The Quest for Epic

Chapter nine

I crossed the street and walked over to his silver Mustang, pulling open the passenger door and slipping inside.

I could feel the heat of his gaze before I turned to at him. His hazel eyes raked blatantly over me, and when he saw that I had caught him looking, he cleared his throat and wrenched his eyes away like it was a hard thing to do.

"You look nice", he said, his voice a bit deeper than it usually was.

"Thanks", I tried very hard not to blush, looking away as I put on my seatbelt "You're not too hard on the eyes yourself"

His signature smirk appeared on his lips. He turned his key in the ignition and the car revved to life. He pulled out onto the road.

"So directions to Maya's?" he quirked a brow at me.

Oh, that. "Uhh... Maya couldn't make it. She already had plans with her boyfriend"

"That's too bad", he said quietly, but he didn't sound very disappointed. "Well, settle in. Westbrook is about forty five minutes away"

Westbrook was the name of the neighbouring town, where the Invaders had first started. I had been a fan, often going there with Maya to see them perform before they had blown up and become a nationwide success.

I settled in for the ride, a bit jittery and my palms sweating. Noah must have felt a bit tense too, because for the first few minutes of the journey, we rode in complete awkward silence. Finally, Noah took the initiative to turn on the radio. And he turned it to a station where 'Zombie' by the Cranberries was playing.

The music lifted our fog of awkwardness and soon we were singing along.

"Can't you see, it's not me. It's not my family. In your head..."

"It's in your head! In your head! Zombie! Zombie! Zombie-e-e!"

We cracked up after our awful karaoke rendition and soon we were back to talking and laughing as normal.

We got to Boomerang, where the Invaders would be performing their gig in just about forty five minutes. It took another five minutes for Noah to find a parking spot, the place was packed.

We found our way to the entrance of the small arena, giving our tickets to the bouncer at the door. Once he approved them, Noah led me in by the elbow. The Invaders were in the middle of a set, and I was hit with the music once I walked in.

The place was magical, the music was great. My heart swelled with happiness, it was more than I could have ever imagined.

"Wow this is so cool, Noah", I smiled up at him

A strange emotion was on his face as he looked down on me.

The lead singer and guitarist was just finishing up a guitar solo, and the crowd was going crazy, females were screaming and flinging underwear onto the stage and security was working full time keeping them from clambering onto the stage.

Groupies, I rolled my eyes.

The lead singer came up to the mike, clutching the mike stand in a way that drove the females even crazier.

"Thank you all for coming out tonight. The energy in this place is so unbelievably awesome! Who knew all those years ago when we started that all this would happen" he said

I knew.

"This is for all our supporters and fans out there. Enjoy the show, guys!"

And with that, they launched into one of their popular dance songs that got everyone moving. The beat pulsed through the arena, making people's bodies sway and move to the rhythm.