Dear Jenna, Count Me In (aka the only ATL song I know)
Ben sighed, clutching his kazoo as he heard the cheering of fans on the stage. Alex walked behind him, clapping him on the back with his open hand. “You’re gonna do great, bro.” He promised, trying to help him calm his nerves.
“What if the fans don’t like me? I mean, you guys have been together for so long…” He murmured self-consciously.
Alex shrugged. “The fans will like you. We like you, ergo…” He trailed off, not entirely sure how to end a sentence after using the word ‘ergo.’
“Yeah, just remember tonight, make sure the chicks are 18 before you bring ‘em in bed.” Jack reminded him, giving him a good natured punch on the shoulder.
Ben glared. “I have Kaitlyn, remember?”
“Yeah? And when was the last time you talked to that broad?” Jack questioned, strumming on his unplugged electric guitar and practically vibrating in anticipation of the upcoming concert.
Ben looked down. “A couple months.” He bent down to retie a one of his shoelaces. “We’re taking a break.”
“Yeah, and I’m sure she’s having loads of fun fucking other guys.” One of the other, nameless members said.
“Hey guys? They’re ready for you onstage.” A girl with a headset on popped her head into the room. “If you’ll just follow me…”
“Alrighty, sweetheart.” Jack said with a wink, hurrying to her side so he could flirt with her on the short walk to the stage.
Ben dragged his feet, falling behind. His first concert with All Time Low. If someone had told him five months ago that he would be playing his kazoo onstage alongside All Time Low, he would have laughed in their face.
No one thought he could do it, and yet here he was, playing with one of the most popular punk-pop bands in the nation- practically kings of their genre. It was equal parts surreal and nerve-wracking.
“You’re awesome, dude. They’re gonna love you.” Rian said quietly to them as they stood just offstage, waiting for their opening act to finish up.
“Yeah, just don’t fuck up and you’ll be fine.” Jack teased.
“Prick.” Ben huffed under his breath, annoyed with his vulgar bandmate.
They finally made their way onstage and as soon as they stepped out, Ben nearly went deaf from the sound of high-pitched screams. Ben watched, mesmerized, as they worked the crowd like veterans, cracking jokes with ease. He stayed in the background for the majority of the concert, playing his songs but keeping quiet, energized yet intimidated.
Ben blew hard into his kazoo for the final measures of “Lullabies,” smiling as a final cheer rose up in the crowd. This was a cheap buzz, for sure.
“Whew!” Alex said, bouncing up and down, the adrenaline still pumping. “Signing time? Signing time!” He made a whooping motion with his fist and took off down the hall without waiting for directions from the girl in the headset. Jack followed with equal enthusiasm.
Headset-girl looked in his direction, appearing a bit stunned, but she seemed to catch herself, shaking her head with a smirk. “This way.” She directed what was remaining of the band down the hallway, the opposite way that Jack and Alex had run down.
“Should we go…?” Ben started to ask, only to be cut off by one of the nameless ones.
“Nah, they’ll find their way back eventually. Cause you know once they show up it’ll just be the Jack and Alex show and their won’t be any fans for us. Let ‘em wander for a while.”
Ben just shrugged and followed the others. Sure enough, the fans flooded in for the first twenty minutes, bombarding the three of them with posters and pens and iPhones for instagram pictures. Then Alex and Jack walked in, and the attention of the mass of teenage girls shifted, and they were pushed to the side in favor of more important band members.
A few stragglers remained, including a shy-looking girl that Ben smiled at and tried to subliminally beckon over for an autograph. It seemed to work, because she approached. “Hey, what’s your name?” He asked, uncapping his sharpie in preparation.
She mumbled something unintelligible under her breath. “Uh, what? Didn’t catch that.”
He glanced to his side for a second to see Jack wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. He grabbed a blank piece of paper and scribbled something on it, holding it up for Ben to see.
18? It read.
Ben clenched his jaw and looked away, annoyed. “Anita.” The girl said, raising an eyebrow at him.
“What?” He asked, distracted.
“My name is Anita.”
“Oh, right, right. So, um, hope you enjoyed the show.” He scribbled her name on the poster, writing his practiced signature below it.
“Yeah, whatever.” All traces of shyness were gone. The girl was just pissed off now. “Frankly, I’ve been to shows before, and I liked the band better without a kazoo player.” She snatched her poster back and walked away, going to stand in Alex’s massive signing line instead.
Ben’s mouth popped open at her forwardness, a little hurt by the comment. His phone dinged and he looked down at it out of reflex.
Hey, I know you’re at your show right now, but when you get a chance, go look at Kaitlyn’s Facebook page. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you. A text from his old friend, Kelsey lit up the screen.
His interest piqued, he pulled up her Facebook. He was glad for the fact that he was sitting down, because if he wasn’t he would surely have collapsed. Her profile picture, which had previously been a less-than-flattering duckface selfie, was now a picture of her, practically hanging all over some other guy.
A closer inspection revealed that it wasn’t just some other guy… it was Alexxx, one of Ben’s friends from his old high school. Feeling sick, he got up out of his chair, wishing for once that he smoked so he could have an excuse to leave. No one noticed him going, too preoccupied with the signing.
He sat in an empty corner backstage, just taking deep breaths and trying to convince himself that he had made the right decisions in life.
“Mr. Francis!” It was headset-girl, she looked startled. “I- sorry. I didn’t see you there.”
“S’alright.” He responded, sounding as glum as he felt.
“Are you okay? Can I get you anything, sir?” She asked, looking nervous.
His face twisted into a scowl. “Yeah, you can stop calling me sir. It’s just Ben.” He looked up at her, realizing for the first time that she was actually quite pretty.
“Oh, okay… Ben.” She hedged, trying to decide whether she should talk to the obviously distraught boy in the corner or continue doing her job. He just kept looking up at her with those moody eyes though, so what was she supposed to do?
“I’m uh, Jenna.” She said, taking off her headset and sitting down next to him, hesitating for a moment, awaiting his approval.
“How long have you worked here?” He questioned, eager to get his mind off of recent events.
“Longer than you.” She dead-panned.
He laughed. Pretty and funny. “Too true. The fans will probably like you more than they like me at this point.” He sighed, becoming melancholy again.
“That’s not true.” Jenna consoled, instinctively resting a comforting hand on his shoulder, only to have it flitter away as soon as she realized what she had done. “They just don’t know you yet. Give it time.”
“I guess so.” He looked back at her, smiling at her kind words.
“And no offense, hiding backstage during a signing doesn’t exactly seem like the best way to win their affections.”
“Oh, right.”
“Yeah. You know where it is, right?” She asked, getting back up and dusting off her jeans while putting the headset back on.
“Uh-huh. Just down this way?”
“You got it.”
“And Jenna?” He said right before she turned away.
“Hm?”
“You’ll be at the next show, right?” He was doing that thing with his eyes again and she couldn’t stand it.
“Umm- y-yeah.” She sounded like an invalid to her own ears.
“I’ll see you soon, then.”
A/N: Needless to say, I'm a little rusty. Also I forgot the other one's name. I thought there are four... there are four, right? whatever its not like the other two matter anyway. DID YOU LIKE THE TWIST??? Jenna was the headset girl all along... mwahahah. and yeah i don't think ben could have handled like, a real guitar or anything, so i made him the kazoo player instead.