Pretty Wreck by J.R. Gray

Alister Fox
The pretty boy. The loner. Old Hollywood.
I had all kinds of names as the least known member
of the most famous band in the world.
Behind all the hype and masks, I’m just a Pretty Wreck.
No one knows the disaster I am,
my secrets hidden behind style and a smile.
I’ve been running for as long as I can remember,
but I can’t get away from the gilded cage of fame.
I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to keep it together.
I’m forced to go back on tour to play the summer concert circuit,
and so is the guy I’ve avoided for two years.
Ten years older than me, he’s the bassist for the hottest punk band.
He beds a different girl every night,
but while the rest of the world slept, he’d crawl into my bed.
He’s the only person who has ever felt safe,
but he’s straight, so I ran from him, too.
Now I have to face him and it’s all unraveling.
I’m afraid I’ll be the first to break,
bringing our fame crashing down.
Kingsley Cole
My words have gotten me in trouble for as long as I can remember.
They got me suspended from eighth grade
and banned from online forums,
but they also made us famous beyond our wildest dreams.
Poetry and scorn.
My deepest thoughts, raw and exposed for the fans to consume.
They spawned rumors and ruin, and they’re about to do worse.
He hasn’t spoken to me in years.
But our secret keeps bleeding into my songs.
My next album is a ticking time bomb and when it hits,
it will be the end of us.
What will be left but a pretty wreck?