STORIES TOLD, STORIES LIVED

Chapter 10

ARINA'S P.O.V

Until we arrived at the first venue.

"Kids, wake up!" James' voice echoed through the bunks. "We're here!"

"Alright alright." I heard Connor reply.

"Start grabbing your necessary stuff so Lonnie can park the bus! And Arina-" James was likely standing by my bunk, but since I closed the curtain, he hesitated to open it.

"Morning!" I surprised him. "Got you, I'll help with everything."

"Leave the heavy stuff to us, girl." Toby added from the middle room couch because wearing his shoes.

I hopped out of my bunk and got ready with everything. First up, my stuff. I put my laptop, its chargers, journal, and pens into one backpack for it's easier to carry this way. I ran to the main building, straight to the guys' dressing room. Then I walked back to the bus to help with the rest. Immediately met Anthony with his overloaded merch boxes.

"Told you not to carry anything heavy." Riley walked pass me somewhere in the main building.

"This isn't that heavy though." I groaned from behind the last giant box that literally covered my whole face.

"Here." He helped me to put it on the merch table. "You're forcing yourself."

"No, not at all."

He scanned my face. I threw my sight all over the place because I couldn't take it anymore to look at him in the eye.

"Yes you are. And please, ask for help if you need one."

That's Riley. One thing I hated so much about him. He could just talk to you like he owned your soul, then walked away and acted like you never existed. Sigh. I was trapped.

"Hey Arina! I might need you here." Anthony burst opened the dressing room door where Riley left me.

"Oh, sure." I quickly followed him.

"We're about to decide the winner." Connor glanced at me as I joined them in the main hall.

"Of course." I checked the list of names. "Pick one, then."

The guys were discussing stuff for a minute before finally came up with a decision. A girl named Anastasia. She left us her Twitter username and phone number, so it's time to work.

"Hi Anastasia, uhm, my name is Arina, I'm with Before You Exit crew. Remember that submission you made to be the fanfiction featured girl? You made it..."

I was talking to this Anastasia girl, with Riley's eyes making holes on my skin. He kept locking eyes at me. I wasn't sure of his role here. Well, perhaps this was what supervising meant to him.

"Absolutely." I almost ended the call. "An hour would be awesome. Can't wait to meet you. Just give me a call. Okay. Bye bye."

Anastasia gave me a quick brief of her life story. Self doubt. What a coincidence that the shoe fit me? I took my laptop and started typing. Needed to wrap this up soon as possible so Anthony could bundle it into pack of books.

"Self doubt?" Riley pulled his chair closer to me.

"Hmm." I cleared my throat. "You, what, checking on my work?"

"No. Just want to stay around."

"But you know, James won't let you be around these girls until VIP performance."

"I'll be gone before she arrives. But why can't I stay around you?"

"I..." Yeah I just literally choked. "No, I didn't say so."

"So you like me being around you?"

What?

"Okay...self doubt." I faked a thinking pose to get rid of disturbing imagination.

"Model music video can be your source of idea. Flaws, weight, skin color, anything that possibly comes in the way of a girl and her potential."

I smiled. Damn, this valedictorian was indeed smart. Riley and I were working together. We made it to compose a short story. It's nearly done. All I had to do was asking Anastasia to proof-read the story so there would be no plot misinterpretation or anything.

"Thank you." I closed my laptop. "Hey, she's here. You should hide."

Riley stood up. "We should do this everyday."

"Uh...don't we? I mean this is my job-"

"I mean I like to spend time with you."

Riley quickly left the room by walking into another room through this connecting door, a second before Anastasia entered the room where I was.

"Hi, it's very nice to meet you." I hugged her.

"Oh my gosh, thank you so much for choosing me!" She excitedly cheered. I knew that feeling. The light in her eyes told no lie.

"You should thank the guys for it." I winked. "So, it's pretty much done. I had enough time to write this and I just finished. However, I need you to re-read this and confirm that I don't misinterpret anything."

"You're done with this? Wow." She hugged me tightly.

"Yeah...either that's a gift or curse." I rolled my eyes. "Take your time. I'll get you some coffee."

So I left Anastasia in that room, while I walked to our tour bus pantry to get her coffee. Lonnie was there, sleeping. Yeah he's a nocturnal, so let him. Done making coffee, I took both cups and approached the main building.

"Girl, everything's alright?" I met Connor at the corridor.

"Yes, Sir."

"Hahaha. You're awesome." Connor asked for a fist bump so I gave one.

"She is, indeed." A voice came from half opened door room which clearly I didn't need to explain anymore.

"Thanks." I glanced at him.

He said nothing. Replied with a wink. Oooookay Arina, it's not the right time to fall.

"Sorry I took so long!" I grinned at Anastasia. "How was it?"

"Thank you so much for capturing story of my life into such a beautiful writing." She fell into my arms, crying.

"Ah sweetheart, not a problem at all. We're dealing with stuff everyday."

"You're so amazing. I wish I could have half of your talent."

"Wow, that's- That's very nice of you." I rubbed her back and helped her to calm down.

"I just love Riley so much." She mumbled.

"Yeah, uhm, he loves you too, for sure."

Anastasia chuckled. "I mean, how can you not, right?"

I sipped my coffee, tried to tame my emotions. This was only the first day of tour and already so many funny things happened.

Yeah girl, how can you not.