Categories > Celebrities > Fall Out Boy > Calm Before the Storm
Allowing the adhesive to fasten itself to the fabric of her jeans, Kaelin rubbed the sticker onto her left thigh as she made her way to the Box Office roughly an hour after the girls left the signing and found their seats in the crowd. Now making her way towards her destination, Kaelin found herself lost in a sea of fans as she maneuvered through the people, attempting to look for a man they called 'Dirty'; a task that proved to be a lot easier than she had expected. Leaning against the Will Call counter she found a scruffy looking man in shorts, flip flops and an un-zippered 'Miller High Life' vest, coincidently holding a can of Miller High Life.
"Are you Dirty?" Kaelin questioned hesitantly as she approached the counter where he was resting after mentally criticizing the monstrosity of an outfit that he was attempting to pull off.
"Yes ma'am" The strange man at the counter beamed, standing up straight and extending his right hand, "the one and only mother fucking p-i-m-p."
"Well Fiddy Cent, it's nice to meet you" Kaelin laughed, shaking his hand and following him through the oversized wooden gate behind the Box Office. "Why am I back here?" Kaelin then hesitantly questioned, taking in her surroundings as she followed him to the back of the venue where the girls had adventured too earlier in the afternoon.
"I'm not sure, my lady" He shrugged nonchalantly, "Charlie said 'go pick up this hot blonde girl at Will Call' so, I did." Kaelin blushed, as Dirty chugged the remains of the beer he held in his hand.
"Miller High Life is gross, FYI." Kaelin laughed as he tossed the can into a trash can as they passed by.
Dirty raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to protest but shrugged and shut it quickly before inquiring the obvious follow-up question, "How old are you?"
"I'll be 20 ... soon." Dirty raised another eyebrow of inquisition, Kaelin let out a quite laugh and replied with a simple answer and a simple shrug, "I go to school 4 hours away from my parents."
"A university girl, aye?" Dirty laughed, "Niiiice."
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing, just making sure the 'Trickster wasn't pining for a middle schooler, you know."
Kaelin's nose scrunched up in confusion at his comment, who was pining for what? Why did he wonder if she was in Middle School? Did she look that young? Shaking her thoughts, she soon found herself scrambling through the hustle and bustle of crew members hurrying by, shouting orders and often, obscenities into walkie talkies as they passed. "Where are we going?" Dirty had now sped up a little ahead of her, and she found herself shouting to him.
"I'm going to get some more beer." Dirty shrugged after stopping and waiting for her to catch up, "You're going over there." He absently pointed toward the stage before disappearing on an excursion to heighten his drunken state. Kaelin nervously made her way toward the direction she was instructed to; the sound of her approaching footsteps pulling Patrick's attention away from the guitar racks he had been examining.
"Hi" His adorable cheeky smile spread across his lips the moment he saw her.
"Hey" Kaelin managed to breathe out as she anxiously peered around the area, absorbing her surroundings like an over saturated sponge. "What's going on?"
"Well" Patrick shrugged his voice quite and calmly, a characteristic that caught and kept Kaelin's attention. "I heard you say that you're really into Cobra Starship, so I thought, maybe you would like to see them from a better seat in the house."
Lighting up immediately, Kaelin's eyes traveled down from the rafters and the lighting to lock with Patrick's, her smile growing wider as her crystal blue eyes sparkled with excitement. "I was going to introduce you to Gabe" Patrick pursed his lips together in amusement, "But you know, you've got that whole, not into celebrities thing."
"Well ..." Kaelin couldn't help but smile, "Gabe is basically a legend, sooooo ... maybe we can make some sort of exception."
Patrick let out a quite laugh before gently grasping her forearm and pulling her along with him, close to the stage as the lights dimmed down and the crowd erupted into a piercing shriek. "Come on!" The unexpected feeling of his hand on her bare skin sent a shiver through her entire body as she hurried quickly behind him.
Shut up brain! Kaelin demanded in her head as they stopped abruptly at the side of the stage, just out of sight of the crowd, stop thinking odd thoughts and please stop processing unrealistic feelings. Patrick let go of the grip he had on her arm as Gabe came jogging along a moment later, clutching a microphone and holding up the back of his pants that were sliding down from the excursion of his jog, her surroundings now pulling her back from her mental argument.
"High-fives all around?" Gabe requested, raising his left hand to the lighting tech standing next to him, the stage hand behind him, Patrick and then to Kaelin, raising an eyebrow and smirking curiously. With a chuckle, Kaelin accepted his offer before he shuffled out onto the stage. Who could pass up high fiving a legend? Obviously not the same girl who was watching said legend with Patrick Stump, a legend in his own right.
Kaelin tried her best to stop herself from mouthing along with the lyrics and dancing ridiculously as she bobbed her head along with the music, watching contently with the brightest smile Patrick had ever seen plastered across her face.
"Are you happy?" His voice breathed in her ears, shouting slightly to be heard over the blaring music, the sound of her voice and his breathe on her ear and neck sending a shiver through her entire body once again. Nodding enthusiastically, her smile and her excitement made him smile, a genuine smile he hadn't let slip through in such a long time.
Ending far too quickly for her liking, the music was silenced and the lights brightened again; shuffling quickly out of the way as the band hurried to pass, she was pushed slightly in sight of the massive crowd beyond the stage. Shifting up on her toes she glanced around the audience in search of her best friends, who she found standing on their toes, searching right back, their mouths dropped open. With a wide toothy smile, she waved frantically to them before she felt a hand on her arm again, pulling her attention back to the side of the stage.
Leading her toward where Gabe stood, Patrick called out to grab his attention, the same curious smirk spreading across his lips as her turned on his heels towards them.
"Hot hallway girl?" Gabe raised an eyebrow at Patrick, offering his hand.
"Kaelin" Patrick nodded to the blonde girl next to him, her cheeks pink with embarrassment.
"Gabe, it's a pleasure" Gabe smiled as she graciously shook his hand before his attention was requested from beyond the stairs. "I'm sorry that I can't chat at the moment, but it was a pleasure to meet you." He apologized quickly before hurrying off in the opposite direction.
Kaelin glared at Patrick when they were left alone once again, raising a curious eyebrow and attempting to hold back the smirk dying to break through.
"What?" Patrick held his hands up in defense, "I thought you were cool, I had to tell someone."
"Oh so you thought I was cool? I'm not cool anymore?"
"You know what I mean" Patrick let out an amused sigh, "But I uh, I've got to start warming up now so I'll uh ... I'll walk you back out." He offered nodding his head toward the path she descended to meet him.
Walking back to the gate Kaelin had hurried through a few times before, awkward silence hung in the air around them, full of nothing but the sound of their shoes hitting the concrete and a few awkward sighs now and then.
"So uh ... we're playing here again tomorrow night you know." Oh, look at that, Patrick finally mustered up enough courage to speak, "And I uh, I don't know if you would want to maybe hang out or something tonight, after the show." Kaelin couldn't help her smile as they stopped at the gate as Patrick awkwardly shoved his hands in his pocket and glanced down at the ground, kicking absently at the pavement. "I mean, I know it's late so if you don't want to, that fine, I can just-"
"It's not too late" Kaelin agreed with a smile, shrugging off the idea of finishing her homework and attempting a normal night of sleep, for once, "that would be fun."
"Really? Great, that's, that's great." Patrick smiled, his eyes finally shifting up to meet hers. "Well then, you can just uh, you can just come back here, to the gate after the show is over. I'll have Charlie meet you here, so your friends can come back too."
"Alright" Kaelin agreed, her smile churning up that butterfly feeling in his stomach again. "I'll see you later, good luck."
Patrick found that the grin on his lips was doing anything but subsiding as she disappeared past the gate, leaving Patrick locked in his place; attempting to sort through the moment. HE found some sort of interest in Kaelin that he couldn't describe or pinpoint; she was funny and witty and beautiful, but she was a fan and he reminded himself how stupid it would be to fall for a fan. But really, who said he was falling for her? And she wasn't really a fan at least not the type of fan that he was use to, she was different, at least that's what Patrick hoped as he made his way back to the dressing room.
Squealing to herself, Kaelin couldn't wipe the smile off of her lips, she couldn't make it go away no matter how hard she tried and she couldn't for the life of her, explain why. Patrick was cute, enough said on that subject; but he was funny, and kind and he wanted to be nicer to her than any of her lifelong friends have ever been, he genuinely took an interest in her existence and the happiness she felt at this very moment was a feeling that she hadn't felt in longer than she would like to admit.
"What the fuck was that?" Cecilia screeched as Kaelin strolled back to her seat, causing several fans in the surrounding rows to stop and stare in their direction. Kaelin couldn't respond she couldn't find the words to use; she couldn't do anything but smile.
"Seriously, what are you? What is this? What dimension am I stuck in?" Cecilia inquired again, the volume of her voice balancing back to normal, a hint of amusement floating through the air.
"He thinks I'm cool" Kaelin shrugged, slipping into the sweater she had left on her seat.
"He think yo-he THINKS YOU'RE COOL!?" Cecilia was shouting again and Torrin just shook her head in amusement. "Why are you so calm? How are you so calm? I would not be calm if a god damn rock star wanted to fuck me."
"No one said he wanted to fuck me." Kaelin protested as she slouched down in her seat, ignoring Cecelia's rant.
"Of course he wants to fuck you, everyone wants to fuck you."
"Oh yeah, clearly, that's why I'm still rocking my v-card and closing in on 20. He thinks I'm cool, I think my friends are cool."
"Well, whatever, friends, fucking, whatever it is, I don't care what you do, but holy mother of God, really, what dimension am I living in?" Cecilia shook her head, taking her seat now, Torrin following suit.
"We're hanging out after the show." Kaelin stated nonchalantly, shuffling through the pocket of her sweater for her chap stick.
"WHAT? You're what!?" Torrin now screeched in disbelief as Cecilia's jaw hit the floor.
"We're hanging out, after the show we have to go back, I don't know what we're doing but he wants to hang out." Kaelin shrugged again, applying the lip moisturizer that she would gladly admit that she could never live without.
"I hate you" Cecilia laughed now, still in shock as the lights went down and a roar of excitement rose from the crowd.
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"I'm hunnnggrry" Joe whined as the group caught their balance, winding down from the adrenaline rush of the set they had just finished.
"Well let's go get something to eat then" Andy suggested, piping in from somewhere in the corner as he grabbed a change of clothes and headed to the bathroom.
"Can I have first dibs one of the showers?" Patrick pleaded insistently, rummaging through his suitcase for a change of clothes and his glasses.
"Why so urgent Tricky?" Pete grinned, leaning casually against the doorframe.
"Uhh..." Patrick stammered, finally finding his glasses, "I'm going to uh, hang out with Kaelin and uh .. well, it wouldn't be nice of me to smell, now would it?"
"Oooohh hot date!" Andy taunted, stepping out of the door of the bathroom, gesturing its vacancy, "then be my guest."
"It's not a date!" Patrick protested, "Why can't I just hang out with someone without it being date?"
"Because it's a girl" Pete explained.
"A hot girl!" Andy interjected.
"So what? Kaelin is a nice girl, just because I talk to a girl doesn't mean I'm attracted to her, she's cool, friends are cool."
"Alright" Pete chuckled slightly, "If you're not attracted, I dare you not to check her out when she walks into this room."
With a frustrated huff, Patrick slammed the door to the bathroom shut, so what if he was attracted to her? That didn't mean he was interested, or that she was interested in him? I mean, she is a fan, and she isn't into the fact that he's a celebrity ... well, sort of a celebrity. Brushing the frustration away he let the hot water crash over him, washing away his anxiety and adrenaline. When he emerged from the bathroom not but 10 minutes later, laughter filled the room, a hint of female laughter ringing through his ears.
"Kaelin's going to make us waffles!" Joe exclaimed when Patrick sighed heavily against the door frame, offering Kaelin a small smile as she turned to meet his gaze, a smile she happily returned.
"Waffles?" Patrick inquired, raising a curious eyebrow.
"Well, they said you were hungry, and I make a mean waffle with my waffle iron, so I figured why not? A cheap college kid has to eat somehow." She shrugged with a laugh.
"If you say so ..." Patrick smiled, rubbing the towel through his damp hair once again before securing his hat tightly over his head. Just because he said he wanted to be her friend, doesn't mean he wants to share her.
"Are you Dirty?" Kaelin questioned hesitantly as she approached the counter where he was resting after mentally criticizing the monstrosity of an outfit that he was attempting to pull off.
"Yes ma'am" The strange man at the counter beamed, standing up straight and extending his right hand, "the one and only mother fucking p-i-m-p."
"Well Fiddy Cent, it's nice to meet you" Kaelin laughed, shaking his hand and following him through the oversized wooden gate behind the Box Office. "Why am I back here?" Kaelin then hesitantly questioned, taking in her surroundings as she followed him to the back of the venue where the girls had adventured too earlier in the afternoon.
"I'm not sure, my lady" He shrugged nonchalantly, "Charlie said 'go pick up this hot blonde girl at Will Call' so, I did." Kaelin blushed, as Dirty chugged the remains of the beer he held in his hand.
"Miller High Life is gross, FYI." Kaelin laughed as he tossed the can into a trash can as they passed by.
Dirty raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to protest but shrugged and shut it quickly before inquiring the obvious follow-up question, "How old are you?"
"I'll be 20 ... soon." Dirty raised another eyebrow of inquisition, Kaelin let out a quite laugh and replied with a simple answer and a simple shrug, "I go to school 4 hours away from my parents."
"A university girl, aye?" Dirty laughed, "Niiiice."
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing, just making sure the 'Trickster wasn't pining for a middle schooler, you know."
Kaelin's nose scrunched up in confusion at his comment, who was pining for what? Why did he wonder if she was in Middle School? Did she look that young? Shaking her thoughts, she soon found herself scrambling through the hustle and bustle of crew members hurrying by, shouting orders and often, obscenities into walkie talkies as they passed. "Where are we going?" Dirty had now sped up a little ahead of her, and she found herself shouting to him.
"I'm going to get some more beer." Dirty shrugged after stopping and waiting for her to catch up, "You're going over there." He absently pointed toward the stage before disappearing on an excursion to heighten his drunken state. Kaelin nervously made her way toward the direction she was instructed to; the sound of her approaching footsteps pulling Patrick's attention away from the guitar racks he had been examining.
"Hi" His adorable cheeky smile spread across his lips the moment he saw her.
"Hey" Kaelin managed to breathe out as she anxiously peered around the area, absorbing her surroundings like an over saturated sponge. "What's going on?"
"Well" Patrick shrugged his voice quite and calmly, a characteristic that caught and kept Kaelin's attention. "I heard you say that you're really into Cobra Starship, so I thought, maybe you would like to see them from a better seat in the house."
Lighting up immediately, Kaelin's eyes traveled down from the rafters and the lighting to lock with Patrick's, her smile growing wider as her crystal blue eyes sparkled with excitement. "I was going to introduce you to Gabe" Patrick pursed his lips together in amusement, "But you know, you've got that whole, not into celebrities thing."
"Well ..." Kaelin couldn't help but smile, "Gabe is basically a legend, sooooo ... maybe we can make some sort of exception."
Patrick let out a quite laugh before gently grasping her forearm and pulling her along with him, close to the stage as the lights dimmed down and the crowd erupted into a piercing shriek. "Come on!" The unexpected feeling of his hand on her bare skin sent a shiver through her entire body as she hurried quickly behind him.
Shut up brain! Kaelin demanded in her head as they stopped abruptly at the side of the stage, just out of sight of the crowd, stop thinking odd thoughts and please stop processing unrealistic feelings. Patrick let go of the grip he had on her arm as Gabe came jogging along a moment later, clutching a microphone and holding up the back of his pants that were sliding down from the excursion of his jog, her surroundings now pulling her back from her mental argument.
"High-fives all around?" Gabe requested, raising his left hand to the lighting tech standing next to him, the stage hand behind him, Patrick and then to Kaelin, raising an eyebrow and smirking curiously. With a chuckle, Kaelin accepted his offer before he shuffled out onto the stage. Who could pass up high fiving a legend? Obviously not the same girl who was watching said legend with Patrick Stump, a legend in his own right.
Kaelin tried her best to stop herself from mouthing along with the lyrics and dancing ridiculously as she bobbed her head along with the music, watching contently with the brightest smile Patrick had ever seen plastered across her face.
"Are you happy?" His voice breathed in her ears, shouting slightly to be heard over the blaring music, the sound of her voice and his breathe on her ear and neck sending a shiver through her entire body once again. Nodding enthusiastically, her smile and her excitement made him smile, a genuine smile he hadn't let slip through in such a long time.
Ending far too quickly for her liking, the music was silenced and the lights brightened again; shuffling quickly out of the way as the band hurried to pass, she was pushed slightly in sight of the massive crowd beyond the stage. Shifting up on her toes she glanced around the audience in search of her best friends, who she found standing on their toes, searching right back, their mouths dropped open. With a wide toothy smile, she waved frantically to them before she felt a hand on her arm again, pulling her attention back to the side of the stage.
Leading her toward where Gabe stood, Patrick called out to grab his attention, the same curious smirk spreading across his lips as her turned on his heels towards them.
"Hot hallway girl?" Gabe raised an eyebrow at Patrick, offering his hand.
"Kaelin" Patrick nodded to the blonde girl next to him, her cheeks pink with embarrassment.
"Gabe, it's a pleasure" Gabe smiled as she graciously shook his hand before his attention was requested from beyond the stairs. "I'm sorry that I can't chat at the moment, but it was a pleasure to meet you." He apologized quickly before hurrying off in the opposite direction.
Kaelin glared at Patrick when they were left alone once again, raising a curious eyebrow and attempting to hold back the smirk dying to break through.
"What?" Patrick held his hands up in defense, "I thought you were cool, I had to tell someone."
"Oh so you thought I was cool? I'm not cool anymore?"
"You know what I mean" Patrick let out an amused sigh, "But I uh, I've got to start warming up now so I'll uh ... I'll walk you back out." He offered nodding his head toward the path she descended to meet him.
Walking back to the gate Kaelin had hurried through a few times before, awkward silence hung in the air around them, full of nothing but the sound of their shoes hitting the concrete and a few awkward sighs now and then.
"So uh ... we're playing here again tomorrow night you know." Oh, look at that, Patrick finally mustered up enough courage to speak, "And I uh, I don't know if you would want to maybe hang out or something tonight, after the show." Kaelin couldn't help her smile as they stopped at the gate as Patrick awkwardly shoved his hands in his pocket and glanced down at the ground, kicking absently at the pavement. "I mean, I know it's late so if you don't want to, that fine, I can just-"
"It's not too late" Kaelin agreed with a smile, shrugging off the idea of finishing her homework and attempting a normal night of sleep, for once, "that would be fun."
"Really? Great, that's, that's great." Patrick smiled, his eyes finally shifting up to meet hers. "Well then, you can just uh, you can just come back here, to the gate after the show is over. I'll have Charlie meet you here, so your friends can come back too."
"Alright" Kaelin agreed, her smile churning up that butterfly feeling in his stomach again. "I'll see you later, good luck."
Patrick found that the grin on his lips was doing anything but subsiding as she disappeared past the gate, leaving Patrick locked in his place; attempting to sort through the moment. HE found some sort of interest in Kaelin that he couldn't describe or pinpoint; she was funny and witty and beautiful, but she was a fan and he reminded himself how stupid it would be to fall for a fan. But really, who said he was falling for her? And she wasn't really a fan at least not the type of fan that he was use to, she was different, at least that's what Patrick hoped as he made his way back to the dressing room.
Squealing to herself, Kaelin couldn't wipe the smile off of her lips, she couldn't make it go away no matter how hard she tried and she couldn't for the life of her, explain why. Patrick was cute, enough said on that subject; but he was funny, and kind and he wanted to be nicer to her than any of her lifelong friends have ever been, he genuinely took an interest in her existence and the happiness she felt at this very moment was a feeling that she hadn't felt in longer than she would like to admit.
"What the fuck was that?" Cecilia screeched as Kaelin strolled back to her seat, causing several fans in the surrounding rows to stop and stare in their direction. Kaelin couldn't respond she couldn't find the words to use; she couldn't do anything but smile.
"Seriously, what are you? What is this? What dimension am I stuck in?" Cecilia inquired again, the volume of her voice balancing back to normal, a hint of amusement floating through the air.
"He thinks I'm cool" Kaelin shrugged, slipping into the sweater she had left on her seat.
"He think yo-he THINKS YOU'RE COOL!?" Cecilia was shouting again and Torrin just shook her head in amusement. "Why are you so calm? How are you so calm? I would not be calm if a god damn rock star wanted to fuck me."
"No one said he wanted to fuck me." Kaelin protested as she slouched down in her seat, ignoring Cecelia's rant.
"Of course he wants to fuck you, everyone wants to fuck you."
"Oh yeah, clearly, that's why I'm still rocking my v-card and closing in on 20. He thinks I'm cool, I think my friends are cool."
"Well, whatever, friends, fucking, whatever it is, I don't care what you do, but holy mother of God, really, what dimension am I living in?" Cecilia shook her head, taking her seat now, Torrin following suit.
"We're hanging out after the show." Kaelin stated nonchalantly, shuffling through the pocket of her sweater for her chap stick.
"WHAT? You're what!?" Torrin now screeched in disbelief as Cecilia's jaw hit the floor.
"We're hanging out, after the show we have to go back, I don't know what we're doing but he wants to hang out." Kaelin shrugged again, applying the lip moisturizer that she would gladly admit that she could never live without.
"I hate you" Cecilia laughed now, still in shock as the lights went down and a roar of excitement rose from the crowd.
----------
"I'm hunnnggrry" Joe whined as the group caught their balance, winding down from the adrenaline rush of the set they had just finished.
"Well let's go get something to eat then" Andy suggested, piping in from somewhere in the corner as he grabbed a change of clothes and headed to the bathroom.
"Can I have first dibs one of the showers?" Patrick pleaded insistently, rummaging through his suitcase for a change of clothes and his glasses.
"Why so urgent Tricky?" Pete grinned, leaning casually against the doorframe.
"Uhh..." Patrick stammered, finally finding his glasses, "I'm going to uh, hang out with Kaelin and uh .. well, it wouldn't be nice of me to smell, now would it?"
"Oooohh hot date!" Andy taunted, stepping out of the door of the bathroom, gesturing its vacancy, "then be my guest."
"It's not a date!" Patrick protested, "Why can't I just hang out with someone without it being date?"
"Because it's a girl" Pete explained.
"A hot girl!" Andy interjected.
"So what? Kaelin is a nice girl, just because I talk to a girl doesn't mean I'm attracted to her, she's cool, friends are cool."
"Alright" Pete chuckled slightly, "If you're not attracted, I dare you not to check her out when she walks into this room."
With a frustrated huff, Patrick slammed the door to the bathroom shut, so what if he was attracted to her? That didn't mean he was interested, or that she was interested in him? I mean, she is a fan, and she isn't into the fact that he's a celebrity ... well, sort of a celebrity. Brushing the frustration away he let the hot water crash over him, washing away his anxiety and adrenaline. When he emerged from the bathroom not but 10 minutes later, laughter filled the room, a hint of female laughter ringing through his ears.
"Kaelin's going to make us waffles!" Joe exclaimed when Patrick sighed heavily against the door frame, offering Kaelin a small smile as she turned to meet his gaze, a smile she happily returned.
"Waffles?" Patrick inquired, raising a curious eyebrow.
"Well, they said you were hungry, and I make a mean waffle with my waffle iron, so I figured why not? A cheap college kid has to eat somehow." She shrugged with a laugh.
"If you say so ..." Patrick smiled, rubbing the towel through his damp hair once again before securing his hat tightly over his head. Just because he said he wanted to be her friend, doesn't mean he wants to share her.
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