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Vibrating insistently against her left thigh, Kaelin felt her phone buzzing to the pulse of a text message. With a quiet groan, she reached into the pocket of her jeans to pull out her silver razr. With her back against the cold concrete wall, she slid down to the floor, taking a seat in a long, dull hallway somewhere in the midst of boxes of equipment and piles of lighting structures.

Sighing inwardly with annoyance, her fingers tapped rapidly against the worn out keys of her cellular phone, sending an immediate text response. Awaiting a reply she rested her head against the cool concrete, stray strands of her hair falling over her face as she shut her eyes, attempting to relax for a solitary moment.

Footsteps echoed off of the hallway walls before a voice filled the air, passing into her ears. "Are you okay?" A strange male voice inquired from somewhere down the hallway, a hallway deserted by any human presence, full of nothing but random instruments and stage equipment.

"Yes" Kaelin replied simply, her voice carrying down the corridor as she sat contently, her head against the walls and her eyes shut, "I'm fine."

"Are you lost?" The voice echoed once again, this time much closer than before as the footsteps shuffled along the concrete floor. Crowded, the stuffy air filling the dressing room began to get to him and he needed to take a walk, finding himself at the end of an odd looking hallway, stumbling upon a confused or perhaps lost girl, seated against the wall, her legs crossed Indian style in front of her, her head rested back and her eyes shut tight.

Kaelin shook her head softly, strands of hair rustling away from her eyes before lifting her head from its resting place against the wall, opening her eyes to grace the stranger with acknowledgement, "No, I'm just sitting."

Immediately meeting a green pair of Nike 'Air Force Ones', Kaelin's eyes traveled up the body of stranger now standing before her, barely making out his face from under the baseball hat sitting comfortably on his head, pulled down, slightly covering his eyes, his shadow towering over her as she sat comfortably on the cool concrete floor.

"What an odd place to sit." His slight laugh filled the air as he adjusted the hat on his head, his eyes now coming full into her view. "If you don't mind me asking, why are you sitting alone on the floor of a deserted and actually sort of creepy hallway?"

"Eh" Kaelin shrugged her shoulders lightly, "lack of a better place to sit? Why are you walking alone down a creepy and deserted hallway?"

The stranger, if you could completely call him that, shrugged his shoulders, mocking this young, blonde haired girl seated on the floor in front of him. "Eh, lack of a better place to walk. Mind if I take a seat?"

Kaelin shrugged her shoulders once again, gesturing to the floor beside her, ushering him to sit before resting her head back against the concrete wall. Readjusting the hat on his head once more, he mimicked her actions once again, resting his head back against the wall and sighed inwardly to himself before hesitantly attempting a conversation of some sort, "Do you often sit alone in the hallways of a venue?"

"No" Kaelin answered truthfully and softly, a smile spreading over her lips, "But I probably should start, right? It would probably be a cool random hobby." Her smile was contagious and he felt it quickly spread to his lips.

"Maybe I can join you, we'll make a game of it, you can sit in the hallways and I'll walk through them looking for you; similar to hide and seek, but obviously much cooler."

"Where are you walking to?" Was the next question that pashed over Kaelin's lips, curious as to why he was randomly strolling around the hallways anyway; she knew who he was, she wasn't an idiot.

"Away from my friends; why are you sitting?"

"Waiting for my friends."

"I'm Patrick, by the way." This familiar stranger now introduced himself, sulking further down against the wall that was acting as their physical support system.

"I know" She admitted with a slight laugh, "I'm Kaelin. I'm sitting in a creepy hallway with you, while my friends interview your friends ... but apparently not you."

"I won a radio contest" Kaelin began to explain after Patrick offered no comment, figuring he was most likely, slightly confused and not following the summary of the story, "CeeCee's a journalism major, it's like a birthday present for the both of them, I would do anything to make my friends happy."

"Including sitting in a sketchy hallway?"

"Meet and greets aren't really my forte" Kaelin shrugged, opening her eyes to meet his. "Standing around to meet a guy who can play a guitar just doesn't seem all that appealing to me."

Patrick emitted a loud chuckle that echoed off of the walls, "There are hundreds of girls and even guys outside that would die to be you and here you sit, uninterested in the stupid band."

"I never said you were stupid!" Kaelin defended herself instantly, "but honestly, you're just a guy. I could have gone to high school with you, you could sit behind me in linear algebra next semester, I don't really see the point of standing around with a hundred people waiting for you to sign a piece of paper that I would probably lose before I even got home."

Fidgeting with the hat on his head once again, Patrick couldn't help the smile that played on his lips as she explained her logic to him, her blue eyes sparkling under the lights beaming down from the ceiling. "That's good logic, I suppose."

"To be fair" Kaelin began to explain, resting her head back against the wall, toying with the plastic band fastened around her left wrist, "I would have given this up, but the access passes were in my name, I even had to show ID to get back here."

"Apparently we've tightened security" Patrick laughed absently before silence fell upon them, both resting back against the wall with eyes closed, the buzzing of the air vents in the ceiling above filling the chilled air around them.

"This is actually pretty relaxing." Patrick commented minutes later, his voice cracking the thick silence hanging in the air.

"Good thing we're going to start doing it for fun." Kaelin huffed a slight laugh before the silence fell one again.

"How did you manage to un-include yourself from the promotional festivites anyway?" She questioned moments later, curious as to how ¾ of his band would entertain the masses backstage.

"I have a ridiculous headache that will not go away" Patrick answered softly, attempting momentary relaxation, his voice calm and collected, "I told them that I had to go outside to get fresh air."

"Did you take something? For your headache, I mean."

"Mmmhmm" Patrick mumbled, obviously attempting to concentrate on silence. Kaelin couldn't help but smile as she opened her eyes to peer over at him; he was cute, her disinterest in anything but the music distracting her from ever noticing.

"Turn this way" Kaelin insisted, sitting up straight and swiveling on the floor to face him, placing the sweater that was in her lap and her cell phone down on the concrete floor beside her.

Raising a confused eyebrow, Patrick peered at her from under the bill of his hat.

"I'm serious, just do it" She smiled, as he apprehensively turned to face her. "I'm not creepy, I promise." Sitting up on her knees in front of him she leaned forward toward him and instructed, "Take off your hat and your glasses."

Following her insistent instructions, Patrick hesitantly removed his hat, his ruffled and messy hair falling over his eyes, before sliding his glasses off and rubbing his eyes, his arms falling lazily into his lap.

"Okay close your eyes" Kaelin instructed, biting nervously as her bottom lip, resting her forearms on his shoulders and pressing her middle fingers on the base of the back of his neck. Gently circling a pressure point in his neck for a significant amount of time, she moved next to his temples, repeating the same gentle, calming action. "Relax" She breathed out quietly, Patrick's nostrils catching the scent of her perfume, filling the air around him and causing a momentary dizzy felling to fill his head.

Before he could register what she had done, she leaded back on her heels, resting her body weight on her calves, smiling down at him, "feel any better?"

"A little" he nodded, his breath momentarily catching in his throat as he reacaqauinted his hat back to its rightful place atop his head and adjusted his glasses back on the bridge of his nose.

"Okay, now ..." Kaelin began, plopping back down on the floor and re-crossing her legs in front of her. Taking his left hand in hers, she ran her soft fingers over his dry callaoused hands, instructing him once again, "close your eyes and relax again." This time, she repeated the same circling motion with her thumb and middle finger on the webbed skin between his thumb and index finger, applying pressure that sent a tingle through Patrick's arm, before switching to his right hand and repeating.

"How about now?"

"Actually ..." Patrick opened his eyes and absently rubbed at the back of his neck, "that feels a lot better. Thank you so much. How in the world did you do that?"

"I get a lot of headaches" She shrugged, slouching back down to her comfortable position, lounging with her back against the wall.

Moments later a buzzing echoed over the sound of the buzzing air vents and Patrick groaned before hopping up from the floor. "Well, duty calls." He sighed, "Thank you Kaelin and your magical hands, for sharing your comforting floor space with me. I had an enjoyable time sitting with you."

"Any time" She laughed, her smile radiant smile breaking through, "If you ever need someone to lurk in hallways with, I'm game."

Shoving his hands deep in his pockets, Patrick kicked absently at the ground as he ventured back down the odd, deserted hallway, away from his momentary vacation from reality. Kaelin felt herself smile as she momentarily watched him go; Torrin and Cecilia would never believe this, and Kaelin would never embarrass herself by trying to make it believable. Closing her eyes one again, she rested her had back against the wall as she heard him call out to her from some distance away.

"Hey!"

"Hmm?" She acknowledged his attention with a mumble.

"Do you even like my band?"

"Of course, you're songs are clever, and you have one of the most intriguing voices I've ever heard" She answered nonchalantly, not daring to fidget from her relaxed position, "but you're still just a guy, luckily, you're a nice guy, and I'm glad I had the pleasure of your company."

His mumbled amused chuckle traveled down the hallway before he called out, "It was nice to meet you!" With an amused chuckled to match his own, she replied, "You too. You'll meet them too; irrational and obnoxious with her lip pierced and awkward and out of place with glasses."

With that, Patrick took his undying smile and headed back to the dressing room. You never know what you may stumble upon in the back hallways of a concert venue, Patrick took a mental note that maybe, he should start taking odd, unintentional walks more often.