Until My Heart Explodes.

Bob was growing more impatient… and hungry by the second. He sat up a bit in the studio’s beat up couch, looked over the soundboard, and tried to make out if Ray and Mikey were done through the window between their rooms. The sound was off in this room since the sound guy had taken off to lunch, but by the way that Ray was heavily concentrating on some sheet music in front of him and Mikey was trying to keep up, Bob was sure they weren’t going to lunch anytime soon.

Suddenly, a door to Bob’s right opened. He jumped and then hastily tried to play it off after seeing that it was just Frank, texting, coming in from a smoke break. Frank never looked up from his phone. He was too busy moving his fingers rapidly across the keys, clicking and clacking. There was a small, but noticeable smile playing on his lips. Bob narrowed his eyes at Frank as the guitarist almost plopped down on top of him.

Frank laughed at almost squashing Bob and scoot over on the couch. He looked at his phone once more, before flipping it closed. Bob raised an eyebrow at him.

“Why are you smiling?” Bob asked. He didn’t mean to sound so bitter. He was just cranky from lack of lunch. He should have really eaten before they had left the house.

Frank looked at the blond with lost eyes. It took him a while to realize that Bob was talking to him, and his face changed from confused to adoring.

“Spence.” He said. Bob nodded his head slowly.

“What are you texting her?”

Frank snickered, but didn’t ignore the question.

“Inspirational Harry Potter quotes.”

Bob made a sour face. His eyebrows scrunched together and he wrinkled his nose. Frank laughed at his friend.

“I thought she was mad at you.” Bob commented. His bandmate shrugged his shoulders.

“I wouldn’t say she’s mad. She’s upset about something else, but we’re always best friends first. We support each other in our endeavors. All our other mess, we just push it aside until we get a chance to talk it out.” Frank shrugged again and then opened his phone to check a message that had just came in.

“Soo… it’s over now?” Bob asked, cautiously. Frank turned real fast at the question.

“What’s over?” The doubt in Frank’s voice threw off Bob.

“You know…” Bob started. “The whole friends with benefits thing…” Bob was playing with hands. He was feeling extremely nervous now. The scowl on Frank’s face was not helping his nerves either.

Frank rolled his eyes.

“Are you fucking serious?” Frank gritted his teeth. He stared coldly at Bob and Bob was feeling like a complete douchebag until Frank’s face dropped and he relaxed. Frank shrugged nonchalantly.

“Do it. See if I care.” He said it all so casual but Bob could see the discomfort eating at him.

They were silent for a while. Bob broke the tension by speaking first.

“Look, I’m not interested /interested/ in her. I think this is just a crush but she’s just so… fucking cool. Like she gives no shits about anything and I admire her for that. And the way you’ve always talked about her… You practically praise her. I just wanna see if it goes anywhere. I doubt it, but I also want her to know me a little better. I can see that she doesn’t trust me.”

Frank didn’t look at Bob. He was too busy texting again on his phone, but Bob could tell that he was listening. Frank waved off the drummer as in saying /Sure, whatever./

“You’re not gonna kick my ass or anything, right?” Bob chuckled, his mood a bit chipper now that he somewhat had Frank’s permission to make a move on Spencer. The guy was engaged after all, and Bob honestly thought that Frank shouldn’t have reacted the way he had.

Frank snickered. Bob’s eyes widened.

“What?” he asked. “You are, aren’t you? You’re gonna kick my ass?”

Bob was so insecure that it made Frank want to laugh so hard but he refrained.

“Nah… it’s not me you should worry about.” Frank said.

“Gerard and Mikey, huh?”

Frank shook his head.

“Mikey would give you the cold shoulder for some time and Gerard would probably make you cry by hurting you with his words, since he’s all poetic like that… But Ray… I’d watch out for him.”

Bob’s eyes shifted towards the glass again. Ray was writing, Mikey was strumming. Bob looked at Frank.

“Ray? But… he and Spencer are such dicks to each other, why would—“

“Do you not know?” Frank asked suddenly. By Bob’s reaction, Frank knew he didn’t.

“Know what? Do I not know what?” Bob grew frantic as Frank smirked. Frank shook his head gravely.

“Someone didn’t do their band research.” He chastised.

“Look, Spencer’s departure was unexpected and you needed help fast. When someone mentioned your band, I wasn’t like /oh, let me get my nerd specs and Wiki them/. I was just like fuck yeah and took the opportunity.”

Frank chuckled.

“Ray beat up a guy last year at Warped…” Frank said.

“Are you fucking with me?” Bob snorted. Frank shook his head. “Holy shit… what the fuck? What happened?”

-----------------------------

It was hot as balls. Frank glanced at Gerard from across the tent and nearly had a heat stroke looking at his get-up. Gerard was taking this all black suit and tie thing too seriously. Frank looked down at his outfit; black jeans, white button-down, loose red tie. At least the non-existent breeze would feel good through his casually buttoned shirt. Mikey was pacing back and forth. He was aggravated. It was the heat’s fault, but Mikey didn’t think so.

“Where the fuck is she?” Mikey growled. “She should have been here ten minutes ago! She still needs to do sound check! Fuck!” he looked at his wristwatch and made a grunting noise before starting to pace again.

Frank’s ears perked up at the noisy fans just around their waiting tent. The tent was pitched behind the stage they were about to play. The previous band was still taking some stuff off the stage, but they only had 5 minutes tops before they had to hit the stage. And Spencer wasn’t there.

Ray, exasperated with Mikey, told him to do Spencer’s sound check.

“What?! NO! I’m not gonna be the one at fault when she complains that her check is all wrong! She should be here!” Mikey stomped the ground like a whiny toddler. Frank rolled his eyes.

“Mikey, just fucking do it!” he said. Mikey narrowed his eyes at Frank.

“Where is she?” Mikey asked him accusingly. Frank pulled his phone out of his pocket but there were no missed calls or texts from her. Frank shrugged. Ray pushed Mikey towards the sound guy.

“Just do it. I’ll take the fall if she complains.” Ray told him calmly. Mikey huffed and puffed away. The 3 remaining guys all let out a deep, heavy breath.

Gerard was pacing around the tent, keeping an eye out for his sister. It was only 3 minutes until showtime, before the guards in front of their tent spread out and let in a girl.

Spencer was drenched in sweat. Her hair was pulled back into a high messy bun, but the teal and purple strands that had fallen out, were stuck to her face. Her tank top and shorts were plastered on her body and her face was red. Frank’s eyes wandered her body for a second before handing her a bottle of cold water from a nearby cooler. She chugged almost all of it in seconds.

“Where have you been?” Gerard questioned her. Gerard reached out to place a hand on her shoulder, but she pulled back.

“Where have I been?” she snarled. “How about why the fuck didn’t you send someone to relieve me at the merch table?!”

“What?” Ray questioned. “I swear we did. We told Mikey to get someone from other band’s table to take watch while you came over.”

“Well no one ever showed up. I waited as long as I could and when no one ever came, I had to shut down the entire tent. Put up everything, tarp the tent, and run all the way back to bus to put up the cash box and then the fucking security guard wanted to be an asshole about my badge since I didn’t have it clipped to my shorts. Not to mention that that stalker guy is here again!” Spencer rambled. By the time she finished, Mikey was back. He handed her her in-ears. She thanked him, but he rolled his eyes at her.

“Can you stop with this stalker guy? He’s probably just a weird fan. You do know we have weird fans!” Mikey said as a tech guy came to place his bass on him. Another tech handed Spencer her drumsticks.

“He’s been following us since the first date! I’ve seen him in 8 cities already! Who does that? And he never comes up to our tent. He just stares from a distance and watches our set from the way back. It’s disturbing. He just stares at me and when I say stare, it’s like he’s eating me with his eyes! Can’t we tell someone about him?” Spencer asked as they lined up behind the stage. Ray was in the front of the line followed by Mikey, Gerard, Frank and then her.

“Unless he makes a move, we can’t report him.” Ray said before leading the pack up the stage. Ray’s appearance made the fans scream. Spencer’s heart warmed and her body felt tingly. She loved the fans, she really did, but this creep was ruining that for her.

Mikey and Gerard went up on stage, leaving Frank alone with Spencer for a moment.

“Why didn’t you just call?” he asked her. Spencer looked curiously at Frank and ignored him. “Spence, if you want to do something about that guy, we can go ask security or—“

“Fuck off, Frank. If you’re trying to help so I can suck your dick, it’s not gonna happen.” She sneered. Frank looked appalled but only smirked.

“I think I’m good after this morning’s adventure.” He whispered in her ear before going ahead of her onto the stage…
… … … … … … … …

Mikey was complaining… again. The four guys were walking in a huddle to their tent for their autograph hour. Spencer had dashed to prepare the tent as soon as their set had finished. The guys had made a detour at the bus to change, but it was pretty pointless since their clothes were soaked in sweat again anyways. Fans were walking along side of them and their security guards, trying to stick their arms and hands between the guards to give them stuff to sign. They were yelling ludicrous things about wanting to have their babies and trying to take pictures of them with cell phones and digital cameras.

Their tent wasn’t hard to miss. It was black and had the art work from their sophomore album on the top. The name of the band was on the front of the tent. There was a line circling around the surrounding tents. Spencer was sitting behind their table talking to some of the fans that were in the front of the line. Frank’s heart leapt when Spencer looked up and saw him. She gave him a smirk and stood up from the chair she was sitting at.

They were fifty feet away and everything from that point on moved in slow motion.

Spencer had risen up from the chair. She smiled and laughed and signed a few things for the fans in the front. She was so busy tending to the fans that she didn’t notice that someone had sneaked into their tent through the back. Frank thought it to be one of the guys from a nearby tent. Sometimes they crossed over to borrow a chair, a Sharpie marker, or ask for change… But this person in black was not a neighbor.

He stood directly behind Spencer. Frank wanted to yell out her name, but he didn’t want to startle the stranger. Frank looked over at Gerard, Mikey and Ray, but they hadn’t seemed to notice. Gerard was signing an autograph as they walked, Mikey was waving to some fans, and only after taking a quick picture did Ray see the stranger. Ray’s eyes darted to Frank, but they didn’t say anything. They just looked at each in confusion.

Spencer’s scream made them all turn in her direction.

The guy in black was the stalker Spencer had been talking about. He was groping her. Touching her in spots only Frank touched. Spencer screamed and tried to push him off but he held her tight. He wrapped his arms around her legs and reached up to touch her breasts. The fans in the front squealed and screamed and some took pictures of the scene, but none made an effort to help.

“Frank!” Spencer’s panicked yells filled him with rage. He quickened his pace, but when he got to the tent, the guy was already on the ground. Bloodied and unconscious. Ray stood above the stalker, his face distorted with such anger, but he had Spencer in a soft embrace as she cried into his chest.

Gerard and Mikey finally caught up and stood just behind Frank, staring at Ray in awe. No one said anything. Even the fans were silent and stunned.

---------------------------------------------

“They took the guy and Ray didn’t get in trouble. It took a while for Spencer to well… be Spencer again.” Frank sighed, thinking of the depressed Spencer weeks that followed the incident. Frank didn’t blame her, but she had changed a bit since then.

Bob stared at Frank, amazed and furious and irritated.

“You hurt her, Ray will be there to beat you to a bloody pulp.” Frank said with a smile. Bob tried to smile back but their conversation was cut short by a knock on the door that Frank had come in through earlier.

Bob hoped it was Ray and Mikey, but it wasn’t. It wasn’t the sound guy either.

“SURPRISE!” Spencer announced as she walked in. She was still dressed in her lawyer get-up, so she must have been near. Frank’s eyes lit up at her presence and Bob couldn’t help but feel a bit sadden by this. Her hands were behind her back, but there was rustling heard as she walked in.

“I come bearing…” her hands came up from behind and she held plastic bags up for them to see. “TAAAAAAAAAACO BELL!”

“Did you—“ Frank began.

“Yes, dear, I brought your vegetarian options.” Spencer finished for him. She looked at Bob. “I wasn’t too sure what you liked, so I ordered the whole menu.” She told him as she placed 5 bags of food on the coffee table in front of them. Bob smiled graciously.

She was a life saver.

Notes

sorry for the wait. hope the length makes up for it :)