A Marching Band Love Story

Competition: Part 2

I looked around and saw nothing but waterfalls and flamingos. 

I walked up to one of the feathered pink creatures and started to pet it.

All of the sudden, one of the flamingos started shaking me.

"Chelsea," it said, "Chels..."

My eyes opened and instead of a pink flamingo viciously attacking me, I saw that Logan was shaking me. 

"What was that thing you were saying in your sleep? About flamingos?" he asked.

"Never mind that. I had a dream," I replied.

"Well, awards are about to start, so stay awake."

"I'll try."

The awards ceremony seemed to take hours. We got best dance line, best drum majors, and best music in our class. Overall, we did pretty well. Finally, we were dismissed to go back to our buses.

There were seas of people in all kind of uniforms and colors everywhere I looked. The flute section (plus Logan) struggled to keep up with the rest of the band because we were all half-asleep and too lazy to hurry.

"Hey, Chels, can you stop for a second? I've gotta tie my rollstep," Logan said as he bent down to tie it. I watched as he put one bunny ear over the other and got back up. "Thanks," he said, and we continued walking.

However, we weren't following the right band. "Umm, Logan, where'd Westpoint go?" I asked.

"I don't see them anywhere," Logan said with concern, scanning the masses. "Can you call someone?"

"Sure," I said. I pulled out my phone and called Anna.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Where are y'all? Logan and I got separated from the rest of the band."

"Well, there's a band wearing purple behind us. Then blue. Are you near any of them?"

"Nope, but there's yellow and some shade of pukey green." 

Anna paused. "Hey, I remember from last year there were two buildings beside each other. Do you see a building with large white columns and one beside it that looks like a library?" she asked.

I looked left and right until I located the correct ones. "Yeah," I replied.

"Well, go in between those and you should see the buses. We tried going there last year, but it was a little small for two hundred kids to fit through. Try going there."

"Thank you so much!" I exclaimed.

"No problem! If you don't see the buses, call me back, okay?"

"Gotcha." I hung up the phone and showed Logan the buildings. He remembered going through there, too, so we started towards them.

I have to say, I'm not a huge fan of alleys. Because I'm claustrophobic, I sometimes get panic attacks when an area is too small. It was cold and dark, too, and I started to feel like the walls were closing in on me. The two walls of brick were getting closer and closer. The air was too cold to breathe, but somehow, I was sweating.

I froze.

"Chels?" Logan asked when he realized I wasn't beside him. "What are you- oh gosh, I forgot you were claustrophobic. This was a bad idea."

A soft "Yeah" was all I could manage.

"Hey, look at me. The walls won't close in on us. The buildings will stay right where they are, I promise. And hey, if they do, I'll make sure they don't get anywhere near you, okay?"

I nodded slowly.

"Do you need to stay here? Or leave? Or sit down? Just tell me what you wanna do, and I'll do it."

"Okay."

"I know this might not help at all, considering you hate being in confined spaces, but I'm going to do it anyways," Logan said in almost a whisper. He wrapped his arms around me and didn't let go. I felt a rush of panic, but then I relaxed. This felt good. Even though the space around me had gotten smaller, he made me feel... safe. I returned the embrace and we stayed like that for a few minutes until I felt my phone buzz.

Anna.

"Hey, where are y'all? Mr. Taylor is worried," she said.

"We, um... we got a little lost. I see the buses, though, so we'll be there in just a minute," I said, my voice wavering slightly.

"Okay. Bye."

"Thank you," I said to Logan as I turned my phone back off. "That surprisingly helped. Normally I can't stand people touching me because it makes the situation even worse."

"No problem. You ready?"

"Yeah."

I took a few steps. There was that feeling again. The coldness of the air. The menacing brick walls.

"Stop. No. I can't." I said fearfully.

Logan turned around. "Yes, you can. I know you can. Look, the end of the buildings is twenty yards away. Can you make it that far?"

I shook my head. I was trembling.

"Chels, hey, being with me worked last time, right? Come here," he said. Logan scooped me up and carried me bridal-style and I buried my face in his chest. He was warm. 

"Now, look ahead."

Everything was wide-open. There was grass and clear black skies and the bright lights of the buses not too far in front of us.

"See, not so bad, right? Now look behind us. The walls stayed right where they were," Logan said.

"Yeah, I guess not. And thanks again. For helping me."

"Don't thank me. I would absolutely do that every time," he replied.

He took his hand into mine. "Is this okay? Because if it's not okay, I'll stop," he said with a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"It's completely fine," I said. He was actually holding my hand. It felt so good. Logan squeezed my hand and we walked back to the buses where I proceeded to fall asleep on his shoulder for a second time.