cigarettes [Leighton Murray]

extacy

as usual the guard let rue in with no questions, the smell of weed and cheap alcohol overwhelmed her when jordan approached the girl

"rue, so glad to see you here" her gave her a side hug

"me too, but just to see you alive after high school" rue jokes "what's up with the results?"

"oh actually, see" jordan sighed, he knew how much this meant to rue, she had been dreaming of playing at this place since she was a freshman in highschool "there's been a tie, you and that drummer guy" he pointed at a guy with a beer in hand "today they'll decide based on the loudness of cheers you get"

"so basically how well the crowd receives us?" rue asked making jordan nod "sure let me prepare"

15 minutes of racking her brain for a song that'll make the people cheer the loudest made rue wanna slam her head into the wall, she decided on a song that she was half sure the people will know so she got on the stage's right side while the drummer was on left, it was gonna be a face off. the drummer began with 'beggin' by maneskin. a pretty mainstream choice, rue thought

after his song and the way the crowd cheered, she discarded her previous idea and went with an even more mainstream choice, jordan was gonna hate her for this one, she smiled at the drummer who returned her smile, small dimples forming on his cheeks, rue shook her head before she began. playing the intro notes to 'do i wanna know' by arctic monkeys, the crowd cheered louder than it did in the drummer's whole performance

"hey that was amazing on the stage" after the performance the dark haired guy approached rue

"you were pretty amazing too, great song choice by the way" rue complimented him as he handed her a beer "thanks"

"you too, i thought i chose a popular song but yours" he dramatacally bowed "i am aaron by the way"

"rue" she simply answered as they both smiled at each other. 

"rue" jordan called her as he smiled 

"what're you all smiley about?" rue asked taking a sip 

"i am normal" he said not being able to control his smile 

"rue crawford, would you accept the position of a performer at 'the extacy'?" an older guy walked over with 3 others following him. 2 girls and one more guy. 

"oh my god- i-" she stuttered "yes" she laughed with teary eyes as the guy put a crown on her head "this is so amazing" she shrieked before hugging jordan who in turn laughed at her behaviour 

"and as a congratulatory gift" jordan handed her a couple concert tickets. she took them to see they were for the 'ghost town' concert she wanted to go to 

"jordan" she cried before hugging tight "i- thank you" she knew who she was gonna take with her 

"congrats" 

"hey, congratulations on making it" aaron spoke, rue turned around and he dapped her up. 

"thanks man" 

'hey, can you come over to the women's centre? it's important.'  

rue received leighton's text in the middle of her conversation with aaron. 

"i need to go, but this has been fun. see you at the next one?" rue stepeed towards the door 

"bet" he chuckled 

"hey, thanks for coming" rue invited lindsay in. 

when she reached the place, there was leighton with two other girls, bela her roommate and carla. rue then contatcted lindsay asking her to come as the two explained the whole thing. lindsay tried making them comfortable first and then she guided them on how they can approach this. after the two left it was just leighton, rue and lindsay. 

"hey, thanks for making it at such a short notice" rue said as they walked out

"yeah, no problem" lindsay smiled awkwardly. she did have a crush on rue and only now did she realise rue and leighton liked each other. she knew leighton, so she didn't say anything at the moment "i'll get going now" she said walking away 

rue nodded before she looked at leighton. 

"so this is new" rue said as they started walking towards their dorm

"what do you mean?" 

"you, leighton murray, helping someone?" rue made an expression of her brain exploding 

"shut up" she giggled 

"it's nice. i like it" rue nodded smiling

"so what's this really important thing that you had?" 

"oh you'll just get bored" rue shook her off when asked about the band 

"no, i promise. just tell me" 

"alright" rue sighed "so there's this bar or a club, it's a mix of both. it's underground, the essex authorities know nothing about the place, exclusive to members only and" she paused "every year, they hold auditions to select new performers, sometimes one person is selected, other times none are. competetive as fuck. but if you do get selected, you get the chance to perform at every event and that's really good for connections and in case i decide to go into the music industry i have a short cut, sort of, because if you perform well and the crowd remembers you, many of them go on to become big in the whole behind the scenes deal" rue explained 

"wow, i-" leighton shook her head "i did not understand a thing, but the way you said it seemed like a really big thing, so congratulations. on getting selected" 

"thank you" rue chuckled at the girl's words

"you said perform right?" rue nodded "do you like dance or something?" leighton held back a laugh at the possibility 

"no" rue said without missing a beat "i play the guitar" she clarified 

"it's kinda hot" rue blushed at leighton's comment 

"it's electric. the guitar i mean" she smirked down at leighton

"you just keep getting hotter and hotter" the two shared a laugh "do you think, you could give me a private performance?" she asked in a whisper make rue's breath hitch

"i wish i could but... abby has her boyfriend over and since there are finally four people she wants to have a game night" rue shrugged