Anything (Van McCann | CATB Fan Fiction)

8. Cloud Gate, IL

"Yeah, it's probably nothing," I shrugged, trying to convince myself that Emily was just having an off week. I knew it had nothing to do with desserts nor beverages.

"Alright. Enough talk about girls. I'm zonked. Let's sleep. Bed! Oh, my sweet, sweet bed. Sweet bed of mine," John strummed and sang on his guitar before he put it down next to his bed. All of the lads looked like they were ready to go to bed. Benji was laughing to himself on his bed, scrolling through his phone. Bob was already snoring next to him, comfortably nestled under his blanket. I turned around to look for Larry, but he was already wandering around in the service suite, trying to look for the most comfortable bed to sleep on as I heard him muffled about a king sized bed in the other room.

"I think I'm gonna go out for a walk," I told them, knowing that sleep was impossible for me. I put my boots back on and grabbed my jacket.

When I got onto the street outside of the hotel, my hands were quaking due to the cold weather. I rubbed them vigorously a couple of times and blew out a few hot breaths onto them. I hadn't expect it to be that cold.

I was happy to see that not many people were swarming around on the streets, like how they would during the day. It kind of gave me a little sense of privacy - a feeling that I may have forgotten since a little privacy was something non-existent when you're in a band. But I wasn't going to complain about it though. Being in a band, touring and playing music in front of a large crowd, they were all my dreams.

I walked a few steps more towards the end of the street and saw the dazzling bean structure, sitting in the middle of the park, waiting for me to go to it. It looked far spectacular under the midnight sky and against the night lights. There were probably around three to four people surrounding the structure, since it was long past midnight, so I took the rare opportunity to stand alone underneath it.

I looked up the structure and saw the distortion of my face. I then carefully leaned against the structure and lit up a fag. I hoped that smoking near the structure was not an offense or anything. I watched the white, puffy clouds of smoke distorted into thin lines as they escaped my mouth.

"Any plans on quitting?" A familiar voice jarred me. I looked to the direction of her voice and there she was, standing a few feet away from me. Vienna eyed the cigarette between my fingers and then her eyes shifted onto mine with the corner of her lips curling into a sweet smile.

"Not at the moment," I looked at my fag and then to her. "Were you following me?" I tilted my head at her, my eyebrows scrunched a little as my heart blossomed at seeing her. She covered the final few feet between us slowly and stood next to me.

"I was here first," she flushed, tucking a tiny strand of her long hair behind her ear.

"Well, we don't have any time stamp to validate that, now, do we?" I chuckled, softly nudging her sides with my elbow.

"Actually," she bit her lip, "I do," she proudly grinned as she showed me the photos on her iPhone. "This. See, this was taken thirty minutes ago. And this is you, walking towards the bean, ten minutes ago."

"Whoa! Slow down private eye. So, you were stalking me," I smirked.

"No, I wasn't," she pursed her lips, probably mentally cursing herself for showing me the photos as I could see that she was turning bright red.

"Why are you walking alone at night? Isn't it dangerous?" I asked her as she leaned back against the structure next to me.