I woke up to sunlight streaming through the thick, golden-beige curtains of my hotel room. I blinked in the sunlight, taking a moment to realize where I was.

I looked down to find an arm draped lightly around my waist. I could feel the soft breath of the owner of the arm against my neck. It took another moment for me to remember the events of the previous night.

We had been talking and drinking with the boys of All Time Low. Ian and I decided to share a room that night. That's whose arm was around me right now.

I turned around so that I was now facing Ian. I smiled slightly at his sleeping figure. His face looked relaxed, his eyebrows not narrowed in frustration for once. He actually looked pleasant, happy even. As I studied his individual features, his dark brown eyes opened slightly. I saw confusion pass over his face as he looked at me and then realization washed over him. He smiled at me, his features automatically taking on a cocky appearance.

"Good morning," I whispered to him.

"Morning," he replied, reaching out and tucking my probably crazy hair behind my ear. He turned so that he lay on his back and I propped my head up on my elbow. "How'd you sleep?" he asked me, tracing his fingers along my face gently.

"Like a baby, thanks," I replied, smiling softly at him. He propped himself up on his elbow, too, so now we were facing each other. I reached out with my free arm and stroked his cheek. He closed his eyes at the touch.

"Today's going to be a big day," he said. I nodded in agreement. "It's nice sleeping in a hotel room. Sucks that we won't be able to every night," he said.

"I'm not looking forward to sleeping in the beds on the bus," I said, pouting slightly.

"Me either. There's not enough room in one for both us," he said. I smiled at him and leaned in to kiss him. His lips met mine hungrily and he pulled me closer. He flipped me over so that he was on top of me. I raised my eyebrows quizzically at him when he pulled away slightly. He smirked and kissed me again, moving from my lips down to my neck. I moaned in pleasure when he kissed the soft spot on my neck. He brought his lips close to my ear, nibbling on the lobe.

"This is what we won't be able to do on the bus," he whispered in my ear. I giggled lightly and then pushed him off me so that now I was on top of him. I kissed his lips again, our mouths moving slowly and longingly against one another. I felt his hands graze under my tank top, moving up my body. My own hands were locked inside his soft hair, making it messier than it already was.

Then I smirked, still kissing him. I pushed myself up off of him and got off the bed, walking towards the bathroom. He sat up and glared at me for leaving him like that.

"Jerk," he said. I stuck my tongue out at him and walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind me and locking it. I almost laughed at my reflection. My hair was sticking up in all different directions, making it look as if something had exploded on my head. I brushed my teeth and showered and then walked back out to the room. Ian was now out of bed. He was rummaging in his duffle bag, a pair of dark blue jeans in his hands. He pulled out a towel and turned to face me.

"Took you long enough," he said.

"Took you long enought," I mimicked, making a face at him. He did the same at me and then kissed my lips lightly before going into the bathroom. I smiled to myself and began rummaging through my own bag looking for something to wear. I pulled out a pair of white shorts and an off-the-shoulder, navy blue dolman top. I pulled on the outfit and looked at myself in the mirror. I touched my wet, short hair and wished for the billionth time that it was long again. Sighing, I picked up a blow dryer and began to style my hair to the way I always wore it. As I was applying my make-up, I heard Ian come out of the bathroom. I looked over and dropped my eyeliner.

"Ian!" I cried, feeling my cheeks flush with color. He had walked out without a shirt on. I felt myself blushing even harder when I noticed that he had abs and was quite muscular.

"What?" he asked, a cocky grin on his face. "Like what you see?" he asked. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Put a shirt on!" I replied, looking away, still blushing. I knew he was smirking even though I couldn't see his face. A few seconds later, I felt Ian's arms around me. He still hadn't put a shirt on and his bare chest was warm against my back. I looked at our reflections in the mirror. Sure enough, he had the classic Ian smirk plastered across his face. He began kissing my neck, distracting me from my make-up. He moved from the side of my neck to the back of my neck, his warm breath sending tingles down my spine. I put my mascara down and turned around to face him. He looked down at me, the smirk still playing on his lips, a mischievious glint in his eyes. I kissed his lips, running my hands over his perfectly chiseled abs. He pulled me closer to him by the waist and I brought my arms around his neck. After a few moments we pulled away breathlessly. I poked his chest, moving away from him a bit.

"Seriously, though. Put a shirt on," I said, smiling at him. He grinned back.

"Fine. Even though I know you really don't want me to," he said. I shook my head and chuckled, turning back to the mirror to finish putting my make-up on. He went and pulled an old black Blink182 t-shirt from his bag and pulled it over his head. We heard a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" I called, capping my mascara and putting it away.

"Mae! Open up!" Mae answered. I nodded at the door and Ian opened it. She walked in, her flowery perfume filling the air. "Are you guys still not ready?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips. She looked cute, wearing a floral skirt that reached her mid-thigh and a plain white tank top with a colorful pink scarf around her neck.

"We are now," I said, throwing my make-up bag back into my duffle bag and zipping it up.

"We're eating brunch down in the hotel's cafe," she told us.

"We're coming. Are Alex and them there, too?" Ian asked. She nodded.

"Alex is still getting ready. He woke up late. The rest of them are there, though," she replied. She smiled at me. "Aw, you look cute," she told me, approving my outfit.

"Thanks," I muttered, pulling on a pair of black Toms and putting my watch and bracelets on. "Let's go," I said, grabbing my bag. We made sure we didn't forget anything in the hotel room and then walked out. Ian walked ahead of us as I locked the door. Mae stood by me.

"So...how was last night?" she asked, lowering her voice. I shrugged. Last night wasn't as eventful as the morning was.

"We only slept together. Nothing happened," I told her.

"Awww! But still! You slept together!" she exclaimed. I smiled sheepishly. "How was it?" she asked as we walked slowly to the elevator.

"Comfortable," I replied, not really wanting to talk about this. She got the hint and dropped it once we stepped inside.

"What time is it?" Ian asked, fumbling for his phone.

"Almost 2," Mae said.

"No way? I didn't think it was that late," he said, glancing at his phone to confirm her answer.

"Well we all went to sleep at like 4 in the morning," I said.

"True," they agreed. We met the others at a table in the cafe. Alex had joined them by the time we got there.

"Good morning, everyone!" I said cheerily.

"Good afternoon, you mean," Rian corrected.

"Right," I replied. Caleb handed me my coffee and I thanked him. Mae and him were sitting awkwardly next to each other. Every time one of them brushed their arm against the other, they would jump and scooch over a little, even though there was barely any room to move. I glanced at them suspiciously, but didn't say anything. I would have to talk to Mae and Caleb, separately, in private later on.

"Man, the weather's so nice out. I kind of want to hit the beach," Alex said.

"I don't. I don't want to burn before our first show," Jack said.

"He has skin like a baby," Rian joked, stroking Jack's cheek.

"What can I say? I'm high maintenance," Jack said, putting his arm around Rian. I laughed. They were all so close to each other. It was clear that they were all really good friends. I looked around at my own band members and wondered how long it would take until we had that level of friendship.

_______________________________________________________________________________

"Do you guys have any pre-show rituals?" Liam asked Zack. Zack shook his head.

"Nah. We just get psyched," he replied.

"Do you?" Rian asked. We all shrugged.

"Up until now, no. How do the rituals even start? Just randomly do something?" Camron answered.

"Beats me. We don't have any so we wouldn't be able to answer," Jack said, tucking in the laces to his black and red Nike Air Jordans. I could hear Alex warming up his voice and thought that maybe I should do the same. I could already feel butterflies in my stomach. Mae told me she'd be in the front row and that if I got nervous, just to look at her and sing. I hoped to God that I wouldn't throw up in front of 50,000 people.

I did some vocal warm-ups and drank a lot of water. I wondered flittingly what would happen if a singer had to go to the bathroom really bad on stage. I shook the thought from my head. I peered in the mirror, making sure I looked all right. I had changed into black skinny jeans, a loose white racerback tank with thin golden stripes in it and a black vest. I tied the laces to my black Converse and jumped around a bit, trying to get adrenaline flowing.

Ian, Caleb, and Camron were tuning their guitars. Caleb was also doing some vocal warm-ups. We both sat together and sang a few lines from 'Unforgettable', our opening number.

"Ready to do this?" he asked me. My hands were shaking.

"Absolutely not," I replied. He gave me a worried look, but I retuned it with a half smile. "But that's not going to stop me from giving a kick-ass performance," I added. He pinched my cheek and smiled at me. Paul walked in, twirling his Ray Bans glasses in his hands nervously.

"Ok, guys. This is it. Your time to shine. Are you going to show me why I signed you?" he asked us.

"Hell yeah we will!" Liam replied. Paul grinned and pointed at him.

"That! That's what I want to hear! Do me proud, kiddos!" he said. We nodded and stood at the place where we were going to enter. Liam was going to come in from the back center stage and sit at drums.  He was going to play a beat and then the rest of the boys would come out and begin playing guitar. I wouldn't come out until my part in 'Unforgettable'.

I could hear the sounds of screaming fans shouting out band names that they were here to see. There were more than 50,000 people in the audience. It was going to be the biggest show we'd played so far.

I felt my stomach turn when Liam was given his cue to get on stage. From the side, I saw Liam enter from the back curtains. People cheered, even though the majority of them didn't know who he was. I smiled at their support. Liam began playing, banging away at his drums, which got the crowd going. After about two minutes, Camron, Caleb, and Ian walked onto stage with their guitars. I heard hundreds of screaming girls when their faces were shown in the big screens on the sides of the stage. They began playing their guitars, just a beginning instrumental we had come up with, which transitioned into 'Unforgettable'.

"Fell in love but not again. Make sure we are never friends. I should have just pushed you away," Caleb began singing. I felt someone squeeze my shoulders and looked up to see Alex smiling supportively behind me.

"You can do it," he said. I smiled back at him in thanks, feeling my heart pounding through my chest. My cue was coming up. "Tried my best to crush your heart. Say good-bye or fall apart. But some things are so unforgiveable," he continued.

"So now I'm breaking out...I'm throwing it all away!" I sang, coming onto stage. I heard even more cheers. It seemed like people were just happy to hear some music after all the waiting.

"I never should have given you up, now I think I've got to make a move. I never should have given you away. Now it's too complicated. Wooah oh! Wooah. I'll be so unforgettable. Wooah oh! Wooah oh! Make sure I'm unforgettable," I continued, singing the lyrics that now came naturally to me. We finished the song to applause and cheers.

"Thanks everyone! We're The Velocity," I said into the mic, my hands still shaking slightly. Liam played his drums a bit to make some noise. I was a little sweaty from running around on stage and playing the crowd from the song before. I looked out into the crowd and couldn't discern any faces. The only face I could make out was the one in the first row; blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes grinning back at me. Mae.

"We're really excited to be here tonight and play for all of you. We're even more excited to be given the opportunity to open for All Time Low," I said. At the name, it seemed like all the girls in the audience shrieked with fan-girly glee. I laughed. "They're a great band and we're loving touring with them," I kept going. I glanced at Caleb, who nodded at me. It was time for our next song. "Thanks again everyone! This is our next song, 'According to You'," I said. Liam began playing his drums, starting the song off. After that song, we did our cover of Rihanna's S&M, to which to our pleasure, the crowd sang along with. Then we finished with 'I'm Not One for Complaining...' After that, we bowed and exited the stage to a surprising amount of applause.

"WE DID IT!!!!" I shouted once we got backstage, hugging Caleb tightly.

"WE MADE IT!" Liam yelled and we all cheered.

"Let's get back out there. I want to see All Time Low," Ian said. We all agreed and walked back to the side stage. They were already on stage, cracking jokes about each other that drove the crowd insane. Paul came up to me. I turned to face him, a smile still on my face from watching them.

"Alex is going to sing Remembering Sunday," he told me. The guys turned around and faced him, too.

"Great. Why are you telling me this?" I asked.

"Because," he paused, "you're going to sing with him," he finished.

"What?" Ian asked.

"Yeah, what?" I asked also.

"While you guys were up there performing, he asked me to tell you that he wanted you to sing with him. You're going to sing the bridge," he said. I felt my heart begin to race faster and faster.

"W-with Alex? U-up there?" I stammered.

"You just performed! What's the problem?" Paul asked me.

"The problem?! The problem is that that's All Time Low! And you want me to sing with them?!" I exclaimed.

"They want you to sing with them, Vanessa. And I know you can do it," he replied.

"Do it, Ness," Camron said, nudging me from the back. "Hundreds of these people are recording the concert with their cameras or phones. If you end up in the videos, which will no doubt be up on Youtube, people will know your name, and our band," he said. He had a point. I had to do it. For the band.

"Fine," I muttered.

"Well, you didn't really have a choice. Even if you didn't want to you were going to. I already told Alex you'd do it," he said, nodding at the stage, where they had begun playing the song. I saw Alex look to the side of the stage at me, raising his eyebrows slightly and then looking back at the crowd. He was sitting on a stool, with an acoustic guitar in his hands. I could hear people singing along to the song and felt my nerves go on a frenzy.

"It'll be all right. You're going to do fine. You love this song," Caleb assured me. Liam rubbed my arm comfortingly. Paul brought a mic out to me.

"Everyone give it up for Vanessa of The Velocity!!!" Alex yelled when the part came up. I walked on stage, walking slowly towards Alex in the center.

"I'm not coming back, I've done something so terrible, I'm terrified to speak, but you'd expect that from me. I'm mixed up, I'll be blunt, now the rain is just washing you out of my hair," I sang, looking directly into Alex's eyes. "And out of my mind, keeping an eye on the world, so many thousands of feet off the ground. I'm over you now, I'm at home in the clouds, towering over your head," I sang. People cheered for me and I kept looking at Alex, who smiled supportively at me.

"Well I guess I'll go home now, I guess I'll go home now. I guess I'll go home now, I guess I'll go home," Alex finished. The crowd went wild, literally. Alex gave me a side hug.

"You were awesome," he whispered in my ear.

"Wasn't she awesome?!" Alex asked the crowd, which cheered in response.

"Hey, Alex. Why don't we get her to do 'Guts'?" Jack asked from his spot on the stage.

"Why, Jack. That seems like a wonderful idea. What do you say, V?" he asked me. V? Where did that come from?

"Umm...sure..." I said hesitantly.

"Great! Time for 'Guts'!" Alex shouted.

"Doesn't that sound delicious?" Jack asked. The audience laughed and the song started. I sang the next song, 'Guts' with Alex, also. This one was a little more fun because we got to move around on stage and it wasn't as mellow as 'Remembering Sunday'.

"Is this what it feels like, finding out, that I've got the guts to say anything? Feels like, breaking out, when I can give up my reputation. Finally, I can see, honestly I've got the guts to say anything. Finally, I can see, honestly I've got the guts to say anything!" I sang together with Alex. We finished the song to applause and Alex had me bow before I left the stage. I was beaming as I met the boys at the side stage.

"You were amazing!" Caleb said, hugging me.

"Crazy voice, you've got!" Liam exclaimed. I couldn't do anything but smile. The lyrics I just sang were true. It felt great to have the guts to do anything.

_______________________________________________________________________________

A/N: Yayayayayayayaaaaa!!! This was a fun chapter to write. It all looks awesome in my head, all the performances. I put 'Remembering Sunday' in the side bar because it's such an awesome song. 'Guts' is really good, too. If you haven't heard it yet, have a listen, if that's your kind of music.

Comment and vote! Let me know what you thought!!

XOXO