Seven Good Reasons Not to Go to New York

Amy groaned as her alarm went off at 8. She lifted her covers over her head and sighed. When she got into her hotel room last night, she had found Angelica sitting there so mad she was red in the face. She yelled at Amy for a good five minutes asking her what she was thinking and telling her what could have happened. Amy had gotten frustrated and yelled back saying none of it had happened and that she was old enough to take care of herself.

All that got Amy is no TV that night and a promise that she wouldn’t get away the next day. But Amy didn’t care. She was exhausted and fell asleep right away. And she figured she could get out if she was fast and silent. She got dressed picking out a purple zebra shirt she was fond of and a pair of jeans. Also, she took a gray jacket incase it was chilly. She brushed her teeth and decided she didn’t have enough time for a shower so her hair would have to be in a pony tail.

As she went to through her bag she had come upon Ryan’s shirt she had warn yesterday and wondered if she should give it back. Then she thought, there was plenty of clothes at that house and missing one shirt wouldn’t be a big deal. Besides, she might never see Ryan again so she wanted a good souvenir. It was a really cool shirt after all.
After stuffing her feet into her Vans, she went to the window. She looked back at the clock; 8:12, a little early. ‘I wonder if he’ll be there,’ she thought.

She unhooked the latch and pulled on the window. It didn’t budge. She pulled and pulled but it wouldn’t open. Suddenly she heard her door unlock and open and turned to find Angelica with a wicked grin on her face.

“Nice try, but when I find a girl missing with the window open, I don’t make the same mistake twice. I had a mechanic fix the lock so it won’t undue. You are not getting out again.” Angelica laughed and Amy wondered if Angelica was mentally stable.

~

Amy sighed as she added a blue bead to the necklace she was working on. It was now eleven and there was no hope, it seemed, of escaping. The hotel staff was on Angelica’s side and Amy was never alone. When she went to the restroom, Angelica followed. When Angelica finally left to do god knows what, there was a staff member at every exit in whatever room Amy happened to be in, which right now was a small office with only an empty desk, chair, and a bookcase with encyclopedias. And if she tried to get out, they all said the same thing: “Miss McKoff, you are to stay here until Angelica returns.” If Amy insisted that she need go to the bathroom, they would say. “Please be patient and wait for Angelica to return. She will accompany you to the restroom.”

She was going crazy. She hoped Ryan didn’t think she didn’t want to be with him. She imagined him sitting outside her window alone wondering if he had been stood up. That thought made her heart burn. She found that she wanted nothing less than to be with him, out of this jail-like hotel. Her flight left tonight at seven, if she didn’t think fast, she might never see him again. Angelica had even taken her phone so she couldn’t call him.

She added a black bead and looked down at her work. She had decided the necklace would be for Ryan and had made it black, blue, and green. She thought it looked really nice but wondered if she’d ever be able to get it to him. Would he be mad at her? Would he miss her after she left, possibly never coming back?

She hung her head thinking that he was in a raising band and soon he would probably be famous and could have any girl. She would fade from his memory and he’d fine some thin, pretty, popular Barbie that all famous people seemed to find or be. Stupid Angelica. And why did her chest burn so much? It was just irritating her more.

She added the last bead and bent over to slip the string through the hole of a clasp. She tied it three times and then did the same to the other side with the other end of the clasp. Having finished she set it down and leaned back in her chair to bask in her misery for a moment. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Picked up a new string to start a bracelet, Amy heard the sudden sound of a radio as one of her captors was called on his walkie-talkie. He had made some sense of the garbled, staticy talk.

“I’m with Miss McKoff. Do you need me too?” More static talk. “Alright,” and he walked over to Amy and said. “Miss McKoff, there is a major interruption in the main lobby. I am needed to help and I have orders to bring you down with me. You are to stay with me and behave like a young lady should.” With that he helped her up. Before she left she put the finished necklace in her pocket and let the guard led her out the door he had been guarding.

As they walked down the hall she began hearing something. It sounded far away and whatever it was, it was loud. Amy kept listening, her eyebrows furrowing. As she got closer she noticed that the noise had a beat, then a tune. It was music blasting somewhere. It got louder and louder and soon she could hear the distinct sounds of drums and guitars. Then a voice and then screams. Her heart was pounding as the noises got louder and finally, the guard led her to a door and opened it into the large lobby where she found Immediate Reaction playing before what seemed like hundreds of screaming people. The crowd filled the lobby and sure enough Andi spied her and waved with a mischievous smile.

Then, Andi slipped over to where Ryan was standing. Ryan was looking distracted though his fingers were flying on the strings as effortlessly as before. He scanned the crowed craning his neck to see farther. Andi tapped his shoulder and whispered something in his ear. Ryan looked over and smiled when his eyes landed on Amy, who sheepishly grinned back.

“Stay here, Miss McKoff.” The guard said as he began weaving his way into the crowd.

Amy took this opportunity to move to a spot where she could see the band better. They had brought small amps that set on the nice hotel tables and John kept beat on a portable set of two drums and a cymbal. Andi’s mike was plugged into Toby’s amp which, for such a small box, was doing well against the screaming girls in the crowd.

There was hotel staff trying to get the fans out and Clyde was doing an excellent job keeping both fans and staff away from the band. Amy laughed as her guard tried to get up in Clyde’s face, but Clyde’s eyes grew large and he bared his teeth and the guard quickly backed away.
Suddenly Andi yelled into the mike: “Ok everyone! Put your hands up!” The crowd cheered as he took a few steps back and launched himself into the air and landed on the fans, who started passing him around for a little crowd surfing. As he did this, Toby was doing a solo and his hands were racing across his strings. John was hitting his brother on the head with his drum sticks hoping Toby might mess up. Amy noticed they all wore matching black tee-shirts with Immediate Reaction in white and colorful fireworks in the background. They all had on jeans, Toby’s light and comfy, Ryans dark and a little baggy, and John and Andi’s were dark skinnies. She watched them and smiled when she noticed she couldn’t see Ryan. She craned her neck hoping neither the crowd nor the hotel staff had got to him. As she looked around, someone tapped her on the shoulder. She spun around to find Ryan looking down at her with a big grin. She looked at him in amazement and found herself speechless when out of the blue someone bumped into her and she fell into Ryan who wrapped his arms around her to steady her with a surprised look on his face.

She looked up at him, still leaning against his strong chest, and he looked down at her and they both laughed.

“Let’s get outta here.” Ryan suggested and started pulling her through the crowd. Some girls screamed “Hi Ryan!!!” as they passed and others were too focused on the stage.

Finally, they fought their way to the door and with effort pushed it open. The sound was muffled but still loud as they walked to the sad looking torus.

“Are we waiting for your brothers?” Amy asked, buckling in.
“Naw, they’re going to have more fun here.” Ryan laughed as he pulled out. “It’s my job to do the kidnapping.

~

“What do you think?”

“Oh my god!” Amy said through bites of her fist ever In-N-Out burger.

“I know, they’re incredible. Defiantly the best part of living in California.”

“Better then Hollywood?” Amy asked, still enjoying the big burger. She smiled at each bite, it was the best burger she had ever had.

“It gets old when you live close. Everyone’s very materialistic.” Ryan frowned as he took a bite of his own burger.

“Says the guy with the mansion.” Said Amy, making a face. She grabbed a fry and started inspecting it.

“Point taken. Those are made here, fresh cut. That’s why they don’t look like McDonalds year-old processed fries.” Ryan smiled.

“Fry snob.” Amy said munching the fry, which was, she noted excellent. “Are McDonalds fries really a year old?”

“Don’t know.” Ryan admitted, looking right at her with a sheepish grin. “But they are not fresh.” He took a sip of his drink.

“Are you going to spill that on me too?” Amy joked.

“Maybe I will, Dr. Pepper.” Ryan laughed

“Dr. Pepper? Is that what you’re going to call me from now on?” Amy asked.

“Maybe.” Ryan sipped his soda again.

“So… um, was that whole band thing back at the hotel just for me?” Amy asked.

A mischievous grin spread across Ryan’s face and his eyes twinkled. “Impressed?”

“I can’t believe you did it for me.” Amy said cocking her head and getting ready to listen. She leaned forward on her hands and rested her elbows on the table. “We just met, what, yesterday? Has it been 24 hours yet?”

“Well I showed up at 8:15 as planned and by 8:45, I figured something had happened. So when I got home we all remembered you saying something about some babysitter-type-person named Alicia?”

“Angelica.”

“Angelica. So we came up with this little thing to distract her so that you could enjoy your last day. It was really fun actually. Andi liked yelling out into the street about a free concert.” Ryan smiled again and a shiver of joy flew down Amy’s spine.

“Wow. Geez. That’s awesome!” Amy shook her head and thought about how unbelievable this was. She couldn’t wait to tell her friends about it. When she looked back up Ryan was looking at her with searching eyes. Eyes just like the night before, he was looking for an answer and as soon as he locked eye with her she felt like her whole being was being exposed. “What?” she asked.

“So, you liked that we did it.” He said. It was a statement, but there was some question in it, like he was asking more than he was letting on to. It was Amy’s turn to look confused.

“Of course. It was awful there. They took away my phone and had me doing arts and crafts while being guarded by hotel staff. I had no clue how I could escape.” Amy explained

“Alright then. It was worth it… Dr. Pepper” Ryan said polishing off his burger and turning to the clock. “Un-oh we’re going to be late.” He flagged down the waiter and asked for the check.

“Late for what?” Amy asked.

“I called in some favors.” Ryan smiled and looked into Amy’s eyes. Amy’s heart did a flip. It wasn’t until that moment in the greasy, crowded restaurant that Amy realized she was completely and totally in love with Ryan.

For a moment, the world washed away. The noise, the delicious smells, the last bits of food that lay in front of them melted and it was just her and Ryan sitting in space. Amy felt a smile stretch across her own face as she gazed into Ryan’s eyes. It was then that those sparkling blue beauties lost their smile and his eyebrows turned down and gave him a confused look.

“What?” he asked and with that Amy’s fantasy shattered. They weren’t alone; they were in a crowded restaurant. They weren’t floating through space; they were in L.A. And they could never be together; she was leaving in less than six hours and might never see Ryan again.

Amy couldn’t help but feel depressed as she made up a quick excuse. “Um, you have a little ketchup on your cheek.”

“Oh, thanks. That could have been embarrassing.” Ryan said wiping his already clean cheek. The waiter then came back with the check and Ryan took out his wallet. He took out a twenty and a five, set it on the table and turned to Amy. “Shall we?’

“That was a nice tip.” Amy said standing up.

“That was a nice meal.” Ryan rationalized. Then he chuckled as they left the restaurant together.

They hopped in the torus and they listened to The Fray until Ryan pulled into a parking lot.
“Where are we?” Amy asked.

“Hollywood.”

“No way.” Amy looked excitedly outside, hoping to see a celebrity. It was just a parking lot though. There were tourists everywhere with cameras, sunglasses and wild kids. But still, right beyond the pale wall she was looking, at someone big could be standing there.

“You have to see it if you come L.A. I called in a favor and they squeezed us into a behind the scenes tour.”

“No way!” Amy started fidgeting in excitement.

“Stop squirming and get out, you don’t want to be late, do you?” Ryan’s smile grew on his face again, clearly happy that she was so excited. Amy unbuckled and the two hustled over to the door.