Smoke And Mirrors

Garrett is sitting outside the venue on a bench. He is enjoying the cool air the wind blows in his face. It makes his thoughts disappear and feel relaxed. And this is way better than the hot Arizona air. He loves Arizona, but he is glad he can escape its heat for a while.

But that, of course, is not the main reason why he is here, in New York City, sitting on a bench. He would never cross the country just because it is too hot in Arizona. That would be really ridiculous. What kind of fool would you have to be?

No, the reason why he is here is much better. He is here because he is on tour with his band. And other bands, too of course. Tour is the most amazing thing ever. They see so many different places, get to know so many different cultures, meet new people. But best of all is they do the things they love the most with the people they love the most. And they make others happy with it.

Garrett looks up at the sky, thinking about how amazing his life actually is. It is a beautiful night. There are no clouds to be seen and the stars are shining so bright tonight. They sparkle really nice. Garrett loves the night. It has something mysterious. Everything looks so different in when the night has fallen.

Suddenly, Garrett snaps his head aside. He is not sure if his ears are playing tricks on him or did he really hear a soft voice speaking? There’s no one to be seen. It’s probably the “mystery of the night.” He rolls his eyes at his owns thoughts. He just shrugs it off. He doesn't hear anything anymore, only the noises at other side of the venue, where fans are chatting.

"What are you doing here?"

Garrett jumps and snaps his head aside again, but he doesn't see anything. This time he is sure he heard something. It was a female voice. Soft and sweet. Is he getting blind? His vision is not black dotted or something. He can see everything really clear. What’s going on?

"Other side, silly." He hears someone chuckle and he turns his head to the other side. There is no one other Sierra Kusterbeck sitting, smiling at him. Her greenish brown eyes are sparkling in the dark night. Her dark hair falls over her shoulders and her bangs are a little too long, so they hang in front of her eyes. She's wearing a thick coat and knitted mittens, hat and scarf.

"Did I scare you?" she asks with the sweet voice of hers. There’s a hint of a smirk in her sentence. Garrett shakes his head, even though she scared the shit out of him. She doesn’t have to know it. He is real man, you know.

Now he’s over the first shock, Garrett takes a better look at her. He is amazed by her presence. He hadn't talked to her yet, he only saw her performance. Man, what she does on stage, it's amazing. But she looks even better now she is sitting in front of him.

"It's a beautiful night, huh?" she whispers, not daring to break the silence. She has seen him unpacking for their show tonight and she immediately felt a weird, warm feeling burning inside her. He seems an interesting person and she’d love to get to know him better. And the looks aren’t missing, either. His auburn hair is wild and it seems like it isn’t washed in four days. But she doesn’t mind, he’s a rockstar. That’s what rockstars do, they don’t wash their hair.

"It is," Garrett answers softly. He looks at her from the corner of his eye. Her hair is blowing softly around her head and her eyes are sparkling as bright as the stars. He doesn’t want to tear his gaze away, but he doesn’t want to look like a creep and scare her off. So he averts his gaze and looks at his feet, feeling a little awkward.

"Unfortunately I missed the sunset." She likes sunsets. Sunrises, too, but she has to wake up early to see a sunrise and she is not one for early wake ups. Though, even if she hasn’t have to wake up early for seeing a sunrise, she likes sunsets more. When the bright day turns into the mysterious night. That’s beautiful.

"I like the night better." During the day is everything so bright and clear, everything seems so obvious. You don’t have to make an effort to figure something out. Garrett likes the mystery of the night more. Scary things come alive when it is dark.

Sierra laughs softly. The sound tinkles through the cold night and makes it instantly seem more bright. It’s like a sound from heaven. Ew, that’s really cheesy. "I could have guessed that.”

“Really?” Garrett looks at her and a crooked smile appears on his face. Some guys would look like they want to do nasty things to girls when they smile like that, but Garrett looks really cute with that smile. "Am I that easy to figure out?"

"Not at all." Sierra looks at him, too. His electric blue eyes are piercing into her greenish ones. Her heart skips a beat. She has the feeling there is a sort of connection between them.

"Is that bad?" Garrett asks. Maybe he has to be more of an open book. Is he too closed?

Sierra blinks. She realizes she had been staring at him. "I don't know," she says. "Maybe I like it.”

A small smile appears on Garrett's face. He tears his eyes away from her and looks at his hands in his lap. He feels a blush creep on his cheeks. He hates it when he blushes, that makes him look so lame. But it happens often, because he is so shy and awkward. Especially when he is accompanied with a beautiful girl as Sierra.

Sierra suddenly gets up. "Let's get out of here. Let's explore this beautiful city." Well, now they're New York City, they might as well explore it it's no for nothing the most famous city of the world
Garrett nods and gets up, too. They walk through the empty street to the front of the venue. From there they start walking through random streets. The city is still pretty alive for being already after midnight.

After a while Garrett starts to worry. He can't remember which streets they took and where they are now. What if they can't find the venue anymore? What if they leave without them?

"I hope we get lost," Sierra says. Garrett looks at her. Why the hell would she wants to get lost?

"We are lost." He emphasizes his last word. With a raised eyebrow, he looks at her.
"Oh, well," is the only thing she says. She seems a bit absent minded right now. Isn't he interesting enough? Does he have to talk about something else then being lost? But it really worries him, right now.

"Why do you want to get lost?" Garrett asks. She smiles at him. The smile helps a little. He's not so nervous anymore.

"Not because we wouldn't find the venue anymore, but because you don't know where you head to when you're lost. You see the most amazing places. You'll see." Garrett stares at her in amazement. He never thought about it that way. "I can tell," Sierra says. "I have been lost so many times. And I always got back."

That gives Garrett a little hope. They'll be able to get back to the venue. He should enjoy these moments with Sierra. Hopefully it won't be the last. But this tour just started.

It's going to be amazing.