003. ━━━ ❛ SO MUCH BACKGROUND ❜
real life. . .

          "JUST GIVE ME A MINUTE TO EXPLAIN."

maisie takes a drag from the joint held at her fingertips, letting the smoke set in her closed mouth for a few seconds as she clicks her tongue. she looks up to the night sky and all of the stars above her before letting out the smoke she was holding. "mkay," she hums, pulling her eyes back down to the phone on speaker.

"okay great," sunny responds with a sigh of relief, some of maisies anger already dissipating. she always struggles in staying mad at her. her name is sunny, for fucks sake. "sooo, you remember chris from the par—"

"my neighbor, you mean?" she cuts her off, blinking her low-lidded eyes a few times.

sunny clicks her tongue, taking in a breath before blowing it out. "yes, mais, your neighbor," she confirms before explaining further. "well, we kept talking after the party over facetime and texting and shit, you know?"

the corner of maisies lips twitch upwards, bringing the joint to her lips as she mumbles, "so you like like him huh?" she asks girlishly, allowing herself to be amused rather than thinking on how this is about the brother of the man she despises most and all.

"ugh, let me finish!" she groans, her voice already giving it all away. "he literally surprised me right when i was about to leave to come get you—like i mean fully showed up at my house."

"oh my god," maisie coughs out as she lets out the smoke from her last puff. after she's recovered and sunny has laughed a bit on the other line, maisie shakes her head in disbelief. "no way you got a guy in a literal band to settle. they're always groupies, i can't believe it."

she can practically feel her best friends eye roll. "i've been telling you, maisie, the more i talk to chris, the more i think they're really nice people," she tries to tell her, although to maisie, it's all gibberish. "from what he's told me, they seem really fun to be around."

"yeah, which you know my parents love," she responds sarcastically, setting the joint down into her lip shaped ashtray as it goes out. it's a bright red tray in the shape of kissy lips. she's currently sat in front of the railing of her bedrooms balcony. most people usually freak out over having her such a luxury of a balcony, but because of her parents, the wealth is all that she is used to. it's not like it's all sunshine and rainbows though, seeing as it's midnight on a thursday and they aren't even home. the only time she feels like her parents even truly see her as a person, is when they're finding something to scold her over.

her balcony though, is truly her safe haven. she's got a couch on one end of the balcony right against the railings, a knitted throw blanket over it, and a small table next to it with a drawer where she keeps all her shit. she can't smoke inside the house because the smell would be too strong, so she always just comes outside. she feels like she is making a statement every time she sits out here though, because she's on display for anyone passing by. it's usually never a problem for her though; she loves attention.

"oh please, since when do you listen to what your parents think anyways?" she says blankly, causing maisie to shut her mouth. "plus, you've been saying you want to enjoy our last summer as much as you can before you leave for college. what's more fun than hanging out with a band?"

"i don't know, killing myself maybe?" she responds with a laugh, pulling the blanket she brought from her bedroom around her shoulders. "god, do they even have a band name?"

"are you stupid? obviously," she responds dubiously. when a beat of silence passes, alluding that maisie is waiting for her to share the same, sunny sighs. "national saints. they introduce themselves as 'your national saints,'" she tells her.

"national saints?" she repeats judgmentally, her face scrunching up as she almost does not recognize the name at all until a vague blurred image of the band name on chris' drums enters her mind. it's also the dumbest thing she's ever heard, because matt is anything but a saint in her eyes. she blinks repeatedly before blowing out a breath. "stupid. i bet matt came up with it."

instantly, sunny is rolling her eyes on the other end. "you just had to find a way to bring him up," she shakes her head to herself, causing maisies jaw to drop in offense. instantly, she jumps to defend herself, but sunny continues talking before she can get a word in. "you can not complain about him to me after i saw the way you acted around him when you got alcohol in your system honestly."

"the alcohol was clouding my judgment, sunny, c'mon now," she tries, shoving it to the side immediately. "see, that is exactly why we don't need any fun with any bands."

there's a prolonged pause before sunny's laughter is heard through the speakers. "wellllll," she says, instantly causing maisie to groan before she even continues on, "it's really a shame you'll have to miss out on my plans for us tonight then."

maisie sighs exasperatedly, knowing her curiosity will always get the best of her. "and what are your plans for us tonight?" she gives in, looking at the beds of her nails as she says, "i'm getting high as shit and was hoping you'd give me a reason to sneak out because my parents aren't home."

"lucky for you the band is going to chill at a gig they're playing at tomorrow so all their shit can be put together," sunny tells her innocently as if she can not hear the smirk playing on her lips just by the tone of her voice. sunny has been maisies biggest instigator since day one and she loves her for it. she likes to joke that she couldn't have grown balls without her. "chris invited me, and you already know i made sure that meant i could invite you too."

"hm, i've never really actually talked to any of them besides the triplets," maisie states, thinking on how she'd feel hanging out with such a group of people. despite her parents always expressing their distaste for the noisy band as a whole, maisie's never really felt the same. she's always just hated matt for matt reasons.

when it comes to why the pair always seem to be out to get one another, it's really hard to explain. it doesn't make sense that much; it's just the way things have always been. for as long as she can remember, she has only ever found matt obnoxious and arrogant, and for as long as he can remember, he has only ever found her stubborn and just as close minded as her hateful parents. they never had to worry about getting into trouble over fighting with each other at school because maisie went to a private school for all of her life—the same place she met sunny—and the sturniolo's went to a public school that they met their fellow band members at.

growing up as neighbors though, was absolute hell for maisie. anytime maisie would go outside as a child, it seemed matt would also be outside, and as soon as the two saw each other, everything would go wrong. whether he would sneak up on her with scissors to cut her hair when she would crouch down to pick flowers, or she would chase him with silly string she had to steal from him in the first place, fights always ended with parents getting involved. any childish argument between the two became both of the two families'. that's why she had always assumed chris and nick had the same dislike for her that matt held over her head. every time she crosses paths with them though, all she receives are smiles and friendly exchanges, which confuses her beyond belief.

"all of them remember you from the party," she informs her over the phone. maisie's face does a slight thing as she thinks about their first impression of her being a drunk version of herself and it's as if sunny senses it because she goes on further, "that's good though, 'cause you're far less bitchy when you're drunk."

"oh my god stop, i can't even remember most of that night," she responds with a shake of her head as she tries to think back on meeting them. all she can come up with is brain fog.

"your brain is probably trying to make you forget and that is so funny to me," sunny audibly giggles through the phone, causing maisie to amusedly roll her eyes even if she can not see it. "but," sunny clicks her tongue, changing the topic as they've lost track of the original point of conversation. "just give me like ten and i'll come over so we can get ready together. chris already texted me the address and he said we can come whenever because cause they'll be there almost all night."

maisie can't help the slight smirk that plays at her lips when she thinks of matt finding out she gets to ruin time of his. "so matt knows i'm coming?"

sunny laughs at her question at first and maisie ignores it. "chris said he, and i quote," she pauses for a moment, "rolled his eyes and shut a door in his face."

"aw," she mockingly coos with a grin. "you'll have to count me in now."

MAISIE RUBS THE LIP GLOSS adorning her lips together as security lets her and sunny into the building they just arrived at. the place that the band is performing at is a club and it's currently after closing hours so it's just the band and security here.

she would be lying if she said she didn't feel nervous at all, seeing as if her parents could see her now, she would be six feet under. she also has not properly met all of these people sober and matt has been extra good at making her feel tense recently, so her mind is definitely not all that peaceful.

she mainly feels at ease though, as she walks at sunny's side since she assumes she knows where she's going more than she does. security led them into the open empty club area, but maisie doesn't know where to go from there, so she's content on following wherever her best friend goes.

they are walking past the freshly cleaned bar when sunny begins to halt in her footsteps. maisie furrows her eyebrows, looking to her to see her looking ahead of them. she then turns her head as well, finding two people on the stage. there's three huge speakers in the center, and a guy is sat in the middle of them on the stage floor on a laptop. there's also a girl standing leant against one of the speakers, her red acrylics shining in the light wrapped around her phone in hand.

they seem to have not heard them come in when the girl suddenly glances up into their direction. she quickly catches sight of them and sets her phone down, leaning forward to nudge the guy on the ground. he quickly turns to give her a glare, but pauses once he notices maisie and sunny. he begins to clear his throat and the girl noticeably holds her laughter as he tries to greet them, "oh," he first says. "didn't hear you come in, hey."

"hey," sunny responds for the two of them, beginning to walk to the stage. maisie doesn't recognize the guy sat down at all, so she glances over at sunny as they walk, and she seems to not know him either. she guesses he wasn't at the party. "i'm sunny."

he nods as they reach the end of the stage and maisie takes it as her turn next. "maisie," she introduces herself, eyes flickering between the two in front of her and lingering on the girl for a second as the pair make eye contact.

the girl taps her acrylics along the surface of the speaker, her arms resting on the top of it. "we took shots together while your girl was doing her thing with chris," she tells her, eyes locked on maisie as her words make the memory not so distant in the girls head. she then offers a smile as she looks between the two of them. "i'm dylan."

maisie's not sure if it's her long nails that her attention keeps getting drawn to or the braids her hair is in that reaches the low of her back, but she feels good vibes radiating off of her. "dj," the boy on the floor corrects, all eyes sliding to him.

she rolls her eyes at him. "dj, if you will," she adds mockingly, not seeming to actually care all that much as she looks back to the girls. "this is quinton. he wasn't at the party, so don't worry about forgetting him."

"cool," sunny says, tilting her head slightly before asking, "you're the lead singer, right?"

dylan opens her mouth to respond, but attention goes to quinton as he instantly snickers. "if roddy heard that question, he'd flip his shit," he says mostly to dylan since she's the only one who understands.

maisie raises her eyebrows at his comment. her impression so far of this roddy guy is not a good one, he just seems rude, and now, probably narcissistic. he could be one of those guys that is just always a dick, but that would only infuriate maisie because there is only room for one dick, and that's always gonna be her.

maybe matt too sometimes, but that's a completely different thing because it's matt. she thinks it must just be carved into his bones to be a dick.

dylan can't fight the amused grin on her face as she playfully rolls her eyes. "shut up," she laughs it off, turning her attention back to sunny to answer her question. "i sing most of the main vocals, but roddy's technically lead."

sunny hums a response and quinton speaks up, "everyone else is scattered somewhere backstage, if you're wondering."

maisie and sunny both look to each other before taking quintons words into consideration and heading in the direction of the stage steps. quinton and dylan's attention goes back on one another as they quickly make their way up to the stage and walk to the closest side. they follow through the opening and around the corner to the first main area backstage.

it's a fairly open space, the ceiling extremely high up and all the walls black. there's a huge tv hanging up giving a display of the stage and a small monitor showing security camera coverage of the club and crowd area. there's a lot of speakers and wires that maisie knows no idea about because she has no knowledge of what it's like backstage, but her eyes are mostly drawn to the two couches in the center of the area. they're burnt orange, seemingly soft sofas facing the tv, a table in the front of them. chris is sat with a cap over his head on the left of the couch in the middle, him filling the space of the otherwise empty room. there's two hallways on the ends of the room, both with a couple doors that sunny and maisie pay no attention to as they approach the two couches.

chris looks up as sunny approaches the couch he's relaxed on and maisie goes for the other. "oh shit, hey," he says, his eyes lingering on sunny before he acknowledges maisie's additional presence. "how does it feel being backstage?"

she lets out a breath from her lips as she sits down. "weird," she answers honestly, glancing around her surroundings that she is still processing before looking back to him. "i didn't know there was security footage and shit back here."

"oh yeah, look," chris sits up slightly as sunny adjusts in her newfound seat next to him. he reaches forward to grab a remote on the table in front of him and points it the the tv, pressing a button that makes the tv's stage screen fade out and the small monitor shut off before netflix's loading screen appears on the tv.

maisie's eyebrows raise as he looks back to her. "oh shit," she says, impressed. she more so appreciates that he is treating her like an actual person, or a potential friend of his, rather than the same person living across from him that his brother has hated since childhood, but she doesn't voice that.

"nice, right?" sunny says with a smile, making eye contact with maisie over chris' shoulder. chris then turns his head to her and grins momentarily as she subtly shifts closer to him. her eyes slide from maisie to him as she comes up with a question, "so, where's everyone else?" she asks seriously, although her eyes are a little dilated as she blinks slowly at him. oh, maisie wasn't aware she had it this bad.

"roddy and nick are in one of the backstage rooms and fuck if i know where matt is," he shrugs off, a glint in his eyes as he looks at maisie's best friend. cute.

maisie can't help the raise of her eyebrows though, after processing his words. "roddy and nick are friends?" she questions curiously, an odd expression on her face as roddy seemed the type to not have any friends honestly. she might be a little quick to judge but so what?

chris' head snaps over to her, a twinge of amusement taking over him that causes the corner of his lip to quirk upwards. "you already think roddy's an ass, don't you?" he smirks despite the topic being his own band member.

maisie shrugs. "kinda," she says honestly. sunny laughs quietly at her answer because she hadn't even met him at the party, so she knows nothing about him; her best friends bluntness is just always funny to her.

"well, he is," he tells her seriously, causing her to chuckle at his honesty about someone so close to him. he leans back into his seat as sunny cozies up next to him, his arm coming around her shoulders as his gaze stays on maisie through their conversation. "nick is the only person he isn't a dick too, and it's always been that way," he explains to her, fidgeting with the stud on his left ear with his free hand. "i think he wants him real bad and nick would never guess it 'cause he's so closed off."

"woah," maisie's voice echos in her head as she sinks in her seat. "so much background."

"you know it," chris hums.

maisie then clicks her tongue, glancing around the room in hopes for a mini fridge of sorts and coming up short. "do you guys have any drinks or anything?" she asks as she brings herself to sit up.

"oh yeah, you'll just have to go to the bar," chris tells her, handing the tv remote still in his hands to sunny as maisie nods and stands from the couch.

maisie begins her journey from the stage to the bar after passing by quinton and dj to go down the steps. she then crosses over the empty club area and reaches the bar area. she glances around for a fountain machine but nothing seems to be kept in the front, so she opens the built in door to the surface of the bar counter. it allows her to get to the door on the wall and enter the back where all of the liquor is stored and the fountain machines are.

she grabs a glass from the clean dish drainer next to the sink before turning around to the soda fountains. she begins to fill her cup with ice when her eyes begin searching the shelves of alcohol next to it. she can't help it, her attention just goes to it so easily.

she sets her glass full of ice down and forgets the task she set as she steps in front of the liquor selection. she doesn't have the intent of drinking it because she doesn't want to get intoxicated in proximity of matt, but the variety at hand is impossible not to catch her attention.

her focus is only lost momentarily when a strange scent fills her nostrils. it almost smells like weed, so she feels like she's making it up, until she notices smoke pass by her head in the air. quickly, she spins around where she stands. immediately, her eyes widen at the sight of matt leant against the still open door, his eyebrows raised and a blunt in his hands. he's wearing a black short sleeve and cargos, and maisie wants to curse at the way it makes his tattoos so visible. "scavenging for alcohol?" his raspy voices fills the silence of the small room.

maisie falls silent at his sudden presence and the quietness causes matt to tilt his head, his glazed over eyes flickering over her briefly as an upturn settles on the side of his lips. "hi, mason," he says to her. "is it hard to handle being in the same room as alcohol and me?"

quickly, her eyes are narrowed into thin slits.

💌

meeting the squad okkkkk

band name reveal is lowkey scary i was so uncreative i used a band name generators help for this

<3
jaden