The Hell Tour.

Tulsa OK

Arya’s hands trembled at the wheel. Her head was pounding, hands sweaty and shaky, and her stomach feeling empty and heavy at the same time. She hadn’t even drank that much during the bar-be-que but she wasn’t as accustomed to the late night partying as she thought she was. She adjusted the sunglasses on her face to block a bit more of the harsh sunrays.

“I can drive if you want.” Panda said from the passenger seat quietly. Panda drank probably her weight in alcohol, but unlike Arya, she wasn’t even hungover or even the least bit tired. If anything, she was super energized and was happily editing pictures on her laptop as Arya drove.

“I’m fine.” Arya mumbled even though she clearly wasn’t. “Texas is forever.”

Arya and Panda gave each other a cautious look. They smirked and then laughed. Panda mentioned that she should give that line to Vic. Arya shifted uncomfortably.

“What?” Panda questioned. “It makes for a good song lyric… or at least a song title.”

“Nothing… It’s nothing.” Arya concentrated on the road again. She glanced on the GPS that was dangling off her windshield window. They still had four hours to drive and they weren’t even in the state of Oklahoma yet.

“He wasn’t at the party last night.” Panda mentioned. Arya shrugged. “But the rest of the band was. Do you know why?” Arya shrugged again. She was trying her best to be nonchalant but Panda was good at reading her. It was incredible how well Panda knew her already and they had only met just before the tour had started.

“Aryaaaaa…” Panda drawled out. “Is there something you want to tell me? You’re being weird… Well other than the fact that you are hungover.”

She sighed heavily and slumped her shoulders.

“Vic was there.” She finally said. Panda sat up straight in her seat and gently closed her laptop. She narrowed her eyes at Arya, not that she could tell anyways since Arya was heavily focused on the road.

“What do you mean he was there? I didn’t see him and Mike kept asking if anyone had seen him… he wasn’t there, Arya.”

Arya nodded her head. “He was. He came up to me when I was at the car just after you had gone. He scared me.” Arya’s body shuddered. She had just remembered when he had held her hand, the spark, the electricity that ran through her.

“What?” Panda questioned, her voice loud and high. “If he was there at the car with you then why didn’t he join the fun? What the hell, this guy is hella confusing and mysterious. No wonder you’re all entranced by him.”

“He was acting odd too. He came and went so fast, I’m kinda thinking that I was imagining it all. I had asked him why he pretended to not know me the other night and he said that Mike thinks he’s not ready, whatever that means. Then he just left. Sorry if I was being a party pooper.”

Panda waved her off and opened her laptop really quick. She groaned in frustration as she tried to set up her Hotspot Wi-Fi. Finally, after five irritating minutes, she opened up her internet browser and began reading. She hmm-ed and sighed and squinted at the screen. She was clicking and typing furiously and rapidly.

“Ahhh…” Panda finally sighed within ten minutes of silence and hmms.

“What are you doing?” Arya asked, taking her eyes off the road just a brief second to see that Panda was looking at a bright picture of the Vic Fuentes of Pierce the Veil with a redheaded woman. She didn’t need to look for longer than a second, but Arya quickly realized what Mike had meant.

“Her name is Danielle according to several Tumblr blogs. They didn’t date for long apparently. Broke up some time… well couple of months before this tour started. Fans were in-between liking and not liking her, there’s no for sure proof that they were OTP. I think the constant negative comments is what caused the break-up… Also…” Panda clicked several times and read at lightning speed. She was whispering under her breath as her eyes flew left to right on her screen. “She miiiight have cheated on him. Not too sure on that tabloid. Guess we figured that mystery out, right?”

Arya groaned.

“Did you have to do that, Panda?” Arya whined. “It’s such an invasion of privacy. It’s not fair. Just because of his status, doesn’t mean we can do that to him. He’s going to think I know all these things about him or stalking him or something and he knows zilch about me.”

“He knows Kellin is your brother.” Panda muttered.

Arya rolled her eyes. Her eyes darted back to Panda’s computer. She was scrolling down a blog, there were a lot of pictures of this Danielle with Vic.

“Just don’t bring it up. Let him tell you… if it ever gets to that point. At least you’re now somewhat aware of why he’s kinda a Debbie-Downer.” Panda said with a small smile.

Arya tried to smile back but she was just uneasy now.

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Arya stumbled around the maze that was Brady Theater. She had already gone over the schedule with Zach and Jake, they were taking the opening two bands tonight. Panda was taking charge of SWS again and she had gone off to find Justin Hills since he needed some new pictures for his social medias.

She passed several crew members all rushing about getting ready for the show. She took pictures as she passed and when she felt like she had enough, she ventured off down an empty hall that was supposed to lead her to the room designated for crew to chill.

She hadn’t gone too far down the hall when she saw someone sitting against the wall some yards in front of her. They had their head down on their knees. Their head perked up when Arya was ten feet away. It was Vic.

He smiled widely and scrambled to his feet. He dashed over to Arya’s side. They both stopped in the middle of the hall. He grinned as he looked over her from head to toe. His eyes were bright and for a second, enamored by her.

“Hey!” he greeted her cheerfully. Arya kindly smiled back but her mind kept sauntering to the conversation she had had with Panda on their way here.

“I like your cardigan.” Vic complimented as he ran a hand down her covered arm. She looked down at her outfit. She was wearing skinny black jeans that were ripped at the knees, low-top green Converse, a gray V-neck, and over the shirt, a black cardigan with the Slytherin coat of arms on the left side.

“Thanks.” She blushed. She often got the nerd comment whenever she wore this sweater so she hardly wore it.

“Mike is big Harry Potter nerd too. I think he’s a Gryffindor though. He’s got tattoos too.” He mentioned to her. Arya already knew this about Mike but she went along with it. They conversed for a few more minutes before they both turned around at the sound of footsteps.

Arya’s blood chilled.

Kellin, looking calm, stopped right at their feet. He smirked at Vic and gave him a bro head nod greeting. Vic nodded back and looked carefully at Arya. Kellin glanced at Arya but didn’t grimace at the sight of her for once. He smiled. Actually fucking smiled at her.

“Hey, I’ve been looking all over for you!” Kellin exclaimed to Vic. “Tony mentioned something about making a change to the set list.” Kellin looked over at Arya for a second but didn’t say anything to her.

“Yeah, but it shouldn’t affect when you go on stage for King for a Day. We’re just switching one song for another.” Vic told him reassuringly. Kellin nodded his head, but still looked a bit confused.

“Why? Like why are you changing the set list now?” he asked. Vic’s eyes flew to Arya’s and back to Kellin.

Vic shrugged. “I think Disasterology is a better song than Sky Under the Sea. It’s just a minor change. It’s not a big deal.”

Arya gawked at Vic. That was her favorite song. She had told Mike about it when they were in Albuquerque.

Kellin shrugged and then started to leave, but just as he had gotten far enough from the two, he turned back and looked at Arya.

“I’m a Slytherin too.” He told her and then dashed off.