FicWad

Another long day of rehearsal awaited them, only this was the day that all of the male band members were dreading. Danielle’s keyboard parts finally fit in with every song the way that they were supposed to, and she’d felt accomplished for learning nearly everything.

“So I’m always the late one, am I?” The harsh tone in Danielle’s voice shattered the silence that had fallen over the testosterone clutching males in the room and had put them in a sort of daze, each staring off into space as if their eyelids would fall any second and their minds would surrender into a deep sleep that they waited for every night. “Am I?!” Her voice sounded again from her place on the floor in front of her keyboard, her well nurtured nails tapping annoying against the hardwood floor.

“Ryan’s just a little late today, Danielle,” Spencer answered softly with a thick layer of patience coating his words. Brendon nodded quickly in return while Jon stared at his reflection in the mirror and Bartram was predictably fussing with his cello.

Accompanying the five occupants of the room were more instruments than normal. There were several guitars on the far side of the room, and behind Spencer, many playful percussion instruments waited anxiously to be broken in, among them, a set of bells with the shiniest bars that Danielle had ever laid eyes upon.

Her claws kept tap, tap, tapping away until quite a different noise indeed reached all of their ears and made each of them twitch at the sudden clatter. Their heads turned just as quickly, looking to see who had moved. Apparently it was from outside of the door, and one by one, their heads turned to watch it, all of them following Danielle. A muffled clamor was the next noise heard, contained in the tight hallway outside the door. Then another silence.

Soon enough, the door swung open abruptly and a disheveled Ryan Ross appeared in the doorway. His hair was mussed to hell, and his vest was crooked with his extremely thin torso. His lungs were contracting in and out but his breath was hardly audible, even against the stunned silence. A few traces of excess pink could be seen around his lips if examined closely enough.

Danielle was so disgusted she couldn’t even find a decent name to call him. Perhaps, at the same moment he had walked in, they both sucked up the same amount of oxygen due to shortness of breath. She couldn’t deny to herself that he looked so good in her eyes at that moment. As moseyed his way across the room, Danielle quickly decided not to move from her place in front of the keyboard and listen to what he had to say instead.

“Is she late /again?/”

After that she knew just how bad of an idea it was to stay out of sight. Her rage multiplied rapidly right until she stood up. As soon as she was noticed, her breath caught in her throat once again at the spotlight routine of being the center of attention for at least one moment. Then when his dark brown eyes drew that invisible connection to hers, she just knew that the rage had been robbed from her head with that frost-kissed stare she was receiving.

Ryan on the other hand, turned bright red at the sight of her. The first look he sent to her was not of how he felt before he knew she was there. For at least a fraction of a second, it was a look of utter embarrassment for all to see. The simply sly guitarist quickly felt his eyes narrow and the corners of his lips curl down into a scowl of disgust. A rivaling glare was sent right back at him. Danielle wouldn’t dare let her vulnerability show for more than a split second. But their anger for each other was just about an even match. It was a mystery whose hatred surpassed the others.

No one dared to break the silence. For the first minute all of them were staring at one of the tow. Then, Brendon lowered his head, feeling slightly awkward at the scene. He ever-so-politely cleared his throat which clashed in a little too loudly in all of their ears. Ryan and Danielle turned their eyes to him angrily. Brendon just offered a simple, innocent smile at both of them, which caused them both to roll their eyes.

Another noise had that unexpected impact throughout the room: Spencer’s wristwatch was chirping madly, and was flailing around trying to turn it off as if it were a bomb about to explode and kill them all.

“Well we certainly made extravagant progress today. Thank you, everyone.” Brendon shuffled over behind Ryan as the words spilled out of Ryan’s mouth and patted his frail shoulder. As soon as Ryan ripped his laser-eyes away from Danielle, he saw Brendon’s look of caution.

“What’s going on?” Danielle asked, not sure if she was referring to the watch alarm or the oddity occurring between Ryan and Brendon.

“We have to go to costume fittings now. Sorry I didn’t tell you earlier, Danielle.”

She sighed, as Danielle was at least looking forward to playing that day since she had learned her part well enough. As long as Ryan wasn’t constantly picking at some little mistake she would inadvertently make. And she wasn’t expecting to change either. She figured that the costumes would look interesting enough, however, and settled on that while the guys were fighting over whose car they would drive to the location.

“My Mercedes…”

“Isn’t big enough for everyone.”

“We can fit four in the back.”

“…Or we could take my SUV. The bucket seats are out for now – don’t ask - but there would be room for someone on the floor.”

“Sounds good, let’s go!” Brendon marched out the door, looking back behind his shoulder. “Come on, Danielle.”

“Wait a second, I don’t wanna sit on the ground again!” Danielle said as if she was slightly offended.

“Well, I get a window seat,” Ryan pronounced, cocking an eyebrow at the female.

“Shotgun!” Jon called with a grin.

That rang a bell in Danielle’s mind. “Oh-oh…! WEDDING!”

The group of musicians stopped all at once. Bartram, who was leading the group, stopped and turned around once he heard everyone else stop. There was a slight collision between Danielle and Brendon. Brendon triumphantly kept her from falling down. He smiled at her once her eyes met his and delicately glided a hand over her shoulder for comfort once she was solidly on her feet. Mister Ross couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

The others were still staring at her once she turned to face them. “Well.. isn’t that how it goes, after all?” she said hesitantly.

Spencer chuckled. “C’mon, Danielle. Who actually says that anymore?”

A few arguments later, all six of them were seated in one way or another in The SUV: Spencer naturally driving, Jon riding shotgun as he had said, Brendon and Ryan sitting in the back with the window seats, Bartram leaning against the door by Ryan, and Danielle somehow situated between Ryan and Brendon. “Sorry, Bart,” Brendon said apologetically after a while of staring at Danielle. Bartram raised and lowered one shoulder, keeping his eyes on the window opposite of him.

Danielle sat glaring at the ground, her arms folded neatly across her stomach. She could almost feel the heat radiating from Ryan, they were sitting so close, and she kept telling herself that she didn’t enjoy it one bit. Their adjacent thighs were nearly touching, and it was bothering her so much that she was about to run her hand along his to give him a piece of her mind. The car started up, and she lifted her hand inconspicuously, about to make her move. Another noise came from her right which caused her to put her hand right back where it had been.

“So what do you think of the music so far, Danielle?” Brendon asked cheerfully. Before she could answer, Ryan muttered something incoherent under his breath. Danielle exhaled hard, looking to the side out of annoyance.

“Well, you guys have a lot of interesting stuff pulled together. I was surprised I could even learn it, but now that I have it down I really like it.”

More mutters from the left. Something about playing piano and doing it better…

Danielle heaved another breath, knocking knees with Ryan. This time he distinctly uttered a low, “I hate you.” She smiled with satisfaction and continued conversing with Brendon.

The costume place looked typically like the backstage of some venue. The walls were bare and the ground was something rocky yet smooth. Yet inside the room with all of the costumes and all of the assistants readily awaiting Panic’s arrival, it was much cozier.

They guys seemed hallways used to it, people throwing things on them and holding fabrics up to their faces. Danielle felt like a model or something with people doing all of this for her. Getting dressed was a simple task, however, the assistants insisted to put it on her right the first time so that she wouldn’t damage the clothing and so she would know how it was supposed to fit properly.

The first outfit was more like half of an outfit. Danielle was wearing a silky top with a plunging neckline, a small collar, sleeves that covered only half of her arms, and it all came down to the very top of her thighs. Short, black leggings were worn to her mid-thighs, and striped stockings covered everything from her kneecaps down. The sleeves had elastic ends, ensuring that they would poof out a little. The whole ensemble was a dark aubergine color. Her feet were nearly covered in black ballet-flats and a chunky black necklace that was way too big for her was forced around her neck.

Eventually they all emerged from their own fitting rooms and laughed at how ridiculous they all looked, except Danielle. Ryan retired back to his dressing room early after a long while of staring at Danielle chatting with Brendon. He couldn’t keep his eyes off of her tight waist and accentuated curved. The stockings and leggings showed off the slenderness of her legs and also made them look longer.

The next ensemble was a rich blue corset which was painful to get into as well as time consuming. The lung restraining tightness constantly reminded her that she wasn’t topless, even if she felt like it with her bosoms half exposed. The bottoms were surprisingly comfortable – white and slightly baggy. She blue heels she wasn’t so crazy about. The assistants were arguing over an alternative when Danielle left.

Ryan stared again, predictably. Danielle watching him out of the corner of her eye while she was being teased by Brendon about having longer hair. The lady came with quick-wit in tact and knew just what about his costume to tease him about.

The last costume was simple enough. It was pretty much a dress with dark green and dull orange swatches mixed around onto it. Danielle was quite fond of it, actually. There were matching orange gloves which almost reached her elbows and were missing any signs of fingers. The dress, like the others, was short, so naturally, long boots were administered.

When she exited the dressing room for the third time, she only had one thing to say. “You only hired me because you couldn’t find anyone skinner, right?”

A few hours had passed, and everyone was carefully give their costumes and reminded about each one. Danielle could hear them all laughing out in the hall, waiting for her while she was being lectured. “You’re the only female; therefore you must stand out from the other females in the show. When you’re doing your making and putting on these costumes, it has to look much more elegant and classier than the others…” While the assistant lecturing her wasn’t watching, Danielle made faces at Brendon from across the hall. She was well-practiced at holding in her laughter.

Finally, she was released and before she could even say a word to Brendon, Ryan scowled at her from the wall by the door. “About time you got outta there.” Danielle gave him a look and otherwise ignored him

The sun was still burning when they exited the building, so they found sense in practicing for a few more hours. It turned out to be one and a half, however. Everyone’s costumes were on their minds in one way or another. Ryan kept his mouth shut about Danielle, being constantly reminded not to start anything from Brendon’s split-second looks that were sent his way.

That day had been better than their past few rehearsals; things were finally starting to look up for the tour.