention of stealing one of NSR’s dressing rooms. Marco and Colton were on their tails, not about to let that happen.

Grinning she brushed her hair from her face, tipping her head back slightly so she could look up at the last person remaining with them. “Think there’s going to be any fist fights?”

“It’s likely,” Seth answered easily, “Why do you think Meredith and Ewan went after them?”

Absently she lifted the sticks, bringing up a soft and very simple beat as she watched Scott and Darrel from the stage crew dragging her guitars up on stage. She and Seth nodded when they informed them that they were going on their lunch break so there was no point starting her sound check until they got back.

“So why did you guys really show up?” Keely asked when she found them alone in the enormous stadium, her voice sounding almost hollow in the silence.

Seth’s mouth quirking up in a grin, he looked down at her, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “Well, we didn’t think it’d be fair to let you deal with the cameras on your own.”

Rolling her eyes she added in a symbol to the steady and unpredictable drum beat she created, moving slightly in the stool with the sound. “If I seem to remember correctly, you didn’t have that issue back in Chicago.”

“You were filming a music video, not the same thing.”

 With a shrug, she just looked back down, focusing on the drums. Really, the filming for the music video of Yesterday’s Gone wasn’t that awful. She’d had fun. But she still had no idea what it was exactly about, they’d put her in some hallway to sing without instruments and then they’d taped she and The Bitter Rivals playing the song over and over again. Apparently she had no artistic input in the actual video, but she doubted she could have given many good ideas for it anyways.

“You’re not that good, are you?” whispered Seth, having walked behind her while she’d been lost in her thoughts.

“Asshole,” she returned, but not so evenly. Her voice shook a little at the end of the word, and she blamed that on the fact her heart had been sent racing, feeling his breath tickle her neck. Trying to hide the fact that her drumming had skipped a beat, Keely reached up and slammed down on the cymbals as hard as she could manage.

Swerving her head around, she had time to catch his wince at the unexpected sound. “Okay, play time on the drums is done,” he informed her, reaching out to grip her waist, tugging her up out of the stool.

Spinning around the moment that she was straight on her feet, Keely slammed the drumsticks not too lightly into his chest. “Will said I wasn’t that bad, you jerk,” she defended, looking up at him, but not feeling any venom in her words. “Anyways, it’s my first time playing the drums. I bet you were already playing Rush the first time, weren’t you?” Keely finished, her voice drenched in sarcasm.

 “Oh, definitely, Tom Sawyer was a piece of cake,” he replied with a smirk, his tone mimicking hers.

Only then did she notice that his hands were still caught on her waist, making her skin burn beneath the touch even with the fabric between them. Unable to stop herself, her eyes dropped down from his eyes to his lips.

Absently her fingers tightened on his shirt, pulling him a fraction closer as she thought back to the kiss. They hadn’t spoken about it once, like there was an unspoken pact that they shouldn’t mention the taboo subject. However Keely didn’t mind that, she would prefer to not speak about it since the only times they had before had just resulted in them fighting. And she didn’t want to fight. She wanted to be like this; good natured bickering, stolen moments, smiling, writing music, playing music, singing music, living music.

But that didn’t mean she didn’t think about it. As much as she’d prefer that her mind didn’t fall back to that moment every time she was alone and far too often when she wasn’t, she still found her thoughts circling back to it. The way that sparks had been trumped by fireworks, his lips had been firm and soft on hers all at once, her heart had thumped dangerously, how soft his hair had been when her fingers had tangled in it, being pressed against his hard chest –

Interrupting her thoughts, Seth raised a hand from her waist, using it to brush her bangs away from her forehead lightly with a small smile playing on the edge of his lips. “Do you want to go get a guitar, rebel?”

“Hm?” she questioned, her eyes snapping up from his soft looking lips. But the fact that there was a spark in his gold eyes didn’t help her attention span.

Smirking knowingly down at her, he just stayed silent, raising an eyebrow. Trying not to blush at being caught in her stare, Keely narrowed her eyes up at him, shoving him lightly with the hand still on his chest.

“Go get your guitar,” he said, still grinning as he dropped his hands. “I’ll show you how it’s done on the drums.”

Rolling her eyes, Keely managed to let her grip on his shirt go, pressing the drumsticks into his hand. “Will is a thousand times better drummer than you,” she reminded him, but all the same, she turned on her heel towards her guitars. But she didn’t add on the fact Seth was still a great drummer; he just couldn’t be compared to Will who seemed to be with the drums as Seth was to the guitar.

“You just like being mean to me.”

Laughing lightly, she grabbed her guitar by the neck, finding a chord to plug in. She knew that the sound guys might be pissed at her for not letting them setup first, but at the moment she didn’t really care. “It’s the great pleasure of my life,” Keely replied, pulling the strap so it rested carefully over her shoulder.

Twisting with the volume knob, she wandered closer to the drums, watching as he shifted everything around slightly to accommodate him. “Why do you play like a billion instruments?” she asked in all seriousness.

When he glanced up from the cymbals, he sent her that crooked grin, causing her stomach to jump uncomfortably. “I always just played the instrument I came across,” he answered with a shrug, “And I got good. Now do you want to play something?”

“What should I play?” she returned, holding her guitar by the neck as she looked over top of the drums to him.

“Do some classic blues riff,” he returned, “We’ll just keep going from there.”

Doing as he’d asked, Keely played the chords expertly and when she repeated the same bar, Seth joined in with the drums.

They’d worked like this before, just letting the music take them where it may until they got something worth saving even if it was just a few chords, but those times they’d both been on guitars. But she liked this as well, taking over the guitar while Seth played the drums.

The music had taken on another level from when they’d started out with the simplistic blues riff, evolving until there was something completely original flowing between them easily, although heaving with traditional blues ethics. It was as if they didn’t need to speak, they could just play and understand each other. With her fingers flying across the guitar in the difficult fast paced guitar that had taken on heavy punk tendencies as well, Seth’s drumming echoed around the echo stadium.

Not knowing how long they’d been playing, Keely finally gave in; having been moving energetically behind the guitar although they’d not said or sang a word through their session. Taking her hands off the guitar fully, she held them up in surrender. “Okay, that was amazing but I’m going to die,” she panted, swiping the sweaty hair from her brow that had begun to stick.

Nodding in agreement, Seth reached up, whipping the sweat from his forehead with his forearm.

Even in her tired and rather sweaty state, Keely couldn’t help but notice the fact that the action caused his shirt to tighten slightly on his chest, flirting with the muscles appealingly. Gulping, she turned away, hoping she wouldn’t be caught gaping at him like an idiot.

“Jesus,” she groaned the moment she turned around, rubbing her hands quickly over her face. “How long have you been there?” Keely questioned.

Though there was a group of the stage crew, The Cavern Jets, The Bitter Rivals not to mention the NS of NSR, it was Meredith that answered, she and her partner standing in the front of the little crowd. “About fifteen minutes,” Meredith confirmed, “Now could you play something that viewers might actually want to listen to?”

“You’re giving very little credit to people,” Keely returned, raising an eyebrow incredulously at her. “Some people would actually like a screwed up, totally spontaneous jam session that makes no sense in any sense.”

Ewan sent her a flat look. “Something with words, please?”

Rolling her eyes at them, Keely swung back around to Seth to find him sending her a smug smirk. “Think you can keep up?”

Giving a very unladylike snort, she just sent him a challenging look in response. “Do you think you can, Mr Ryan?” Keely retorted, dragging the microphone stand over to the drum kit.

Although he sent her a questioning look at her, clearly expecting her to take over the vocals, Seth still reached up, fixing the stand so that it hung perfectly in position for him on the drums. Sending her that inviting smirk, he just held his hands out at the ready.

Returning with a little smirk of her own, Keely cranked up the volume knob on her guitar to full blast, hoping to at least give Meredith and Ewan’s ears a little grief for the comments before. The beginning guitar riff that she rushed into with a full blast of energy might not have been familiar to everyone standing about, but Seth clearly recognized it, laughing loudly, the dimple in his cheek flashing, waiting for his moment to come in with drums.

“I want to hypnotize you, baby, on the telephone,” he sang out, thumping loudly on the drums. Grinning broadly in response, Keely leaned over her guitar, thrashing out into the chords, loving the feedback effect she was getting from cranking the volume up all the way.

But even though the song felt thoroughly innocent between them as Keely just played the lead guitar, she found there was something about the way he sang, “I want to hold your little hand, if I can be so bold. And be your right hand man, ‘til your hands get old.” It made her already galloping heart skip a beat in her chest.

Ignoring her cell phone which was ringing angrily on her end table, Keely just straightened the dress in the mirror. She’d gotten the dress directly from Maureen that day, attached with a warning to wear it or else awful things would ensue.

What awful things would happen, she was curious to know, but she didn’t have a death wish, so she’d decided to what was asked of her.

She had to do it every once in a while, didn’t she?

Pulling the top of the white dress that hug closed to her to ensure she wasn’t going to be flashing anyone on the red carpet tonight, she snagged the black cropped leather jacket, shrugging it over her shoulders so the thick straps of the dress were hidden, only showing the sweat heart neckline.

Unsurprised when she noticed it had been Seth on the other line of the call she ignored, she just stuffed the phone in the pocket of her jacket. Slipping her shoes on, she was already hurrying out of the hotel room, barely remembering to grab her key on the way out.

Even though it had been warm enough she’d been wearing shorts on the street during the day, Keely found the air was a bit biting despite the fact that it was California. She’d gotten strange looks from people still covered up, but she’d been suffering through an eastern winter, the warm weather on the coast was almost met with wonderment from her.

But the weather didn’t keep her attention very long as she paused at the top of the few steps.

Seth was leaning against the hood of a silver sports car that she’d never be able to name, his arms crossed in front of his chest as he looked up at her expectantly.

“I wasn’t that late!” she protested. “And you could’ve waited inside the hotel for me.”

“You are that late,” he pointed out.

Hopping down the steps, she finally took in what he was wearing, pulling her eyes away from his handsome face. Apparently even he had succumbed into dressing up, though he still was just wearing black jeans that fit him perfectly, a plain white tee and a navy blue fitted blazer open over the top.

Resisting the urge to either drool or just get plain frustrated at the fact he could look good in anything he wore, she just gave a shrug. “I’m only ten minutes late. Enough that you can still hold up your “bad boy” image and Jenny, Marco and the cast will show up just after. Its perfect timing.”

Raising his eyebrows, Seth remained still, not moving from leaning on the hood of the car. “Bad boy image?” he questioned incredulously.

Stepping forward, she just grinned, reaching up to pat his cheek lightly. “Couldn’t even shave properly for this?” she pointed out, her hand touching the slight dark stubble that made his sexy bad boy look irresistible even though he was dressed sharply.

Finally moving, he just gripped her wrist lightly in his hand, running his thumb lightly over the tattoo that still felt tender, though not as bad as it had on the first day. Ignoring her comment, his eyes just dropped to her wrist, tugging her forward so her legs knocked against his. “Does it hurt still?” he asked, his gaze flickering up to her, the golden sheen in the hazel showing the concern clearly.

Clenching her jaw for a moment, she just hoped that he couldn’t feel her pulse racing beneath his hand. “Not so badly,” she answered, grimacing slightly when it came out breathless, “How’s yours?”

“Perfect,” he answered, not letting go of her hand quite yet.

So hard to love somebody who don’t love you. Keely was reminded of the Son House song as she searched his face, losing herself in her thoughts.

Yes, she did love him, as painful as it was – as hard as it was – there was no point in denying it any longer. And it terrified her. She could be a coward, but she wasn’t going to be a coward in denial. She loved him. She loved him more than anyone else in her life. Never had she felt the same way about another person before, her heart had never raced by just someone looking at her, he could make her smile when she was in tears, and her list went on and on.

But he couldn’t love her, it just didn’t seem logical. Keely wasn’t so irrational that she believed that he felt nothing for her. She knew he cared, it was obvious. If he didn’t he wouldn’t be there to hold her every time that she cried, he would just back of like every other sensible person. Hell, if he didn’t care he wouldn’t have even asked her about her wrist.

Still, even though he did care, he couldn’t feel the same way about her the way she felt about him. He couldn’t, she wasn’t exactly special. After everyone he’d met in his life, after everything he’d done, how could he even be bothered to love someone as plain and unexciting as she?

“C’mon, rebel,” he said, placing her wrist at her side gently before letting go. “Jenny will kill us if we get there after her, it’ll ruin her entrance.”

Shoving up from his position leaning against the hood, Seth stood up straight, causing Keely to knock against his chest. Instantly she shot back a step, maybe a little too fast. Sending her an amused smile, Seth put a hand on the small of her back, just beneath the cropped jacket so it was against the white fabric as he guided her to the passenger’s side, opening the door so she could drop in.

Pulling in deep breaths to calm herself as he strolled around the car, she closed her eyes for a moment, controlling herself.

When she heard him slam the driver’s door, she finally opened her eyes, sending him what she hoped was a questioning look instead of flustered. “I thought we were supposed to be taking the limo to the theatre?”

“Ah but I wanted to drive her,” Seth said fondly, reaching up to pat the dashboard as he turned the key in the ignition.

Laughing despite herself, Keely just shook her head. “Your baby at home is going to be jealous.”

“What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.”

“Dirty cheater,” she teased lightly.

Sending her a grin he pulled the car out of the hotel parking lot. “What’s with the sudden question about the limo? You hate those things.”

She shrugged lightly, dragging her seatbelt over her shoulder. “I was just thinking that since everyone is coming up in limos, you’re just putting more attention on us before, not to mention we’re late. Really, you’re dedicated to the badass image, aren’t you?”

At her words, he scowled into the traffic in front of them, swerving dangerously around a car.

As it turned out, the silver car – which she learned was a Porsche after asking Seth – did bring more attention to them. The moment they got out, cameras were surrounding them, reporters shouting questions, fans screaming their praises.

Instead of getting that well of nerves that always happened when she was alone and surrounded by paparazzi and fans, she just pressed herself against Seth’s side, letting him twine his arm casually around her waist as they made their way through it all. Keely couldn’t help but smile at the thought that not only was he a good personal heater; he could calm her down that quickly; the boy really did come in handy.

It was easier to deal with the bright flashes blinding her, the mess of shouting questions not to mention screaming from the crowd that had gathered. She found that one of the worst parts was when she was signing an autograph and a person would shove the camera into her face, taking away her vision temporarily. But still, the outrageous questions the press was asking only made her laugh now, instead of making angry and insulted. Maybe it was just getting used to it, well, as much as she could.

They did arrive only minutes earlier than Jennifer and Marco, not to mention the rest of the cast that Keely stared at with a dumfounded expression for a moment. She greeted the other girl with a tight hug, the pictures snapping like mad, but she found she didn’t truly care. It was her friend, and she wasn’t about to hold back her emotion just because there were cameras present.

But it wasn’t until they reached the inside of the theatre where the movie was being shown that they met Colton and Marissa. While Jenny dragged Marco to sit at their special seating, Keely and Seth hurriedly took up their seats beside the other two.

Marissa’s reaction to seeing them was to begin squealing and hugging both of them. However, that just brought haughty glares down upon them from the rather famous faces spanning around the fancy theatre they were sitting in. Taking their leisurely time about it, they’d finally sat down, Keely sitting beside Marissa with Seth to her other side.

As was the case with the one movie premiere she’d gone to before this, Keely found that she wasn’t paying attention.

Although, this time, it was for much different reasons.

Instead of the time back in New York where she’d been busy gawking about at the people from magazines, Keely was intently focused on the boy beside her. Who was holding her hand absently, tracing patterns into her palm as he watched the screen as if he had no clue what he was doing.

It almost made her feel guilty that she wasn’t watching, after all, it was Jennifer’s movie. But there was no way she could focus when she was trying to keep herself from jumping Seth the entire time.

After the movie she faked liking it, making a note to quiz Seth about it later since though he’d tease her about it, he wouldn’t tell Jenny like the rest of her friends. Thankfully the girl was too busy jumping up and down giggling about the movie or just kissing Marco at random that she didn’t notice.

But Coop wouldn’t settle on them just hanging around afterwards, nor would Marissa or Marco, though Colton wasn’t looking all that excited. Immediately they were dragged away to the celebration party just a short while after the movie had ended, Seth sending pained looks over his shoulder when he was told he wasn’t allowed to drive the car he’d rented.

And it all led them to where Keely was dancing with Marissa in the middle of the dance floor.

While other couples were dancing, staring into each other’s eyes, they were dancing a slow joking waltz, laughing loudly and bumping into the other people. While Marissa was in hysterics, Keely was busy singing both Elton John and Kiki Dee’s parts in Don’t Go Breaking My Heart. The band had taken a short break from the stage, allowing whoever was deciding the music to play a truly fun collection of songs, they’d even played A-Ha’s Take On Me which had gotten them dancing in the first place.

Laughing loudly, Marissa just fell in, hugging the other girl tightly. Keely had a feeling that the fits of hilarity between the two of them had to do with the alcohol they’d had, not enough to be drunk but enough to loosen their tongues.

“Nobody knows it…” Keely sang out loudly, wrapping her arms around the other girl tightly even as her voice trembled with laughter.

Looking over the over the girl’s shoulder, she kept up singing with Elton even as they swayed slightly, her eyes connecting with Seth’s through the throng of dancing people

He just grinned at her, his eyes not even shifting from her while he took a sip of the drink in his hand. Even though he happened to be having a conversation with a young Hollywood Scarlett that had stared in the movie with Jennifer as he stood on the edge of the dance floor, his free hand tucked into his pocket casually.

Even as Keely watched, the actress put a hand on his arm, making Keely frown slightly even as she kept up singing. Okay, so maybe she could be a little bit jealous, though not when it came to fans oddly, but when it came to this girl? Yes, yes, she could. But when Seth just answered from the corner of his mouth, giving a slight shrug as he brought the cup up to his lips again the girl was apparently frustrated with his lack of responsiveness. And when the actress turned about and went to find a new target, Keely couldn’t help but laugh again, feeling her mood brighten intensely.

“Sweetie,” Marissa proclaimed, finally pulling away so she could pat Keely’s cheek fondly. “As much as I adore you, I think I need to go finish this song with my boyfriend.”

Not bothering to respond, she just giggled, letting go of the girl agreeably. As the girl weaved through the crowd, in search of Colton, Keely found herself alone in the middle of the dance floor. Letting out a long breath, she ran a hand through her hair, her hairstyle having been ruined long before in the night, feeling suddenly hot beneath the leather jacket.

Even as Kiki and Elton wound down on the much known song, Keely too left the position in the dance floor as she was now beginning to receive strange looks.

“You scaring away the normals?” she joked, coming to a halt in front of Seth.

Chuckling he just drained what was left in his glass, whatever it might have been, sending her that annoyingly charismatic grin. Absently she couldn’t help but wonder if he had any idea about what he could do to people or if he was simply ignorant.

He was about to respond, his mouth even starting to form a word, but Keely interrupted him when she burst into laughter. She was so loud that they gained alarmed looks from the people around them, even Seth did a double take, his eyes widening at her.

But she couldn’t care less; the fact that anyone could play this song without cackling like a mad person was beyond her. It had to be a joke. It just had to be. The unknown band that had been playing the show had been fairly good, not amazing but they’d played all good covers, not one original in their arsenal. So why they could go from Elton John to Wham’s Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go was laughable.

Very fine with acting like a complete imbecile, Keely couldn’t help but start the dance from the video, doing her best impression of George Michaels.

When she caught the sound of Seth joining in on the laughter, she raised her head, shaking the bangs from her eyes. The dimple was flashing in his cheek, the gold in his eyes almost molten, making her feel immediately weak in the knees.

Pressing his glass onto one of the sparse waiters at the account, he just stepped closer to her; bringing his hands to her neck and tipping her chin up so he could look fully into her eyes.

“Are you ever embarrassed?” he questioned lightly, the dimple in his left cheek remaining as his eyes searched her face.

Although the laughter was still ripe on her tongue, she felt it die away even as it left her lips turned up in an absent smile while she stared up at him. “Not when there’s alcohol in my system,” she returned, bringing her hands up so she could grip his wrists gently, her eyes caught on him.

The smile on his face softened as his thumbs rubbed up and down on her neck, causing goosebumps to ripple across her skin. “And how much alcohol is there in your system, rebel?”

“It’s doubtful it’s enough to forgive me for that,” she murmured, her thoughts straying far away from the conversation at hand.

Her gaze flickering down to his lips, she hastily brought it up again before repeating the action. Couldn’t she just kiss him again?

She’d made it clear that she’d been drinking, so maybe if he panicked at her sudden feelings she could blame it on her alcohol. People blamed alcohol on much worse things than that. Anyways, after everything they’d been through together it wasn’t as if he’d throw everything away because she kissed him.

And it didn’t really matter that they were in the middle of a party with paparazzi lurking around every corner, not to mention that Meredith and Ewan were never far away.

Unconsciously, she shifted closer, her body hitting his softly as her eyes flickered closed.

“Hey my slutty best friends.”

Sighing Keely didn’t pull away immediately, she just sighed as she finally opened her eyes, turning her head to the side even though Seth didn’t let go of her. “Since when am I slutty?” she replied, looking at Jenny with a questioning look.

“I saw that interview,” she pointed out with a smirk, wrapping her arm around Keely’s shoulder and pressing a friendly kiss to her cheek. “And you,” Coop continued, turning her gaze to Seth, “Do we really need to point out why?”

Sending her a raised eyebrow, Seth didn’t move, just asked, “What do you want Jennifer?”

“The band is going back on and I was sent by their manager to ask you two if you’d play a song or two with them, they really want to. And when I was made into a messenger dog is a questioned I’d like answered too.”

Smiling slightly, Keely tugged his grip off of her, dropping their hands to the ground. “I’d like to, you up to it, rock star?”

Rubbing a hand over his face as if he was trying to wake up after a long sleep, Seth just gave a shrug. “Yeah, sure as long as I get a guitar.”

“I’m sure they’ll lend you a guitar,” she rolled her eyes, turning away to march across to where the stage was waiting.

As it turned out, Seth did manage to get a guitar, though he tuned it as they were standing, getting ready to get on stage with the band. Since they were a cover band, she and Seth began throwing out covers that hopefully they all would know. However it turned out that they didn’t know all that many songs, the songs that they’d been playing the night through almost making up the entire catalog.

However they finally landed on one common song that Keely knew all the words to, though she’d been okay with playing a song and mumbling the lyrics at points when she didn’t know them.

Walking onto the stage, she just headed straight out to the microphone at the front, no guitar for her. The music cut off when they all got ready to play, and she noticed that most of the attention of the crowded party of famous elbows rubbing each other had diverted up to them on the stage.

Not feeling the need to introduce them, Keely just hooked her hands on the top of the microphone stand, leaning against it comfortably. The drums sounding from behind them and the rest of the instruments stormed into use, she counted herself in mutely before yanking the microphone back so it was closer to her mouth in perfect time. “Breakin’ rocks in the hot sun, I fought the law and the law won,” she started out the song, holding her hand up in the air, using the punk style of singing she so loved. “I fought the law and the law won.”

Getting more energetic with every passing chord struck or cymbal smashed, she began jumping up and down with the music, using the microphone stand to her advantage. It was often that she sang without a guitar, and although she might like performing with the instrument better, it was nice to just use her voice.

But by the time the song was drawing to an end, she was standing still, the pioneer of the clap that was travelling through the crowd as she smiled broadly, singing into the microphone along with a crowd that was almost deafening.

“Do you have a hangover?”

Unsurprised by the question Keely glanced up over the magazine she’d been reading absently. Really, how she and Seth managed to do all the things the articles were saying when on tour was a mystery. It made her tired just thinking about it.

Snorting lightly at the sight of Colton sprawled across his bed, his hands covering his eyes to hide them from the light, she looked back down at the magazine, flicking the page. “Not at all,” she said, raising her voice louder than needed just to grate on his nerves as she hid her grin behind her magazine. “Don’t you have any self-control, Colton?”

“Oh, shut it, Keely,” he groaned, rolling over to press his face into his pillows with a pitiful moan.

She just let out a laugh, but didn’t speak as she leaned back into the tiny loveseat she was sitting in. He’d rain out of sympathy from her after he’d thrown up on her shoes the night before. As much as she liked the boy, she hadn’t been drunk enough to forgive that or the fact the she and Seth had had to put him to bed while he consistently told them that he and Marissa were smarter than the she and Seth. How that added up when he and Marissa had been too drunk to walk in a straight line while she and Seth had both been almost sober was a mystery only the universe knew the answer to.

Suddenly the door slammed open loudly, making even her mind give a slight jolt in revolt while Colton continued to whimper into the bed pathetically. An annoyed looking Seth was followed by a laughing Marco.

“See, I’m nicer than them,” Keely pointed out, staring at Colton’s back.

Instead of answering, he just shouted, “Go away!” However the fact that his head was still pressed into the mattress took the effect away immediately.

Shaking her head, she just turned her gaze to Seth who dropped beside her on the small loveseat, her leg pressed closely against his while he slung his arm over the back of the couch. Marco just plopped down on the bed, still chuckling.

“What happened?” she asked, looking between the two.

“Meredith and Ewan just managed to get a shot of me naked on the video,” Seth answered, running a hand through his wet dark hair.

For a moment, she just stared at him blankly. Sure he was joking, she turned her gaze to Marco, but he had just broken into laughter again. “Seriously? I’m sure that Will was joking before, and you didn’t even do it right.”

“I didn’t just pull off my clothes in front of them and start dancing,” Seth returned, sending her a disgruntled look. “I didn’t know they were in my hotel room and I came out of the shower and they were just there.”

“Did they find out where your tattoo is?”

“Most definitely.”

With Marco’s new laughter ringing out freely – much to Colton’s displeasure – she just rolled her eyes as she chuckled, looking back to the magazine at hand. “I’m almost certain they give you the tiniest little blur spot ever,” she laughed, flipping another page absently. “Oh, your poor mother, the shame.”

Glancing up, she had time to see the color drain from his face at the thought.

Taking sympathy on him, she just tapped her hand on the back of his shoulder where Page’s symbol had been tattooed in black ink on his shoulder blade. “Don’t worry, after tonight’s show, they’re gone. We’ll be free!”

“Shut up!” roared Colton suddenly, shoving up from the bed to fling a pillow at them.

But the pillow got lost on its track, flopping down to the ground with a light thump on the carpeted floor and making renewed laughter ring out from the other three.

- I know, this chapter sucked. Literally, the only thing that happened in this chapter is that you found out where his tattoo is. Seriously. Bah.

I have to be awake in two and a half hours. I have one freaking day off this week. It's awful. But I just had a riding lesson today and it was amazing. I jumped higher than how tall I am. It feels like you're flying.

ANYWAYS! Exciting news that I need to share.

Sorry moth fucker, I need to share it with the world, I feel like I'm about to burst!

Me and Julia are going to mother effing READING! We're literally going to see The Cure, The Foo Fighters, The Shins, The Vaccines, Band of Skulls, Florence + The Machines and the list keeps going on and on and ON! Then we're staying in England for about a month. Anyways, we're going to probably be dead after this trip, so if anyone has a couch we can sleep on ;) lol. Joking, joking.

Okay. Me. Sleep. Now.

Hope you liked this chapter of stupid fluff. There was supposed to be another scene but I wanted to post and it's not like there was any meaning to the scene, like the rest of the chapter...

SLEEPING! 

I know it's not the original, but I Fought The Law by The Clash is in the external link, that's just what it sounds more like in my head.