I Love Your Bubblegum Smile

She could handle it. It was the third day of working in the not-so-fantastic field of merchandising, and All Time Low’s set had just finished.

That meant that it was time for the ‘Squeaky Rush’.

In Harley’s words, that basically meant that it was the small period of time that every girl between the ages of eleven and twenty shoved their way through a large crowd to get to the small table she was sitting at, in order to get a t-shirt worth $9.99.

The term Squeaky Rush had gotten its name as the said girls above usually ended up squealing and cooing over the graphics of the t-shirts, how hot the members of the band were, how they were going to sneak backstage, how great the show was or, if Harley was really lucky, a combination of all four.

They were like a flock of birds, all swarming towards one area and chirping and twittering non-stop.

The girls would often squeal and babble at her, though it was quite obvious that Harley didn’t care about ‘Jack’s awesome guitar skills’ or ‘Alex’s sexy abs.’

In other words, as soon as Harley learned to ignore the chirping, she was alright.

She was unpacking another load of the merchandise, since at least a quarter of the t-shirts had sold out in less than seven minutes.

Everything was calm...the twittering of the fans had simmered down, as they waited anxiously for more merchandise to be unloaded.

And then...ear-splitting screams were heard.

The sound was awful, echoing through the silence like a gunshot.

Harley had not been expecting the sudden outburst of sound, and jumped up from her place below the table, slamming her head.

She yelped, and tumbled backward, before looking up.

Girls were waving their hands around frantically, many of them turning pink in the face.

Mouths were opened and closed, like gaping fish, and eyes were widened to give off the look of surprise. One girl was even crying, tears streaming down her face as she produced a pen and spiral notebook from a bag hanging off of her bony shoulder.

Searching around to find the reason for such turmoil, Harley settled her gaze on the man nearing her, with blonde tousled hair, and an infamous smirk she knew all too well.

“Gaskarth,” she spat, much less than amused.

He towered over her, considering the fact that she was still sprawled onto the floor. Alex ignored his fans, acting as though the hoard of obsessive teens didn’t exist, and instead offered her his hand.

Surprise flashed in her eyes for a moment, before she shook it off and grabbed his hand.

Her hand stung, and she quickly released his sweaty palm when she had reached a fully upright position.

She inspected her hands closely, only to realize that pieces of gravel had wedged their way into her skin. Plucking them out, she noticed dots of crimson decorating her palm.

“You okay?” he asked, flashing a smile.

Harley furrowed her eyebrows together, brushing her hands off against the smooth surface of her jeans, before meeting Alex’s concerned gaze.

Harley immediately felt the blood rush in her small veins, before feeling the heat snake from her back up, leaving her cheeks a rosy hue of bright red.

“Aww!” Someone cooed, causing Alex to look out towards the crowd. The screaming began once again, followed by the distant cry of “Alex I love you!”

Soon, there were swarms of crazed teenagers where Alex had once been, leaving Harley to serve the crowd with her bloodied hands.

Nobody seemed to pay her any mind though, as most people were occupied by the ‘living god’ in front of them. Alex didn’t seem the least bit worried, and instead was sucking up the attention like a vacuum cleaner.

He put on a big smile, and waved around and chatted happily with the girl next to him.

It made Harley sick.

And then the screaming began again, except the volume had increased.

Who the fuck is causing all of this? Harley thought, glancing around the crowd.

A head of bright red hair caught her eye, and she couldn’t help but smile.

“Travis!” She waved her hand frantically, hoping that he could see her above the crowd. His eyes lit up, and soon he was in front of her.

“Hey,” the corners of his lips turned up slightly, “that crowd is insane.”

“Yeah, I know,” Harley muttered bitterly, “Gaskarth has all the girls screaming. As usual.”

“That’s what this is about?” Travis looked surprised, if not a little bit confused.

“Yeah,” Harley nodded, “but if he wants to surprise his fans like this, can’t he set up a meet and greet somewhere else, somewhere that doesn’t cause me to get trampled?!”

“Are you saying that us rock stars can’t surprise our fans and give them a good time?”

“Please,” Harley scoffed jokingly, “you’re not even a rockstar. All you do is sing and play a little guitar.”

“I’m hurt!” Travis feigned an injury, placing his hand over his heart.

“Good,” Harley giggled, looking down at her hands for a distraction.

It was surprising to her, as she was never a good socialiser. In high school, she only had one or two close friends, and she spent most of her time at home, or hiding behind a good book.

She wasn’t a loner, she went to some parties and she actually went to prom, but she preferred the quiet life.

“We’re still on for Saturday, right?” Travis asked, dropping his voice slightly so the crowd of girls couldn’t hear him.

Harley had to lean forward to understand what he was saying, but nodded once she had heard the entire sentence.

“Unless you don’t want to go...” Harley mumbled, ducking her head slightly to ignore the blush creeping up her neck.

“No!” Travis said, a little too loud. He looked behind him to see a crowd of fans watching him anxiously. “I mean, I don’t want to cancel it.”

“Oh, okay.” Harley nodded, glancing over Travis’ shoulder to see if the girls were watching. Indeed, they were glaring at her.

“So...” Travis rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, glancing past her, and towards a t-shirt.

The crowd was thinning out now, as Alex’s hands moved swiftly across numerous notepads, signing his name in a sloppy scrawl.

“Um...?” Harley stared back at him, waiting for him to say something. He didn’t. She had to say something about it, to do something to make him like her again. “Do you...want my number?”

Travis looked surprised for a moment, before the corners of his lips slipped upwards. He nodded slowly, and reached in his pocket. He pulled out a small dark blue sharpie, uncapping it and handing it to her.
“I always have to be prepared,” he turned as bright as his hair, upon realizing his mistake, “for fans.” Harley stared at him. “To sign.” More staring. “I have to sign autographs for my fans. Therefore I have markers, to sign those autographs.”

Harley laughed nervously, attempting to hide the awkwardness. She grabbed his arm, which was soft and warm, and wrote down the number quickly, before handing the pen back.

She looked past Travis once again, to see that only two girls remained. One was a very slim redhead, with a square shaped face and a nose-ring that glinted in the sunlight.

The other was a chubbier bleach-blonde, small rolls of fat sticking out over her waist band.

As if realizing her stare, Alex looked up, and locked his gaze on her.

She didn’t look away, but instead felt her face heating up like a microwave. Alex raised a perfect eyebrow slightly, before glancing at Travis.

He broke the gaze, and returned to talking to the pair of girls, but this time which must less enthusiasm. Upon looking at Travis, she realized he was staring at the ground uncomfortably.

“So, coffee...Saturday.”

“Right!” He nodded, glad that the discomfort was over. “There’s this really nice place where all the bands stop at, it’s in a sort of plaza. They have really good muffins.”

“Awesome...muffins,” Harley nodded eagerly.

“Yeah, muffins are a key to any girl’s heart. “

“Of course.” Harley laughed, shaking her head slightly.

“Anyway,” Travis nodded, gesturing towards Alex who was looking at them oddly. “I have a set soon, wanna check it out?”

Harley sighed, shaking her head slowly.

“Can’t. Rian and I have to go find Jack.”

“Oh, good luck,” he smiled, snaking his arms around her.

She smiled, before wrapping her arms around him for a moment. It was a quick hug, and soon he was gone, leaving the lingering smell of exotic cologne on her skin.

She glanced back at Alex, biting her lip slowly to see him turning his back towards her.

This surprised her, as usually he would have made a snarky or perverted comment, but this time, he just walked away.