Degete (Sequel To Lights Off) [For nevaehMP On AO3]

02, Not Scared To Love You... Just Nervous

"Alikaaaaaaa come on what's taking you so long?" Alessandra Mele, Norway's representative for Eurovision 2023, whined from outside the bathroom door. There was a Eurovision party going on, and Alessandra didn't want to be late.

"Yeah! Come on, girl! Please hurry up!" Monika Linkyte, Lithuania's entrant for the contest, begged.

"I'm working on it, jeez!" Cried the Estonian women from the bathroom.

"Well work faster. We don't have all day!" Alessandra groaned playfully.

"Like you didn't take forever and a half before I got in here!" Alika sassed at Alessandra through the bathroom door. The three girls were going to a Eurovision party. This party wasn't too different from the one that was hosted on Turin the previous year. The one where all the chaos happened, and Mahmood almost got convicted for a crime he didn't commit. No one was really worried about a repeat of last year. After all, Matteo Salvini was dead now. No one had anything to worry about.

"Well, if you don't hurry up, we'll just head out and let you catch up." Monika sighed.

"I'd prefer that." Alika said. Alessandra and Monika looked at each other with shocked faces.

"Alright then. Just don't leave us hanging at the party." Alessandra responded with a sigh. Both girls left the room, leaving Alika, who was not even close to done, in the bathroom.

Alika sighed. She really didn't want to go to this party. She felt that something seemed.... Off. Something didn't seem right to her. She felt that something bad was about to happen. She decided to brush it off. She promised the girls that she wouldn't bail on them. She knew she had to go to that party, whether she wanted to or not.

As soon as she finished getting ready, she left the bathroom. She looked out the hotel window to see if anything sketchy had happened.yet. Nothing to her knowledge.

"Let's just hope nothing goes wrong this year." Alika mumbled as she opened her door to leave. She walked down the long hallway, unintentionally looking around at the other rooms. She passed by the room where the Croatian band, Let 3, were hanging out in. She noticed a red light beaming from under the door. She was curious as to what that was about. Then, she realized that it was Let 3 that she was thinking about. They're probably just doing some kind of party in their own room. Or maybe it was some kind of coping mechanism? Alika really didn't know. It couldn't be bad, could it?

As she descended down the hallway, she looked to her left to see someone dashing in her direction. She didn't have the time to stop herself from running into them, knocking them, as well as herself, off their feet.

"Oh god! I'm so sorry! I didn't see you coming!" Alika spoke at once. She looked up from the ground to see a man. He had curly brown hair, almost in the form of an afro, and he was very skinny.

"No. Don't be sorry! I should be the one apologizing." The man spoke up. Alika looked up at him and began to blush. She had never seen someone's so beautiful and caring at the same time.

"O-oh hey." Alika smiled.

"Hey. You're Alika, Estonia's representative, right?" The man asked.

"Y-yes. You are?" Alika asked

"Oh. I'm Rani Petersen. Call me Reiley. I'm representing Denmark in Eurovision this year." Reiley smiled.

"Oh. Yeah I know you! I love your song!" Alika cheered.

"Really? That's so sweet! Thank you so much!!" Reiley grinned.

"Of course!" Alika smiled back.

"So where were you heading?" Reiley asked Alika.