FicWad

Part Eighteen

Keliah's POV

Farrah and I walked down the streets of downtown L.A, looking for dress shops. Of course, we kept getting distracted by shoe stores. And ice cream stands. And the record store. At the moment, we got stopped by one of the best record shops in town. I had to go in there. I have this obsession with how a vinyl sounds on a record player. The small scratchy sounds in the recordings and the little tiny imperfections have a warmer feel to them, unlike the harsh, crisp sound of a CD. I love vinyls with a passion. They just make me feel secure when I listen to them. And I know Patrick loves them too. He told me that he collects records, and that he has ALOT of them. Farrah was searching through the 'P' section of albums, finally finding a vinyl recording of Panic at the Disco's 'Pretty. Odd.' album. I was right beside her, moving farther down the aisle to find the 'Pr' section. I finally found what I was looking for: 
Prince.
I looked through the large collection of albums they had there, and I came across one in a plastic case, specially protected for some reason. I grabbed the album and brought it to the counter. I asked the woman at the counter what was so special about it.
"Well, sweetheart, this here is a copy of Prince's 'Purple Rain' album. A sealed, limited edition put out in 1984, printed on purple vinyl."
"But, I've seen these before. What's so special about this one?"
"Honey, this has got Prince's signature on the front." She pointed to a vaguely black ink scribble on the front that was, as she said, Prince's signature.
"Do you have proof it's real?" I said suspiciously. Farrah stood behind me with her PATD album, watching what was going on.
"Just a second." She held up a finger and headed to the back room. I heard her yell from the back, "WHAT'S THE NUMBER ON THE TAG ON THE OUTSIDE?"
"It looks like 889157!!!" I shouted back.
"Let's see..." I heard her mutter. I then heard file cabinets being opened and papers being shuffled as I listened intently for her response. "Here it is."
She came back out with another piece of paper, put into a sealed plastic cover. "Right there is the certificate of authenticity. Every record in this store has got one. Trust me, we don't sell fakes here. That's the record store down the street." she joked. I smiled as I looked at the certificate and turned to Farrah.
"OHMYGOD, Farrah, can you believe it? Patrick would LOVE this."
"Hell, I would love that." she said, admiring the record.
"Alright, how much for it?"
"Oh gosh...let's see. Seeing as it's a rare vinyl, and it's got a signature on it...let me check." She ran out of the room again to check papers. "The running cost would be at least....$975 dollars."
Now, money has never really been an issue with me. I was lucky enough that I wasn't left with nothing to support me when my parents died; they had successful jobs and left behind a lot of money. ALOT of money. But I never flaunt it. I hardly even mention it. The only people that know about it is Patrick and Farrah. I keep that fact hidden most of the time. But now was not one of those times.
"I'll take it then." I pulled out my credit card and bought it. Here I was, out to get a wedding dress, and I ended up with a record first.
"Well, alright then sugar. I'll ring this up for you then." She punched the numbers into the register, I swiped my card and I was happy. I had her put in a special box too, so it looked even cooler than what it did inside the package. I was so excited; I had a present for Patrick. Farrah bought her PATD album and she was just as elated as I was when we walked out of the shop. Farrah was overjoyed. "I have been trying to find this album FOREVER. I have the CD and all, but I couldn't find the vinyl for it! Now I did! YAY!"
I smiled as we finally reached the bridal shop at the end of the road. "It is about time, my feet are killing me." she whined, but I still had a spring in my step, and I was excited to try on dresses. Farrah grabbed the bag with the album in it from my hands and said, "I'll watch your stuff and sit right here, Kel. You go find dresses and make yourself all pretty. This is supposed to be your shopping trip for YOU. You gotta be selfish sometimes, sweetie." I giggled at her remark.
"Alright, just wait here then."
"Oh, gladly." And she sat right down at the seats outside of the changing room. I soon found a nice lady who worked at the shop and she helped me look at the dresses to find out which ones would look best. I told the woman that I was expecting soon and it looked like she was going to cry. "That's wonderful! Congratulations! What a lovely ring you have too! Very classy!" We came back with at least 10 dresses. I tried on one by one, looking at myself in the huge mirrors just outside the dressing rooms. Farrah watched intently as I came out in each one, clutching the albums to her chest, afraid of losing them. I always knew when she didn't like a dress. Her responses went a little like this:
"No, sweetie. That one makes you look old."
"That one makes you look pregnant...Yes, I know you are, but that doesn't mean you have to look like it yet!"
"Well...that's not...as bad as the last one...maybe the next one will look...better."
Her reactions to the dresses were really making me worried. I didn't know whether I was going to find one that I liked. I had gone through about 6 of the 10 dresses, and the 7th one was one that I had picked out myself off the rack. I liked how it sparkled in the light, and it was strapless; I'm a sucker for strapless dresses. I tried it on and came out of the dressing room to show Farrah. At first, I didn't know what to think of it. I liked it, the stomach of it was made of a slightly stretchable fabric, but you couldn't tell. The bottom skirt of it was like something out of a princess movie. Just, not as big. It still kept its shape, but I wasn't lost in a giant skirt, with a tiny top on it. The sides of the dress were lined with sequins, rhinestones, and beads, all lined in a fashion to make it look like there was flowers growing on the sides of it. The strapless top was my favorite part about it. The absolute top of the dress was lined with sparkles, and it did look beautiful under the lights. The bright white fabric made it look even better, all the glitter sparkling like snowflakes. I saw Farrah smile through the mirror and I turned to her.
"This is it. This is the one."
"You look GORGEOUS, Kel."
"I think this is definitely the one I want. This is perfect."
I bought the dress, and Farrah picked out a bridesmaid dress too. I decided not to be mean and choose a hideous color. She was going to be the only girl at my wedding anyways, so she got to choose her own dress. She gave me back my album, as we both took our dresses from the saleslady, who again congratulated me for the engagement and the baby on the way. We walked back down the street like two teenage girls, laughing and enjoying how AMAZING this vacation had turned out to be.
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When we got back to the tour bus to put our stuff away, we were greeted by the security guard who already knew us both and let us inside. All the guys were gone, so we set our stuff inside our secret closet in the bus, next to the bunks, while we had the chance. There was a note on the table that was scribbled quickly, and I could tell it was Patrick's handwriting. "Hi girls, we're rehearsing at the venue now, so you can come see us if you'd like if you come back before we do." the note said, with a little smiley face at the bottom. "Well, let's go watch the guys then. I've wanted to hear their songs for awhile now." I said, grabbing my purse again as we headed back out. Farrah made sure that the security guard knew there was valuable stuff in that bus. I think the guard already didn't like her. It made me giggle when he told her that everything would be fine, and she looked at him with a 'I-hope-you're-right-for-your-own-sake' kind of look. I apologized for her, eventually dragging her away from the bus, and we headed towards the venue.
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Patrick's POV

"Dance, Dance
We're falling apart to half time
Dance, Dance
And these are the lives you love to lead
Dance, this is the way they'd love
If they knew how misery loved me...
Why don't you show me a little bit of spine
You've been saving for his mattress (mattress, mattress)
I only want sympathy in the form of you crawling into bed with me..."
I sang into the microphone, closing my eyes. My fingers glided on the guitar, almost unconsciously, just going through the motions. Every time I closed my eyes, I kept imagining Kel in front of me, her beautiful hair framing her face, and her eyes sparkling with love. Finally, the song ended and I opened my eyes to see Keliah and Farrah walking towards us on the stage. I heard Pete talk next to me.
"Take 5 guys. It's hot as fuck out here. We need fans. On the stage. Or better yet, give out those mini fans to all the audience, and have them point them at us as we perform."
Andy sighed and set down at the end of the stage, legs hanging off the edge. "Good luck with that Pete."
I smiled and set my guitar down as I watched Kel and Farrah as they approached. I sat down next to Andy, and Kel came running at me, her hug nearly knocking me off the edge. "TRICK!!!!"
"KEL!!!"
She ran at me so hard, I was forced backwards onto the stage, and she landed on me. "Hi!" she said, laying down on top of me with her head on my chest.
"Hi, Kel. Nice to see you too!" I laughed, stroking her hair.
She giggled and rolled off of me, and let me sit back up to where I was. She quickly sat down next to me and leaned on my shoulder. "You guys sounded fantastic just now. I like that song. Very catchy."
"What, 'Dance, Dance'? Yeah, it's probably our biggest hit. Not sure why, but it is."
"You don't like it?"
"Nah, it's not that I don't like it, I just think we have better songs that deserve more recognition even though they aren't put out as 'singles', that's all."
Pete sat down next to me, listening in on the conversation. "True that. Some of the songs with my best lyrics get tossed aside like they're nothing because they don't have that mainstream hook. It's bullshit."
"Or it's the other way around. Some don't get picked for the hook or the music, they get picked for the lyricism in it, and then my finest work gets pushed aside as well."
"It's a cruel, cruel world out there, my friend." Pete said with a sigh.
Joe sat down next to Pete and Farrah hopped up on stage next to him. He sighed heavily and took a drink of his water. "Well, it doesn't help that everyone thinks Pete and Patrick are the shit, and then Andy and I get ignored."
Farrah laughed. "That's not true. I went to one of your concerts before and I must've gotten stuck in the "I love Andy and Joe" area. I didn't hear a single girl scream over Pete or Patrick the whole night. I think they were split into opposite sides of the arena."
Andy looked at her suspiciously. "You're just saying that to make us feel better."
"No, I'm so serious. It was almost as if they checked which side you were on at the door."
Joe laughed. "I know we have fans out there. It's more of the media and garbage that don't pay attention to us. But I do believe that may be a blessing in disguise, right Patrick?"
I looked over at him and fake smiled. Sarcastically, I replied, "Oh no. Being in front of cameras all the time is the most amazing thing I've ever had to do in my life. And I just can't get enough of those interviewers that get everything wrong and seem to think it's ok to call me Pat."
"My point exactly." Joe said with pride.     
I looked over at Kel who still had her head on my shoulder. "Did you find a dress, by the way?"
Her head slid off my shoulder and she leaned her body across my lap. "Yes, I did, actually. And it is gorgeous, isn't it Farrah?"
"I'm jealous of it." she said casually.
"See? It's pretty awesome."
I looked down at her face, and placed my hand on her stomach. I seen a small bump starting to form, but it wasn't very noticeable yet. I smiled at the thought of the baby and then snapped back into focus.
"So, did you find any fun places while you were out shopping?"
"Well...there was a shoe store that was fun. And an ice cream stand that had the best chocolate ice cream I'd ever tasted in my life. And a record store."
"You went to the record store?" I knew my eyes must've lit up in excitement when she said that. I loved the record stores around here. "Wait, did you go to the good one, or to the one that sells all the fake stuff?"
"The good one."
"Good."
"But anyways, Farrah got a Panic at the Disco album-"
Pete spit out the water he was drinking and started laughing. "Oh, wait until I tell them about that one. Their younger audience has started buying vinyl instead of CDs."
I shot Pete a glare and Kel finished. "-aaaand, I got a little something for you." she said, looking up at me with those sparkling, chocolate brown eyes.
"You got me something? What is it, what is it?" I said, excited.
"It's a present, I can't tell you what it is before you see it. It'll ruin the whole point of it being a present!"
"Awwwwww..."
It was then I heard our manager, Rob, with his booming voice on the stage. "Come on guys, you only have to do this for another hour. Then you can go do whatever the hell you want until the show starts."
I sighed and kissed Kel quickly, lifting her up off my lap. "I gotta practice. This present ordeal is not over though, missy."
"I understand, and you will find out the present soon enough. Patience, Patrick. Me and Farrah are gonna sit and watch, right Farrah?....Farrah?"
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Keliah's POV

She was too busy making out with Joe to hear me, so kissed Patrick one last time and I jumped off the stage, sitting in one of the seats at the front. Farrah soon joined me as the guys were picking up their instruments again and rehearsed. They started playing another song, and I seen their manager, the one that yelled at them a few minutes ago coming towards us. He sat down next to me and put his hand out. "Hi, I'm Rob. I'm the boys' manager."
I smiled and shook his hand. "I'm Keliah, and that's-"
Farrah interrupted me, and shook his hand as well. "I'm Farrah."
"Ah, so you're Keliah. You're the one that stole the heart of my lead singer."
"I'm afraid so." I said, grinning, holding up my left hand to show him the ring.
"That is definitely one hell of a ring he got you. And he also told me that you're pregnant?"
"Yep. 1 month pregnant so far."
"Congratulations!" he said with a smile. "I'll admit, this is gonna be a media hay-day, with all this going on. Girls are going to be fainting and the press is going to be misquoting all over the place as usual. But no worries. You're part of this family now, so we've got you covered." he winked and turned to Farrah.
"And you're the one dating...Joe, right?"
"Yes, that's me."
"I hear you had all the guys chasing after your coattails for awhile there."
"Well, everyone except Patrick, yes. It got settled. Hopefully it won't come back up." she grinned.
"Let's hope so. I can't have these guys beating each other up." he joked.
"Understandable." she nodded and smiled, turning back to the band.
"Well, it has been a pleasure meeting you two. I shall see you at the show tonight, am I right?"
"Yeah, I think we have front row seats."
"Good. Then, goodbye for now, Mrs. Stump and Miss Farrah." And with that he walked off, leaving us to watch the guys perform.
I sat and watched in awe as Patrick played on stage. He was amazing in the studio, I knew that much, but live, when he's up there, it's like a whole different person. It's like the difference between the 'I'm-so-innocent' Patrick and the 'I-want-you-in-bed-with-me-now' Patrick. The passion he has in the studio gets multiplied by like...1000. The one thing that always gives me butterflies in my stomach is the way he keeps beat with his foot at the beginning of some of his songs. Him stomping his foot down on the stage, and of course, playing the guitar the way only he can, is sexy as hell. His voice never falters once. Not throughout the whole song. He sings and every note comes out so smooth and perfect, not even the most talented singers in the world could sing notes that damn good. The way he moves to the music, the way his hands glide over the guitar, the way his lips touch that microphone...dear god...  
And he wonders why all the girls love him.