Categories > Celebrities > Panic! At The Disco > I May Be Blind, But I See More Than You Know
20 - I Need A Friend Tonight
7 ReviewsHow is Lou going to get herself out of this situation? And the moment we've all been waiting for... Spencer makes a move!!!!
My head flew back, hitting the wall hard, and I tasted blood in my mouth. The stranger’s slim fingers were digging into my waist, keeping me locked in placed, and suddenly, his lips were smashed to mine. I gasped in both surprise and horror, and the man took this opportunity to move his tongue into my mouth. I gagged and wrenched my head away. My – Brendon’s – shirt was being tugged on, and only my flailing arms kept it from coming off entirely. It rode up so high that I was sure my bra was exposed at various times, and when the stranger realised that my shirt wasn’t going to come off anytime soon, I felt his fingers fumbling with the button on my jeans.
Yelling, I pushed back with all my strength, sending him stumbling. He growled, the sound turning him into something akin to a predator. And I was his prey.
Giving a dry sob, I held my arms up in a feeble attempt to predict where he was going to come from next. Terror had completely taken over my body, and I was close to tears.
I tried to inch my way closer to where I remembered the door to be, but all of a sudden I was shoved, making me lose my balance and fall to the ground. I cried out when I landed, and it was enough to start tears flowing. I scrambled to my feet uncoordinatedly, trying to sense where the stranger was through my haze of fear.
By some instinct, I threw my knee upwards, and I heard his grunt of pain as I connected. That was all it took for me to fly forwards, my fingers scrabbling at the wall desperately to try and find the door. I found it, and when my fingers touched the cool metal of the door handle, I let out a loud sob of relief.
Stumbling out of the room, I slammed the door behind me, trying to escape from the stranger as fast as I could without knocking into anything. The only thought in my mind was to find one of the members of Panic!, preferably Spencer. He’d been a steadfast anchor during my short time with the band, always comforting me whenever something was wrong, and instinct told me that I would be safe with him.
My jeans were becoming loose around my hips, and I realised that the button was undone. I re-buttoned it, still sobbing and still trying to find my way back to the rest of the party.
Following the noise I could hear, I was enormously relieved when I was hit with a loud wave of music and the sound of Greta calling my name. Footsteps rushed towards me, and I clung to Vicky and Greta as they swamped me, trying to soothe my crying while simultaneously trying to find out what was wrong.
“I… I want,” I choked out. Somehow, they seemed to understand.
“I’ll go find one of the boys,” Vicky said, giving my back one last rub before slipping away.
Greta pulled me closer. “Ssshhhh,” she hushed, all motherly-like. “You’re okay; it will be alright.”
Vicky returned shortly.
“What the fuck happened Lou; are you okay?!” Ryan’s worried voice reached my ears, and he joined Greta in hugging me.
“Where are the others?” she asked quietly over my sobs.
“Brendon’s drunk,” was Ryan’s reply, “Jon’s nearly drunk and hanging with The Academy minus William, and I don’t know where Spencer is.”
I raised my head at the sound of Spencer’s name. “S-S-Sp- ”
“Ssshhh, we’ll get him for you,” Ryan promised.
“I’m on it,” Vicky said, leaving us for the second time.
Ryan and Greta conferred with each other while I still cried in-between them. I caught a few words like “back to the bus” and “find out what happened” and “when she’s calm” but I didn’t really take any notice.
“Lou.”
That was all it took; his voice. I turned my head in his direction as I gently pulled away from Greta and Ryan. “S-Spencer.”
Then he was upon me, pulling me into a hug so tight it was like he was never going to let me go. And it was then, in his warm embrace, that I finally felt safe for the first time since leaving that room.
***
Spencer managed to direct my shaking and shivering body outside where it was quieter, and Ryan followed. The tears had stopped flowing from my eyes, but dry sobs still racked my body, making it shudder at alternate intervals. Spencer’s arm was around my waist, and he rubbed his thumb gently over the t-shirt material at my hip. I found the action soothing as I leaned into his body. We finally stopped out in the open, the cool air caressing my face. There was a sympathetic noise from one of the boys.
“Lou, what happened?” Spencer asked gently as he turned me to face him. I took a shaky breath.
“I- I… V-Vicky was taking me to- to dance, and her grip on my hand was loose and… I lost her and- and I started to panic, but,” I stopped for another breath, my stuttering caused by my fear and the hiccups that had started. “But then… then this man, he- he said he would help m-me f-find her, but h-he took me some- somewhere away from the party… and I told him to take me b-back, but he said that Vicky was back here, and…” I swallowed, hating the way my voice sounded feeble and pathetic to my own ears. “I-I was scared, and he pushed me into a r-room and shut the door… I was- was thrown against a wall, and he- he tried to…” I could finish the sentence and Spencer pulled me into another comforting hug as Ryan rubbed my back and cursed under his breath. I kept whispering the words, “I was so scared,” over and over into Spencer’s shirt. I squeezed my eyes shut tight, wishing for the millionth time in my life that I had my sight.
“Do you know who it was?” Ryan asked me. “Did he say his name, or was there anything you could work out about him that would distinguish him from others?”
Pulling back from Spencer but still keeping my arms around him, I shook my head, biting my lip in thought. “N-no… I think he was tall, b-but…” Then I frowned. “H-he was really skinny – when, when I pushed him back I could feel his ribs…”
Ryan swore loudly which made me realise that he probably knew who the mystery man was, and then there was a silence that made me think that he and Spencer were communicating somehow. I buried my face in Spencer’s shirt again, mumbling, “Spencer… I wanna, wanna go back to the bus…”
“I’ll take you back,” he promised. “You stay here and make sure Jon and Brendon get back okay,” he said, obviously talking to Ryan. There was a loud sigh, to which Spencer replied with, “Don’t look at me like that. Someone has to.” The other boy grumbled something unintelligible under his breath, but Spencer was already directing me somewhere.
“I’ll see you back at the bus,” he called out to his friend as a way of saying goodbye, to which he received a bored-sounding reply of, “Yeah, whatever.”
There must have been a side exit to the backyard area or something; Spencer opened a gate and closed it after we’d walked through.
“You don’t have anything back in the house, do you?” he asked me. “I’ll get Ryan to bring it back if you do.” I shook my head, resting it against his chest and matching his pace. I could hear muffled noise from inside the house, and shivered, my skin crawling as I realised that I really didn’t want to be put into a situation where the atmosphere was the same ever again.
Spencer called for a taxi on his cell, and we stood at the end of Pete’s drive, waiting for it to arrive. There was silence, and I don’t think either of us really knew what to say. I sighed as I heard the taxi pull up a short time later, Spencer helping me into the back and giving the driver the address of the place where the bus was parked as I settled into the leather seat. My sobs had stopped, but my eyes ached and felt tired as I resumed my position of leaning against him and he slipped his arm around me. The taxi driver made no effort to make a conversation with us, and we didn’t attempt to engage him either. I turned my head slightly to stare at where Spencer’s head was.
“You know who it was, don’t you?” I whispered. “I… could tell by the way Ryan swore. You know who it was.”
Spencer’s chest rose and fell as he sighed. “Yeah… We have an idea of who it most likely was,” he admitted. “And if you hadn’t asked me to take you back to the bus, I probably would have gone in there and beat the living shit out of him.”
I didn’t know how to react to that piece of information, that Spencer was willing to do something like that just for my sake.
He groaned. “Your brother is going to kill us when he finds out,” he muttered.
“It wasn’t your fault,” I told him softly.
“Yeah it was,” he replied, “we took you to that fucking party in the first place.” I didn’t say anything, yawning as I realised that it was probably late and shifting my body slightly to get more comfortable.
The rest of the ride was completed in silence, the taxi driver dropping us off a bit before where the bus was parked because of some stupid traffic issue or whatever, and so we got out, the cool air hitting my body like a knife. Spencer held my hand as we walked. It was a comfortable silence, but I was unable to stop yawning, worn out by the late hour, my crying earlier and I had a pounding headache as a result of both. After about the third time I stumbled over my own feet, Spencer stopped me.
“Here, Lou. Stop.”
I did, and let out a little cry of surprise as suddenly I was swept up into his arms. We set off again, this time with him carrying me, and I rested my head on his shoulder.
“Thank you,” I mumbled. “Just… Tell me if I get too heavy and I’ll walk again.”
Spencer scoffed. “And have you fall asleep while you walk? I don’t think so. We’re nearly there, anyway.”
And it was true. A short time later, there was the hiss of the door opening and Spencer was climbing the steps with me still in his arms. I heard Yankee whine, and slowly raised my head from Spencer’s shoulder, blinking slowly as I removed my hands from around Spencer’s neck to cover my mouth as I yawned yet again. He chuckled softly, a rumble in his throat and set me down carefully. I could feel Yankee winding himself around my legs like a cat, and I smiled, reaching down to pat him on the head.
“Hey boy,” I whispered quietly. He licked my fingers, and I’d never been so glad to see him. Spencer’s hand, which had been around my shoulders, slid down to find my own.
“Come on,” he said gently. “You can have my bunk tonight.” I looked up at him, smiling despite the night’s earlier events.
“Why are you so…” I shook my head.
“So what?” he asked.
“Nothing,” I said, still smiling as I looked away, but biting my lip. Wonderful, was what I’d wanted to say. Amazing. But I just hadn’t been able to for some reason, almost like I was embarrassed to be thinking thoughts like these; thoughts that I had no idea what they would lead to.
Spencer led me into the bunk area. “This one’s mine,” he said, placing my free hand on the mattress.
“Thanks,” I said sincerely, reaching into my suitcase to pull out my pyjamas. Spencer moved away, about to leave to let me change, but I heard him pause.
“Hey, Lou?” he asked, and I could hear the sudden nervousness in his voice.
“Mmm?” I turned, straightening up to face him.
“Uh… well,” he began. His voice cracked and he cleared his throat before starting again. “We, we’re gonna be in Vegas in a few days for a show, and…” There was silence for a few seconds, almost like he was pondering how to phrase something.
“You guys are from Vegas, aren’t you?” I asked.
“Yeah, Brendon and Ryan and I are,” he said. “Um… so. We’re going to be in Vegas, and I was just wondering… I wanted to know if…” I raised an eyebrow, trying to work out what he was saying. “Well, what I was thinking is that maybe, if you wanted to, I could… I could maybe show you around Vegas, and we could, like, hang out for the day or something. Just… if you wanted to. You don’t have to,” he added hurriedly, “I just thought, you know- ”
“Spencer!” I interrupted his rambling. I smiled gently. “I’d love to.”
“You would?” The relief was evident in his voice.
“Yeah,” I nodded. “I would.”
“Great! Well… okay then. Vegas, right. I can do that,” he said, walking back over to me. He gently pressed his lips to my forehead for a fleeting moment, and they were so light I thought I’d imagined it.
“Goodnight, Lou,” he said softly before closing the door behind him before I could reply. When he’d gone, I raised my fingers to my forehead, placing them to the spot where he’d kissed me a moment ago. I felt my cheeks heat up and I couldn’t stop the wide grin from sliding onto my face, stretching from one side to the other. My limbs felt shaky with happiness, and I couldn’t explain the feeling or why I felt like that.
I changed my clothes, hanging my borrowed t-shirt from a random bunk before I pulled the curtains back and lifted myself into Spencer’s bunk. I smiled as I breathed in his scent, burrowing under the covers and sighing happily. There was an inexplicable fluttering in my stomach, and as I adjusted my position on the pillow, I felt safe, just like I had when I’d found Spencer at the party. Thinking of the party wiped all traces of happiness from my face, but I forced the thought out of my mind and instead found myself falling asleep to the memory of Spencer’s arms around me, holding me like no one had ever held me before.
Any more ideas as to who it was? It will be made clear in the next chapter, so don't worry if you don't know. I didn't exactly give you a lot to go with.
IMPORTANT: Okay, so basically, here's the deal. Next Monday (17th), I'm going to be flying to Italy for a school trip for maybe... 17 days? I dunno. Around that number, anyway. I land in Australia again on the 5th of October, and then on the 6th we catch an early morning flight back to our hometown. So. That means that I'm gonna miss an update on the 26th of September. I'm gonna take my writing book with me and try and write in my free time and on the plane, so hopefully when I get back all I have to do is type up what I've got and post it. For this reason, the posting schedule will be fucked, and you guys will probably be impatient to find out what happens next but hey, at least I left it on a good note, right? :) I'll stick up a little note about posting when I update the next chapter when I get back, so use that for guidance. Sorry for the inconvenience. :/
Please don't forget to rate and review - let me know what you think about Spencer finally growing some balls and making a move! Feedback (good or bad) is welcomed, as I'm always trying to improve my writing. :)