Five Foot Four ((Zach Abels Fanfic))

Chapter Twelve

    I guided her towards the venue, with her hand in mine. She leaned on me slightly and I kept catching her in the corner of my eye looking up towards me. She would stare for a couple of seconds just like I did to her earlier, but I wasn't sure whether she was thinking the same thing I did. 

    "I should get Luce, so we can queue." She spoke.

    "You're not queuing." I said, with a stupid grin on my face.

    "Yes, I am." She raised her eyebrows and her eyes widened. 

    I had told her that it didn't look like she cried but the bags under her eyes had grown and they were even more red. It made me wonder when the last time she slept was because I looked less tired than her and I currently had five hours a night. 

    "So you'd rather stay in the crowd than stand at the side?"

    She raised her eyebrows again and wiggled them up and down and smiled brightly.

    "Okay, wow, that's new." I said, laughing. 

    We reached the arena and there were hundreds of fans standing outside. Rainey pulled me back around the corner and we stood with our backs to the wall.

    "Well, fuck." She said.

    "We can just walk, they'll be fine." I shrugged.

    "Are you kidding? Did you see them earlier, they're mad!" 

    I looked around the corner to see the fans all laughing to themselves, with face paint and made tees... 

    "What then?" I asked.

    "There should be a back way? Any other way in? Or the way out that you'll take later?" The volume of her voice went down at the end.

    "I guess so... " I looked around the corner, again.

    "Or we could try something else." She said, "I'm going to queue and speak to some of them while you walk past as normally as you can?"  

    "But how would you get inside?" I asked, realising that she left out that part.

    "I guess I wouldn't... Would you be able to tell Luce to come outside because I'm in the queue?" 

    The back door was located where the last people in the line were, so we would be walking out in public. 

    But I didn't really care.

    Not even one bit.

    So why was I stressing out so much?

    "Stay close." I said and walked out from the wall, with Rainey's hand in mine. 

    She hesitated but then carried on beside me. 

    Rainey put her head down and quickened her pace as we approached the fans. I couldn't tell whether she was afraid to see them with me or whether it was something else, but her hand clenched mine and held it tightly. 

    Fans had started to see me and ran towards us, asking for pictures and shit. I told them that the guys would all come out after the show for pictures but they didn't listen. 

    I pulled Rainey forward and we moved through the crowd faster than I would have thought. Rainey smiled at the fans and spoke to a couple of them, repeating what I just said and they nodded and made her promise.

    We crossed the last lot of fans and some of them were already taking photos with the flash clear on their phones and cameras. Rainey blinked at the light and looked at me, full of laughter. 

    She was everything. And so much more.

    We entered the doors and made our way to where the others would be. 

    It was dark inside and there were dozens of people rushing around with equipment and wires. We dodged them and moved swiftly around them as carefully as possible. There was a low sound of a bass echoing through the room, vibrating our bodies.

    "Z! Dude, where you been?" Jesse shouted, spotting us.

    I followed him towards the doors that held house lights and he led us to the rest of the band, Lyss, Dev and Lucy. Their eyes all shot towards me and Rainey and we stood awkwardly together. 

    "It's insane out there!" Brandon said, pointing towards the window.

    I shrugged, "We made it through pretty easily." 

    Lyss came from behind him and wrapped her arms around Brandon. He held her arms there tightly and they started whispering. 

    "Hi, I'm Devon!" Dev approached Rainey with a smile.

    Rainey laughed, "Yeah, I know, I'm Rainey."

    "Yeah, I know." She grinned and Jesse joined us. "Hey, didn't I meet you earlier?"

    "Yeah, you did." Rainey nodded.

    "You had the eyebrows," Dev said, "The really good ones!"

    "Wow, okay." I said.

    Rainey looked over to Lucy, who was still talking to Jeremy and Mikey. She looked over and waved at Rainey.

    "Are you gonna stay with us, then?" Alyssa asked.

    "Huh?" Rainey furrowed her eyebrows.

    "On the sides." She confirmed.

    Rainey looked at me and shrugged her shoulders. I nodded at her and then at Alyssa.

    "Yes, she is."