"Kristen," Vic sang softly.
A soft guitar riff followed.
"We're… in…"
"VEGAS!" The group shouted. "Time to get up!"
She whipped around, staring back at the smiling faces of Vic, Tony, Matt, Kasey, and Caleb.
Matt continued playing a song on his guitar as they stared at her.
"Let's go!" Tony said excitedly. "We have to go check into our hotel, come on."
She groaned.
"Hey, we let you sleep this long." Caleb eyed her jokingly.
"Fiiiine." She whined and jumped down from the bed.
Kasey handed her clothes and they walked to the front of the bus to wait for her.
She emerged ten minutes later, and they were off the hotel.
They were getting hotel rooms because they had a few days off, and they all decided to spend it in Vegas.
When they arrived, they were told that Of Mice & Men had already gotten the rooms for them, and that Austin wanted them to tell Kristen that she was too slow.
Everyone else laughed, but she only smirked. She was sure that they somehow all planned this.
Nonetheless, they headed up to their floor to drop off all their stuff.
As Kristen stood in the hallway waiting for Matt to lock their bands door, she looked a few rooms over and saw Austin hugging Abby.
She sighed, and looked away.
When she looked back up, she saw that he was walking towards them alone.
"She's not coming?"
"Not feeling well."
"Oh." She replied quietly, not able to look at him.
Her band members had already walked way ahead of her, so there was no chance of using them to get out of talking to him.
"How are you feeling?" He asked, noticing her mood.
She didn't speak for a long time.
"I'm not." She finally said as they stepped into the elevator.
He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know. Not good I guess."
He put his arm around her shoulders as they walked out of the elevator.
"I'll be happy to take care of you. If you want." He gave her a small smile.
"Nah, it's okay."
He frowned and moved his arm. "Okay."
The walked in silence the rest of the way to the venue.
...
Kristen sat on the concrete in the middle of where the pit would be later tonight as she watched Of Mice & Men's soundcheck.
Matt came up to her, holding a laptop.
"Kristen!"
She looked up at him.
"You have to look at this!"
He handed her the computer, and immediately she froze.
Going down the page, there were tons of pictures, videos, and gifs of last night.
Her and Austin holding hands, hugging, crying together, singing, even stuff from the interview.
Along with that, there were plenty of people who were happy to give their opinions; be they good or bad…
'They are so cute! I love them together, it's perfect. I've always thought she was way better for him than Abby.'
'Who does this bitch think she is? Austin is HAPPYILY in a relationship! FUCK OFF!'
'Why are people only blaming Kristen? Yes, if they are secretly together then she's fucked up for ruining his and Abby's relationship, but it takes two to do that… Austin isn't innocent either.'
"Shit!" Kristen yelped out in surprise.
"I know! It's crazy. Have you checked your twitter? It's being blown the fuck up! You guys were even trending this morning."
"Really?"
He nodded.
She pulled out her phone and opened twitter, her eyes widening at the notifications saying "200+ Mentions, 13 DMs"
Skimming through her mentions, she didn't even know what to say.
'Ugh, you're gross. How could you do that?'
'Congrats! You and Austin are adorable!'
'Lol, that video is bullshit. Who gave this bitch permission to sing with and touch Austin Carlile?'
'You go girl. '
'I really hope she isn't doing this just to make her band popular…'
'These fangirls are ridiculous. Kristen has been FRIENDS with Austin since they were KIDS. Quit freaking out.'
She read over only a few before stopping.
Some of them were irritating her, but she didn't say anything to them. Instead, she thought for a few minutes before tweeting,
"Things aren't always what they seem. But you already knew that, right? Anyway, VEGAS for a few days! Stoked!"
With that, she locked her phone and put it back in her pocket.
When she looked up, she watched Austin jump down from the stage and come over to her.
"What's with the face?" He asked as he sat down next to her.
She didn't even bother lying. "People think we're dating…"
"What?"
"After last night, that shit hit the internet and people are freaking out."
He stared at her for a second. "Are they… mad?"
"Some are, because of Abby. And a lot of others are mad probably just because you're dating anyone."
He nodded slowly.
"Are they fucking with you?"
"Kind of…"
Without another word, he pulled out his own phone and immediately started typing.
When he was done, he put it up and smiled at her.
She was confused, but a few seconds later, her phone beeped and she saw that he had mentioned her. She opened up her twitter and read over the tweet.
'Guys, I'm asking nicely. Leave Kristen alone, please? Tour life is difficult we don't need all this with it!'
"Thanks." She mumbled. She figured it either wouldn't help or would make it worse, but she was happy he tried to help.
He leaned over and kissed her cheek.
"They'll just have to get over it." He gave her a small grin as Pierce The Veil started their soundcheck.
...
Kristen and the rest of the band had a sort of rough night as far as their set went.
A lot of people, or girls, rather, were angry with her. The crowd wasn't much into them tonight and she couldn't wait for it to be over with.
They stuck around until the end and helped pack everything up before they headed back to the hotel.
When they got back, pretty much all the members of all three bands decided to go out and party.
Kristen didn't want to go really anywhere, so she stayed in by herself.
But eventually she got bored, and decided to go out to the buses to play some video games. She hoped it would get her mind off of everything.
She turned on Just Dance, and went to one of her favorite songs to dance to; Tik Tok.
In the middle of the song, her heart almost stopped because the sound of the bus door opening scared the hell out of her; but a few seconds later, Austin appeared in front of her.
"What are you doing?" He laughed.
"Having my own party, since everyone else went out." She answered simply as she bent down like the game told her to.
She peered up at Austin to find him staring at her intently.
"Mind if I join?" He asked.
She giggled and nodded towards the couch, where the other remote was.
He waited patiently as she finished her song.
"Impressive." He said when she was done. "Can I pick the song?"
"Go ahead." She agreed as she drank a sip of her water.
She almost spit it out when she saw that he picked 'When I Grow Up' by The Pussycat Dolls. She laughed loudly.
He smiled. "What?"
"This… is funny. I can't wait to beat you."
"Bring it." He gave her a gaming stare as the music started.
Clearly, she had played this before.
"Shit!" Austin laughed out when he missed the first few moves.
She giggled at him.
He was amazed at how easy she made it seem. She followed everything perfectly, and looked great doing it.
He almost felt bad for thinking that, but he really didn't.
She caught him staring and laughed again.
The song was about over and she already had 5 stars, opposed to his 2.
"You cheated!" He exclaimed playfully once the song ended.
"Or you just suck." She teased.
"Well, let's see how good you do on this one. You pick."
"Hmm," She closed her eyes, and pressed the button rapidly and picked one randomly.
Her jaw almost dropped when she saw that she landed on 'Girlfriend' by Avril Lavigne.
"Shit," She breathed.
Austin just smiled at her as it started.
Kristen was feeling slightly hyper, so she shrugged and went with it.
"I don't like your girlfriend." She sang along with the music while they danced.
Austin's eyes moved to her, and she shrugged.
Both of them were focusing intently on the lyrics; Kristen because it amused her and Austin because he was actually starting to think that hey…
"She's so stupid, what the hell were you thinking?" Kristen practically yelled out with the song.
They finished the song, but before it was over they had already dropped their remotes and were doing their own dances.
They were jumping around and laughing and almost right as the song faded they fell on the couch together.
It was silent for a few moments before Kristen started giggling.
"What?" Austin asked with a smile.
"That was fun."
He didn't say anything else, so they lay next to each other quietly for a few minutes.
"Want to keep playing?" She asked, breaking the silence.
"Actually, I was thinking, want to head over to the casinos and meet up with everyone?"
"I'm um, not dressed for that…"
"Change real quick back at the hotel? They're at the casino there anyway."
She didn't want to, but looking back at him, she agreed to go.
They shut off the game and locked the bus back up before heading back across the street to the hotel.
Austin went with her up to her room and waited patiently for her while she changed into a short green dress.
He smiled as she walked out of the bathroom.
"You look beautiful."
She felt her cheeks start to burn. "Thanks. You ready to go?"
"Yep." He opened the door and they headed downstairs.
...
Once they got down to the casino, they looked for their bandmates for around fifteen minutes before giving up.
"Let's just go play something ourselves, have our own fun." Austin suggested.
She nodded and followed him until he sat down at a table.
Austin started playing blackjack, and was pretty decent at it.
Eventually, a crowd had gathered around them.
Kristen was getting uncomfortable and Austin could tell.
"Just a few more." He promised.
Things continued for a couple minutes, and he ended up losing the hand.
The people around them "oooohed" and Austin turned to her.
"Why don't you give me a good luck kiss?"
"What?" She asked, shocked.
"Just one."
Her mind went blank and she slowly started to lean towards him.
He lifted his hand up to her cheek and pulled her closer until their lips met.
When they pulled away, the whole room seemed to be glowing. Her heart was going crazy over that one kiss.
She was barely paying attention but apparently, Austin had hit exactly 21 and won the game.
He stood up excitedly and kissed her cheek. "You did it!" He smiled at her.
She smiled back, still hazy after the kiss.
As promised, he took her back up to her room after that game.
He held her hand as they walked down the hall to their rooms.
He let go once she reached her room and kept walking to his.
She was slow in unlocking the door, and Austin stopped to look back at her.
"Wait," He called.
She looked up at him as he came back over to her.
He put a hand on her cheek, and one on her waist.
They stared back at each other for a few moments.
As cheesy as he thought it was to say, he found himself getting lost in her deep blue eyes. His vision blurred and he slowly started to lean towards her.
Their lips met again, and both could feel their heartbeats get faster.
The kiss was longer than the last, and both seemed reluctant to pull away.
They watched each other again, and then Austin smiled.
"Goodnight." He said sweetly.
"Night." She smiled at him before finally unlocking the door to her room and going inside.
Seeing her bandmates all in bed asleep, she grabbed some clothes and a toothbrush and went to get ready to join them.
She got changed quickly and started to brush her teeth.
While she was brushing, she finally started thinking about what happened.
'What did you just do?'
More importantly, what did he do?
The more she thought about it, the worse she felt.
What if he knew how she felt about him? What if that's why he kissed her? What if he was just doing it to mess with her?
Her thoughts were starting to make her sick. Sadness and anger welled in her as she cried, and those feelings never were a good thing for her.
The more upset she got, the more the she was tempted to break the one promise she said she'd never break.
But she had to let this all out somehow.
Not having anything else, she dug her nails into her arm and scratched.
She let out a small scream and immediately cursed herself for it.
"Fuck," She hissed.
She heard rustling in the other room and panicked as blood started to drip down her arm.
A few seconds later, the door burst open, and Matt almost fell when the scene he was seeing sunk in.
"Please don't hate me…"