Innocence Meet Jealousy...Isn't She Stunning?

Their series of songs were much to familiar to me, passing me by in a blur of deafening tones and high pitched wails as I zoned out doing nothing but staring at the flashing lights before me and escaping into my own endless thoughts of nonsense.

come back stage and congratulate ur brother my mother texted me, serving to be the only thing to rip me away from my spot on the wall before the next act came out.

I took one step forward and faced the stage, prepared to push my way through the crevices between people until I found my way out. However, one problem stood in my way; I had no idea where to go.

Warily I headed toward the right side of the stage where I’d seen numerous other people rushing to, looking as If they knew what they were doing. So reluctantly, I followed suit, shoving myself through the mass of people, hoping I was on the right path because I could honestly say that I had absolutely no clue.

A few paces ahead of me there was a guy, appropriately adorned in tight jeans; a plaid, flannel shirt; and a large amount of shiny, metal keys dangling off the back of his pants, heading the same way I was. He seemed like a safe bet, I thought, altering my course slightly to follow him until we left the audience behind and I found myself alone in a long hallway with nothing but the extensive span of reddish colored walls, set deep in the dim, yellow lighting of the ceiling bulbs.

I wandered aimlessly, always making sure to follow the sound of the music, wherever it may be coming from, but these halls seemed to be sending me unfamiliar circles, never leading towards any place that might even resemble the stage. I was caught in the venue’s very own labyrinth and I had absolutely no idea where I was.

Or how to get out.

//

A half hour. Seriously? I thought to myself as I stared blankly at the small numbers indicating the time on my cell phone. I had walked around clueless for a half hour and had yet to find neither the way to the stage nor the hallways I’d come in by. And to top it all off, the further I went into the building, the more I lost service until now, where it was finally gone and I had absolutely no way of contacting my mother to request her assistance. The only sound audible was the smooth, steady tone of a high pitched, strange sounding guitar and an accompanying voice. I could barely even hear the melody.

“Feck.” I mumbled beneath my breath, stopping for a moment to lean near the corner against the wall and rethink my path mainly to see if I could recall anything familiar or if, subconsciously, I actually knew a way to get out of here.

But nothing came…

I could’ve been doing so many other things tonight. I could’ve been with so many other people tonight. I could’ve been so much happier tonight. But I wasn’t; I was stuck here alone and lost in a maze of hallways as if I were stuck in some tale of fantasy. I just wanted to go home.

With a sight of frustration and an immense amount of energy just to use my legs, I peeled myself away from the wall, shoved my phone deep into my pocket, noticing that the music was no longer playing. The set was over, I noticed, rolling my eye. A whole set was played and I still hadn’t even found my way out.

My plan was to continue to do exactly what I had been doing before because in all honesty, did I really have any other choice?

I went to turn the corner, hoping with every ounce of my being that I was in the right direction and ran head on into something solid and warm. I let out a small yelp of pain as my forehead collided with the object, my hand flying to the point of impact, pressing firmly against it as if to push the pain away.

“Ah, sorry.” Came a voice beside me, pained and apologetic.

I glanced up, ignoring the ache above my eye as it began to fade and met the gaze of an innocent face towering above me, his brown eyes filled with concern. I quickly tried to rid my face of any discomfort as to not make him feel bad and lowered my hand. “Not, it’s fine.” I barely mumbled, smiling lightly to assure him that it was no problem. I could barely speak.

He looked no older than I did although he loomed above me by at least a foot. I took note of his hands, toying with a mess of keys hanging from the back of his tight jeans just as they had on the boy I’d seen earlier. He definitely looked like he knew his way around this place. This was my chance to meet someone new, someone really adorable as well, and finally find my way out of this place.

Softly, he returned the smile, looking me over once and pushing his cap of long, brown hair out of his eyes before taking a step away from me. I opened my mouth to speak as he began to walk down the hall away from me but I was unable to say anything.

I did nothing to stop him but I wish I had. I let out another sigh, this time in the realization of my stupidity in letting him leave without asking how to get out of here. It was just my luck that it wasn’t a middle aged woman or someone equally as approachable to walk around the corner and run into me. At least I would have been able to deal with something like that.

“It’s this way.” I whipped around to see the boy standing there facing me halfway down the corridor, waiting as if he knew as well as I did that I was completely and utterly lost.
I didn’t answer, still rendered speechless, and followed obediently, hopping along quickly until I was caught up to him. He continued walking again once I was beside him, shoving his hands deep in his pockets and taking large strides with his longlegs, ones I had difficulty keeping up with. I was nearly jogging just to keep the same pace.

“Thanks.” I muttered shyly, somewhat embarrassed that he could so easily tell that I was lost.

He laughed a little, smiling wide in amusement, a smile that was oddly alluring, “It’s no problem. You were walking in the wrong direction so I figured you’d like some help.”

I nodded slowly, a slight giggle bubbling up inside of me, “Yeah. I’ve been walking around for forever now trying to find my way backstage.” I admitted, doing my best not to over think my every word like I’d done so many times before. As it was, I was self conscious about how squeaky my voice was sounding echoing through the hall.

“Well lucky for you, that’s where I’m headed.”

I made an O with my mouth and asked “Are you with one of the bands?” trying my best to make conversation while I could, hoping that I wouldn’t fail myself yet again.

He smiled again, “Well, I am one of the bands I guess you could say. You’re not a groupie, are you?”

Abruptly, I burst out laughing, quickly covering my mouth with my hand to suppress it, “No, no. My brother is in one of the bands.” I told him, barely noticing the violent vibration that had begun in my pocket. He was in one of the bands? How had I not known?

“Which one?” he asked. My hand flew to my pocket once the pulsating phone became too much and I pried it from my tight jeans, seeing that I finally had service again and my mother was calling.

“The Standard. The kids.” I told him quickly before answering my phone, “Hello?”

“Jennah, where are you? Didn’t you get my texts?” my mother asked, her voice somewhat frantic.

I glanced over to the boy beside me, noticing his spirits looked somewhat lower, “Yeah I did.”

“Then where are you?” she repeated.

“I got lost. I’m coming.” I explained, trying to wrap up the conversation quickly so I wouldn’t seem as rude.

“Okay, well hurry up.” She said, her voice somewhat skeptical. I knew she probably thought I’d gotten into some kind of trouble: drugs, alcohol, guys, etc. Feck.

“Alright, bye.” I said quickly before clicking the off button. “Sorry ‘bout that.”

He shook his head and shrugged, “S’alright. We’re here now anyways.” My mindset dampened a little at his flat response and a slight sense of guilt washed over me.

He turned the corner and I followed, coming to an opening in the walls where numerous people were bustling around large boxes of equipment and cords. So we were.

“Thanks so much for showing me the way.” I said, turning to him momentarily.

He smiled brightly and faced me, “No problem. I’ll see ya—“

“Jennah!” another voice cut him off, grabbing me by the wrist. I had spun around in an automatic reaction to the sound of my name. I turned back to say goodbye to the guy but he was already walking off, shoulders slumped, headed towards another group of people. I didn’t even find out his name.

Awesome.