Chasing the Night

“This is a stupid idea,” Arianna said, staring at the escalators.
“Where’s your sense of adventure?” Travis replied with a grin, looking at Arianna with a raised eyebrow. Arianna rolled her eyes and let her arms fall slack at her sides. “Oh, fuck it,” she said, taking off in a sprint towards the mechanic stairs moving downwards. Travis laughed and took off after her, ambling up the steps and pushing past people as they manoeuvred their way all the way to the top. People stared at them like they were crazy. Perhaps they were.

Arianna doubled over in laughter at the top, her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. Travis did the same, hardly believing what he’d just seen. “You’re unbelievable,” he told Arianna with a smile. “It was your idea,” she pointed out. “You went first,” Travis shot back at her. Arianna was silent as she glanced over at the adjacent set of moving stairs. Travis raised his eyebrows at her in question.

“Well, you know what they say,” Arianna said with a devious grin. “What goes up must come down.”

“But those are the up steps,” Travis pointed out.

“You say that like it’s insane,” Arianna said, mock-surprised.

“It is.”

“It was your idea,” Arianna reminded him.

“Exactly,” Travis said with a smile. “Race ya!”

He was already racing down the stairs before Arianna had time to think. She took off after him, tripping on the first few steps as she struggled to find her feet, laughing the whole way down. When she reached the last few steps, she jumped, right into Travis’ arms. He laughed and wrapped his arms around her, spinning her around in circles in the middle of the mall.

“Put me down, Clark!” Arianna insisted, swatting at his arms. He squeezed her tighter and pulled her closer to his chest. “Not a chance, Rush,” he whispered in her ear, sending shivers up her spine. Suddenly, Travis and Arianna both heard the familiar opening riff for ‘Check Yes Juliet’ blasting from the speakers of a nearby store. Travis dropped Arianna in shock. She slid from his arms to the tile floor, where she landed firmly on her backside.

Travis was too distracted to notice. “Do you hear that?” Travis asked her, moving in the direction of the music. When Arianna didn’t reply, he stopped to look back at her. She sat motionless on the ground, her arms folded across her chest, a pout clearly displayed on her face. Travis smiled and walked back over to her, holding his hands out. She took them and he helped her up, before draping his arm over her shoulders.

“You’re so clumsy,” he teased, heading back over to the store that was playing his band’s song. “I am not clumsy,” Arianna said. “You dropped me.” Travis laughed. “If I remember correctly, you were the one who wanted me to let go in the first place.” Arianna rolled her eyes at the ginger-haired boy and shrugged his arm off her shoulders.

When they reached the small clothing store, Travis smiled widely and walked straight in, in search of the nearest speaker. He fumbled in his pocket for his phone and dialled Danny’s number. He picked up on the second ring. “Hey man, what’s up?” Danny asked, a hint of worry in his voice. “Dude, are you hearing this right now?” Travis asked him, practically jumping up and down on the spot. “What?” Danny replied. “What’s going on?” Travis held his phone up to the speaker for a few moments before bringing it back to his ear.

“Yeah, it’s our song….so?” Danny asked, obviously confused. “What do you mean, ‘so?’ I’m in a clothing store in some mall and they’re playing our band. Don’t you see how freaking amazing that is?” Travis exclaimed. Arianna had busied herself looking at the clothes hanging on the over-loaded racks.

Now, Danny laughed into the phone at Travis’ excited tone. “That’s awesome, man!” He told him, trying his best to sound enthusiastic. “What are you doing at the mall?” Travis sighed and walked over to Arianna, glancing down at the pair of jeans she was looking at. “I’m here with Arianna, just hanging out. Hey, maybe you guys could meet us somewhere?”

Danny smiled and shook his head, although Travis couldn’t see. “You’re with Arianna?” He asked Travis, completely ignoring the second question. “Yeah,” Travis replied. “So, what do you say?”

“About what?”

“Meeting up!” Travis nearly yelled.

“Hunter and Drew are busy, but I could,” Danny said, heading out the bus door as he said this, slipping his wallet into his back pocket. It was nice to hear Travis actually sounding…happy. Travis rushed over the details, vaguely telling Danny where they were. Danny sighed as he got into the cab, telling Travis that he’d figure it out. They hung up and Travis turned his attention back to Arianna.

“Those jeans are awesome,” he said, eyeing the bright purple skinny jeans Arianna held in her hands. “You think so?” Arianna asked, not really caring, but not knowing how else to keep the conversation going. She’d needed a distraction, to get her mind off Jase, and Travis was providing that. She took the jeans to the fitting room anyway, Travis trailing behind and waiting on a chair just outside.

Arianna emerged from the fitting rooms a few moments later. Arianna smiled at her and told her that the jeans looked good, because they really did. Ten minutes later, just as Arianna was paying for the jeans at the counter, her phone rang in her pocket. It was Embry. “Hey, Arianna, where you at?” Embry asked her, sounding kind of edgy. “I’m at the mall,” she replied, walking out of the store with Travis. Embry sighed loudly. “What?” Arianna asked him. “That would be right,” Embry said. “Listen, Jase is really upset. He called me and was basically sobbing on the phone. I couldn’t understand anything he said. What happened?”

Arianna’s stomach dropped at the question. That was the one thing she’d been avoiding, the reason why she’d come to the mall with Travis in the first place. “We just had a little fight,” she said, trying to blow him off. It didn’t work. “But you guys never fight,” Embry insisted. Arianna sighed and shook her head. “Just forget about it. Let it go, okay?” Arianna said. “Sure. Sorry,” Embry replied, feeling bad for interfering.

“Hey, where are you now?” Arianna asked him. “Behind you.” Arianna furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. “What?” She asked him. “Turn around!” Embry said excitedly. Arianna slowly swivelled to see Embry standing there, holding his phone to his ear in one hand and Zack’s Merrick’s hand in the other. Arianna hung up her phone and walked over to them.

“What the?”

“Hey,” Embry said casually, slipping his phone back into his pocket. Arianna stared at him. “Where the hell did you come from?” She asked him, confused. Travis remained silent at her side. “It’s crazy, isn’t it?” Embry said. “I was on the phone to you and then I just saw you!” He started laughing, and Zack smiled at him adoringly, and Travis just stood there, and Arianna didn’t know what to do with herself at all. She rolled her eyes and smiled at her friend. “Have you seen any of the other guys? We all got split up. Crazy night,” Arianna said. Embry shook his head. “Lukas is acting weird. I haven’t seen him or Jase since the party.” Arianna sighed.

“Jack and Alex tend to get a bit carried away when it comes to parties,” Zack interjected. Travis suddenly laughed loudly. “Yeah, that’s one way of putting it,” he said in between laughs. Zack smiled sheepishly and looked over at Embry again – it seemed like he couldn’t take his eyes off him for more than a few seconds.

“What are you guys up to?” Embry asked now, glancing between Travis and Arianna. Arianna shrugged. “We just needed some time off,” she said. “All we’ve done is harass people by running up the wrong escalators,” Travis said with another laugh. Embry and Zack grinned back at him. There was just something about Travis. Whenever he smiled, you couldn’t stop yourself from smiling right back at him.

The four musicians chatted amongst themselves for a few more minutes before Zack suggested they find a confectionary store. It wasn’t hard. The brightly coloured store was at the other end of the mall, but it was impossible to miss it. The neon sign over the doorway was inescapable, even from more than a hundred metres away.

When the four entered the shop, they were faced with what seemed like endless shelves that went from the floor to the ceiling, stacked with tall glass jars full of all different types of confectionary. “Holy shit,” Arianna said. “I feel like we’re in Willy Wonka’s factory or something.” The others remained silent as they all stayed in the doorway, staring at the shelves in awe.

Embry suddenly took off down one of the aisles, Zack trailing behind him. Arianna didn’t know where to start. She walked slowly to the first aisle on her left and wandered down in, glancing at all the jars. Travis followed behind her. If he was being honest, he was feeling sick. All the food right up in his face was more than intimidating - It was terrifying.

He avoided looking at the shelves. His stomach churned, but he restrained himself from clutching it. He didn’t want anybody to notice. He looked up at Arianna, who had stopped in front of a large jar of sour gummi worms. She took the entire jar down off the shelf – which was almost as big as her face – and headed over to the register. “What are you doing?” Travis asked her curiously. “Buying sour worms,” she replied. “The whole jar?” Travis asked her in disbelief. “I don’t think you understand how much I love sour worms,” Arianna said, her eyes widening slightly. She set the jar down on the counter.

The girl behind the counter has bright pink hair and a huge smile to go with it. “How many do you want?” She asked Arianna, eyeing the jar. “The whole lot,” Arianna said. The girl behind the counter giggled. She thought Arianna was joking, but the singer had a serious expression on her face, and was actually beginning to become quite impatient.

“You can’t be serious,” the girl said. “I am,” Arianna said with a nod, fixing the pink-haired girl with a glare. She giggled again. “Why?” She asked. Arianna smirked. “I might get hungry.” Travis laughed beside her and Arianna paid fifty dollars for the entire jar, before taking it under her arm and walking out of the store triumphantly.

Embry and Zack joined them a few moments later, Embry holding a rainbow lollipop that was bigger than his face. Both boys were taking it in turns to lick and bite at it. After the candy store, they headed for the bowling alley, and ran into Danny at the stairs. “Hey!” Travis said excitedly, running to hug his best friend. Danny was taken aback and stood there awkwardly at first, but eventually hugged the singer back, patting his back and shoving him off slightly when Travis wouldn’t let go.

“Hey, what’s up,” Danny greeting the group. “Not much,” Zack said, before turning to look at Embry again, who was licking his lollipop. Arianna glanced around, her eyes landing on a small photo booth. She looked back at the others. “What are the chances of fitting five people into a one-person photo booth?” She asked them, raising an eyebrow, a playful smile on her face. “Fair, I’d say,” Danny said with a smile, racing over to the photo booth. The others raced after him.

As Zack was the strongest, and also the biggest, he sat down on the small stool. Travis and Danny wedged themselves into the two back corners, and Embry and Arianna both sat on Zack’s lap, one on each leg. It was a tight squeeze, but they managed it. Embry fed some coins into the machine and pressed the button for it to start.

The musicians spent the next hour in the photo booth. After the cramped group shots, everyone had their own individual photos taken, followed by pairs. Travis and Arianna ended up together – of course. Danny went with Travis also, as he was the odd one out. When Arianna and Travis were in the booth, Travis made a bold move for the last picture. Just before the flash, he kissed Arianna on the cheek. She laughed and shoved him off lightly, before they climbed out of the booth.

Their last effort was their most ambitious. Arianna thought it would be a great idea for them all to race in and out of the booth in the five-second gap in between pictures. She started. As soon as the picture was taken, she darted out and Travis took her place. And so on. The pictures were hilarious.

Zack was flexing his muscles right in front of the camera.
Danny had his mouth open.
Travis was grinning like an idiot.
Arianna was making a kissy-face right up in front of the camera.
Embry just glared at it, a pout on his face, like a child who’d just been denied candy.

They all ambled out of the mall together, Arianna leading the way with Travis at her side. Danny watched the two with a smile, noticing the way Travis would glance at Arianna every so often, and the way he’d smile when she caught him. It was almost like Travis had forgotten all about the girl that had broken his heart. When he was with Arianna, he felt as though they were the only two people in the world. Travis knew he was a walking cliché for even thinking that, but he didn’t care. He just wanted to be with her.

Zack and Embry announced that they were leaving. It was Embry’s shift at the merch tent and Zack had a show in a few hours and was needed for sound check. Danny said he was going, too, making up an excuse that Hunter needed him for something, sensing that Travis wanted to be alone with Arianna. Travis and Arianna ended up catching a cab back to the festival grounds. Travis paid the fare and walked Arianna back to her van, where Jase was waiting. Arianna swallowed nervously. Travis noticed.

“Hey, are you okay?” He asked her. She nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Thanks for today. I really needed it.” Travis smiled at her. “Anytime,” he said, turning to leave. “Hey,” Arianna called after him. “These are for you.” She handed him the pictures of them together in the photo booth. He took them from her and smiled widely, looking at the photo of him kissing her on the cheek and the surprised smile on her face.

“I’ll see you around, Anna,” he said with a cheeky smile. She smiled back at him and waved absent-mindedly, before walking over to the van where Jase was waiting.