Ashley's POV
"Wake up! Wake up!"
I forced my eyelids open to see Raya's face hovering over me. "Whaaat?" I groaned.
"We're going shopping for the meeting tonight!" she cheered, jumping on my bed and crushing my legs.
"Raya!" I whined. "Get off, and I might be able to get up!"
She jumped off the bed, and I sat up. "Do we seriously need to go shopping for an outfit?" I asked.
Her mouth gaped open. "Ashley! You've never questioned a reason to go shopping!" She pulled on my arm, making me get out of bed.
I thought about it. She was right. I was always looking for a reason to shop. I said, "Well… I could use a few new outfits for my wardrobe…"
She smiled. "Yay! I knew you'd come around! We're going to have so much fun tonight!"
The corners of my mouth turned up into a smile. She was right, we were going to meet THE Pretty Little Liars cast tonight! That's definitely something to look forward to.
My ears rang from the thousands of screaming girls. Raya's parents had dropped us off three hours early, but there were still many people in front of us. However, I was feeling kind of excited. I was wearing one of the new outfits I bought: a cut off shirt with a smiley on it that had a moustache, dark skinny jeans, and gray Vans. Raya was also wearing a new outfit: a floral blouse, faded boot cut jeans, and a pair of white wedges.
We had both curled our hair, but mine was put in a side messy braid that fell down my shoulder. Raya's hair was longer than mine, so she just left it curled.
We had our VIP tickets in our hands and we were jumping in excitement.
A security man led us backstage. "Just wait here and the cast will be out in a second to meet you." He left us alone.
Raya turned towards me. "Ready to get some boys' digits?" she asked.
"My fun-mode is on, and my phone is ready," I confirmed.
She nodded quickly, either from having too much caffeine or being excited. Or both.
A few minutes later, 3 boys and 3 girls came out. I discretely searched for the the boy with the brown curled hair and deep blue eyes and spotted him partly hidden behind the others.
"So you're Raya and Ashley?" the one asked. He had nice eyes I noticed.
"Yes!" Raya said. "I'm Raya." She batted her eyelashes. He was obviously her favorite.
"And I'm Ashley," I said with the warmest, friendliest, most non-fangirl-ish smile I could muster.
"Well, if you don't know us already, let us introduce ourselves," the boy said. "I'm Keegan."
"I'm Ashley," the blonde girl said.
"I'm Julian," the other boy said.
"I'm Troian,"
"I'm Shay"
The brown curled guy was silent. I don't know if he was even paying attention to what was going on.
"That's Ian," Keegan whispered. "Don't mind him. He, uh… isn't very social."
"Well!" Troian said, slapping her hands together. "Let's get on with the tour, shall we? That way, ladies." She motioned which way to go. The cast was in Belgium for a fanmeeting and also to film a part for the show.
Raya happily skipped onward. But I sauntered back a little so I ended up towards the back of the group. I looked at Ian, and he met my gaze for a second before looking away, just like he had done before. I wondered if he recognized me.
"So your name is Ian, huh?" I asked, trying to make conversation.
He nodded but continued to stare at the ground.
"You know, if you like looking at the floor so much, just take a picture. It will last longer," I lamely joked.
For a split second, the right corner of his mouth twitched up. But it quickly returned to its original set line.
I inwardly groaned. What would it take to get this boy to respond?
Keegan gave me a look that said, 'Just give up.' I shrugged in response.
"Alright, girls," Ashley said. She abruptly stopped walking, making me run into the back of Julian's head.
"Ow," I muttered.
Julian turned around and asked, "You okay?"
I nodded and turned my attention back to Ashley, who was acting like the leader of the tour. She said, "This is where we get our makeup done."
I held back a laughed as I gazed upon the salon-like seats and various mirrors. Makeup was strewn across the tables.
"Hey, don't laugh. It makes us look good," Keegan said, stroking his cheek like a model.
I could no longer contain my laughter. Raya was laughing also, her face still bright with excitement from meeting the cast.
Keegan smiled at Raya's laugh, looking pleased with himself. She stopped and met his gaze. He pretended to turn his attention to something else, his cheeks showing a little pink. I pretended not to notice his obvious crush on my best friend.
"Let's continue on," he said. He led us inside a different door. "This is the sound room. It has a view of the entire stage via cameras."
I chuckled and saw he was right. Above various control panels were monitors that showed several angles of the stage. There were men cleaning up the platform. I sat down on one of the chairs on wheel and slid up to a control panel. I tapped on the microphone, and a thudding noise echoed on the stage, making the working men look around in confusion.
I laughed and said away from the mic, "I guess the sound is still on. Hey, can one of you guys make it so that my voice will sound really low?"
"Yeah, hold on," Julian said, adjusting some controls.
"Wait—we'll get in trouble!" Shay said. But she had a mischievous smile on her face.
Ian stood hidden behind everyone, his gaze fixed on the monitors. I swear, I haven't seen that boy's mouth open once since the concert ended. It made me want to get to know him better.
"Oh, who cares?" I said adventurously. "I'll take all the blame if anything happens."
Julian said, "Ok, it should be working now."
I held up by hands for everyone to be quiet. I said slowly into the microphone, "I am the voice from above. Drop your mops at once."
The men's eyes grew wide, and they dropped whatever they were holding. The cast, Raya, and I were trying not to laugh as I went on theatrically, "You must go pick up seven ice cream cones and bring them backstage at once!"
Keegan couldn't contain himself any longer and burst out in laughter. The microphone made his laugh ring out over the stage, low and growl-like. The rest of us couldn't help but burst out laughing also.
One of the men took out a walky-talky and called for security.
Everyone froze.
"Hurry! Under the stage! Now!" Ashley whisper-yelled.
Raya and I ran out behind them, and they led us underneath the stage. We sat down under many wood beams. It was dark, and I am deathly afraid of the dark. My body started to shake. I grabbed the hand nearest to me, and I felt shivers go down my spine—and not from fear. Whichever boy it was whose hand I grabbed wrapped his warm fingers around mine, making a zing pulse through me. I felt surprisingly calm, and my breathing evened out.
My eyes finally adjusted to the dark. I followed our clasped hands up his arm and to his face.
It was Ian.
He looked back at me, the right corner of his mouth starting to turn up into a smile. Almost. His mouth returned to its normal thin line. But I saw it, and I smiled in return. He didn't let go of my hand, and I wasn't about to let go of his.
"You alright, Ashley?" Raya asked quietly. She knew my fear of the dark.
She was too far away from Ian and me for me to see her.
"I'm fine," I answered.
"I think it's safe to go out," I heard Keegan say. "Maybe we should go out the back way to the van, just in case."
"We?" I repeated.
"Yeah, we can take you two girls home," Ashley said. "Let's get out of here."
I reluctantly got out of my comfortable position and followed them out from under the stage. We carefully hid among the shadows until we were out the back door. Raya and I were led to a blue van.
"I call shotgun!" Ashley exclaimed. She ran into the passenger seat.
The rest of us climbed into the van. Julian was driving, Ashley and I took the middle two seats, and the others took the three back seats.
"So, gals, where do you live?" Julian asked.
We gave him my address, which he entered into the GPS.
During the ride home, the boys talked about how awesome their first meeting in Belgium was. They asked Raya and me if we liked it, and we showered them with compliments. They then went on to talk about how awesome my little prank was on the clean-up crew and talked about how exciting our escape was. All I could think about was how it felt to hold Ian's hand.
Sadly, we arrived at my house.