Author's Note: First, I wanted to thank everyone who has been reading, reviewing, following and favoriting my story. It's awesome to find that people are reading and liking it.

So this chapter is a little shorter than the others. The other one's I had already written, and I was planning on posting "Meet the Band" and the concert all in one, but I wanted to push forward the story so here's Ari's band.

That Wednesday, Ari got a call from Aaron,

"Ace!" Ari basically screamed into her phone as she picked up.

"Maze, how's it going?" a nasal voice was on the other end.

"Well, I'm fantastic, where are you?"

"I think we're about to get to Port Angels, did you find us a place to stay?"

"Uh, yeah, I gave you the address."

"Yeah… About that… Pepper lost it…"

"Of course he did, that's why I gave it to you!"

"Yeah, well… we sorta had an incident."

"Do I even want to know? Anyway, it's almost in town, but not quite. I'll text it to you."

"Awesome, will you meet us there?"

"Yeah, I'll see if Bella wants to go."

"Yeah, bring Bella," she heard from afar.

Ari chuckled, "Was that Luke?"

"Yep," Ace answered.

"Alright, I'll see you in a bit, I'm so excited!" Ari chirped.

"See you later, Maze," Ace chirped.

They hung up the phone and Ari quickly texted the address of the hostel her friends were going to stay at. She had asked them if they preferred to stay in Port Angels or closer to her, or even if closer to the beach. They all agreed that it be better to stay in Forks and travel around all together. She called Bella up to see if she could take her. Bella hadn't made any plans with Edward knowing that Ari's band was probably getting there on Wednesday.

Bella came by around half an hour later to pick her up and they went to the hostel that her friends were going to be. When they got there, they hadn't yet, but a few minutes later a large Jeep pulled up.

"Hey, girlies!" Ace called, pulling over.

Ace was the bassist of the band, and also helped a lot with lyrics of all the songs, making arrangements on vocals and sound. He was the oldest of the group at 24. He was a tall, buff and handsome guy, with dark brown short haircut.

In the car and getting out were the rest of the boys: Pepper was a light brown skinned skinny boy, age 19. He sported short brown curls. He played the guitar. He was gay, and a stoner, like Luke. Luke a 20 year old who was always high as a kite, he had dirty blond hair that was long enough to cover his ears. Luke was responsible of percussion. Lastly, John was your typical ladies' man, at 24 years as well. He was black and had a short afro. He would sometimes do the boy vocals on songs that called for it, but mostly he was the mixer/producer, making everything sound perfect.

They all got out of the car and one by one greeted with a great hug Ari and Bella.

"Man, I missed you guys so much, why couldn't your dad live like… closer?" Luke mumbled looking over at Bella.

She just shrugged, "It's a long way, but it's cool here."

"So, where are the girls?" Ari asked, and as she finished the words, a Sedan pulls up.

"Heeeey," was called from a blond whose body was half way out the back window.

"Nina!"

"There they are," Ace smugly said.

The girls consisted of Nina, a pale tall 19 year old girl with straight blond angelic hair that reached half her back. Her eyes were sky blue, with light freckles spread all over her nose and she had the air of a 1960's hippie all around her. She was cheerful and dark all wrapped in a nice little package. The driver, Jasmine (Jazz), was a bronze skinned girl, whose eyes were green with flashes of yellow around the iris. She was 23 and had medium length frizzed curls and wore tons of bracelets and necklaces. Both of them were singers of the band along with Ari. Finally, Christina was 18 like Ari, and her place was on the keyboards, and although she dressed in mostly dark clothes, she wasn't as dark as she let on. Her hair was black and short at the back, with a longer pink side fringe that covered one of her eyes.

As they all greeted each other.

Bella wonders, "So, how was the trip?"

Nina turns to her with a little sparkle in her eyes, "It was fantastic, I love road trips, you know?" She looked up to the sky, "Just staring at the world pass by a little window. It's like having external eyes. Always going, always arriving, hellos and goodbyes to each city, to each town, every new person is just so interesting."

"We went through all of the California coast," Jazz explained, as they made their way to the hostel reception.

Luke placed an arm over Bella, which made her uncomfortable but unnoticeably since she always sort of looked like that, and sighed looking at the sky, "It's the constant motion, you know, going wherever the road takes you, not looking back, just forward."

"Like rivers" pitched Chris, "Flowing into the ocean, the ocean doesn't know what the river brings but accepts it none the less." She stared off into nothing, remembering the sea and its smell and its immensity.

"Now I wish I drove here with you, guys." Pouted Ari.

"Don't pout, we still have cross country road trip that we just have to do." Reassured Ace, standing near the receptionist.

"So, what was the incident that happened?" Ari asked him, curiously.

He laughed, "We got pulled over by the cops. Pepper freaked and threw a bunch of stuff over the window, including the address."

She glanced over at Pepper, who was texting or using his phone or something.

He looked up with a panicked expression, living the memory, "Dude, they were totally going to arrest us."

"They we just going to tell us that the roads were being fixed," Ace admitted, shaking his head slightly.

"When did you leave?" Bella asked him.

"On Monday," Jazz answered her.

"Whoa," was all Bella managed to come up with.

"Hey, hey, hey, so what are we doing tonight?" John's voice echoed with excitement as he walked up to the group. He had been on the phone outside until now.

"Well, I was thinking we could go somewhere around here, I think there's a bar like 3 blocks down." Ari told him.

"The Pirate Ship, yeah," Bella assured, glancing down.

"Sound cool," Nina sighed.

"Arrr, I've a fierce fire in my belly tellin' me to fill it up with lots o' rum," Luke made a scary pirate face.

The girls laughed,

Nina perked up, and crunching her nose she jokes, "You salty sea dog, I'ma drink so much rum that ol' Davy Jones gunna be prying the bottle outta my hand."

"Aye, aye, ya foul wench, we be plunderin' this town by the end of the night," continued Luke.

Ari got into it, too, "'Tis a fine day for bloodshed and plunderin' booty, ya scallywags."

"Your room is ready, sir." Called out the receptionist, amusing at the pirate speak and looking a little confused while doing so.

The new arrivals all left for their rooms. They would be staying at a 10-bed room. Bella and Ari stayed behind, waiting for them.

"It's weird, see them here, isn't it?" Ari told her friend.

"Yeah, I'd forgotten how… fun they are." She chuckled.

"Man, I missed them," Ari sighed.

Bella smiled at her, "How long are they staying?"

"Just until Tuesday, I think. I want to show them around, maybe go to the beach."

"Yeah, totally."

"We have to rehearse at the club tomorrow, I think it's going to be all day, probably. We haven't played since I left."

"Do you have any new songs?"

"Well, Ace and I have been fixing up a few tracks, but the setlist is already programmed."

The girls chatted for a bit more before the band began to appear at the lobby threshold.

"Alright, lead the way, girlies," Ace encouraged.

Bella looked at Ari, "I don't if I'll go."

"What? Why not?" Ari pleaded.

"Yeah, Bells, come with us!" Jazz told her.

"It's just that I don't think they'll let me in."

"Oh, Bellis, did you really think we wouldn't hold out for you, here." Nina reached in her purse and pulled out and ID card, "It's my sister's, you guys look alike."

Bella didn't see too happy, but she smiled none the less and agreed to go.

When they reached the bar, they all showed their IDs and there was absolutely no problem. They settled in a big table and piratesque music played. They all ordered a round of beers, even Bella, although it was her only one of the night, and soon enough they were joking and talking about a bunch of stuff.

Pepper, involved in the conversation and all, did pay a lot of attention to his phone.

"Peppeeeer, who ya texting, huh?" Ari teased.

He blushed, "It's James, I met him though my cousin."

"Is that the new man in your life?"

"I mean, we are just talking," He smiled sheepishly and embarrassed.

"Talking 24/7," peeped Jazz, nudging Pepper's side.

"Everyone is coupling up now," sighed Nina, she never had luck in love, "Bella, what about you boyfriend? Are we going to meet him?" Her voice was encouraging. Luke looked sad, he had always had a thing for Bella, but he already knew that she had met someone here.

Bella smiled awkwardly at the request, "Yeah, well, he's going to the show with me."

"Alright, we'll get to see just how drop dead gorgeous this guy really is." Jazz added mischievously.

And Modest Mouse's Float On started playing.

"Oooh," Ace perked up, "I love this song." And he started singing it.

At the second verse, Luke joined him, and Nina knew a few lines too. The rest enjoyed the singing and joined at the chorus, except for Bella. Bella wasn't a singer at all.

The night kept on and they kept talking about a bunch of things. Although, it was mostly catching up with Ari. Everyone talked about what had been going on in their lives the past couple of weeks. Ace had met a cute girl but that was just it, he hadn't gotten her number and regretted it. John teased Ace about it, saying that there was no need for phone numbers, and he'll go with him to a club so he could meet another girl. Luke bought a new set of cymbals and was talking to this other guy about starting a band. Pepper told Ari how he had met James in the first place, with excruciating detail. Nina spoke about how her sister left to go see collages and ranted about her sister's dead beat boyfriend. Jazz commented on the fight she had with her 5 year boyfriend. Chris said there wasn't anything new in her life, except that she had watched a great whale documentary and started talking about whales.

Whenever a song they knew come up, they all stopped and sang along like jolly pirates. It was great fun and Ari hadn't been as happy in a long time.

There was a great synergy in the group. Each of them were so different yet converged in different matters. Music was a big one, but they had all a great appeal in other areas, as well, including sense of humor and support for each other. They had been friends for a long time. Chris and John were the ones that were the least close, though. John had been a longtime friend of Ace's, while Chris was brought in by Nina. In any case, writing music and putting on shows made everyone need to trust and work together. Sure they fought sometimes, but never too bad. Everyone had a place, a job to do, and adapted to changes. Most of them pitched song lyrics or sound ideas, while everybody else commented and molded the ideas, until the mix was well balanced.

They night wore on and even though the group was up for partying every day, they had just had a 3 day long road trip, so they called it a night around midnight. They walked to the hostel and Bella drove Ari to her house. Ari thanked Bella for going with her and gave her friend a good night hug.