Show Stoppin (on hold)

Chapter 4 - Sydney's Lost

“What do you mean you decided to explore and got lost” Ava whispered harshly into her phone. “Don’t use that tone! You know I get lost in paper bags, what did you expect?”  Sydney said, her voice growing louder. Ava cringed as the announcer said yet another number.

She mentally tried figuring out how long of a wait they still had. “Ok what floor are you on? “ Ava said into the phone, trying to ignore how big of a difference there was between her number and the one they called. “Um, I think four…” Sydney said, Ava heard her walking towards some voices “hey, what floor is this?”

“OMG, Ave’s I’m gonna have to call you back!!!!  Gotta go bye” Sydney said, rushing her voice to that point it was barely understandable. Ava stared at the phone for a minute until the ringing sound of the ended call started. What just happened?

“Aww did the poor little lonely girl get ditched?” said the girl from the row in front. Ava closed her eyes briefly, trying to think of a comeback.  Why of all times did Sydney think that exploring/ getting lost was a good idea? Or better yet, why did she decide to go alone?

Ava opened her eyes, seeing that the girl was still looking at her. Trying to dislodge the idea of just moving to another section she picked back up her phone and pretended to have something better to do. Finally the girl in front huffed and turned away, talking loudly as if everyone else wanted to know what her and her friends had to say.

“It’s not personal you know” said a voice to Ava’s left. She turned, readjusting in the small arena seats “what?”

“I said-” Ava cut him off, shaking her head before talking “I heard what you said, I just don’t see how it’s not personal. She doesn’t even know me, and yet she still picked me out of everyone else to bother” Ava sighed, running her hands through her hair. She seriously needed to find a way to make it through the next few hours without having to deal with that girl.

“She was picking on someone else as her target till you came along” the guy said, pausing for a second as yet another number got called. “See that girl in the very first row, the one with the braids” Ava nodded at his words, focusing on the girl as she twirled her hair while talking to an older lady that resembled what people expected a grandmother to look like.

“Mean girl here” again he gestured to the girl who was previously annoying Ava “had been taunting her for at least thirty minutes before you came along”. Ava looked down at her lap, then back up at the guy who randomly started talking to her.

He was cute, in an almost hot but not quite there yet sort of way. His blonde hair hanged a little, brushing the tops of his forehead, while his hazzle eyes waited patiently for her to respond. Making a small animal like sound in defeat Ava dropped her head into her hands “why would she even do that? More than likely none of us will ever see each other again”.

The guy shrugged “its competition. Any person here might just be the next star of the show. My guess is that either she’s nervous because it probably won’t be her or she just thinks that if she can rattle enough people maybe her chances will be better.”

Ava nodded her head still holding it in her hands causing her hair to fall forward.   She blew one of the strands away from her eyes “I’m not a threat to her though, like at all. I only want to get through the day as quickly as possible so I can go back home and not miss the season finally of one of my shows”.

The guy she was talking remained silent.  Hearing the little chirp from her phone Ava sat back up pulling the device out of her jeans pocket. Staring at the bright screen she read the message from Sydney asking what section she was in.

Ava shook her head remembering that she had already told Sydney at least twice. As she finished typing her reply the guy besides her cleared his voice “what did you mean not a threat?”

She looked over at him, noticing how his tan fingers played with a small camera that wasn’t in his hands before.  Keeping her phone in her hands for fear of Sydney still needing directions Ava quickly filled him in on why she was there.

“So your friend just abandoned you to explore? Dude that’s harsh” he said, actively having more and more to say the longer Ava explained stuff.  Laughing at how he put air quotes around ‘friend’ she tried explaining how distractible Sydney was, before pointing out that he didn’t appear to even have anyone there.

His smile vanished and Ava started backpedaling in her mind. How could she point out that no one was there for him? She felt so stupid, so borderline mean girl for even using that against him.

And then he smiled; full on teeth showing smile.

“That was too easy” he said, laughing more at the shocked expression crossing Ava’s face. “but I- I’m sorry, I, um, that came out wrong” she blurted, still feeling the need to explain her words. He waved her explanation away “I actually came with my brother” he said, pointing next to him at someone curled up sleeping on a chair.

Ava’s eyes widened and before the guy new it she slapped him. “Ouch! That hurt” the guy said, petting his arm and pretending to check to make sure it was alright. “Yeah ok... just make me feel bad why don't you" Ava muttered, looking at her phone and reading Sydney’s new text saying she would be there in five.  She quickly typed a reply before her attention got pulled back to him.

“So what happened last time you singed in front of a crowd” the guy asked, curiosity coming through his tone.  Ava grumbled, mentally reprimanding herself for telling him how there was a reason she didn’t like singing in front of anyone anymore.

Of course he would want to know what happened. It was human nature to be curious. She watched as the guy laughed.  She tried not smiling with him but failed miserably. Not able to stop her own lips as they widened on their accord. It was just something about the way that he laughed, the way his eyes lit ever so slightly. 

Her smile faltered a little, remembering his question and how that day had played out. She was nine, and it was back when she thought she could do anything. With that idea she had begged her parents to sign her up to sing at the fair that was hosted in the town next to hers.

After pleading and promising not to back out her parents had finally agreed. “Well?” asked the guy besides her, waiting for her to continue talking. “Pretty much I got up on stage, singed half of the song looked out to the crowd and panicked. I ran off at that point and almost puked”.

The guy shook his head “that’s not that bad”.  Ava nodded her head, agreeing with him “no, it wouldn’t have been but my crush back then was in the crowd watching. After a few days passed he came over to hang out with my brother and wouldn’t stop talking about me being on stage. And of course my brother filled him in on how I wouldn’t come out of my room once we came home. It just added so much embarrassment”.

The guy laughed causing Ava to glare at him “and what is your name Mr. I laugh at everything”. He raised his eyebrows, causing her to blush. “It’s Chris” he said, extending his hand out like a professional. “Ava” she shook his hand, watching as the corners of his mouth went up.

“Nice to meet you Ava” he said, still keeping up the mock business related greeting. Ava was about to reply when she noticed that Sydney had finally found her way to the correct section. Their eyes met and Sydney started making her way towards her.

Ava and Chris glanced at each other, silently exchanging smirks. Once Sydney joined she stood standing there for a fraction of a second before flopping down in her seat. “Okay so I have officially found you the perfect boyfriend” Sydney said grinning and looking like an excited puppy dog.

"What?!?" Ava said, eye's growing wide in horror. This could not be good.

---Show Stoppin---

Hey everyone :) So I know, I know this is way late but better late than never right? I'm hoping to get back to updating this pretty often. Next update will be Monday.

Please don't forget to comment/ vote if you liked it.

-Thanks:)