A Smile Can Hide So Much

Aria

My heart just stopped.

I held my breath and looked down at my table, playing with my water bottle as my old best friends piled out on stage and picked up their dumb guitars. Andrew opened his dumb mouth to talk his dumb words.

"Hey everyone, it's a pleasure to be here. I've lived in Arizona all my life so its not like we ever had weather...." He trailed off for a second and I looked up to see his eyes boring into my head. I got up to wait on more tables and he quickly recovered.

"like this down south. Hah. This first song is called Calm the Storm." I heard his voice get more and more distant as I walked farther and farther away. I heard Lily scurrying after me and I stopped in my tracks.

"This is what you wanted to see my reaction to? Seeing those...assholes?" I spat, trying to sound serious and angry but obviously failing since Lily's face broke out into a smile.

"This is better than I thought." I gave her a smug look and started to storm away when she grabbed my arm.

"Where do you think you're going? she asked me.

"To do my job?" I questioned with an eyebrow raised.

"Its 8:10. You got out ten minutes ago." I looked at the clock and let out a sigh.

"You know you want to go back over there." she smirked. I bit the inside of my cheek. As much as I hate to admit it, I did. But I couldn't. I couldn't let them back into my life. I know I wouldn't be able to refrain myself from bitching them out once they were done if they ever decided to approach me.

I slowly started walking towards the small stage, ignoring my mind telling me to stop. Lily giggled and followed me close behind.

"I can basically read your mind, Arianne Katelyn Maine."

Six songs later and nonstop awkward eye contact with my old best friends, I was still sitting at the table. Half of these songs sounded like they could've been about me. I didn't want to sound conceited or anything, but it was a possibility.

"Thank you for joining us tonight people, this is our last song. Its called Take Me."
Ethan and Andrew started to strum their guitars and Andrew walked back up to the microphone. The sound of the song sounded like the one I had heard earlier on the radio.
As they got to the chorus, Andrew stared right into my eyes.

'And she says,
'I'm not ready to take a chance
I'm sorry that this can't last but
I know you'll be better off without me in your hair'

His voice faltered a bit but he still stared at me for a couple seconds before breaking his gaze away.

Why are you staring at me? You didn't write those words. You don't even know what they mean. I thought bitterly.

Well, unless Toby told.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, putting my head down on the table.

"I want you to mean it, Aria." I remembered Toby's breath in my ear. He moved his mouth down to my collarbone.

"I do mean it, Toby." I whispered back, biting my lip to hold back a moan from him sucking on my neck.

"This will be our secret. I won't tell a soul." He breathed, pulling my shirt off over my head.

I shook my head lightly, snapping out my flashback and looked up at the stage to see the guys exiting. Had I really been out of it for that long?

I got up, pulling at Lily's sleeve.

"Come on, Lily, lets go home." I said, wanting to get out of here before I ran into them. She got up and pushed her chair in. I picked up my bag and adjusted my jacket, waiting for Lily.

She stood up slowly, obviously tired. I walked around aimlessly while she collected herself and walked next to me. I tightened my sweatshirt around me, bracing myself for the cold October air as I stepped outside.

Andrew
I walked around the tour bus, breathing heavily. I watched my breath turn into clouds as I thought about the show we just performed.

That was Aria, no doubt about it. She didn't look much different, except that her hair was more of an orange-ish tone than before when it was dirty blonde. She still had the same blue eyes and the same petite figure.

I can't even describe the look on her face when she saw us. It was one of confusion, shock, anger...not happiness though. I thought after four years of non contact she would be happy to see us. Guess not.

It's not like I wanted her to be happy. I wanted her reaction to what she had coming to her. The whole reason I pushed for success after she quit the band is because I wanted to show her what she missed out on.

And boy, she missed out.

I walked towards the door of the bus, zipping up my jacket. It was absolutely freezing outside. I didn't even want to know what it was like when it was actually winter. As I leaned against the bus, not exactly wanting to go in but not knowing how much longer I could stand out here, I saw a girl walk out of the restaurant and stand outside. It seemed like she was waiting for someone. As I looked closer, I noticed she looked familiar.

Was that Aria?

I stared for a couple more seconds. Yeah, that was Aria.

I kicked at the ground for a second, having a mental battle with myself. If I let her leave, I would probably never see her again. All I wanted was one conversation. Well maybe more than one conversation, but it would do.

My heart seemed to take over my body and my mind shut down as I started walking over there, my legs seeming to take me where they wanted. She was turned around, so she didn't see me as I approached her. I took a deep breath.

"Aria?"