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18

"Ari, did you want to come to the goodDyeyoung shoot with me or are you going to stay here with Tyler and Jenna?" Josh asked.

We had been in LA for a few days now, staying in Josh's house that he had bought a few months ago.

"I'll go with you." I said, turning to the now yellow haired boy. "When did you get your hair done?"

"Last night. You were asleep, I wanted to surprise you." Josh chuckled.

"I'm gonna miss your pink hair," I pouted playfully.

"Next time I go to change my hair, you can choose the colour." Josh smiled.

"Woohoo!"

"Get your shoes on and grab anything else you need, then we're leaving. I wanna take you to Starbucks considering you've never been."

I grinned. "Okay."

I ran to Josh's room where my suitcase was currently — there weren't any more beds in the house — Tyler and Jenna took the pull-out couch while Josh and I shared his bed.

Unzipping my suitcase, I pulled out a pair of shoes, pulling them onto my feet. I tied up the laces and grabbed my phone, shoving it into my back pocket.

"Ari!" Josh called. "You ready?"

"Yeah!" I called back.

"Hi there! I'm Hayley!" The woman Josh had told me about approached us minutes after we had walked into the recording company.

I smiled and waved, while subtly pulling my sleeves over my hands to cover up the scars residing there. I didn't want any questions, but knowing my luck, I'd probably end up having to answer some.

"Hello to you too, Josh," Hayley embraced Josh in a short hug.

"Salutations." Josh nodded with a chuckle.

"Alright so the label told me we could film in the main room, is that alright?" Hayley asked, leading us into a room

Josh nodded with a yes.

"You don't need to hide them from me Ari." He looked to me now, nodding towards my hands. He spoke quietly.

"It's not you," I began. "I just don't want questions."

Josh placed his arm around my shoulder and squeezed me before letting go.

The shoot went off without a hitch, and we were finished within an hour.

It was pretty boring sitting there honestly, considering I wasn't involved with the filming process. On the way here we had been caught in traffic, (seriously, LA traffic was horrendous,) and we were running late, so the promised Starbucks trip was postponed to after the shoot.

"You ready Ari?" Josh came over to me, placing his hands on my shoulders.

"Mmhmm." I replied.

"Thanks for this Hayley, I had a great time. Shoot me a message when it's out and I'll check it out." Josh called out to Hayley.

"Sounds good. Was nice to meet you Aria." She smiled.

"Nice to meet you too." I said quietly.

"Let's go Ari." Josh smiled, leading me back out to the car. "To Starbucks."

"To Starbucks." I confirmed. "I'm so tired." I yawned.

"Didn't you get much sleep last night?"

"I got a decent amount of sleep — I'm just tired. But it's something more than tired — and I have no idea what it is."

The drive to Starbucks was quite uneventful really, apart from the traffic. Seriously LA, get your traffic under control. It was never like this back home in Columbus.

Pulling up into the car park only down the road from Starbucks, I saw two men beginning to argue.

"Josh, what's happening over there?" I asked him, pulling his attention to the two men.

"I think they're in a fight."

"Do we do anything?"

"I don't want you to get out of the car until they're further away Aria."

"Okay."

We watched the two men who were both completely oblivious to the fact that we were watching them. That's when it seemed to get a lot worse. The two men began to throw punches at each other, and that's when Josh decided to intervene.

"Stay here," Josh said sternly.

I watched as he got out the car and ran over to the two, placing himself between them. There seemed to be a lot of yelling, and Josh pulled the two apart, demanding to know what happened.

It wasn't long before one of the men walked off, leaving the other guy to get in his car and drive away.

Josh came back to the car and sat in the drivers seat with a chuckle.

"This tall, muscular, tattooed man comes walking up to them and they don't run away immediately? I'm surprised." I teased.

"Alright. Now we can go get your Starbucks Ari — no more distractions — or shoots — or fights between middle aged men over a carpark."

"Is that what it was about?! Really?!"