Someone New-Hozier fanfic

Chapter 23 ***

Chapter 23! Wow... Thank you guys all genuinely for reading! You're simply the best ❤️💛💙 omg though, that picture of Andrew up there is gorgeous! Amiright? Photo Credit to @hozier24/7 on Instagram. Enjoy this next chapter!

I doze off after countless hours on the bus, watching freaking tumbleweed after tumbleweed roll by in the deserted, desolate part of Arizona. I wake up after maybe a couple of hours to the sound of Andy's childish giggles. I open my eyes sleepily. Alex is sitting on Andrew's lap and each of them have a ballpoint pen in their hand. "Ehm... Good morning, Alice...?" I squint at the two dorks sitting next to me and try to figure out why each one is laughing as hard they are.
Then I peek over at my arm. It looks like that of an old biker dude on a Harley Davidson. My arm's covered in pen from my wrist almost to my shoulder and there are rather poorly (but humorously) drawn guitars and I see one is labeled 'Gibby'. A few laughs escape me and I smirk at Andy and Alex. "Very artistic, but the stealth level of you two needs some work. Thanks for this street cred by the way."
The bus finally pulls into our hotel. The luggage all goes into our rooms and Andy flops very seal-like onto his bed for an afternoon nap in preparation for tonight's show. I braid my hair loosely in hopes of it not getting messy for the show. Andy groans as he reads the route for tomorrow's travel. "Alice luk ath this" a muffled voice instructs me as a phone is chucked in my general direction. Picking up the phone after it lands on the bed, I look at our route. 14 hours. Just great! "Scheiße!" ("Shit" in German), "This is how long it'll take? Then we perform that night?" Andy nods and reaches an arm out as I walk by him to plug my phone in. He snags me and pulls down to lay next to him. "What are you doing, Andrew?"
He takes his face out of the blankets momentarily to grin sheepishly. "Just so you know, if you fall asleep, I'm going to give you a tattoo sleeve too." I threaten. "Ok. I'm going to anyway so here." Andy drops an arm in front of me along with a random pen he's found from god-knows-where.
      I draw random crap all over Andy's arm with lots of movie/book quotes and sit back to take in my work. There are guitars, a cartoon rendition of Elwood, a heart that says 'Alice' cheekily across it and lots of other things I thought of on the spot. Andy awakens, looking like a sheepdog. "Are yu dun yet?" He groggily questions. I nod. "Mk... Liking the Elwood vibe... Ehm... What is that?" He points at two words I had written on his wrist. "It's 'No Ragrets' Andy! It's from a movie." He nods. "Very... Tasteful."
      At this I can't help but laugh. "TASTEFUL?! OH MY GOSH!" Andrew shrugs. "What? Don't other people my age use that word?" I shake my head. "Not in America." We reluctantly haul ourselves out of bed with our newly "tattooed" arms and tired bodies. Andrew has called an uber to come pick us up. He glances at his watch a few times. Finally, a black Subaru pulls up.
      Andrew has his hood up, so as not to be recognized by anyone as we head to our gig. I greet the driver, a nice middle-aged lady with black hair. "Go-od afternoon, my name is Shelley." I smile. "My name's Alice." I reply as I buckle my seatbelt. Shelley drives us very skillfully to our venue. She stops at the entry of The Marquee. "Wow. Are you youngins going to that Hoshur concert tonight?" I cringe at the pronunciation of Andy's name, but nod. "We-el, have fun, you two!" I pay Shelley and thank her for driving us.
      Andy is still hiding in his jacket and I open my abyss of a purse and pull out a creepy horse mask to hand to him. Andy chuckles. "What is this for?" I put on my unicorn mask and motion for him to put his mask on. He does, and as we head up the sloping stairs to the entrance of the Marquee, he trips a bunch of times. Those horse masks are extremely hard to see through!
      We stumble into soundcheck more clumsily than two drunks on a Saturday night. Mia bursts out laughing. "Are you two sober?" I pull off my mask, messing up my hair, and nod. Andy pulls off his mask, luckily his hair is man bunned, so it doesn't get messy. "How neat was that?" He grins. "That was pretty neat." I reply. It's time to get to business, so Andy hands me his horse mask and picks up a guitar. At the end of soundcheck, we go to a nearby gas station for a candy break.
       Andy sprints to the sweets aisle and raids the Sour Punch Straws. I just go for some skittles and Lorraine goes with gummy sharks. Andy unloads his armful of candy onto the counter at the front of the store with a mischievous grin. Alex is giving everyone the very same look and I have a feeling that this sugar break is not a common happening. We purchase our very yummy sweets and head back to the venue. Andy scarfs down his candy and Alex does the same. The sugar suddenly turns Andy and Alex from semi-mature adults to 10 year old boys in a matter of seconds. "FOR THE LAST TIME ANDY, I'M BEING THE BLUE NINJA TURTLE!!" Alex shrieks as he flies by us with a long microphone shaft. "NOPE NOPE NOPE. I'M TALLER SO I GET TO BE HIM!!" Andy retorts as he jumps around crazily.
       Andy's manager rushes in and gasps when she sees the two boys now chasing each other with flashlights and pretending to be the Ghostbusters. "Did they have candy this morning?" She asks tensely. The girls and I nod. "Oh god. This is bad..." She rubs her temples and sits her Starbucks down.
She picks up one package out of probably 10 Sour Punch Straws. "We're going to have to tie the lad to his guitar and microphone tonight if he doesn't calm down. He won't be able to stand still if'n he ate these all by himself."
      We stand and watch Andy and Alex move from activity to activity, as playful as puppies or young boys. Andrew is apparently now being a butterfly and Alex is interpreting an inchworm, and is squishing around the stage. I send a video to Maeve. She replies very enthusiastically, with a voicemail. "Alice! I miss you so much! This video is my new favorite thing omg!" She says.
Andy's manager runs over to him and (once she actually catches him) she holds one of his hands and scolds him and Alex. "You two men are acting like two little boys. No more Sour Punch Straws. They make you too hyper." Andy leans his head back and groans dramatically. "Uuuuuuuhhhhhhh... Reallyyyyy?" She nods. "Yes and you doofuses have wasted 15 minutes of soundcheck. The two walk very defeatedly behind our manager onto the stage.
I pass Andy's Gibson to him and he thanks me and is still very hyped up from his sugar high. He plays around 5 wrong chords before we call it a day (until our show tonight). Andy is very embarrassed but that doesn't stop him from jittering and spazzing around the venue. Our manager heads out to so close-by Starbucks to get some work done without "us kids being crazy and hindering accomplishment".
It's getting very close to our performance and a group of very posh hair and makeup artists come by the venue to beautify us. Benny, my stylist, comments in his fabulous lispy voice on my hair's softness as he brushes it. "What products do you use for your hair, Alice?" I respond, and he nods. "Yes, Biolage is a really good brand." I'm pleasantly surprised how skilled Benny is when I see him intricately braiding and doing my hair. "Wow! Where did you learn to do this, Benny?" Benny glances at me from the mirror and smiles. "I was raised with 3 sisters. They showed me their ways and now I do makeup for celebrities. It's pretty neat, huh?"
Benny is chatting lightly about politics with his partner, Louie as Louie does Lorraine's hair. "I hear that the states are voting on marriage equality, Benny! I can't wait!" I nod. "I'm so happy! It's really great that everyone is finally allowing homosexuality to be a social norm." Benny smiles again. "So where are you from, Alice?"
      "I'm from Nebraska, but I moved to Ireland a few years ago. I never went back." Benny nods. "Interesting... Louie? When we can actually get married, do you want to move somewhere interesting?" Louie grins. "Paris, think of all the hair/makeup jobs there!"

      The girls and I really enjoy our time with Louie and Benny in particular, they're very talented and so nice too. It's nearly time to go on stage soon, and Benny and Louie depart and I wish them the best of luck in marriage and moving to Paris. With this, Andy walks onto stage.