Never Like

Chapter 2

I turn to alert the man that I'm not meant to be in this group but he's already shushing me.

"She's speaking; listen." he whispers close to my ear.

I watch in horror as a metal door behind him slowly closes and its tiny green light goes red. I have no clue how I didn't notice it as I was being led in. The woman is standing in the front, giving some speech that I can't hear. I wait for the man to move, but he stays still, listening to the woman and watching the girls in his immediate view.

Well, what if I follow them and pretend I'm a VIP guest? That wouldn't be so bad, right? But then again, what if I'm caught? What if I'm violently dragged from the VIP section? That would be humiliating! I want out, now.

But by the look of things, I don't have a choice. All I can do is pray that nothing happens to me that will betray my fraudulent presence.

The woman eventually leads us into a large room with red walls and maroon carpeting. We wait for a while before we're led through the next door to a narrow hallway. At least we're back to the norm of having walls painted white instead of red; it was a little creepy in there.

They make us line up against the wall. As the crowd disperses, I notice the endless row of doors opposite us, each about a meter away from the other - except one on the left. That door has a huge pink star on it and the adjacent doors are at least two meters away from it. That must be where they are. I giggle, already imagining the squealing that would ensue if Danatha and Tonya knew I was standing here waiting to meet Lune Quartz.

It's only when the door opens that several people start going in as some head out. It's clear that they're personnel. That's when the screaming begins. There is so much shoving and shuffling around me that I get confused. I can't see anything, but I can hear everything. One of the members is surely out here. The girls around me are growing wilder with every second that passes. The noise is unbearable. I need to get out of here.

Only fretting for a few seconds, I sling the badge over my head, drop it on the floor and move in the general direction we came from. It seems like more than ten minutes have gone by before I make it out of the crowd. The hallway is finally clear.

I watch for the doorway we first came through and wheeze in relief as I find the red room. Phew! I can leave now. I'm sure if I explain my story to anyone I find on the way, they'll help me get out.

Just as my shoulders relax from the seemingly endless tension they held, I hear a muffled voice. There's someone here. I scan the room and instantly see a guy near the other exit. He's huddled in the corner screaming profanities into the open afternoon air. I didn't even notice that window before. But his tall body is leaning against the sill as he pulls at his hair.

I jump as his fisted forearm bangs against the adjacent wall. He squirms and curses some more as he paces around the general area close to the window. I find myself wanting to laugh at him; I mean, he looks utterly ridiculous pacing back and forth like that - positively cartoonish in his mannerisms.

But before my body can even register that this is funny enough for me to laugh at, he looks at me and I'm slammed with the anguish stretching his handsome features in such an unflattering manner.

I don't know who he is, but his pain swells in my chest as if it's my own and as such, I immediately have the urge to soothe it.

"Hey, it's going to be okay." I say abruptly.

His head slowly lifts from the space within his shoulders. I want to stop speaking but now that I've started, I can't release myself from the duty of helping him. His confused expression should be, but is ultimately not, a deterrent.

"I promise you; whatever it is, it'll be okay."

"You don't know me. You don't know that." he stutters.

"Yes, I do. Everything in life is transitory. So that means that whatever this is, it'll pass; and either it will be okay, or it will be worse."

"I'm sorry, is that meant to be comforting?"

His English accent jumps out in his disbelief.

"Let me finish: If it's worse, it's fine because that will also pass one day, and then it will be okay. At some stage, it needs to be okay - that's just the nature of life. So, I'm not lying when I say that whatever it is, it'll be okay."

"What two-cent discount store did you steal that from?"

"I just felt like you needed to hear that."

"I'm pretty sure Alexa would've provided me with that information if I wanted it."

Confusingly, the burning sensation in my chest is beyond what I or anyone should feel after a person, who could be considered less than an acquaintance, attacks.

"Why are you so angry about it? I'm sure you have legitimate reasons for being angry with whatever your situation is but as for me, I haven't done anything to harm you so-"

"You need to mind your own business."

"You are my business."

"What?"

"If you end up punching someone or even crying yourself to sleep tonight, it'll also be on me for not telling you what I know I should say."

"So, you're saying that you, a complete stranger, would be responsible for my supposed lack of emotional control?"

My mind flashes and I recognize him - this is Aden Arrington. It's really him: green eyes, check; long brown, slightly curly hair, check. This is the lead singer of Lune Quartz and I'm comforting him.