Carmen:

"Have you seen Instagram?"

"Huh?" Van's cough rang out through the other end, and he swallowed loudly. "Car, you know I'm not much of a social media person. Why?"

"I know you're not. But do you at least go on to glimpse the band's page? Hasn't Larry or any of the guys done that recently?"

"Carmen you're scaring me, what is it?"

I crossed my arms, leaning against the wall. "There's this girl who's been saying Benji and Bondy asked her for explicit pictures. She's sixteen."

"What?" Van's voice strained, and he burst into another coughing fit. "You're kidding. You're joking. Jesus christ, Bond!" He yelled hoarsely. "Benji!"

"Don't strain yourself Van, just get your pr people to take care of that. I'm sure they can get that post down in a matter of minutes." I began to log onto Instagram, hearing Van shuffling around on the other end.

"Just wait till those fuckers hear me."

"Van, they didn't do anything. You don't think Bondy and Benji would do that right?"

Van didn't answer. I heard Bondy's voice followed by an audible smack. "Christ Van, are you mad?"

"You asking for photos from underage girls?" I could hear the whole thing going on. "You and Benji, what the fuck are you doing? Are you both mad? Hellbent on tearing the band down?"

"I dunno what you mean! I would never do that, I'm not an idiot. And Benji, he looks the part but he wouldn't do it either!"

"Go on Instagram. Check our page. I'll call Vanessa. Car," Van's voice finally came back to me. "I'll deal with it, don't worry. I'll call you later."

"Alright." I hung up, setting the phone on the dinner table. I felt restless, the want of sleep suddenly gone with this whole situation. Van would take care of it soon enough, and then everything would go back to normal.

I almost got back onto their page to see what other comments, there'd been, but decided against it. I'd just take a bath and relax to get sleepy again.

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Van:

I took a pill, looking at both Bond and Benji. "You better not be doing anything damn stupid cause I swear lads."

"We didn't talk to any underage girls! God, do you even know us Van?" Benji leaned against his chair, looking at his phone. "Now I got Dani all over me because she saw the post, too."

I ground my teeth together, looking over at Larry. He rubbed his jaw, looking down at his phone. "It's just an accusation anyway. Congratulations lads, you've now truly crushed the thresholds of fame. Cause you're not a true rock band until you have some mad story about you."

I laughed dryly, feeling in my pockets for a cig. Leaving the guys to read the comments and figuring Vanessa and the team behind press would be on this post in no time, I excused myself for a smoke. Outside on the balcony of the suite, I shut my eyes and took a breath, bringing the cigarette to my mouth with shaky hands. I hadn't even realized they'd been shaking to begin with.

I guess the whole accusation thing really had shook me up more than I'd let on. Suppose for some reason some of our fans turned against us or something? The label suddenly dropped us because of bad press? No of course not, this was just an accusation. And maybe I did owe Bondy and Benji an apology.

I rubbed my temple, feeling the headache dull. Stepping on the cigarette, I went back inside. The room was just as silent, except I noticed the guys all look at me except for Benji, and then Bondy spoke up in a hard voice. "Tell him Ben."

"Tell me what?"

No one said anything. Benji crossed his arms, coughing, "It was just something stupid. I don't"-

"Well tell him then!" Bondy stood up, standing in front of Benji. "Don't make us all look bad Benji."

Benji scratched the side of his face. "I may have messaged this one girl a couple months ago. Dani and I weren't serious and the girl was cute. It was flirty, nothing serious. Then she asked me for a picture. To prove that it was me and not some pr person running my account."

"Please don't tell me she was underage."

"Oh no, she'd turned eighteen the month before."

"Oh grand. Great save Benji, top notch. You're a saint really." Bondy shook his head, rubbing his eyes.

Benji ignored him. "She tried to message me a couple times after that. But Dani and I were serious already so I figured if I just ignored her then she'd get the hint. But this is just in case, you know, anything else comes up. That's my only thing."

"Your only thing?.....what kind of picture was it?" I rubbed my face, looking at Benji. "Go on then, what picture was it?"

"Just me. You know, not uh, not wearing a shirt. Or pants."

I walked up to him and smacked him across the head. "I'm too sick for this shit Benji. You call Vanessa and you tell her about all that. Prepare her for any shit that comes through."

"But Van"-

"I am going to go to sleep and when I wake up I swear if you haven't told her anything you're gonna have to figure out how to play the bass with broken hands."

"Oh christ." Bond burst out into a coughing laughing fit, but shut up once I looked at him.

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I woke up in a cold sweat. Touching my skin I felt heat, but I was freezing. I wrapped a sheet around me, taking my shirt off and lying back. A fever was good I think. Didn't it mean my body was fighting back or something?

Some light filtered in through the curtains, but I turned my back to the window and shut my eyes. I was drifting off when my phone rang shrilly from the bedside. I slammed my hand down on it, picking it up and barely squinting to look who it was. I groaned after recognizing someone from press. They could leave a voicemail.

But after it stopped, another call came in.

"Carmen?"

"Hi, sorry, were you sleeping?" She spoke in a whisper.

"Yes, what's wrong?"

"I, nothing's wrong." Something fell on her end. "Oops."

"Don't tell me your drunk."

"Ok I won't." She laughed quietly, sighing. "Love you babe. Always."

"Me too my little drunkie. Uh, it's three over there right? You should go to sleep soon babe. Is Nicole with you?"

"Nicole?" Suddenly another voice came on.

"Carmen, come on honey let's get you home and into your pjs. This is the last time I let you drink without eating dinner. Shit, who'd you call? Hello?"

"Hey Nicole, take care of my girl won't you?" I laid back down, hearing a bit of laughter that sounded just like Carmen's. It really was a novelty to hear her like that, considering how much she usually restricted herself with alcohol.

"Hey Van, sure thing. Sorry, I thought I'd grabbed her phone but I guess not."

"Tell Van I love him! Like really love him. Like....I want to have little Vans everywhere. I want to have all your children babe!"

"You'll have them don't worry."

"Ok please don't start having phone sex. I'm just the messenger here. Alright, say goodbye to your boyfriend Car." I heard shuffling and then a kissing sound. From Carmen.

I hung up the phone, pushing my face against the pillow and letting the phone fall from my hand as I was out quickly again.

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One month later:

Carmen:

"She hates her work but loves to flirt,"

"It's a shame she don't work with me." I mouthed the words, looking out into the audience. All was restored to what it'd once was. Van was physically in front of me, waiting to be smothered by my kisses, even if he didn't want to be. Though knowing that boy he never seemed to mind a bit. I had rushed over from work and had slipped in through the backdoor of the venue, after flashing my id and confirming about a thousand times that yes, I was the singer's fiancee.

The whole Bondy and Benji fiasco had blown over thank god, although I know Van was still bothered towards Benji. Soon enough they'd sort everything out. Van was never one to hold a grudge.

I wrapped my arms around myself, tapping my foot to the beat. The floor underneath me vibrated and the screams of the crowd made my ears feel plugged up as Van leaned forward and stuck out the microphone, grinning at the crowd. His eyes suddenly flicked to the side of the stage where I was and he winked, making a kissy face. I blew a kiss back as he turned his back to the crowd and struck his fingers against his guitar chords.

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Sofa Song by The Kooks blasted at the bar Van and I went to later that night. The guys had gone back to the apartment and Larry warned us that if we took to long he'd sleep in our bedroom.

"This song makes me horny." Van yelled into my ear, drinking from my glass while he waited for his.

"Everything makes you horny."

"I'm a loving individual." His bourbon was placed in front of him and Van downed it in a matter of moments. "Won't you come on over on the side of my sofa?" He whispered into my ear. I moved my head, taking a drink. Some people were dancing in the makeshift dance floor at the center of the bar. "Class, come on." Van tugged my hand, standing up.

"Here?" I looked at the patrons, who were talking and laughing while dancing. I let Van pull me up and towards the floor, spinning me around before dipping me, planting a kiss at the base of my throat. My face flushed, but Van didn't even notice, wrapping his hands around me and pushing me against him. I laughed, pressing my face into his shoulder as he spun us around on the floor. The song was halfway over when we'd gotten up, so in no time Van was pulling me back to our spots.

"I will do my best, just to get under her dress." He hummed. "Christ I forgot how massive that tune was. I'll dig through my records and hopefully I still have that one." He was quiet for another moment, and then he spoke up again, casually. "Let's get married tomorrow."

"What?" I hadn't heard him right.

But he looked at me, grinning. "Let's get married tomorrow. Through a courthouse. My mum would kill me if we didn't do a fancy one, but until then I just want you to share my name already. And tonight, when the lights came on and everyone was rushing to go meet us out back, all I could think about was how good it was to come back home with you. And well, I haven't felt at home anywhere since I was 16 and the lads and I started chasing this whole bit."I opened and shut my mouth. Van looked down at his glass, "I know, we should wait. I did just give you the ring like two months ago. Would only make sense to wait."

"No, I don't want to wait."

He grinned widely, his eyes coming back to mine. I smiled dumbly, because I didn't even have to think twice about it.

"Tomorrow." He said.

"Tomorrow."

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"You crazy lads. Fuck it, I'm in." Bondy clapped his hands together, springing up from the dining room table. The rest of the guys looked at us with their mouths open, until Bob shrugged and stood up.

"You guys already act married in my book, should might as well."

"Yeah." Benji stood up, clapping a hand on Van's shoulder. "Congrats mate."

We'd waiting till the morning after to tell the guys. "Don't you need some documents or something?" Bondy looked at us.

"Taken care of."

"Christ, alright then. Let's go have ourselves a wedding."

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"I'm here! I brought a bouquet because I'm an emotional little bitch and you both suck for barely letting me know you were doing this right now." Nicole tugged up her dress, reaching to hug me and plant a giant kiss on my cheek. "Jesse tried to get out of work but since it was short notice they threatened to fire her."

"Oh ok, yeah that wouldn't have been good." I held the bouquet up to my face and took a smell of the fresh bright pink flowers. "What are these called?"

"Geraniums? Yeah, if I remember correctly. You look so cute in your dress ohmygod I didn't bring my damn tissues." Nicole sniffed meekly as she stuck her hand around in her bag. Bob came up and distracted her for a moment, letting Van and I begin walking toward the courthouse. I reached over and adjusted Van's collar, taking a deep breath.

"Having second thoughts?" He murmured, a giant grin coming over his face.

"And what if I was?" His expression didn't change.

"You're not because you've been smiling this whole time. And even if you'd changed your mind, I would've dragged you inside the courthouse anyways."

I put my arm around his, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear and smoothing down my dress. "And our photographer Bob is all ready for the pictures, I can't disappoint him."

"Do it for Bob." Van laughed.

"Are we going in or what?" Bondy pushed his sunglasses up, stretching.

"Yes, I'd think it was your wedding for how impatient you're being." Van wrapped his arm around me and we led the procession up to the courthouse.

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Van:

I'd like to remember what the official said or even what Carmen and I said to each other. It wasn't like a church wedding, one of those big ceremonies where the bride and groom give each other a speech and all that. This was quick, before long I'd signed my name wherever they'd told me to and Carmen was leaning into me as Bob took our picture.

I don't remember words, but I remembered other things. The way Carmen smiled when I asked the guy to call me Van instead of Ryan, the way Carmen smelled like the flowers she held against her chest, and how she shook her head and handed the flowers to Nicole a minute into the small ceremony. I knew she'd get annoyed with them sooner or later. I remember the whole room smelled like cherry, cheap air freshener cherry, but I hadn't thought of the smell until we'd left.

And now that we were driving back home, Carmen's hand wrapped around mine and Nicole and Bob laughing about something behind us, I didn't want to forget a single one of those things. I pressed my lips against Carmen's forehead. "How are you Mrs. McCann?"

"I'm great Mr. McCann." She laughed, and her grin was so inviting, I pressed my lips against hers.

"Oi, can you both hold off please? I know you're technically married and its in your right to want to consummate it and all that but we're still here." Bondy yawned, leaning back on the front passenger seat.

"To be honest with you Bond, I hadn't even thought of the consummation bit. But thanks for reminding me."

"Bug off."

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Carmen:

"Do we tell people? Do we keep it a secret until the end of time?" I leaned against Van, looking at the text message I'd opened. "Maybe I should call my mom."

"Maybe I should call mine. Not maybe, definitely. I can already hear her going mad on the other end." He laughed. "And I don't know, what do people do?"

"I don't know, I've never been married before." He played with my hair, fighting a yawn.

"You got me. Uh, let's just sleep on it."

"Deal." I leaned back on my pillow, settling in under the covers.

"Wait are you really going to sleep?" He asked, surprised.

"Uh, yeah?"

"I thought we could do the consummation thing Bondy kept bringing up."

"He brought it up once." I laughed. "Don't use Bondy as an excuse to get laid."

"I never thought I'd hear that ever in my whole life. But alright, I won't use him. I'll use myself as an excuse. I love you, I'm blown off right now that we're, you know, married. Now I feel like I'm completely at peace and at home." He kissed my forehead. "Now that we're here all I can think to say is, thanks for the ride Car. You've got me wrapped around your finger baby. Can't wait to do the stupidest shit for you." I laughed, but his lips against mine cut the laugh short. "Really." He whispered.

"I love you."

"I love you. So can I take my pants off?"

"Honestly, shut up." I wrapped my hands around his head, bringing his lips to mine and melting into him, like I'd always had. Like I'd always would.

The end.