The Mess I Made

Everyone’s eyes had turned to the half-naked man standing in the doorway. He seemed confused and groggy as he looked back at everyone that stood in the room, even glancing over his shoulder to look at the woman who had screamed his name in astonishment.

"Wh...What are you doing here?" the red haired girl in the hall asked him, her blue eyes wide.

"I heard loud screaming. Woke me up," he said bluntly, rubbing his left eye sleepily and then turning back to the people inside the doorway. He stepped slightly inside without being asked to, but it was more to move out of the way of the couple that wanted inside. After they had scooted inside and were all together again, Tyson took a good long look at them. His eyes settled on the man that was giving a piggy-back ride, and of course his lovely piggy-back-rider.

"Screaming. Why?" he asked, running his hands through his dark locks.

"Um..." Briana tried to say something but the face had finally registered in her mind just as Katrina shouted his name. How had she not recognized the person she'd had a crush on since middle school? "There's... there's mice..." she muttered, her voice merely a whisper. She couldn't believe that she was talking to him in person. He was so much more attractive than all of the pictures of him combined multiplied by 47.5. She could feel her cheeks heating up again and she tried to hide them behind Gabe's shoulder. Him being shirtless really wasn't helping this situation. She was really glad that she wasn't a boy right now.

Vicky-T was still cowering on the couch, now joined by Gizmo as he sat on her lap, glancing over towards the mouse hole just in case one of the things decided to run out. Alex was still trying to shoo away the mice back into the hole with Nate.

"Mice?" Katrina asked, her fingers tightening against Ryland's hand with a twinge of worry. She didn't like them running around underfoot. Their tiny feet felt like spiders against the skin, and anything that even remotely or abstractly resembled a spider scared her to death.

Ryland felt her grasp tighten on his hand and he glanced over at her. He saw the slightly frightened look on her face and he knew he had to do something to calm her down. "Y'know... mice are harmless," he whispered to her.

"I know, I know... It's not so much a rational fear as it is a completely irrationalfear," Katrina whispered back to him. She gave a half-hearted laugh but a genuine smile. "Thanks for trying, though. I'll be OK... as long as they don't touch me."

Ryland smiled, letting out a small laugh as well. "Alright... We'll keep you safe," he said as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her a bit closer.

"Mice?" Tyson repeated her question, but with a tired tone. He was obviously not awake still—his expression was perplexed as if he didn't understand what they meant.

"Yeah," Gabe responded to both their questions. "You know, little furry creatures with long, wormy tails. They run around--"

"--well, more scurry," Nate offered, giving Alex the broom to retire to sitting on the couch with Vicky-T and Gizmo.

"--OK, right, scurry around. Make holes in walls... Eat cheese. --What else do they do?" Gabe asked for back-up, adjusting Briana again. He didn't like the silence that was coming from up there. Why had she gone all silent?

"Scare the girls," Nate offered once more, a small smile on his face. He found this a little amusing. He had that look again, too, as if he knew something the others didn't. Maybe that secret was what amused him.

Ryland looked at all of the people in the room and couldn't believe it. They had interrupted his amazing moment for mice? Little white creatures that were adorable when running in little wheels? He wiped his free hand over his face, trying to hide the shame he felt for being involved with these people.

"Right, mice." Tyson's eyes seemed more open, more alert. He watched as Alex swept around the last frightened mouse that was in sight to scare it off. "So you guys have a mouse problem in here... Weird. We don't even have one over in our room down the hall...... You wanna switch?"

"Are you sure? We don't want to inconvenience you," Alex said to Tyson as he propped the broom up against the wall. After all, they had already woken him up. He glanced towards the two girls who were both still keeping their feet high off of the ground and figured that it would probably be for the best if they did switch out. Although, Briana didn't really seem frightened as much as she did dumbfounded. He raised an eyebrow at this but figured it out in his head. He sighed a bit; he could already see where this was headed. And it wasn't looking too good for anyone.

"It won't be an inconvenience, really," Tyson told Alex, ignoring the whispering that was going on somewhere to his right. He was too tired to care, really, and it was probably just about mice. Mice, mice, mice. "What a weird little infestation. But hey, it'll cut down snake-food costs for Chris... Oh, Chris is one of my band mates, in case you don't know him."

"Nah, I think we know him. You and he are with the All-American Rejects?" Nate spoke up, more of a re-affirming statement than a question.

"You know, Nate? Heeey, good! That makes me feel special," Tyson grinned. "I know all of you Cobras, by the way, but hopefully more in a fellow band-member way than a creepy stalking fan way. But yeah, Chris brought his pet snake along for the festival... hopefully these mice will make a nice din-din for it."

"Oh! Aw..." Katrina mumbled, feeling badly for the mice.

"They did kind of terrorize Briana and Vicky-T, Katrina," Nate offered one more tidbit of advice. "AND Gizmo. They aren't sweet little creatures. It's ok to make them snake food."

"That's the spirit," Tyson laughed. "I'll go get my crew to help move your stuff out in the hallway. We only have like four suitcases to bring over. And Chris's snake cage. We can manage that."

"Alright, if you say so," Gabe grumbled. He didn't like this situation one bit. Stupid mice, bringing this Tyson Ritter guy in here. All-American Rejects, switching rooms with them... And knowing Cobra? This guy had everything. The alpha male inside of him was raging mad. All because of those high cheekbones, gah.

Vicky-T grabbed onto her small dog and hopped off of the couch, making her way into the hallway to keep herself from seeing any more mice. She'd never been a big fan, thinking they were cute from far away, and being in close proximity of them made her all antsy.

Briana thought that it was best for her to climb down off of Gabe's back. After all, the mice had run off to stay in their home so they hopefully wouldn't come out to say goodbye. She slid down his back, straightening out her black t-shirt so that it wouldn't ride up her front. She was feeling so many emotions, standing in the same room as her idol; she wanted to jump and scream like the fan girl she was, but she also wanted to keep her composure just in case Tyson wanted to be friends. You can't really be friends with someone who's an uber fan; it's awkward to say the least. Maybe just introducing herself first would suffice for now and she could see where things went from there.

Gabe felt Briana slide down his back, so he let go of her legs, sadly and slowly but surely. She hopped off of him and fixed her shirt, becoming all 'presentable' for Tyson Ritter. Gabe glared over at the man--Half naked, and what looked like sparkly glitter kind of plastered to random patches of his skin. He was a sicko... A famous, well-loved sicko. And Gabe knew how much Briana idolized him. Anyone who knew Briana knew she idolized him. But Gabe had never thought it would be a problem like this... he never though he'd run into Tyson all by himself. But he didn't like it. This wasn't just a friendly, neighborly deed he was doing. This was a stunt. To show off. To Briana.

HIS Briana.

"Thanks," she said to Tyson as she moved over towards him, a smile on her face. "You have no idea how much mice weird me out." She wanted to hold out her hand so she could shake his hand and touch him, even if it was only for a few brief moments, but she restrained her arm from moving.

"Uh, well, I guess I sort of do. If you're anything like Vicky-T," Tyson laughed with Briana. "They honestly freak me out a little too. They've got beady little eyes. Don't trust 'em."

"Don't judge a book by its cover," Gabe butted in, walking up next to Briana. He looped his arm over her shoulders, resting his hand possessively on the other side. "That just feels like something Nate would say, but he's a little busy fetching your band." Gabe bit back a few choice cuss words; they would have livened up the sentence a lot more, but he kept his mouth shut.

Briana looked up at Gabe. She just felt the tenseness in his muscles as he slung his arm around her. The air was slowly becoming more awkward and uncomfortable, but she glanced towards Tyson once more to see his reaction.

"Um... well... Vicky-T and I are cousins, actually. So I guess I'm more like her than I thought," she said as she brushed her bangs out of her eyes. "I'm Briana, by the way." She held out her hand to the man before her, hoping to not sound as if she were trying too hard to restrain something from bursting out of her. That something was a bout of fan-girly shrills. No one, not even herself, wanted to hear that.

"Well, hello Briana. I was wondering why I didn't recognize you from the band—but you're family! How fun." Tyson smiled, laughing cheerfully as he shook her hand. Until he looked over into Gabe's eyes. His laugh died away and he gently ended the handshake, but he retained his friendly smile. "It must be fun to hang with your cousin. And her friends."

"We have lots of fun. A fucking fun-fair every day," Gabe forced a smile and a curt nod. "Except for when mice come around."

"Hmm, well that problem will be fixed in a second. If you want, you can follow me to my band's room—soon to be your band's room. I think I'll see what's taking them… Probably all still asleep. Our flight up made us pretty groggy."

"I can see that," Gabe grumbled, but followed behind all the same. He kept his arm draped over Briana's shoulders and his eyes boring into Tyson's bare, sparkling back. He was like some Twilight nightmare come to life.

As Tyson turned to walk out of the room, Briana looked up at Gabe with a furrowed brow. She smacked his chest, knowing that it probably didn't do any damage; his nicely toned body would hardly be a match against her small hands.

"Behave. He's trying to be nice," she hissed, pursing her lips afterwards and glancing up to make sure that he got the message. She didn't want her—probably—only opportunity to talk to Tyson turn out to be a failure. In fact, it'd be awesome if they became pen pals or something. But who knew what would happen now that Gabe decided to pitch all of his energy at making this the most awkward situation Briana had ever been in.

It didn't hurt physically when Briana smacked him, but Gabe felt like he'd been stabbed in the back in a way. She was telling HIM to back off? He hadn't done anything, not anything REALLY mean... It was Tyson who had come in and ruined their perfectly good day so far. Didn't she notice how she got all... quiet around him? He made her a totally different person than what she was. She wouldn't dare slap him in the chest if Tyson had been looking. She could hardly move back when his eyes were on her!

"He's not being nice to us, he's getting free food for his bud's snake," Gabe complained. "And just because this room looks like it's better, doesn't mean it is. Don't judge a book... by its cover... It's not the same thing as being nice, OK?"

"As long as it doesn't have mice, it's better in my book," Briana muttered, her arms crossed over her chest. "Gabe... I just... I just want to try and make friends with him, is that so much to ask? You know that he's someone I've admired for awhile... I just want to get to know him without you being mean. And don't give me that 'I wasn't doing anything' spiel, because I know you when you're jealous. I don't want anything more than to talk to him..." she said as she looked at him, kind of saddened that he wouldn't trust her to talk to him on her own. "I..."

Just as she was about to speak again, up ahead appeared another living nightmare; what looked like a zombie, talking to Vicky-T and Nate through a half-open doorway to the room that the All-American Rejects were currently occupying.

"Hey, Toad, you're awake!" Tyson called, sounding ever the more chipper. "Is Chris up too? 'Cause, if they haven't explained already, these guys have a mice problem. So we're switchin' rooms."

"...Eh?" the man at the door responded, yawning and rubbing both of his eyes at the same time.

Nate laughed merrily. "We're sorry for waking you up, but really, we would like to switch rooms soon. Or at least come in out of the hallway." Toad scuffled out of the way, nodding his head as he pressed a hand over his eyes.

"Sorry, come on in. Just a bit bleary-eyed... Uhhh, we can move the stuff off the futon and sit them there for now? Chris might be up, but I just woke up myself. The kid's in the back somewhere, probably in the shower singing again. He never sleeps in past ten." Toad grumbled on and on sleepily, leading them into the large room. It was maybe two feet bigger than their old room, and the furniture was arranged so that it seemed so much bigger. Gabe scoffed, but pouted on the inside. Plus they had a kid? What was this, the dream pad?

Vicky-T made her way into the room, glancing around. Gizmo jumped down from her arms and began to run around the room happily, but also seeming to be looking for any other signs of mice. She smiled a bit at Toad’s morning voice. It was actually quite adorable. She usually didn't find it very attractive on most people, especially guys, but it was different for him. She shook her head a bit and looked around at the room.

"It's nice in here. Are you sure you want to give it up?" she asked as she turned to look at Tyson.

Tyson looked over at Vicky-T and smiled. "Yeah, it is pretty nice in here...But we can't leave you guys in that room full of mice, no way. You'd be hiding up on couches and screaming all day and night. We'd never get any sleep around here." Toad let out a laugh, tipping his head back.

"So that was you screaming this morning, eh miss?" Toad smiled with a twinkle of laughter in his tired eyes. "I'm Kevin, but I go by Toad. And may I just say, that was the loveliest shriek I've ever woken up to. Haha."

As he said so, another shriek came from behind the bathroom door, off to the side of the room. It wasn't lovely at all, more high-pitched and scratchy, like its owner wasn't supposed to go that high-pitched. Ever.

"Sounds like the boy's found Trevor," a husky voice said from beneath the blankets piled on the futon.

"Chriiiiiiiiiis!!!" the shriek went off again, only it had a distinguishable word to it. "Why is Trevor in the bathroom? Why would you put a snake in the bathroom?!" A boy charged out of the doorway as the door swung open, a large bath towel burdened down like a sack full of a heavy, loose object. He wore a bathrobe that wasn't fully tied, and an angry expression. "I love you, Uncle Chris, but I think you need to learn that snakes belong in a CAGE at night, not roaming fre..."

The boy caught sight of the crowd. And the two girls especially in the crowd. He dropped the towel, which hissed as it hit the floor, and quickly tightened his robe closed completely. "You guys didn't tell me we had guests!!—So sorry, but uhm... Hello. I'm Cole Webster, and I...I don't normally have to deal with snakes in the morning, you see..."

Briana’s ears perked and she thought that the voice sounded all kinds of familiar. She turned to look and see who it had come from. Her eyes widened and a smile came to her lips. She completely forgot about what she was about to say to Gabe.

"COLE PETER PRESTON WEBSTER!" Briana shouted as she ran towards the blond boy that had come out of the bathroom, throwing her arms around his wet frame in a hug. "Where the hell have you been? I haven't seen you in months!"

Chris grumbled as he heard Toad's voice ramble on in the background and heard his nephew's voice ramble on, and even a few voices he didn't recognize rambling on and on and on. Finally, the shout was enough to get him to throw off the covers and roll out of bed, following the yips and hissing until he found Trevor wrapped up in a damp towel from the bathroom, hiding from a tiny dog.

"I'm gonna kill that kid," Chris said, glancing over at Cole, though with no enthusiasm at all. It was an empty threat that no one besides Trevor and Gizmo heard. Chris let Trevor slither across his shoulders and get comfortable, stretching out all 3 feet of his scaly body before he headed over to see who exactly it was hugging his daft nephew.

"Hello there," he said as a greeting, coming from behind Cole, causing him to shriek once more. "Who’s your friend, Cole?"

"This is Briana Miller, my best friend since high school!" Cole said, with all the enthusiasm in the world, edging away from Trevor and engulfing Briana in another hug. Briana kind of flinched when she heard the hissing of the snake close to her ear, but she greeted Chris all the same. "And Briana, this is my Uncle Chris! HE'S where I've been for the last few months—traveling with his band! Well, the band he's in... The All American Rejects! You know, AAR? Your faaavorite?" he grinned. "I bet you want to meet Tyson, don'tchya?"

"Sorry to say, kid, but she's already met me," Tyson said from across the room, tugging a shirt over his head and covering his upper half. "She's with the Cobra Starship band from down the hall. I met with all of them and brought them over here because...well, they're having a mouse issue."

"I know who you all are. I've been following you guys since I was in middle school," she admitted, blushing a bit. "But this is exactly why you need a phone, Cole. I'm going to get you one later today, I've decided." She glanced over at Tyson, slightly sad that he was putting his shirt back on, but tried to pull it off as if she was looking around for someone. That's when she realized something. "Where are Nick and Mike?"

"They went out for a breakfast run," Cole explained quickly, looking down at his robe-covered tummy. "They've been gone for like an hour...I'm so hungry. This is ALSO where having a phone would be fantastic." Cole smiled warmly up at Briana, then looked over at his stingy uncle. "Some people love me enough to get a phone, instead of scare me with snakes."

"I've taken you on a tour with a genuine band. The real deal. Legit. Are you sayin' you aren’t thankful to me, boy?" Chris sniffed, letting Trevor slither down one of his arms more-so than the other.

"No... I was just kidding! I'm hungry is all, and I can't eat mice like Trevor. So...I'd really like to know where Mike and Nick are. I mean, they said they'd bring us all back food from whichever restaurant they go to, but it's always a surprise which one they choose... So we have no idea how long they're gonna take, or if we'll even like what they bring back! I'll eat anything they bring, though, 'cause I'm starving. I just hope it's something oriental... Orange Chicken would be great!"

"Well, you can call them with my phone," Briana offered as she handed over her cell phone to Cole. "We can go out later today and get you one, before the signings." She glanced out the door to see if Gabe was still standing there. She was beginning to feel bad about this whole situation. It's not like she had meant to completely ignore Gabe now that Tyson was here, it's just... it's Tyson Jay Ritter, the man she's had a celebrity crush on since she was in 6th grade.

She knew that she would have to make it up to him somehow, so as she leaned to look out the door and saw him standing there with a moping expression, she smiled a little. "If you want, you can come too."

"To get a phone?" Gabe cocked his head to the side. "You sure 'the boy' or whatever is OK with that?"

"It's COLE," Cole explained, popping his head out through the doorway as well. "And of course! The more the merrier!"

"That's what everyone keeps saying," Gabe grumbled, leaning against the wall of the hallway as two bodies carrying loads of boxes tried to scoot by. He realized it was Nate and Alex after a second, when Nate gave him a look.

"Speaking of which...should I say it again? Only, add in 'Carry these boxes' somewhere in there," Nate made a little frown.

"That wouldn't make me want to help," Gabe grumbled again.

"Well you should help anyway," Nate grumbled back. "The mooore the merrier!"

"I'll help," Cole offered with a smile. Nate smiled to him as well, giving Gabe another look.

"It made him want to help."

"Screw it, I'll help," Gabe gave up, pushing off from against the wall. He didn't want to go back in that room... not while AAR was in there, anyway. He waited outside the doorway and gave a friendly nod to Cole when he came back out, loaded down with two boxes. "How about I take those? It'll be like an assembly line or whatever."

"O... k..." Cole said, feeling somewhat suspicious. Gabe made a face.

"I'd appreciate it." He took the boxes, leaning slightly back to compensate for the weight that was not in front. "Oh, and I appreciate you letting me tag along. Thanks," he smiled again, finally receiving a trusting smile back from Cole before he started heading back down the hallway.

"No problem!" Cole told him, heading back in to the room. He turned around to find Trevor's hissing tongue right at his face-level and he yipped, causing Chris to laugh and jiggle the box he held around.

"I thought I heard something about a factory line?" he said, pushing the box into Cole's chest to pass it off. "I'll go get another." He turned and headed to the back room.

"...great," Cole muttered, looking over at Briana. "I wish you guys could just move in here WITH us, instead of having to move all around. It'd be so much easier."

Briana heard what Cole said and thought for a moment. "I wouldn't mind that... but that's just me. You'd have to ask the others if it'd be okay with them," she said with a small smile. "If not, you're welcome to come back and forth between the rooms to hang out."

"I'd feel awkward to just ask them 'Hey, you want to stay with me?!' It's like, super fan-crazy," Cole explained, hauling the box out the door. She watched as the guys started to bring boxes in and pursed her lips.

"I should probably start helping."

She made her way towards the door, walking past Tyson and giving him a smile as she went. She walked out into the hallway and headed down the hall to grab some of the bags that were left in the room. She walked into the room and spotted Katrina and Ryland together, grabbing things to hand over to others. A large smile came across her lips and she could only hope that Katrina would catch her gaze so she could express her congratulations.

Picking up a few bags off of the ground and slinging them over her shoulder, she tried to carry as many as she could. She shuffled out of the room with the bags seeming to overwhelm her.

Nate had come back, and Cole held out the box in his hands to give to him.

"...What's this?" Nate asked, smiling with a confused look.

"We're doing a factory production line," Gabe explained, patting a hand down hard on Nate's shoulder. "Here, I'll take this one." He took the box from Cole, turning to leave quickly. He heard Tyson's voice coming toward the doorway, and he made his flee quickly. He told Briana he would try to be nice, so...he would just stay away from him. He headed back to their old room with the box, just entering the doorway when he caught sight of Briana's beaming smile. It was directed toward Katrina and Ryland, of course, but Gabe saw it all the same. It was adorable. He headed over in her direction, just missing being hit by a few bags being slung over her shoulder. He put down the box at his feet, stepping over it and slipping just a bit too close to her.

"Do you need a helping hand?" he extended the offer.

As Briana swung the last bag up onto her shoulder, she stood straight and came face-to-chest with Gabe. She glanced up at him and smiled at his offer.

"A few of these are heavy... could you take two of them?" she asked as she held out the two that were in her hands to him. She was glad that he had decided to be nice to Tyson for her, but she still felt this pang in her heart every time she looked at him. When she had told him to stop being mean, she had been mean herself. She was hoping to make it up to him when they left later to go on their little shopping trip.

"We could," Katrina said, acting very peppy. Gabe gave her a look. "What? Nate told us you were doing the factory production line thing...?"

Gabe caught Nate's laugh as he snuck out of the room. Gabe took the bags happily. But sadly he couldn't pick on his band-mate, because he heard a very unpleasantly familiar voice.

"I could help you out," Tyson smiled, taking the random things that Katrina held in her hands. "Do you have a box we could put these in? Oh, or a bag?"

Briana heard Tyson's voice coming from the opposite side of the room. She realized that one of the ones on her shoulder felt empty, so she pulled it off, moved around Gabe, and handed it to him.

"I hope this helps. I don't think there's anything in it," she said, a smile on her face. She couldn't help but smile when around him, it had been something she did anytime she read about him or looked at pictures. He just made her extremely giddy inside. That's how Gabe used to make her feel... She realized at that moment that maybe she was actually falling for this man she had met only moments ago. This wouldn't turn out well in the end, she could already tell.

Gabe kept his smile even when Briana betrayed him with a smile and friendly bag-handing to the enemy. That awful man with his awful cheekbones. How could he compete with an idol?

He started heading toward the other side of the hallway, back to the AAR room. He spotted Cole and his uncle Chris standing with things to hand over. He did so without even a snarky comment. He was upset.