"Took you long enough," Demi greets me when I finally manage to find her room.
I roll my eyes as Kelsie stands in the room, silently laughing at my expense.
"This is your fault," I point at my sister.
"How is it my fault?"
"You sent me to the wrong room," This only causes her to laugh harder.
"I just assumed that you dropped her off or something," Demi shrugs. "In which case, I probably would've hunted you down and kicked your ass."
"What room did you go to?" Kelsie giggles.
"The room that you sent me to: room 121."
"Oh, I can see how you would believe that," Demi sheepishly mumbles, referring to how her room is 127, and her handwriting isn't the most legible ever.
"Who opened the door?" Kelsie wonders.
"I'm pretty sure she was an escort of some sort," I grumble, and Demi chokes on her water as both her and my sister laugh.
"Poor, Banner," the singer pats my shoulder in mock-sympathy. "You could've just stayed with her, y'know."
"I do have morals, thank you very much," She hums in amusement, then shrugs one shoulder.
"Just thought I'd make a suggestion."
"If you're a celebrity, why don't you have one of those rooms that takes up the entire floor or something so this kind of thing doesn't happen?"
"Just because I am a so-called-celebrity," she rolls her eyes, as if she hates the label, "doesn't mean that I have to act like one."
"She does have morals, thank you very much," Kelsie mimics, and Demi giggles.
"Well, now I do," She says, causing me to raise my eyebrows in silent questioning.
She leads us to to the living room section of the hotel room.
"It's still raining like crazy outside," She looks out the window.
"Can we go outside?" Kelsie asks to Demi's surprise but not mine.
"Why would you want to go outside in it?"
"She always does," I explain. "Right before the thunder and lightning hits."
"There's just something about the rain that makes me feel...I don't know..." Kelsie trails off, her cheeks tinting red. "Free, I guess."
"You know," Demi begins after a pause. "When I was really struggling as a teenager, and sometimes even to this day, I loved dark, gloomy, stormy days because it made me feel as if maybe the world wasn't totally against me, that maybe I wasn't the only one suffering. It sounds stupid, but-"
"No," Kelsie shakes her head. "It makes perfect sense," She smiles, and Demi grins.
"Let's go."
"Really?" Kels squeals as Demi's already halfway to the door, nodding eagerly.
"We should hurry, though, before it really starts storming."
I gently grip Kelsie's arm as we head for the door.
"We're leaving right after the storm ends, okay?"
She mutely nods with a frown. Her mood is obviously deflated now, and I feel guilty, but I need her to keep a grip on reality. To Demi, Kelsie is just another fan, and I hope my sister realizes that.
We meet Demi at the elevators. The elevator doors open with a ding, and Demi curses.
"What's wrong?"
"I left my phone in the room," She groans.
"I'll go get it," Kelsie volunteers.
"Sweetheart, you don't have to."
"It's no problem. I'll meet you guys in the lobby."
"Be careful," I add, and she nods.
"She's a sweet girl," Demi compliments as we're riding the elevator down to the lobby.
"Yeah," I faintly smile. "She really is. I guess I kind of have you to thank for that."
"Why me?"
"She looks up to you so much," I lightly chuckle. "She says that you inspire her everyday to be a better person and to be stronger. You're her role model."
"Would she kill you if she knew that you told me that?"
"Possibly."
The lights in the elevator begin to flicker.
"Damn storm," she mutters.
With a groan, the elevator jolts to a stop, and the lights continue to flicker.
"Please tell me that we're not stuck in this elevator," She stares at me with wide eyes.
"Do you want me to lie?"
"Okay," she exhales heavily. "It's probably just because of the storm. At least we still have power."
We are submerged into darkness, the lights giving one last flicker before shutting off completely.
"At least it's not thundering or lightning," she tries, sounding less optimistic with each word.
A loud clap of thunder booms, causing her to emit a yelp and for my heart to hammer painfully.
"At least-"
"Demi?"
"Yeah?"
"Stop jinxing everything."
"Sorry."
I sigh, claiming a seat on the floor with my back pressed against the rear of the elevator.
"Do you have your phone on you?"
I nod even though she can't see me, fishing my phone from my back pocket and opening up the flashlight app.
I watch as she struggles with the emergency elevator phone.
"Having difficulties?"
"It's not working."
"What do you mean it's not working?"
"Just what I said. There's no dial tone."
"Nothing?"
"Nada. Are you suddenly deaf or something?"
I glare at her, and she rolls her eyes
Sassy much?
"What kind of emergency phone doesn't work?" I mutter.
"I think some of them are only designed to receive calls," she sits beside me.
"Oh, yes, because that's so helpful."
"What if it's a city-wide thing?"
"We're screwed."
"You're terrible at remaining positive."
"I'm stuck in an elevator with a pop star."
"You should be considering yourself the luckiest person on this planet," she grins cheekily, and I can't help but chuckle. "I knew I should've just stayed at the Ritz."
"Oh, so, now you want to actually act like a popstar?"
"Oh, hush."
Another round of thunder booms, and I notice her body jerk.
"You don't like the thunder," I state.
"Nobody likes it."
"You're scared of it," My tone is soft, not teasing or mocking.
"No, I'm not."
"Everybody's scared of something."
There's a pause before she breaks it.
"What are you scared of?"
Another pause as I contemplate my response.
"Dying."
"I've never been scared of death."
"Never?" My eyebrows raise in surprise.
"I like to believe that I have a strong enough faith with God," She confidently explains before lowering her head as she chips away her black nail polish. "Plus, being suicidal since I was seven kind of makes you want to seek out death, y'know?" She mumbles.
"Are you-" I shut myself up, scolding myself for almost asking such a personal question.
"Am I still suicidal?" She raises her head to meet my gaze, and she shakes her head. "Not anymore. Well, only on my really bad days. I don't have them too often anymore, but last month..." She trails off, emitting a heavy sigh, and I don't push her to finish her thought.
More thunder is heard, and she jumps so much that she bumps into me, almost sitting on my lap.
"Sorry," she mutters, pushing herself away from me.
"If you're scared, you can move closer to me, y'know."
"I'm not scared," She insists, and I roll my eyes.
"Fine. Have it your way."
"Do you have any music on your phone?" She wonders after a slightly awkward pause.
"Whatever Kelsie put on the stupid thing," I chuckle, unlocking my phone, opening my music collection, and passing the device to her.
"I really hope it's not all me," she grins. "Wildest Dreams or I Wish You Would?"
"Who are they by?"
"I'm not telling you until you pick," she giggles.
"Wildest Dreams."
"Good 'cause that one's currently on pause."
He said, "Let's get out of this town, drive out of the city away from the crowds."
I thought, 'Heaven can't help me now. Nothing lasts forever, but this is gonna take me down. He's so tall, and handsome as hell. He's so bad, but he does it so well. I can see the end as it begins, my one condition is
"The other song," I say.
"You don't like this one?"
I shake my head as she opens the next song.
It's 2 am in your car, windows down. You pass my street. The memories start
You say, "It's in the past."
You drive straight ahead. You're thinking that I hate you now 'cause you still don't know what I never said.
I wish you would come back, wish I never hung up the phone like I did, and I wish you'd know that I'll never forget you as long as I live, and I wish you were right here, right now, it's all good, I wish you would
"Now, this is better," I nod to my head to the beat. "Are you going to tell me who the artist is now?"
"Taylor Swift."
"Aren't you friends with her?"
"Kelsie really does tell you everything, huh?" I nod.
"I wish you would come back, wish I'd never hung up the phone like I did," I recite, trying to memorize the lyrics. "What?" I arch an eyebrow as Demi laughs.
"You sound like you're dying."
I am, but you don't need to know that.
"Not everyone can be a singer worth twenty-million."
"Am I really worth that much?"
"Why do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Act as if you can't believe how famous you are."
"If I don't, I'll start taking all of it for granted and forget how I got here in the first place and the struggles that led me here. That's the last thing that I want."
"I can respect that." One corner of her mouth quirks upwards.
"Probably want to preserve the battery, right?" she silences the music and returns my phone to me.
"Have you ever been stuck in an elevator before?"
"Nope," she shakes her head. "You'd think that with me staying at hotels all of the time and everything, it would've happened before. My friends, Joe, Nick, and Kevin, got stuck in one once, though. It was hilarious, especially because they managed to capture it all on video. What about you?"
I shake my head.
"You seem pretty calm, though."
"What good is panicking going to do?"
"True. Did you have a good New Years Day...Eve...whatever," we both chuckle, then I nod.
"I, uh, did that whole cliche kiss at the stroke of midnight thing," I rub the back of my neck sheepishly.
She smirks. "With your girlfriend?"
"I actually didn't know the woman," she raises her eyebrows. "Judge me all you-"
"No, no, I'm not judging you. I did the same thing," she laughs. "I didn't know the guy, so I obviously can't judge you or else that would make me a hypocrite. I'm just lucky he didn't recognize me."
"Well, at least I know I'm not the only one who ditched their 'date' after the first kiss."
"Hey!" She laughs, "That's no fair."
"Oh, I think it's pretty fair. At least I have an excuse for not getting her number or anything."
"I do, too."
"Whatever you say, pop star."
"Shut up, asshole," she gently shoves me while laughing.
"At least I remember things about the one that I kissed," I continue to tease her, enjoying her laughter.
"If it's something sexist like how hot her ass looked in her jeans, I think I'd rather not know."
"Look, I know that I'm a guy, but give me some credit here."
"I give credit where credit is due. What do you remember about her?"
"Mango lip balm, red lipstick, and blue hair."
"I thought that I was the only one crazy enough to try to rock blue hair. How the hell do you remember her lip balm?"
"New favorite taste."
"That is a typical guy statement."
"Well, let's see what you remember about your guy."
"Okay," she pulls what Kelsie calls her 'thinking face'. "He seemed to be in a hurry when he was leaving, not that I blame him. He was probably worried that I'd want to take him home."
"And get him all alone?" I smirk.
"So, you made that reference, but you didn't understand the Heart Attack one? Seriously?" She shakes her head incredulously. "He also was drinking Sprite."
"How do you remember that?"
"Because he reassured me of it after noticing that I wasn't drinking alcohol," she eyes me peculiarly when I don't speak. "Has anyone ever told you that you're completely oblivious?"
I'm too busy mentally running through the similarities of our two nights to answer her question.
"I'd really hate to watch you try to figure out a jigsaw puzzle," she sighs. "Does 'I don't know, but, if you do, call me 'Demi' ring a bell?"
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