Chapter 24

*present day (9 years later)**Austin's POV*

"BryanStars! What's up, man?" I said, smiling and hugging him.

"Hey, Austin! How are you?" He said.

"I'm good." I said, taking a drink of my water bottle.

"I thought Madison was coming?"

I nodded. "Yeah, she'll be here in like 5 minutes. She had to finish doing her hair." I smiled. "You know her. Always has to look perfect."

He chuckled. "Yeah. The last time I interviewed her she was 15 minutes late."

"Of course she was." I said, laughing.

Bryan pointed towards the buses. "There she is."

I looked over and saw her. As usual, she looked gorgeous. Her once waist length hair was cut to her shoulders, and curled perfectly. She had her nose pierced and more tattoos. She had Oliver's portrait tattooed on her shoulder, a gypsy girl tattooed on the front of her thigh, and my name across her collar bone in beautiful cursive. She wore black leggings and a black crop top. She came over to us and hugged Bryan.

"Hey!" She said.

He hugged her. "Hey, Mads."

She stood between us and held my hand. "Hi, baby."

I smiled. "Hi, Mads."

Bryan did his intro and started recording but I wasn't paying attention. I couldn't take my eyes off Madison. She was so pretty.

She talked to Bryan and smiled and laughed. After a minute or so she snapped her fingers in my face. "Baby, pay attention."

I smiled. "What?"

She giggled. "Bryan asked you something."

I looked at Bryan. "What? I'm sorry I was distracted."

He chuckled. "It's okay. I asked if you're excited to be off tour soon."

I nodded. "Yeah. I can't wait to get back home. I don't think people understand how uncomfortable those bunks are."

Madison nodded. "Yeah, especially for him since he's so tall. He tried moving once and bumped a light bulb and his bunk caught on fire." She said, laughing.

Bryan laughed. "Really?"

I smiled. "Yeah. It caught my pillow on fire."

"Do you guys sleep in the same bunk?" Bryan asked.

I shook my head. "Not really. Sometimes we do but most of the time she sleeps in her own bunk with Oliver."

Madison let go of my hand and adjusted her nose ring. "Alan picks on us all the time for not sleeping together."

"Man, we've been together for 9 years. Sometimes it's nice to get my own bed." I said, pinching her butt.

Bryan smiled. "Well actually it's funny that you say that. I asked viewers if they had any questions for you and most of the questions was why you guys aren't married yet."

Madison smiled. "I get asked that all the time." She shrugged. "We just haven't had the time."

"Can I see your ring?" Bryan asked.

She nodded and held her hand out. Bryan examined the ring and smiled. "It's so cute."

I shifted my weight. "Yeah I keep insisting on buying her a new one but she says no."

Madison rolled her eyes and looked at Bryan. "He thinks that just because he has money now he needs to buy me a huge expensive diamond." She looked at her ring and smiled. "But I love my ring. It just shows how far we've come." She looked at me and held my hand. "It reminds me of our life together."

I smiled and kissed her.

Bryan smiled and got all giddy. "When did he propose?"

"9 years ago." I said. "The first night we were in California. That's when I gave her Oliver too."

Madison smiled and rested her head on my arm. She was too short to get to my shoulder. "And here we are, nine years later and still not married."

"Do you guys wants kids?" Bryan asked.

"Hell yeah." Madison said. "But I wanna wait till we're married."

I nodded. "Plus, Oliver is enough of a kid. That freakin' dog is 9 years old and still a ball of energy. He's like a toddler."

"So you guys aren't trying?" He asked.

Madison shrugged. "I mean, we're not trying but we don't do much to prevent it." She looked at me. "If it happens it happens, I guess." Then she looked at the camera. "But just because we don't use condoms doesn't mean you shouldn't. Wrap your shit up, you guys!"

I chuckled and put my arm around her. "Good advice, baby."

Bryan flipped through his questions. "I guess we should get on to the real questions." He skimmed a paper. "Austin, are you guys working on anything?"

I smiled. "Yeah. We're writing mostly. I hope to be in the studio within the next 3-4 months."

"A lot of people are pretty upset about how much your sound has changed." He said.

I sighed. "I know. I don't know why. We're growing and maturing as a band. Obviously our sound is gonna change."

He smiled. "Well I like the new sound."

---

After our interview I went back to the bus. Madison talked about work and getting her new line out. She had a clothing line with Neff and Tilly's. I was so proud of us. We had been through so much in these 9 years. She never left my side. No matter what. Even when I had to marry our friend Gielle so I could get insurance for my heart surgery. Pretending to be married to her was awful. Unfortunately when we divorced she tried to make me look bad by telling everyone I cheated on her. When I was arrested Madison was there, always supporting me and telling me when I did something wrong. When she started her clothing line she struggled for awhile, but we worked together on getting and now she was one of the highest paid people in Sean Neff's company.

I walked on to our bus and grabbed a water bottle and went to the back lounge. Madison followed me and sat down. "Where's the guys?"

I shrugged. "Probably smoking or getting food." I sat down next to her.

She smiled and smoothed my hair. "You feeling okay? You look kinda pale."

I nodded and closed my eyes. "Yeah. I just have a headache."

"You know what would help?" She said.

I smiled. "A blowjob?"

She giggled and smacked my chest. "No, jerk. I was gonna say a hot shower and some food."

I looked at her. "I'd really rather have the blow job."

"Shut up." She said, smiling and standing up. "I'll go get you food."