White Noise // Noah Sebastian

3.

Noah's POV

"Noah?"

I stood there in disbelief. "Holy shit, this is not real." Is all I can spill out. I cannot believe I get to see this beautiful human I briefly met at the airport not long ago. I was kicking myself last night thinking about how I never got her number. She said nothing but walked over and gave me a hug. Her embrace is warm and she smells like lavender with a hint of vanilla. I broke the hug with my hands still on her shoulders. "Wow, I can't believe we're meeting again. I thought you were going to Atlanta?" She cocked her head to the side with an amused smile, her southern accent coming out strong. "We were, our first show was there, this is our second stop." I smiled back at her. One of the guys coughed to remind us that they were still there, I'm assuming her brother, as I already know Cal.

"Wait, so you guys know each other? I'm so confused." Cal pointed at both of us, eyebrows raised. "We actually met at the airport yesterday, this is a hell of a coincidence. Brent, this is Noah." We shook hands, Brent looked like he was going to say something to Avery with a smirk on his face but she shut that down really fast. I smiled, amused, wondering if she told him about our encounter.

"Showtime boys!" Spencer waltzed in handing everyone a shot of Jameson, a ritual we've been invited to by the band. "So happy to be here with everyone today, let's kill it!" Everyone mumbled happily and cheered.. I tilted my head back and felt the burn down my throat as I glanced at Avery noticing she spilt some down her chin. "You spilt something." I joked, taking my thumb and cleaning off her chin. "Don't you have a show to play?" She playfully shoved me towards the door.

Avery's POV

"Knock 'em dead!" I yelled to everyone, but specifically to Noah. Since Ice Nine Kills were headlining they were hanging around the stage along with Bad Omens listening to Beartooth. One of the last ones to leave the green room, two women came up to me and introduced themselves. "Hi, I'm Nadia and this is Shev." They both embraced me in a hug. "I'm embarrassed to say I already know who you are." My cheeks heated up slightly. "Gorgeous in pictures, more gorgeous in the flesh." They laughed as I was low key fangirling over them. "Come with us to watch the show."

I followed Nadia and Shev to side stage, Shev going to work and Nadia and I meeting up with Spencer. "So, how's your first side stage experience?" Spencer nudged my arm. "Honestly amazing. I don't want to fangirl, because apparently I already embarrassed myself over your fiancee and Shev." He laughed. "But I just want to say thank you." I turned fully to him, I could tell even with the lights down I had his full attention. "For?" He asked, his eyebrow raised. Immediately embarrassment washed over me. "Nothing." I ran out of confidence to tell him and turned my focus over to Beartooth, singing quietly to myself. They were playing Skin and that song hits me so hard. Spencer leaned over to me so I could hear him just above the music. "I will bother you about this later." He gave me a small smile.

It was time for Bad Omens to take the stage and INK went back into the hallway to warm up leaving Nadia and I. The guys walked past us while heading to the stage and I yelled good luck towards Noah. He turned around backing onto the stage and winked at me causing me to laugh. Nadia leaned over. "So, Noah?" She asked silently questioning me. "What about?" I asked. "Oh come on." She turned to me. "You cannot tell me you guys are not into each other." She giggled. "I've known him for two days, I mean he's cute and so nice..I just don't know much about him..I don't trust many people.." She gave me a small smile and a side hug. "Well here's my number, and now you're stuck with me." She said while taking my phone from my hands and putting her in my contact list.

Shev ran up to us looking stressed. "Lot of extra work tonight, the things I do for your man!" Grinning at Nadia and then turning to me. "Avery, obviously you're a fan and have seen the show." She stated and I felt immediately embarrassed again. "I need help tonight. Would you go on for me during A Rash Decision?" Apparently all of my dreams are coming true today, but as much as I would like to say yes I am way too damn uncomfortable in my own skin to do that. "I don't kno-" I was cut off by Spencer walking up behind us in his Hip To Be Scared outfit. "Avery, you've got this. Don't worry, I don't bite." He joked. I rolled my eyes. I wasn't going to say not to Spencer and Shev. Before I could answer she grabbed my wrist and dragged me away, I turned around looking scared as hell at Nadia and Spencer who both gave me a thumbs up.

"Okay so you're going to get an easy one. You're not going to actually killed by Spencer but you will be "cutting your face off." I instantly became nervous, that dress, being that close to fans, that dress, is so short. "Are you sure I can fit into that dress?" I asked Shev nervously. "Oh babe, you've got this. It's adjustable and stretchy if that makes you more comfortable. The dress is made for a bunch of sizes. You're going to rock it. I made sure of that in case I couldn't be at a show, every single girl has different sizes, and every single girl can rock any dress." I took a deep breath and walked into the bathroom to splash cold water on my face and stared at myself in the mirror before I changed. After I put it on, I just wanted to cry.

I shouldn't be wearing this dress.

It isn't my size. I look stuffed in this dress.

It's too short.

Keep it together, Av. Act tough, break down later, you can't back out of this now. I walked back towards the stage and realized Bad Omens only had two songs left. Noah. I was so busy I did not even have a minute to pay much attention to the stage. I walked back stage side and everyone spewed compliments at me, none that I believed. Good thing it was dark because they couldn't see the resentment towards myself on my face, except for Nadia and Shev, they see right through me. I pushed everything out of my mind for the time being and focused on Bad Omens perform their last song. The crowd went crazy, and Noah had full control and all eyes on him. Did I mention his voice is amazing?

He thanked the crowd and ran off the stage, spotting me right away. I look awful right now. I doubt he would even want to be standing next to me. I smiled through my pain. "Noah! That was amazing!" He smiled back and thanked me. "You look cute." He fumbled over his words. "You going on for Ice Nine Kills?" I nodded. "She's giving me a run for my job." Spencer stood behind me, gently shaking my shoulders. I laughed and it came out as a small snort. "Not in a million fucking years. You want me to ruin all your songs?!" He shook his head laughing, gave Nadia a kiss and followed the rest of the band out on stage.

Noah stood next to me, surprisingly not going to shower like the rest of his band was. We stood there in silence, a comfortable silence and waited for Rainy Day to finish before it was game time. Shev brought over both of my masks and I put one of them on Noah's face, making him laugh. He handed it back to me and right before I went on, in the midst of my panic attack he gave me a quick kiss on my cheek, something I wasn't expecting and relaxed for the moment.

I waited for Shev's cue and made my way on stage in front of the crowd. Just breathe. It'll be over shortly. So many fans taking videos and photographs. These people are going to talk about me. I did exactly what I was told and "cut" my face off, handing it to Spencer and waltzed off the stage. Noah gave me a high five, noticing tears in my eyes, I grabbed my clothes and I fled.

I ran as fast as I could to the bathroom letting the tears flow. Being in front of people like that is hard. I felt so exposed and embarrassed . It's so like me to have an amazing experience, and to have it ruined by my own thoughts. I changed quickly looked in the mirror, my makeup was smudged and I just wanted to go home. I was crushed that all these amazing people I have met will just jump out of my life tomorrow to carry on tour. I'm just another person to them. I cannot get attached to any, especially Noah.

As soon as I was about to leave the bathroom, the door opened. I expected Shev or Nadia, as this is the girls bathroom, but it was none other than Noah. I didn't want him to see me like this, but I was fragile right now. He didn't say anything, but walked up to me and wrapped one arm around my waist and the other one on the back of my head, pulling me into his chest and letting me cry. He pulled away but still had me in his arms and our eyes met, he had concern written all over his face. "Hey, it's okay. What's going on?" He spoke softly.

  "Noah, this has been one of the best days of my life and all I can think about is how embarrassing I looked up on that stage, how gross I feel all of the time about my appearance. I don't want to feel this way. It eats me alive. I've met so many amazing people tonight and tomorrow you will all be ripped away from me." Embarrassed? I looked towards the ground. He took a minute to gather his response and lifted my chin with his fingers.

"Avery, first of all, you will not be ripped away from any of us, especially not me. You have made so many friends tonight, you've been a hit with all of us and we enjoy your company. We are going nowhere tomorrow since we have two days until the next show so we can hang out. Second of all, you are no longer allowed to talk shit about yourself in the presence of myself, better yet, no longer allowed to do that at  all to yourself. You are beautiful and an amazing person  inside and out and I am so excited to know more about what makes Avery..well, Avery. I think I'm going to really like her, but she needs to like herself too."