Okay, I have been writing stories for a long time, but I have never really had the guts to post one. Hopefully this will be sufficient enough for all of you.

I began writing this story while I was listening to this song called "Me Vs. Maradona Vs. Elvis" by Brand New, and this idea just popped into my head. I guess that this story may be loosely—key word is loosely—based off of this song, so if you find any parallels between them, please know that I am not trying to take credit! Brand New is one of my all time favorite bands, and I would never ever want to do that to them. Also, if you have never heard the song before, and you have a listen, don't think that you will all of a sudden know what is going to happen next in the story; that is why I emphasized the word loosely!

Oh! And if you are wondering how old they are now, I am going for around 22.

Disclaimer: I do not own Lemonade Mouth or any beautiful song that Brand New has written.

With one or two, Wen got used to the atmosphere of the dingy, smoke ridden bar. He came alone that night, wanting to consume a shameful amount of alcohol and have time by himself, for once. He stared down at his almost empty Tom Collins and sighed at the prospect of having to order another ridiculously over priced drink. He wasn't even sure that his ego could take another blow from the bartender after she scoffed at him and told him that he must have had an "old soul" for ordering such an archaic drink. When he waved her down she merely laughed at him, hastily made his Tom Collins, and brought it over to him while flaunting he ever present cleavage. Her actions were no doubt for nothing more than receiving a better tip from the redhead.

He sighed again and put his face in his hands. Where had his life gone in the last few years? Ever since the band had broken up, he felt as though he had nothing left. He barely had enough money saved up to possibly further his education at some kind of university. There definitely wasn't a lot of room in his budget for ordering numerous amounts of Tom Collins', but he felt like he had earned a little break for himself; he did just have a really awful night. His girlfriend Lyla had finally left him after having had enough of his commitment and emotional issues, and to top it all off, he had relieved an angry text message from Stella that included a particularly nasty name for him and some bullshit about getting the band back together.

Like that would ever happen. They had ended things on an indefinitely sour note, and none of the other members could even find Olivia. He sighed yet again at that thought as he tried to reach for an ice cube to chew on since he could not bring himself to get any more alcohol without his wallet becoming completely devoid of any cash.

Olivia.

Oh, how horribly they had treated her. His biggest regret was not seeing the warning signs that had blatantly ensued in the blonde's actions. Her father had been released from jail soon after they graduated high school. When that had happened, something within her had snapped. She constantly had told the rest of the group that she was fine and that she did not need any help even after all of them had told her on numerous occasions that they would stick together no matter what. He and the other members ultimately decided not to push it with her, and that led to her snapping one day.

That day was still fresh in his mind. Charlie was having a hard time keeping the beat on their newest song, which led to Olivia flipping out and telling him that he needed to try harder. She then exploded and proceeded to tell everybody that she was sick of carrying the band and that they all needed to go screw themselves. Wen still cringed at the thought. He had never heard her be so full of hate before. She then began to cry and went on to say that no one even cared about her anymore and they were all self-centered assholes. She gave Wen one last earth shattering look and ran out the door and out of their lives. He tried to chase after her, but she was already gone. They decided to give her her space. What they didn't foresee, however, was the fact that she would not return any of their calls. She never seemed to be at her apartment anymore, and Wen was not all entirely sure if she still lived there.

Why was he thinking about this? This was only further putting him in a less then desirable mood. He felt like he was to blame. He felt overwhelmed with self-pity and hate that he did not care for her like he should have. Sure, she had exploded on them, but when he looked back at it, it was not out of the blue. She had been acting dreadful for months. She would not laugh at Wen's stupid jokes anymore, at Stella's outrageous outbursts, at Charlie and Mo's eternal dance of pretending not to care for one another. Yes, now that he looked back at the whole thing he found that she was so obviously not herself. She was not the carefree and fun loving woman that he had fallen in love with. Not that he ever had the balls to tell her, but he figured that she had not returned his feelings considering that it never had come up, not even after that God forsaken interview.

He knew that she was hurting and he just stood there and let her face it all alone. Of course she insisted that that was what she wanted, but he should have pushed her. He should have made her talk, made her open up. But no, he was too much of a pushover and gave her what she wanted, even though that was not what she needed.

Just when he was at the peak of his self deprecation, she felt his cell phone vibrating with a call. He pulled it out of his jean pocket and groaned when he saw that the caller id was Stella Yamada. He rolled his eyes and answered the call, "What do you want, Stella?"

He heard some kind of response, but he could not make it out. It was then he realized that he was in an obnoxiously loud bar, so he reluctantly stepped outside to take the call. When Stella had heard the background noise had seized, she began grilling him, "Holy shit Wen, where the hell are you? The Play Boy Mansion?"

Despite himself, he chuckled, "Oh yes, you see, that is why I really can't talk right now. I have like three bodacious blondes all over my ass. You understand."

She returned with her own laughter, "Well what I do understand, Wendell, is that you have not been returning any of my calls or texts, so I do think that those breast implanted bimbos can wait, don't you think? Who are you anyway, Olivia?"

His momentarily jovial mood immediately diminished, "That was a low blow, Stell."

Wen could practically feel her frown, "Look, I'm sorry Wen, but you have barely spoken to any of us in months. What the hell am I supposed to think?"

"I know Stell, but…but it's just that—"

"I know, Wen. I know that you are still hurting…but you don't have to face this all alone. Please, I can't lose another one of you."

His walls went up at that comment, not wanting anyone knowing of his seemingly obvious vulnerabilities, "I'm fine Stella," he stated stoically as it was back to business, "what do you want?"

She sighed at his unnecessary stubbornness considering she knew exactly what was wrong and she could read him like a book, "I think it's obvious."

He pinched the bridge of his nose, getting more and more aggravated as the conversation wore on, "Look, I don't know why you insist on this ridiculous idea of getting the band back together. It is never going to happen." He said through practically gritted teeth.

"Well that is not the only reason why I am calling." She stated defensively.

"Then what? What do you want?"

"I-I just wanted to see that you were still breathing. All of us are really worried about you Wen…" She sounded so desperate, so unlike herself. He was surprised, having never heard her sound so timid before.

"You don't need to worry about me," he grumbled sounding a little bit calmer, "I'm fine, seriously."

"Then how come none of us have seen you and you won't return my calls?"

"I've just been…busy." He stated simply.

"Busy." She retorted, her voice dripping with sarcasm. If he was going to play that game, she would too.

"Yeah, believe it or not, busy."

She sighed in defeat, clearly not wanting to push the subject considering how long it took her to just get him on the phone, "Alright, fine. Well since you are fine and all, I wanted to run an idea buy you."

There was an extended pause; he had a feeling he knew what this was about, "I'm listening."

"I think you already know, but we have been talking about getting the band back together." She said as carefully as she could.

"Yeah, I gathered that," Wen stated obviously, not at all surprised by her words, "and?"

Stella gulped and took a few seconds to compose herself, "Yeah, so…you game?"

He then reopened the subject that had been untouched for months, "Okay, but what about Olivia?"

There was another pause that made it seem like she was trying to think of what to say, "Well, it's not like we want to forget her, but we thought if she saw all of us back together, she would want to follow."

Wen was shocked; he couldn't believe it. Were they really that dense? "Do you really think that she would get that? Do you really think that she would understand that that would be our intention, and not just think that we were moving on from her?" He practically yelled; he was fuming.

"Well, no but I don't really know what else to do Wen! We have tried everything!" She defended.

"No, you haven't. We have not done anything to try to help her! I should have been there for her!" Wen screamed into the receiver.

"Wen, please, you can't blame the whole thing on yourself! There is no way that we could have seen that she was going to react that way." Stella insisted, trying to reassure him.

There were a few seconds that neither of them said anything, as if they were both trying to sink in her statement, but then he said those words that made them both shake with regret, "Well, we should have." He didn't even wait for her response before he pressed the end button, slid the phone back into his pocket, and angrily slammed the door of the bar to get back inside.

He clearly did not have enough to drink yet.

As Wen stormed back into the bar, he only had one thing on his mind: drink more. When he sat back at his normal seat, the bartender approached him with a smile.

"Tough night, red?"

Wen looked up at her, a little peeved at the nickname, "How could you tell?"

She shrugged her shoulders and leaned over the bar; her tight shirt dipped in all the right places to show off her chest, "Oh, I have a gift." She whispered seductively.

He wanted to smile. He wanted to respond with some kind of witty batter to keep the flirtatious repartee going even though he knew would never have a chance with the beautiful brunette. But he just couldn't.

Maybe towards the beginning of the night, or even a few minutes ago before that atrocious phone call with Stella would he of had the energy, the will. It just was not in him anymore. He looked down into his hands feeling ashamed while the bartender's eyebrows pinched together in confusion. In the moment just after he accepted defeat and decided to order another drink, he heard it.

That laughter.

The laughter he used to hear so often before that he didn't used to realize he took for granted all of the times it had hit his ear drums. The laughter that he would do anything thing to hear again, even just for a moment. But here it was, ringing in his ears, and despite all of the other noises around this pathetic excuse of a bar, it was clear as day. He looked around him to try to see if he was delusional or not, but it only started to sound louder and louder as time passed. The bartender had completely given up on his sudden case of cold shoulder, rolled her eyes, and moved on to someone else. Wen didn't care; he just wanted to find the source of this maddening laughter. Then, just as soon as it had started, it had stopped. He instantly frowned at the loss.

Well, it was official, he was going crazy, and somehow that did not surprise him. Then again, he did just have a few drinks; maybe he could blame it on that instead of on his slow decent into lunacy. Nothing more alcohol couldn't fix. He was convinced that the bartender had enough of him, but he really needed another drink more than ever.

Right when he was about to open his mouth to try to get the attention of the bartender again, a few people moved from the other side of the bar. Suddenly the owner of the ominous laughter became very visible to him.

The bartender saw that his mouth was half open and his hand was raised halfway into the air, so she approached him again to see if he needed anything; oh, the things she would do for tips.

"Do you need another drink, red?"

He did not seem to be listening at all, so she tried her luck again to get his attention, but to no avail. All he did was continue to stare into the same direction and gradually lowered his and closed his mouth.

Wen was in a completely different focus by the time he got up off of his bar stool. He went slowly when he first made his move to try and get closer to his destination. The whole time he made his way over to the other side of the bar, he was trying to convince himself that none of this was real. He was seeing things again, that had to be the only explanation. But why was it that the closer he moved, the more real it seemed? As he finally reached the other side of the room, he was in complete awe, standing in front of her.

He made his way to her somehow and she didn't even notice his presence. Since he wanted to himself to be known, he wanted to seem suave and carefully calculate the perfect words that would impress her. This did not go as smoothly, however, as his blood alcohol content levels were not friendly to him, and he stumbled over his words, "O-Olivia? Is it you?" As soon as it blatantly came out, he instantly regretted it. Well that must have sounded stupid. Just when he was about to rethink his word choice, she finally turned to him.

The smile that she had on for the guy she was talking to completely vanished; her eyes dulled and her brows furrowed. She didn't say anything for a few seconds so the guy she was flirting with took that as initiative to speak for her, "this guy bothering you?" He asked as he stood up; he was more stout and muscular then Wen was, but Wen had a few inches on him in height. Wen took that as a small victory. Olivia still did not falter her gaze from Wen's. Olivia's self-titled body guard still did not understand what was going on, but he decided to change his approach and instead faced the redhead, "you gotta problem buddy? I believe Olive and I were trying to have a conversation here. Would you mind?"

What an idiot. He couldn't even get her name right. She could do so much better than this bag of useless muscles.

Olivia blinked a couple times and finally found her voice, "Wen?"

It only took that one syllable of his name for his insides to melt into goo and form an absolutely goofy grin on his face. The alcohol was hitting him harder then he thought, "Hey."

"W-what are you doing here?" she asked drunkenly. She was clearly inebriated.

"I could ask you the same question." He said as soberly as he could. He wanted to seem composed.

"Well I thought that seemed obvious, right?" she questioned in her palpable stupor.

The conclusion was not obvious to Wen; however, he was thoroughly confused. He tried searching for an answer in her alcohol laden eyes. Her makeup was slightly smudged, but Wen still found her to be a vision, "Wha…what?" he questioned lamely.

She slowly smiled at his obvious ignorance, and threw her arms up in the air enthusiastically, "It's ladies night; all the girls drink for free!" She practically screamed, and despite the loudness of the bar, all of the women still seemed to hear her and gave a unanimous "Woo!"

After all the woman had completed their rejoicing, Olivia had resorted to giggling and trying to push her hair out of her face while still holding her martini. At this, Wen finally strode the two spaces that separated them and assisted in the taming of her hair. He tucked the remaining tresses behind her ears. When he was finished, his hand lingered on her check before it clumsily dropped to his side. He began to wear another ridiculous grin; Olivia matched his with one of her own while she took a generous sip of her drink. He looked down at her glass and wondered if that guy she was flirting with had ordered it for her. Oh no, he realized, that the other guy had completely fallen out of his radar in just a matter of seconds. Just as the thought elapsed in his brain, he heard a throat clearing. He came to find that Olivia was far too distracting for his own good.

They both turned slowly to the forgotten stranger. His aggression was nearly tangible, "Are you serious blondie? You're with him?"

Despite the obvious resentment very directed towards him, Wen felt a sense of pride that this guy would think that someone like Olivia would be with him. His ego was immediately smashed by her next comment, "What? No! Don't be ridiculous, Jason! Wen is just…he's just an old friend." She explained, stuttering over her words. Wen was clearly disappointed.

"Jesus Christ," exclaimed the man apparently named Jason as he made to leave, "what does a guy have to do to get laid around here? I knew you were easy, but you move on just like that?" He turned around to walk on to possibly find another girl to reap on, but Wen stopped him by tapping him on the shoulder. He sighed, clearly exacerbated, and turned around, "What do you want? You can have her…I bet she is riddled with all sorts of diseases anyway."

If Wen wasn't already fuming, that really set him off. He responded with punching the guy as hard as he could in the nose. It seemed like a win for him until he realized how much his hand began to throb, and then how much it hurt when a fist made contact with his right eye; the force throwing him backwards onto the ground.

When Wen looked up at his attacker, he found that the man was a lot more intimidating from the floor. His dull brown eyes were looking down at him menacingly, "You just dug your own grave pal." Wen was sure that he was going to meet his own demise, so he closed his eyes. Surprised that he was not feeling any pain and that all of his limbs were still intact, he squinted his eyes open to find that the humongous bouncer had come over and restrained his attacker.

He looked around him to find that Olivia was just standing in the same place with her hand over her mouth, her expression that of shock. His attention went back to the giant black bouncer who was still holding back Olivia's former conquest, now noticing that Jason's nose was profusely bleeding. Well, at least he had that. Absolutely humiliated, Wen slowly made it back to his feet on wobbly legs. His head pounded, his ears ringed, and his eye socket felt like someone had hit it repeatedly with a hammer. Not just any hammer, either, it was like Thor himself had descended from the heavens and whacked Wen over the head with the noxious Mjölnir. He probably looked like a horrible mess, too. Just as he felt he was getting his composure back, he heard yelling somewhere in the back of his senses; he decided to pay more attention to it. The bouncer was screaming at Jason, "I have already had to warn you about fighting in my bar, and here you go starting another one!" He exclaimed; he certainly was frightening with his broad muscular shoulders and deep bass like voice.

"But I didn't start it this time! I swear! It was him!" Jason yelled as he pointed at Wen as the initiator. The bouncer gave Wen the once over and looked back at Jason, clearly giving him a look that said: really?

"Alright, sure sure. And I am a dainty fairy princess. Come on, I am kicking you out." The bouncer threatened as he began to escort Jason outside.

"Wait! Listen to me! I swear it wasn't me this time! It was that redhead guy over there that threw the first punch!" he yelled desperately; it seemed like he was trying to convince everyone.

The bouncer came to a stop as he laughed, "you really expect me to believe that that guy over there started this?" he mocked as he pointed a gargantuan finger at Wen.

Another low blow onto his ego; he wasn't that scrawny, was he? Right when he was about to defend himself, the brunette bartender shouted from her place, "its true, Gerald. I saw the whole thing." She said as she threw a towel over her shoulder. Wen looked over at her, feeling the ultimate amount of betrayal. Well, see if he is ever giving her any drunken tips again, especially not tonight.

Gerald looked at the bartender and nodded. Then he looked back over at Wen with a confused expression; he shrugged his shoulders "Well if the lady says it's true, then it is true…you're out too buddy." He decided as he grabbed Wen's shoulder so hard that he was sure that he shattered something. As he was being yanked out of the bar, it took him a few moments to realize what was going on.

"Wait! Hey! Hold on a second! Don't I even get to explain myself?" Wen asked desperately. Even to him that sounded pathetic.

Gerald looked down at him with somewhat of a grin on his face, "Nope." He stated simply. Wen realized that he probably deals with inebriated people like him all the time. Gerald did not care at all about what he had to say; he had probably heard it a million times before in a million different ways. There is no way that he cared that Wen had finally been reunited with the woman that he has been in love with since he was sixteen. Years of being a bouncer at a rowdy bar has probably calloused him from being sympathetic; to him, Wen was just another disorderly drunkard causing misconduct. He couldn't really blame him for that. It was kind of ironic in a way; Wen never pictured himself as being that guy.

The bouncer slammed the door in their faces, shutting off all of the warmth and light that was illuminating the sidewalk. Wen looked over to his right to see Jason laughing as he walked away. This guy is such a tool, "You think this is funny?" Wen yelled at the back of his head.

Jason stopped in his tracks and turned around slowly, "Yeah, I kind of do. You cock block me, and so I got to cock block you," he said proudly as he let out a sleazy smile; he still had dry blood caked under his nostrils, "looks like neither of us are getting laid tonight, red." He pointed out with the smuggest look on his face. Wen was about to say something, but it was no use; he had already turned on his heel and walked away.

There really was no use to start another fight even though he was so angry that he couldn't see straight. Starting another fight would not solve anything. Jason was right, however, Wen kind of did cock block him out of nowhere. But this was Olivia! How could he of not approached her, and tell her how much he missed her and wanted to be with her? This was not just an average hot girl at a bar. Olivia was more important than any stupid petty fights that he got himself into.

It was then when his dulled senses finally realized that Olivia was not around him anymore. She must have not followed him out of the bar. A new wave of sadness and rage had washed over him. He leaned against the wall of the bar, rubbing his face with his hands. The last look that he saw on her face was that of bewilderment and probably disappointment. What the hell was he thinking, starting a fight like that? She probably wants nothing to do with him anymore.

He looked up at the slow, dimly lit street and sighed deeply. Not really knowing what else to do, Wen pushed himself off of the brick wall and put his hands in his pockets. He was definitely way too drunk to drive, so he deciphered that he was going to have to walk home. Oh well, the long walk would be a good way to sort out all of his self deprecating thoughts.

And so, he turned around and walked away, in more ways than one.

Okay, okay. I know what you are thinking; that was really dark. The characters seem a little out of place and maybe a little OC, but that is what I was going for. These are the older, angstier versions of these characters. Now, bear with me! I have a vision of where I want this story to go, and this is the route it is taking right now. If you really don't like the morose tone, then either be patient, or don't read it I guess. I hope the latter is not the case though…

Anyway…I hope you enjoyed this first chapter, and reviews would make my heart happy! :)