Standing By - Avi Kaplan

s e v e n

I pushed the uneasy thoughts out of my mind as I watched Avi out of the corner of my eye. "D-did you give me the blanket?"

Avi turned back to me. "Yeah, I'm hoping that's alright with you?"

I nodded, pulling my knees up to my chest and watching the rest of the movie. However, as the movie finally ended, Mitch ran in, an expression of pure joy on his face. "It's snowing! It's really, really snowing!" He laughed, sitting down next to me.

"Is the snow deep?"

Mitch nodded. "Probably over two feet of snow right now. Good thing we have a hotel right next door," Mitch said, laughing.

The rest of the band walked in soon after, coming and sitting around the couch. "We just announced the snow, and advised people to stay in hotels or nearby friends' houses."

Scott laughed. "I can't believe it's snowing this much in December!"

I smiled. "I really like the snow...but how is everyone going to get back to their homes? No doubt a lot of these people aren't from Pennsylvania. Including me," I chuckled.

Kirstie smiled at me. "Yeah the snow's really nice. But you booked a hotel room for yourself here, right? You weren't planning on going back to Manhattan, were you?"

I sighed. "Well, it is only an hour drive, and no one was expecting the snow."

"Next time, remember to book the hotel...although I don't think that will be a worry of yours considering the next few shows are on the other side of the continent." Kevin turned to me. "Just come with us to the hotel, I'm sure they'll have a room free for you."

When we were all ready, we walked the half mile to the hotel, and I went up to the counter. "Hi, sir, I was wondering if you had a room free?"
 The man looked at me, his hair covered in gel and combed back. "No rooms."

I looked back to the band, a nervous expression splayed across my face. "What do you mean, no rooms?"

"Lots of people came from the concert here. No more rooms vacant."

I groaned. "Okay...well, thank you, sir."

I walked back to the group. "It's completely booked with fans from the concert. Kirstie, can I stay with you?"

She smiled awkwardly at me. "I'm so sorry, but I can't. Jeremy's here, and we only have one bed."

I nodded. "Kevin?"

Kevin shook his head. "I'm sorry."

With one sad last effort, I turned to Scott and Mitch. Before I could even ask them, they looked at me, and Mitch began speaking. "No, we're sorry. Scott and I are sharing a room, and there's only two twin beds in there."

I sighed, trying to put on my best happy face as I turned around. "Avi—"

"Yeah, come on. I'm tired."

I followed him closely, and we went up the elevator in silence. "Um..nice job tonight," I said, feeling completely awkward.

"You fell asleep watching Lord of the Rings. I know you didn't watch us." Avi chuckled softly, calming me down a bit. "Why did you fall asleep?"

I blinked for a moment, trying to formulate words so that I wasn't just rambling. "Uh, well, basically, people took pictures of us together at the cafe."

Avi looked at me completely bewildered. "What?"

"And the pictures went online."

"I'm not following."