Confessions Of A Groupie

Chapter 2

Cologne- Germany

My legs felt like jelly as I got up and we walked off of the plane. Thinking very carefully about every movement I took the staircase one step at a time, 'Chelle was close behind me, gripping the banister. Tonight was Escape The Fate, one of my favourite bands. And I had first dibs.

"Do you find it even a bit ironic that the first band we saw live this year was Falling In Reverse and the second will be Escape The Fate?" 'Chelle asked, shaking her wrist, which made her millions of bangles jingle and separate from their great metal clump. I never understood why she wore such cheap bracelets all the time, I knew she could afford better.

We got a taxi to the hotel we had a reservation in, we hadn't been as lucky with the rooms as in France so we had to share a room with two double beds in. After checking in we got started at getting ready, I made my hair look about twice as long by straightening it... a lot. I may have stretched it a little bit. The bathroom was a little bit too small for two girls to be getting ready in but we tried to make it work, we had quite a lot of practice at it.

It was that part of the routine I loved, rushing around getting ready and checking that everything was done. I finished lacing up my chunky boots and slipped on my jacket, a faux leather studded piece by Toxic Vision. The rest of my outfit consisted of a cut up Escape The Fate t-shirt, strategic slits were placed so that it fell off one shoulder and finished so it covered about half of my navel. I wore black extreme skinny jeans as this time of year Cologne was freezing, I'd learnt my lesson by wearing ripped jeans last time when I watched Motionless In White. 'Chelle had gone for an old pair of purple skinny jeans she'd broken at a gig years ago that had been ressurected as cut-off shorts, she wore black tights and a Jack Daniels tank top with slit sleeves, exposing a matching purple bra. Her shoes were knee length purple converse.

Using the phone in our hotel room we asked the reception to call us a cab, it always made me smile that the girl always answered the phone in German even though I doubted anyone staying here could speak any German at all. The taxi would take a few minutes to arrive so we got our tickets and passes ready, the key-card for our hotel room was kept in a tiny shoulder bag 'Chelle decided to bring. Seven oh three came and the taxi arrived, we crammed in and went to the venue that was only a few minutes away. On arrival we met a steward who showed us where to go with our passes, we were ushered backstage where the roadies were rushing around making sure everything was perfect before fans were let in. The opening band were tuning up and looking really excited, we found a couple of chairs and perched delicately at the side of the stage to watch the set.

Everything started to move quickly once the fans were let in, bartenders rushed around serving alcohol and soft drinks, roadies fiddled with things on the stage, checking microphones and one even doing a killer solo on one of the guitars. Naturally, Rammstein were played to soothe the crowd and start to create an energetic atmosphere, no fans were wasting movement on dancing or reacting to the music at all. It was an odd but familiar feeling to be watching the crowd from the stage but having never been on the stage performing. I checked on yesterday's manicure and made sure my ring was straight, a thin silver band with a heart made of rubies, a gift from an old admirer who's name I have long since forgotten. 

 The opening band came on and we got warmed up, a pair of cute roadies brought us drinks, they disappeared after a few minutes. Probably realised we were only interested in the bands. The first few gigs that happened at I felt bad for them, now I've been doing it long enough not to even give it a second thought. But the best part was that I had first dibs tonight and I had to remind 'Chelle.

"I got first dibs tonight." I informed her. I knew exactly who my choice was, Craig Mabbitt. 'Chelle called dibs on Max. Escape The Fate came onstage from the opposite side to where we were sitting, but the roadies assured us that they would come off this side. We drank vodka and cranberry juice as we watched the set. 

 The guys went off our side of the stage, just as the roadies had promised. They stayed and chatted with us for ages and eventually we ended up in the dressing room with them. 'Chelle took photos as we started up the party.

"So girls, tell us about yourselves." Craig said, reclining on the purple sofa.

"Well, I'm Ashley and this is Kelly. We came here from England to see you guys."  I said, not letting slip any personal information. 

"England, really? So you flew here just for us?" Robert  added, Craig nodded and looked at me.

 "Yeah, you guys weren't coming to our town so we decided that if you weren't coming to us we'd come to you." I explained, looking at Craig and keeping his gaze towards the end. He couldn't seem to take his eyes off me, I had him right where I wanted him. 

Everyone left to start the after party, but Craig and I hung back. He put his arm around my waist and told me I was pretty, I smiled shyly and looked down, thanking him. He pulled me close and slowly leant in to kiss me, I let him. Then I went to the after party, he watched me go and almost immediately followed me. We caught up with the rest of the guys on the way to some club that one of the groupies thought she could get into, or at least her friend who was translating her German to English said so. The guys filled us with alcohol and took us to the hotel room they were staying in, someone put on  American Tragedy and everyone started dancing. Some guy called Travis kept dancing close to me and offering me drinks, I could see that Craig thought that I was with him, so I tried to ditch him quickly. 

"Excuse me." I said to him, brushing out to go and talk to Craig. He grabbed my wrist and tried to pull me close to him.

"C'mon, baby..." He started, trying to gently coax me into staying and eventually getting with him, but I wasn't interested and I'd already tried to be polite.

"I'm not your baby!" I told him, pulling my wrist away and walking over  to Craig. Travis looked pissed.

"Are you okay?" Craig asked me, pulling me close and putting his hand on my waist so I could hear him. I nodded and we got talking once again. Travis stayed well out of my way. 

After hours and hours of partying everyone ended up passed out in a huge heap on one of the double beds in the room, half of the group seemed to be making out. Once I knew the time I made the first move to get 'Chelle and I out of there.

"Come on, Kelly. We have an early flight tomorrow." I said, untangling myself from Craig and a few other people's limbs, I have no idea how we ended up like that but it happens at parties. Or at least it does at the ones we go to. 

"Wait." Craig stirred, trying to grab my wrist. "What's your number? I'll call you." 

"I don't think that's such a good idea." I said, slowly pulling away my wrist, I was not expecting him to get attached to me. 

"Why not?" He asked. "You don't have a boyfriend or something do you?" Worry filled his eyes.

"No I don't. Just don't feel that you have to take my number." I said, hoping he'll get the message, he didn't. I thought about giving him a fake number but I didn't know one, so I gave him my actual number. 'Chelle looked at me worriedly the whole time, after that we got out as quickly as we could. 

We called a taxi from the lobby of the hotel.

The next morning

"I can't believe he wanted your number..." 'Chelle mumbled, sipping on her coffee. 

"Neither can I." I said, we had bagels with sausage and bacon. I got up to refill my glass of cranberry juice, leaving 'Chelle at the table alone. Unfortunately our hotel didn't do room service so we had to eat with everyone else, didn't stop us coming down in our pyjamas. Luckily I'd drank enough water the night before to not have a nasty headache, not that 'Chelle could say the same. 

 As I sat back down in my seat 'Chelle started telling me about how I should probably change my number now, but I knew that it probably wouldn't come to that.

"He won't call. I doubt he even remembers me." I said through bites of bagel.