~Hold Your Peace In Pieces~

“Will you PLEASE come?” Mike begged me. I was on the phone with him, talking about the VMA’s. “I told you already Mike; I don’t really want to see Adam.” “Well I’ll stay with you all night and make sure you don’t then. Please? You don’t have to be my official date, all you’re doing is going with me so I have a date and you can go. The VMA’s are fun, trust me!” I sighed and rolled my eyes then said “Fine, I’ll go. But if you smoke around me Michael Carden…” “I won’t, I promise!” “Alright, I’ll fly down there tonight.”

I walked into the hotel Mike said everyone was staying at and knocked on the door of the room number he’d given me. “Hey Pheebs!” Mike said, giving me a big hug and pulling me into the room. Lia and William were lying on the bed and watching TV, and Lia jumped up when she saw me and hugged me. “Yay, you came! I didn’t think you would.” I shrugged and smiled “Yeah, I almost didn’t come cause I have nothing to wear.” Lia rolled her eyes and shoved me back out the door.

“Where’re we going?” I asked, waving goodbye to Mike and William. “We’re gonna go get you a dress for the VMA’s.” “I don’t need a dress; I can just wear my pajamas!” “Yeah okay, on the red carpet?” “We have to walk the red carpet?!” “Sure, it won’t be too bad. Now come on!”

We walked into a dress store and I tried on about 5,000 dresses, none of them quite right. “Lia, I really don’t need a dress, let’s just back to the hotel okay?” “No, just ONE more!” I sighed and took the dress from her and put it on then trudged back out and stood in front of the three way mirror. “Oh that’s the one” Lia said with a huge grin on her face. The dress was short and bright green with spaghetti straps and it was made of silk charmeuse, so it was very soft. “Alright, this one’s fine.” Lia clapped and I changed back into my normal clothes and we returned to the hotel with my dress.

That day was VMA day. I guess the guys couldn’t get down here until the day of because they were on tour. I wasjumping up and down on the bed in my dress with Lia, whose dress was long and bright purple (and I mean GABE purple kids!) with no straps and sparkles all over it. “YOU’VE GOT TO FIND, YOU’VE GOT TO FIND A WAY, YOU’VE GOT TO FIND A WAY!” we yelled as ‘Sleeping with Giants’ played from my iPod speakers and William and Mike rolled around on the floor laughing at us. “Mike!” I demanded. “Do you have a green tie?” “Yes” he choked out as he stood up and wiped away tears of laughter.

“WEAR IT!” I yelled, bouncing extra high and touching the ceiling. “Fine, but only if you wear a black tie!” “OOH I WANNA WEAR A TIE!” I yelled, Mike’s tie from his neck and putting it on myself. “Oh man, AWESOME!” I jumped off of the bed and put on black heels then danced around the room singing as ‘Season’ came on. “What do you have a TAI playlist or something?” William asked me. “Yes! Why wouldn’t I?” I said shrugging. Lia put on silver heels and we all went out the door and waited in the lobby for Michael, Butcher, and Sisky. Michael and Butcher had their girlfriends with them (PRETEND they have girlfriends for me please? Thanks. :D) and I groaned when I saw Sisky with that girl from the restaurant.

“LET’S GO!” I yelled excitedly, grabbing Mike’s hand and jumping into the limo as it pulled up. We all piled in and talked on the way there, and eventually the limo rolled to a stop. “Ready?” William said bouncing in his seat and squeezing Lia’s hand gently. “Yes!” she said, giggling and hugging him. William and Lia got out of the limo first then the rest of us followed and I smiled at all the people I saw. I nudged Mike in the ribs and whispered “Mike, that’s Panic at the Disco!” He just laughed and rolled his eyes and pulled me over to the four faces I knew so well.

“Brendon, Ryan, Jon, Spencer, this is my good friend Phoebe, she’s been a friend of TAI for…pretty much since we existed.” I laughed and blushed, then smiled and waved at the Panic boys, mumbling out a small ‘hi’. They all smiled and we shook hands. “So how long have you been a Panic fan?” Ryan asked as we started to walk to the doors. “What makes you think I’m a fan?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. He frowned and shrugged. “I dunno, your reaction to us? Usually people who don’t like us throw shit or something, not smile and wave.” I laughed and said “Alright fine, I’ve been a fan for a long time, I guess since Adam made me listen to your album.” I sighed and gestured in Adam’s general direction, not really caring to look at him.

“Cool! Do you play any instruments?” Jon asked, who I now realized was walking next to me. “Yeah, I sing and I can play guitar pretty well.” “Yay, she’s cool Ryan!” Jon said hugging me sideways. I laughed and Ryan rolled his eyes as we walked inside the enormous hotel where the VMA’s were being held. We were all gonna be in Fall Out Boy’s suite since that’s where all of the Fueled by Ramen and/or Decaydance bands were supposed to go.

“WHOA, this is cool!” I yelled, running around the suite and checking things out. “Am I allowed to drink?” I asked Mike sweetly, pouting and sniffling. He laughed and nodded and I squealed and hugged him. Who doesn’t like a good party? Eventually the VMA’s started and Fall Out Boy performed a lot of songs, and I had a lot of drinks. “Heyyyy LIA!” I said, pouncing on Lia and grinning. “Heyyyyy WHAT! Oh god, you’ve been drinking haven’t you?” I nodded and giggled, Lia just rolled her eyes and stood me up, she wasn’t a big drinker.

“Here, go say hi to Sisky!” Lia said, nudging me in Adam’s direction. “Hey Adam!” I yelled in his ear. Adam was sitting on a couch and making out with restaurant girl. He looked a little more than surprised to see me talking to him, and I smiled and shoved the girl out of the way and sat down next to Adam. “So” I said. “Why’re you dating this WHORE?” “Phoebe maybe we should talk later…when you’re sober.” “No I wanna talk NOW dammit! What’d I do wrong huh?” “You wanna know what you did wrong? You didn’t kiss me back! You ignored me!” “Well you’re the idiot who kissed his best friend!” And then, Adam slapped me. Struck me hard across the face, knocking me off the couch and to the floor. “Oh my god…” he mumbled, then got up and ran out of the room.

I rolled over on my side and cried, lightly touching the red burning mark on my cheek. “You okay?” I looked up to see Pete Wentz, who looked to be way past drunk. “No.” He helped me up clumsily and kissed me hard and forcefully. A little voice in the back of my head that was still sober told me to stop and get the fuck out of there, but unfortunately my body was too drunk to listen.

“You’re really pretty” Pete giggled, putting his arms around my waist and pulling me close to him. “You’re really pretty too!” I said, slumping against him and grinning. “I’m a boy SILLY!” “Oh well!” We laughed and Pete pulled me into a side room, stumbling onto a bed and falling on it with me.

And I don’t completely remember what happened after that, but I woke up to find that I was in Mike Carden’s arms wrapped up in a bed sheet. “Mike…I didn’t…he didn’t…” Mike sighed and smiled apologetically. “He did. AND he has a girlfriend. I’m so going to kill that asshole.” I groaned and closed my eyes and fell asleep as the hotel came into view.