Break Me Down

“Ross Lynch, huh?” Michelle questioned, a playful smile on her lips. “Let’s find out just who you are.”

“I could just answer any questions you have . . .” He trailed off, shaken by the full bright smile she was giving him.

“This way is just so much more fun, don’t you think?” She laughed, a tinkling that resonated through the back room. They had been there for two hours already awaiting the security at the front of the store to give them the green light. They were sitting on two bean bag chairs they had pulled from the shelves.

Michelle pulled out her phone and began searching his name on various websites.

“Ross Lynch, front man for . . . R5?” She read out loud, “Rocky, Riker, Rydel, Rattliff and Ross?” She was silent for a moment before losing herself in a bought of laughter that even surprised her.

“Ask my mom.” He simply said in response to her giggles, laughing along with her and shaking his head.

She scrolled through some more things and again began to read aloud, “Austin and Ally, a family television show, you star in it with Laura Marano . . . who you have been linked to romantically - OH! Juicy stuff, you’ve also been linked to one, Maia Mitchell.”

She looked up from her phone screen to smirk devilishly at him. Under different circumstance he would have uttered ‘holy shit’ and blushed at her suggestive tone.

“Give me the deets, Lynch.” She demanded, her eyes narrowing playfully. She shrugged off her cardigan and sank lower into the bean bag chair, getting more comfortable.

Ross stuttered and debated giving her the same answered he had rehearsed for interviews but he looked at her excited face and decided that that look was worth more than his privacy.

“Well, Laura and I are like best friends, I wanted to date her when we first started filming Austin and Ally, but decided against it because it could ruin the on screen chemistry, you know?” He shrugged waiting for her to answer his question.

“So you like her . . . Well, I approve, usually that ombre hair thing looks like a train wreck but she rocks that shit.” Her eyes scanned the phone screen and she rose her eyebrows. “Okay, the hot Aussie chick? She is a smoke show, whats her deal?”

“Older, more mature, totally hot. We worked on a movie together, we hooked up once but that was the extent of our romance. She was kind of zoned out all the time.”

“Drugs?”

“She isn’t that interesting.”

They both laughed at the turn of conversation and Michelle tumbled off of her bean bag. She looked up at him shocked at her impact and then they started to laugh harder. Michelle abruptly stopped and pulled her self up off the ground and started to concentrate on her phone, her tongue poked out from between her lips and her eyes narrowed at the screen.

“Falling For You?” She smirked, “So you’re THAT kind of band.”

“Don’t say Boy Band. Thats why we threw in Rydel.” He laughed at his own joke and muttered, “Kidding, kidding.”

Guitar flooded the storage room and Michelle turned the volume up on her phone, grooving along to the steady rhythm.

“You like mismatched socks, with polka dots
You like your pizza cold, I think thats hot.”

She laughed and got up from her seat, “This is cute!”

She jumped around, to the beat of the music.

“I’m not going anywhere.
You can change your hair five times a week,
you can change your name get little bit crazy”

The song played on and Michelle continued her erratic dance moves while Ross continued to laugh at her, when the song died down and Michelle had sunk back into her chair she asked,

“So, Mr. Lynch, how is it to be chased around by a mob of prepubescent teenage girls?”

“Less fun than you’d think.” He brushed his hair back from his face and continued, “I just wanted some new socks. My family is probably going insane.”

His eyes clouded in the potential back lash, the only reason his mom had let them even go out on a Friday to a mall, obviously crowded with their target audience was because he and his siblings had promised her that they would wear disguises and keep a low profile. He was never going to be able to go out in public after this stunt. What made it worse was the he had let Riker use his phone and had forgotten to get it back.

“Michelle, could I borrow your phone?” He asked, sitting up in his chair expectantly.

“If you’re going to try and google me, I can guarantee you won’t find anything nearly as interesting as this.” She said, pointing at the phone screen where she was playing a clip from Teen Beach Movie in which he and Maia Mitchell were performing, ‘Can’t Stop Singing.’

With that, she handed him her phone, no questions asked and watched as he took it, gratefully and and punched in a number, ultimately lifting the phone to his ear.

“Hey Rydel -” He was cut off.

“Calm down, I’m fine.” He smiled a little at Michelle and rolled his eyes in exaggeration.

“Well, tell Riker to stop using up all his data watching porn or something. He took my phone to check his Facebook.”

“Yes, I’m fine, one of the Target employees helped me out, we’re taking cover in the back room until her manager says the crowd died down.”

Michelle got a call on her walkie from the manager saying that everything was clear and they were able to leave. She gestured to Ross that they were free and clear and he told Rydel that he was leaving now.

“Thanks for that.” Ross handed Michelle back her phone and hid a smile as their hands brushed.

“No problem. I guess we can go.” She pushed herself off of the bean bag and returned it to where she’d taken it from Ross copied her and she smiled in thanks.

“Awesome, my family were all having simultaneous conniptions.” She laughed and pulled open the massive doors as they entered the now closed Target. He looked around and frowned, “Woah, what time is it?”

Michelle checked her phone and answered, “Woah, is right. It’s 9:30. We’ve been in there for hours.”

“Oh, shit.” She muttered, pulling out her phone and dialing a number, “Aidan? Oh dude, I’m so sorry, I got caught up at work, didn’t you hear?”

Ross, put his hands in his pocket, listening to conversation and they made their way to the front doors, he noted that she had made plans with Aidan and because of him, she had missed their date. A feeling of jealousy bubbled in the pit of his stomach, but of course a girl as beautiful as Michelle had a boyfriend.

“Sorry, next time for sure.” She ended the conversation with Aidan and put her phone in her bag.

“Whoops.” She laughed, pulling her car keys out of the front pocket. “Do you need a ride?”

“I can just get one of my brothers to come and get me.” He smiled, stopping on the sidewalk ready to bid farewell.

“Okay. It was really nice to meet you.” She cracked a smile, “And interrogate you.”

“You too, Michelle.”

Ross watched her walk across the parking lot to her car, start it and back out of her parking space. He noted that he was total idiot for not getting her number or ask to see her again.

That was when her car pulled up next to him, the window rolled down and Michelle, laughing beckoned him with her hand and said,

“Get in the damn car, Lynch.”