Categories > Celebrities > Panic! At The Disco
Summer 2001
“I don't know where my soul is, I don't know where my home is,” Spencer and Ryan’s voices quietly mixed with Nelly Fertado’s coming through the truck radio. The two were seated in the front bench of the truck under the dim light of the street lamp overhead. Their voices were kept low because of the sleeping boy in the back. Sprawled along the back seats were Brendon’s limbs, twisted at odd angles in sleep. It had been an uneventful day for the three of them and so they had decided for a late night adventure. They were currently waiting for their fourth companion, Jon who had picked them all up (using his new license). Although it may not have technically been legal for him to drive all of the three boys around they chose to turn a blind eye on the fact.
Unfortunately Jon had been called into work the night shift right after picking up the three boys, meaning they had to wait a couple hours around his work before they could actually go any where. Two hours had passed since Jon had disappeared into the doors of the music shop. Originally they had all followed, hanging out in between the rows of CD’s, Vinyl’s, and instruments. It had only taken so long before they became driven mad from hearing the same three songs on repeat for an hour. They all pitied Jon. After that they had gone back to the truck, Spencer and Ryan slipping into the front meanwhile Brendon all but fell into the back; needless to say it hadn’t taken long for him to pass out.
Glancing out the front window Spencer scrunched his brow, causing Ryan to reach for the volume dial and turning it down.
“What?” he asked, looking to Spencer for an answer.
Spencer gestured in front of them. Ryan turned to see through the window shield, his brow also crinkling at the sight. A group of men, ages ranging from late teens to early thirties had begun to pool into the parking lot. All stepping out of impressive, and most likely expensive, cars that seemed to shine like stars in the dark night.
“Just a little, weird,” Spencer spoke still looking at the growing male population in front of them. “Don’t you think?” he asked.
Ryan shrugged, not really knowing what to think. The two watched as the men, some accompanied by scantily dressed women started to lift the hoods of the cars.
“Maybe some sort of underground car show?” Ryan suggested, taking a guess. Spencer furrowed his brow, not so sure.
“Maybe,” he contemplated, trying to come up with another solution. It didn’t take too long before a thought came into his mind.
“What about,” he wasn’t so sure how to word it. “It could be like a big gang-drug thing.”
He lifted his shoulders at the end of his sentence, showing that he wasn’t to sure about this either.
Ryan thought for a moment, eyes flickering from Spencer to the group on front of them. The more he thought about it the more it seemed to make sense. With the hoods up no one would be able to really see anything going on behind them. Plus there had to be some way they were paying for those cars. Ryan nodded, humming his agreement.
“Probably best to try and go unnoticed. Don’t want to be drawing attention from guys like that,” Spencer said. Ryan, knowing the type, fully agreed with Spencer. Men like that were not to be messed with.
Trying to ignore what was going on in front of them they turned the radio back up and went back to singing along with the celebrities quietly.
The two sat stiffly, slightly uncomfortable as the group still continued to grow. Some cars only stayed for a moment or two, waiting for a person to come and talk to the driver’s window before leaving once again. As time went on it became harder for them to just simply ignore what was going on. Every so often no matter how hard they tried they couldn’t help the flickering glances they stole. After awhile a few of them started to peer back at the truck, giving the two boys stares that simply stated their annoyance with their existence. Anxiously Spencer checked his clock.
“Come on Jon,” he muttered under his breath. There were only fifteen more minutes before Jon would come back and they could all move on with their plans for the night. Flickering his eyes back up briefly, Spencer didn’t really notice what was happening before taking a double take, his eyes widening. Out of one of the cars came a baseball bat, the man handling it swing it around in circles whilst glaring towards the two now alert boys.
“Dude, lock the car,” his voice interrupted Ryan’s nervous humming.
Without looking up from his fiddling hands on his lap Ryan asked, “why?”
“Just do it!” Spencer told him harshly.
Ryan looked up when he heard the slight distress in his friends voice. With wide, unmoving eyes he let his hand numbly fumble on the door to find the lock while watching the predatory male in front of them. Another man appeared by the mans side, a crow bar in his hands. It didn’t take but a moment before a third showed by their side. Unlike his partners there was no object in his hands. This only meant that there was most likely a deadlier weapon hidden somewhere on his person.
Ryan was now scrambling, unable to find the lock on the side door.
“Hurry!” Spencer urged.
“I’m trying!” Ryan retorted. He had managed to locate the lock but was now unable to jam it into place. Long fingers struggled, trying desperately at the lock.
“Huuurrryy,” Spencer stressed while now patting Ryan’s arm as though to make the boy go faster.
“I’m trying, I’m trying,” Mumbled Ryan while he worked with the lock. After only a few seconds it finally clicked into place.
“Ha!” Ryan exclaimed with triumph only to have his small sense of victory be washed away as he looked up to see Spencer’s face. It had gone to a deathly pallor, his eyes glued to the wind shield. Looking ahead Ryan found the three men had stalked forward slowly and were now only but a few feet from where the truck sat. They were sitting ducks.
Fear shot through the two boys in the front bench of the truck. It ran down their spine and sparked every nerve ending, telling them to do something.
Looking over to Ryan Spencer came up with the only solution.
“Drive,” He said. Ryan looked to him in horror.
“What!?” He exploded. Spencer may as well have gone insane to suggest something like that. Sure they had all tried driving before, whether with parental permission or not. It had been very obvious to all that Ryan had most likely been the worst. His muscles always locked up, scared he was going to run someone over or wouldn’t be able to stop the vehicle. There was no way he would be able to drive away from these guys, and so he proceeded to try and tell Spencer this.
“I have no idea how the fucking hell to dri-”
But Spencer didn’t listen, he already knew what Ryan would say and cut him off.
“Drive the truck,” He said coolly. A serious mask covered his face as he tried to hide the urgency and panic layered his eyes. Ryan was able to see right through it.
With a pained and unsure expression Ryan cranked the keys in the ignition. The truck roared to life, the headlights spot lighting the men that all carried sadistic smiles. Ryan’s hands shook as he tentatively took hold of the wheel. Taking a gulp he let his eyes flicker over to Spencer before returning to look in front of him.
“What do I do now?” He asked. It was as though he had forgotten everything he’d ever learned about driving. To be fair, it wasn’t much; seeing as how the legal driving age was 16 and he was only 15. Why he was asking someone a year younger than him how to drive was beyond him at the time.
“Press down on the pedal?” It was more of a question then and answer but Ryan took it anyways. Cautiously he pressed his foot on the pedal before lifting it quickly. The truck lurched forward, both of them slamming forward then back into the seats from the momentum. It did nothing to detour the men in front of them, who had almost hit their mark. The only difference was how their smiles grew in size, laughing at the two frantic boys in the truck.
“Now would be a good time to come up with a plan,” Ryan suggested. His hands had become sweaty as they clenched around the steering wheel. On the inside his mind could not come up with a single solution. He could only hope that Spencer had an idea.
“You know how in the movies they do a fast U-turn to get away from the bad guys or avoid something?” Ryan nodded to this which Spencer saw out of the corner of his eye.
“Try that.” A feeling of dread came over Ryan, knowing that it would not work out well if he attempted such a thing.
“O-Okay,” he stuttered unconfidently. “Guess I could try.”
“Just go!” Spencer exclaimed sounding exasperated.
Grimacing at the thought but not having any alternative Ryan let his foot once again slam down on the pedal. As soon as his foot touched down on the metal he yanked the steering wheel as hard as he could, going completely based on instinct and what he’d observed in movies.
The truck lurched to the side as though an invisible force was pulling it. Both boys yelled as the truck never stopped spinning. In the back Brendon was yanked off of the bench and onto the small foot area with a yelp. Having no idea what was happening he tried to sit up in the turning vehicle while joining in with the two yelling boys.
“What the hell is going on!?” He demanded to know, his elbows the only things propping him up on the seat while he tried to hold on to anything possible.
“I don’t know! Spencer told me to turn!” Ryan yelled, both his hands still hold the steering wheel as he tried to straighten the truck out and failed. Brendon looked outside the window and could only see the scenery around them blurring. He wasn‘t able to make anything out as they were going too fast. That‘s when the events that were taking place seemed to sink into him.
“Ohmygodohmygodohmygod! We’re all going to die! This is it. It’s been good knowing you two.” He rushed out loudly, gripping the seat in front of him.
“Breathe!” Shouted Spencer, “just stop! Push the other pedal!” He directed to Ryan. Automatically Ryan lifted his foot and slammed down with the other one. The sound of tires squealing harshly against black-top rang throughout the parking lot as the truck continued to slide across it. The strong scent of rubber burning filled the air. All three were yelling as the truck finally came to a stop with one last lurch.
It seemed oddly quiet as everything seemed to pause for a moment. No one moved, not a sound was made. Looking around the boys found that they had ended up at least a good forty meters to the right of where they started. Tire burns marked almost the whole way, showing the journey.
On the other side of the parking lot where the had been parked were the three men, looking at them with almost dumbfounded expressions. Looking back to the large group they belonged to, Ryan saw that most of them had stopped talking to one another and were now staring with wide mouths and shocked expressions in the boy’s direction.
With renewed vigour the three men shook off their bewildered expressions and started once again for the truck. A few of the others in their party started to join them, marching straight for the helpless teenagers.
“Oh shit. Oh. Shit. Holy shit,” muttered Brendon as he watched the spectacle with wide eyes. Not knowing what else to do, Ryan didn’t wait for Spencer’s command this time. Grabbing the wheel he pressed down on the pedal, but not all the way this time. Steering as best as he could Ryan tried to navigate his way quickly out of the sea of people. The only problem being as he was trying not to run over the people who he had no doubt intended to harm him, he realized that the only way out was a gap between a man and a car. It looked barely wide enough to fit the truck but he figured it was the only way out without full on running someone over. With a sure mind he gunned the engine, flying through the gap. As he did so the sound of metal scraping against metal sounded. Looking back Brendon and Spencer saw the fresh, long scratched line on the expensive car. It ran from one end to the other, created by the corner of the trucks side mirrors.
“Holy crap,” Spencer swore as he took in the damage. He didn’t know much about cars, but he knew a scratch like that would cost one shiny penny. Ryan continued on, not stopping the truck as he flew over the speed bumps and jerked around the corner and turned onto the main road.
Luckily they were near Brendon’s house and most of the drive there was straight. Looking in the rear-view mirror they all let out a sigh as no headlights came up behind them. Only then did something strike Brendon as he looked around the inside the truck.
“Guys, where’s Jon?”
AN: Just a quick little comical one-shot (At least it was comical to write).
Oh my, there are so many things wrong this thing I don’t even know. The song is ‘I’m Like a Bird” - Nelly Furtado. I picked it randomly off of the 2001 top 40’s list. In all truth I am not a fan of that song… or singer. Wrote it up without much thought so sorry if it doesn’t make much sense or is grammatically incorrect. I can honestly say that I didn’t spend a lot of time or effort on it. I just wanted to actually publish something since it‘s been awhile.
Please leave any comments or questions on this piece. They are always welcome, positive or negative alike.
“I don't know where my soul is, I don't know where my home is,” Spencer and Ryan’s voices quietly mixed with Nelly Fertado’s coming through the truck radio. The two were seated in the front bench of the truck under the dim light of the street lamp overhead. Their voices were kept low because of the sleeping boy in the back. Sprawled along the back seats were Brendon’s limbs, twisted at odd angles in sleep. It had been an uneventful day for the three of them and so they had decided for a late night adventure. They were currently waiting for their fourth companion, Jon who had picked them all up (using his new license). Although it may not have technically been legal for him to drive all of the three boys around they chose to turn a blind eye on the fact.
Unfortunately Jon had been called into work the night shift right after picking up the three boys, meaning they had to wait a couple hours around his work before they could actually go any where. Two hours had passed since Jon had disappeared into the doors of the music shop. Originally they had all followed, hanging out in between the rows of CD’s, Vinyl’s, and instruments. It had only taken so long before they became driven mad from hearing the same three songs on repeat for an hour. They all pitied Jon. After that they had gone back to the truck, Spencer and Ryan slipping into the front meanwhile Brendon all but fell into the back; needless to say it hadn’t taken long for him to pass out.
Glancing out the front window Spencer scrunched his brow, causing Ryan to reach for the volume dial and turning it down.
“What?” he asked, looking to Spencer for an answer.
Spencer gestured in front of them. Ryan turned to see through the window shield, his brow also crinkling at the sight. A group of men, ages ranging from late teens to early thirties had begun to pool into the parking lot. All stepping out of impressive, and most likely expensive, cars that seemed to shine like stars in the dark night.
“Just a little, weird,” Spencer spoke still looking at the growing male population in front of them. “Don’t you think?” he asked.
Ryan shrugged, not really knowing what to think. The two watched as the men, some accompanied by scantily dressed women started to lift the hoods of the cars.
“Maybe some sort of underground car show?” Ryan suggested, taking a guess. Spencer furrowed his brow, not so sure.
“Maybe,” he contemplated, trying to come up with another solution. It didn’t take too long before a thought came into his mind.
“What about,” he wasn’t so sure how to word it. “It could be like a big gang-drug thing.”
He lifted his shoulders at the end of his sentence, showing that he wasn’t to sure about this either.
Ryan thought for a moment, eyes flickering from Spencer to the group on front of them. The more he thought about it the more it seemed to make sense. With the hoods up no one would be able to really see anything going on behind them. Plus there had to be some way they were paying for those cars. Ryan nodded, humming his agreement.
“Probably best to try and go unnoticed. Don’t want to be drawing attention from guys like that,” Spencer said. Ryan, knowing the type, fully agreed with Spencer. Men like that were not to be messed with.
Trying to ignore what was going on in front of them they turned the radio back up and went back to singing along with the celebrities quietly.
The two sat stiffly, slightly uncomfortable as the group still continued to grow. Some cars only stayed for a moment or two, waiting for a person to come and talk to the driver’s window before leaving once again. As time went on it became harder for them to just simply ignore what was going on. Every so often no matter how hard they tried they couldn’t help the flickering glances they stole. After awhile a few of them started to peer back at the truck, giving the two boys stares that simply stated their annoyance with their existence. Anxiously Spencer checked his clock.
“Come on Jon,” he muttered under his breath. There were only fifteen more minutes before Jon would come back and they could all move on with their plans for the night. Flickering his eyes back up briefly, Spencer didn’t really notice what was happening before taking a double take, his eyes widening. Out of one of the cars came a baseball bat, the man handling it swing it around in circles whilst glaring towards the two now alert boys.
“Dude, lock the car,” his voice interrupted Ryan’s nervous humming.
Without looking up from his fiddling hands on his lap Ryan asked, “why?”
“Just do it!” Spencer told him harshly.
Ryan looked up when he heard the slight distress in his friends voice. With wide, unmoving eyes he let his hand numbly fumble on the door to find the lock while watching the predatory male in front of them. Another man appeared by the mans side, a crow bar in his hands. It didn’t take but a moment before a third showed by their side. Unlike his partners there was no object in his hands. This only meant that there was most likely a deadlier weapon hidden somewhere on his person.
Ryan was now scrambling, unable to find the lock on the side door.
“Hurry!” Spencer urged.
“I’m trying!” Ryan retorted. He had managed to locate the lock but was now unable to jam it into place. Long fingers struggled, trying desperately at the lock.
“Huuurrryy,” Spencer stressed while now patting Ryan’s arm as though to make the boy go faster.
“I’m trying, I’m trying,” Mumbled Ryan while he worked with the lock. After only a few seconds it finally clicked into place.
“Ha!” Ryan exclaimed with triumph only to have his small sense of victory be washed away as he looked up to see Spencer’s face. It had gone to a deathly pallor, his eyes glued to the wind shield. Looking ahead Ryan found the three men had stalked forward slowly and were now only but a few feet from where the truck sat. They were sitting ducks.
Fear shot through the two boys in the front bench of the truck. It ran down their spine and sparked every nerve ending, telling them to do something.
Looking over to Ryan Spencer came up with the only solution.
“Drive,” He said. Ryan looked to him in horror.
“What!?” He exploded. Spencer may as well have gone insane to suggest something like that. Sure they had all tried driving before, whether with parental permission or not. It had been very obvious to all that Ryan had most likely been the worst. His muscles always locked up, scared he was going to run someone over or wouldn’t be able to stop the vehicle. There was no way he would be able to drive away from these guys, and so he proceeded to try and tell Spencer this.
“I have no idea how the fucking hell to dri-”
But Spencer didn’t listen, he already knew what Ryan would say and cut him off.
“Drive the truck,” He said coolly. A serious mask covered his face as he tried to hide the urgency and panic layered his eyes. Ryan was able to see right through it.
With a pained and unsure expression Ryan cranked the keys in the ignition. The truck roared to life, the headlights spot lighting the men that all carried sadistic smiles. Ryan’s hands shook as he tentatively took hold of the wheel. Taking a gulp he let his eyes flicker over to Spencer before returning to look in front of him.
“What do I do now?” He asked. It was as though he had forgotten everything he’d ever learned about driving. To be fair, it wasn’t much; seeing as how the legal driving age was 16 and he was only 15. Why he was asking someone a year younger than him how to drive was beyond him at the time.
“Press down on the pedal?” It was more of a question then and answer but Ryan took it anyways. Cautiously he pressed his foot on the pedal before lifting it quickly. The truck lurched forward, both of them slamming forward then back into the seats from the momentum. It did nothing to detour the men in front of them, who had almost hit their mark. The only difference was how their smiles grew in size, laughing at the two frantic boys in the truck.
“Now would be a good time to come up with a plan,” Ryan suggested. His hands had become sweaty as they clenched around the steering wheel. On the inside his mind could not come up with a single solution. He could only hope that Spencer had an idea.
“You know how in the movies they do a fast U-turn to get away from the bad guys or avoid something?” Ryan nodded to this which Spencer saw out of the corner of his eye.
“Try that.” A feeling of dread came over Ryan, knowing that it would not work out well if he attempted such a thing.
“O-Okay,” he stuttered unconfidently. “Guess I could try.”
“Just go!” Spencer exclaimed sounding exasperated.
Grimacing at the thought but not having any alternative Ryan let his foot once again slam down on the pedal. As soon as his foot touched down on the metal he yanked the steering wheel as hard as he could, going completely based on instinct and what he’d observed in movies.
The truck lurched to the side as though an invisible force was pulling it. Both boys yelled as the truck never stopped spinning. In the back Brendon was yanked off of the bench and onto the small foot area with a yelp. Having no idea what was happening he tried to sit up in the turning vehicle while joining in with the two yelling boys.
“What the hell is going on!?” He demanded to know, his elbows the only things propping him up on the seat while he tried to hold on to anything possible.
“I don’t know! Spencer told me to turn!” Ryan yelled, both his hands still hold the steering wheel as he tried to straighten the truck out and failed. Brendon looked outside the window and could only see the scenery around them blurring. He wasn‘t able to make anything out as they were going too fast. That‘s when the events that were taking place seemed to sink into him.
“Ohmygodohmygodohmygod! We’re all going to die! This is it. It’s been good knowing you two.” He rushed out loudly, gripping the seat in front of him.
“Breathe!” Shouted Spencer, “just stop! Push the other pedal!” He directed to Ryan. Automatically Ryan lifted his foot and slammed down with the other one. The sound of tires squealing harshly against black-top rang throughout the parking lot as the truck continued to slide across it. The strong scent of rubber burning filled the air. All three were yelling as the truck finally came to a stop with one last lurch.
It seemed oddly quiet as everything seemed to pause for a moment. No one moved, not a sound was made. Looking around the boys found that they had ended up at least a good forty meters to the right of where they started. Tire burns marked almost the whole way, showing the journey.
On the other side of the parking lot where the had been parked were the three men, looking at them with almost dumbfounded expressions. Looking back to the large group they belonged to, Ryan saw that most of them had stopped talking to one another and were now staring with wide mouths and shocked expressions in the boy’s direction.
With renewed vigour the three men shook off their bewildered expressions and started once again for the truck. A few of the others in their party started to join them, marching straight for the helpless teenagers.
“Oh shit. Oh. Shit. Holy shit,” muttered Brendon as he watched the spectacle with wide eyes. Not knowing what else to do, Ryan didn’t wait for Spencer’s command this time. Grabbing the wheel he pressed down on the pedal, but not all the way this time. Steering as best as he could Ryan tried to navigate his way quickly out of the sea of people. The only problem being as he was trying not to run over the people who he had no doubt intended to harm him, he realized that the only way out was a gap between a man and a car. It looked barely wide enough to fit the truck but he figured it was the only way out without full on running someone over. With a sure mind he gunned the engine, flying through the gap. As he did so the sound of metal scraping against metal sounded. Looking back Brendon and Spencer saw the fresh, long scratched line on the expensive car. It ran from one end to the other, created by the corner of the trucks side mirrors.
“Holy crap,” Spencer swore as he took in the damage. He didn’t know much about cars, but he knew a scratch like that would cost one shiny penny. Ryan continued on, not stopping the truck as he flew over the speed bumps and jerked around the corner and turned onto the main road.
Luckily they were near Brendon’s house and most of the drive there was straight. Looking in the rear-view mirror they all let out a sigh as no headlights came up behind them. Only then did something strike Brendon as he looked around the inside the truck.
“Guys, where’s Jon?”
AN: Just a quick little comical one-shot (At least it was comical to write).
Oh my, there are so many things wrong this thing I don’t even know. The song is ‘I’m Like a Bird” - Nelly Furtado. I picked it randomly off of the 2001 top 40’s list. In all truth I am not a fan of that song… or singer. Wrote it up without much thought so sorry if it doesn’t make much sense or is grammatically incorrect. I can honestly say that I didn’t spend a lot of time or effort on it. I just wanted to actually publish something since it‘s been awhile.
Please leave any comments or questions on this piece. They are always welcome, positive or negative alike.
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