When we were young | Chris Evans

Chapter 11

Today was the day. The day we opened to the public. I was unable to sleep all night due to the nerves and the infinite strings of 'what if?' questioned whirling around my brain. Apparently Jess couldn't sleep either as she had made her way to my apartment in the middle of the night with a bottle of tequila or a 'night cap' as she called it. Whatever it was it knocked me out enough to get some sleep. Scott was supposed to come tonight with the friend that he had been staying with which offered me a small amount of comfort but my dad had gone back to Boston, Chris, Seb and Anthony were doing whatever they were doing so it was just me and Jess against the people of New York. Thank God for Jess though, her usual ability to not feel crippling anxiety about things had been broken and, it sounds terrible to say, I enjoyed us both being slightly insane for once.

Jess had been on the phone all morning, making sure that all our staff are in tip-top shape. Ryan and the other guys from the band stopped round in order to quickly run through our set. Everything felt ready but of course, knowing my luck something would go wrong by tonight. I was able to comfort myself by thinking up multiple different scenarios in my head of the worst things that could happen in order to prepare myself. This is something I always found myself doing, thinking the worst in every situation, it was definitely one of my most toxic traits. I always find a way to expect the worse from people, eventually I will drive myself insane convincing myself that they have done something, which then of course leads to me pushing them away. I was lucky with Jess and Seb, that they wouldn't let me push them away, they are both leo's and known for their stubbornness I guess. After running through all the worst things I could think of, I finally felt somewhat a peace. Jess on the other hand was heading towards a nervous breakdown, she had convinced herself that stock was missing from the bar, she practically ran around New York like a crazy lady. Luckily I ended up convincing her to take a bath which calmed her down a bit, which allowed her to actually understand what I was saying to her rather than it going in one ear and out the other.

After running around all morning, it was finally time for us to head down to the speakeasy. We were going to do hair and makeup at my apartment then change into our cocktail dresses at the club to avoid anything spilling down them, as I was well-known amongst my friends as the biggest clutz. Jess had helped my curl and pin my hair into the same style as the other night. I was completely amazed how she was able to transform my hair from looking like Bellatrix into a glamorous Hollywood style. Jess on the other hand had styled her black medium length hair into a sleek ponytail, looking completely fabulous as always. She had done a full face of makeup, contouring which made her high cheekbones more pronounced, cool brown eyeshadow and a glossy lip. For my makeup I opted for a natural bronze face with a slightly smoky eye which emphasised my green eyes and a nude lip.

By about 5 o'clock we were at the club, Jess barking orders as usual and I was setting up the sound system. We were both in our dresses now, I'm surprised that Jess didn't make me wear a clear poncho to stop anything spilling on me. My black dress came down to my knee, with a high slit up one side of the dress. It had spaghetti straps and a cowl neck, the back was lace up and it finished just below my arse. Jess' dress was gorgeous, it was gold sequin which sparkled in the low-lit room, it stopped mid-thigh and clung to her perfect figure, it was very 'Paris Hilton' is what she said when she brought it. Once everything was in place all we had to do was wait for everyone to arrive, my nerves were beginning to kick in on full gear now. It was now 7 o'clock, I went onto the balcony to get some fresh air, well as fresh as New York air could be anyway. The humid temperature made my skin slightly sticky. The buzz of people filled my ears as I could hear the busy street, my mind was still busier. Footsteps came up the stairs behind me, just as I turned around I saw Scott, holding a bottle of tequila. "I thought you'd need some happy juice right about now" he grinned.

"How right you were" I chuckled softly. He walked toward me, handing me the bottle before leaning his back against the railing of the balcony. He gave me a knowing look as I took a long swig of the liquid. "I needed that" I sighed, the tequila slightly burned my throat as it made its way down.

"I think we need to have a talk missy" Scott raised his brow. I knew exactly where this was going. I rolled my eyes at him, not wanting to hear the next words which exited his mouth. "Don't give me that look" he scolded, "I'm just worried about you, your like my little sister"

"Your only two months older!" I persisted. I inhaled deeply, not thinking through the next words which slipped out, "He told me that he loves me"

"I know. He does" Scott confessed "He always has, which was why I was so mad at him for how he left things with you"

"Oh" I exhaled more than I actually said it. I sounded stupidly small. Why was he just telling me this now? Before Scott could reply Jess rushed up the stairs, almost falling over her heels in the process.

"Come on! People are about to start coming in!" she exclaimed before rushing back down the stairs.

"I've got to go, I'll come find you later" I sent him a small smile before following Jess back down into the speakeasy which was slowly filling up with people.

We were very lucky with the turn-out. Extremely lucky. By 11 o'clock the bouncer had to start turning people away. I performed with Ryan and it went amazingly, better than I could of expected. A few writers were dotted around for various different magazines which was so exciting. The Rose Room was going to be in magazines! I was now on a small break from performing, the music had been switched to the playlist that I had created for the night, including various throwbacks which the crowd seemed to love. Jess and I had spent majority of my break meeting with different people. I popped behind the bar for a second to check my phone. Chris had sent me a text -

Good luck, you will be amazing. You always are. Let me know when your available so I can come see you.

I caught myself smiling at the message as I began to respond. Scott was sat in front of me when I looked up from my phone, talking to a man next to him. "Liv!" Scott burst out.

"Scott!" I mimicked his tone, "You waiting for a drink?" He nodded in response so I handed him a bottle of beer, "and for your friend?"

"Scotch please" he smiled, I poured the liquor into a glass and handed it to him.

"Liv this is Zack. Zack this is Liv" Scott introduced. Me and Zack smiled at each other as if to say 'hello' whilst Scott nattered on about something I wasn't listening to. Jess caught my eye, waving me over to her. I excused myself from the two men and began squeezing through the crowd to get to her.

"Liv, this is Aaron, I was just telling him about you" She gestured toward the 6ft blonde man, who was undeniably attractive.

"Hey, you were really good up there" he flashed a grin, exposing his perfectly straight white teeth.

"Thank you" I smiled back, feeling slightly flustered by the gorgeous man in front of me.

"Liv you know Aaron works in the music industry" I glanced over at Jess, knowing exactly what she's doing. She sent me a small wink before I looked back at Aaron.

"Yeah, I'm a bassist"

"Oh wow, explains the big hands" I nodded down toward his hands.

"I think something else explains the big hands" Jess muttered, not completely going unheard. I sent her a quick glare and she excused herself to go deal with some issue behind the bar. I talked to Aaron for a while, we got on really well and had a lot in common. He asked for my number before he had to go, which I gave to him quite happily. Finally by 3am I was able to go home and sleep.