XXXI. • °
I scrolled through the channels on the TV, I watched as they quickly passed, and as they did my eyes grew tired. I was trying to distract myself by waiting for Tessa and Nadia to get up even though it was hitting late afternoon. They stayed up as they always did but it was much later last night and it was torture.
I had no time to be in my thoughts because Nadia always lightens the mood, and I was grateful for that and for both of them. Tessa was so worried about her tv show that she paid us no mind and it didn't bother me.
For whatever reason I guess since Doria is on her business trip, Nadia wanted to sleep downstairs. I guess she intended on making it a movie night but that ended quickly when Tessa found out another season of Bridgerton was out.
She and Nadia bickered for a bit because Nadia told her it had been out and that she was not a true fan of the show. This went on for a while before Nadia gave up and let her watch it.
She talked to me about Issac for a while, luckily Tessa was distracted because she cringes at the thought of Issac.
The same way me and Nadia did for Matt, but I just decided to let it go. My anger for Matt meant nothing. If Tessa enjoyed him or his company even though he is a shitty person...there was nothing me and Nadia could say or do.
While Nadia talked to me about Issac I zoned in and out, I was paying attention...I was listening to her. However, no matter how hard I tried to focus on her, Silas just kept popping up in my head. Everything he told me yesterday, about his sister, partly about his parents...it stuck with me.
He was starting to get comfortable with me or maybe he was already there. I could tell he wanted to open up to me but I couldn't help but wonder why? and why now? Maybe he felt obligated to because of what happened to me or maybe he wanted to connect with me.
Whatever the reason was...I had to try to ignore it. My feelings for him were crystal clear but my well-being for him outweighed that, I had nothing to offer him, I had nothing to offer anyone but disappointment.
My thoughts were interrupted by the groaning coming from Tessa, I looked over at her and how she was lying looked very uncomfortable. Her hair was all over the place and half of her body was hanging off the couch.
I looked down at the floor, on the corner of the couch, and saw vodka. I don't even remember her drinking last night. That's when I realized I was in my head the whole time because when Tessa drinks, it's hard to ignore.
As I began to look for my phone I heard knocking at the door, I looked over at the door in confusion. I didn't know if Nadia or Tess was expecting anyone so I had no idea who could be knocking on the door right now. I got out from under the blanket and headed toward the door.
Usually, when someone was at the door it would be a silhouette, but I saw nothing. As I peeked my head out partially and looked around I saw nobody. I was convinced I was hearing things so I closed the door and was on my way back to the couch when I heard another knock.
I stopped in my tracks and looked back slightly at the door. As I approached the door again my hand sat on the door knob before turning it and opening the door. Standing there was no one, and the hairs on my neck started to stand up.
I began to freak out when my heart started to speed up, as I went to close the door again, the big bush in front of me moved. I stared at it, and it moved again.
I knew for a fact Nadia didn't have any animals so I was confused at what it was. I stepped outside and got closer to the bush, as I did something jumped out and I let out a blood-curdling scream and I ended up on the ground back first.
"Shhh Josie, it's me."
Before I could even fathom the fact I had hurt myself, there above me stood shirtless Kobe.
"Kobe what the hell!" I let out sitting up from the ground and looking up at him. "What the hell are you doing?"
"You just got pranked! By the biggest baddest prankster around, and the crowd...goes wild." He says making an indistinctive noise while flexing.
I pushed my hair out of my face in frustration. "Kobe, that's not fucking funny, I literally almost died. And why the hell are you in the bushes?"
"I thought that it would be better, you know. Like you coming out after hearing this strange knock on the door and seeing nothing...that's top-tier pranking right there." He says nodding and smiling and as he does it starts to fade when he sees I wasn't smiling. "I'm sorry...did I scare you too much?"
I try to get up but struggle as I try to. "No, it's fine Kobe, I just hurt myself."
He gently grabs me by my arm and lifts me up effortlessly. "I'm so sorry Josie Posie I didn't mean to make you hurt yourself, where does it hurt?"
"My elbow, it hit the ground hard, but I'll be fine don't worry."
"You know...I know something that can immediately make the pain go away like right now." He says holding the bottom of my arm.
"What?"
"If I kiss it, I've heard I got the magic touch to do that." He says circling his thumb around my elbow.
As he did it gave me that anxious feeling at the bottom of my stomach, he was a flirt, I knew that. However, after he tried to kiss me before I wouldn't know if he was just flirting with me or if he meant it."Kobe..."
"Don't worry...I'm just kidding." He says removing his hand from my arm. "Maybe."
"I-"
"Are they still sleeping?" He asked as he stepped inside and I followed in after.
"Uh...yeah looks like it. I think Tess got drunk last night so I'm not sure when she will get up and Nadia was up pretty late."
He wanders into the kitchen and starts looking around in the fridge. "Looks like I have to fix that before Silas and Damon get here."
I followed behind him as he did so and stood in the doorway of the kitchen. "What? I thought the party was tomorrow?"
He continued to look around in the fridge causing clanking sounds. "Yeah it is, but we also have plans today. They didn't tell you?"
I let out a long breath and rolled my eyes. "No, they didn't...So what are the plans?"
"Hey, do you know if there's any whipped cream in here?"
"Kobe," I say growing frustrated. "What do you need whipped cream for?"
"See if I told you, it wouldn't be that good when you see it happening you know?"
"Fine, then no we don't have whip cream."
"Josie-"
"No-"
"It's just for Damon, that's all, he had plans for us today that's all I know."
My eyes narrowed at him even though he couldn't see as his back was turned towards me."Are you telling me the truth?"
"I swear, I wouldn't lie to you."
My gaze softened up as he said this, I believed him, but I wondered why neither of the girls mentioned it to me. "It's in the bottom drawer."
I watched him with raised eyebrows as he rummaged in the drawer pulling out the whipped cream. "Got it, now can you get me a cue tip?"
"Kobe-"
"Please..." He dragged.
I walked to the bathroom downstairs and looked in the cabinet. There was a box of cue tips, I opened the box and grabbed a few. I walked back out towards the kitchen where he stood and handed them to him.
"Thank you, you're the best." He says taking them and walking over towards Tessa and kneeling down. He gently took her hand and began to spray whipped cream in it, my hand flew over my mouth I already knew what he was about to do. When he was done with the whipped cream he sat it down and began to use the cue tip to tickle her nose.
Tessa started to groan and scrunch her nose up and before I knew it she face-palmed herself with a handful of whipped cream. She woke up letting out a loud gasp as she immediately sat up. As she did Nadia woke up abruptly with her hair going in different directions.
"Oh...my god!" Tessa blurts out loudly rubbing her face as the whipped cream fell from it. "Oh my...GOD."
Nadia's eyes grew bigger as she witnessed what was going on and she sat there speechless.
"I'm like the best prankster like seriously. Two pranks in one day? Come on." Kobe boasted starting to laugh. Just then I heard a knock on the door and in came Silas. "Silas my brother, welcome." Silas looked just as shocked and he walked in slowly I could tell he was unsure if he wanted to go any further.
"KOBE MY HAIR, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Tessa screamed jumping up from the couch and charging at Kobe. "You fucking peasant, why would you do this, what the hell is wrong with you?"
"What happened?" Silas asked stepping closer between me and Nadia.
"You don't want to know..." I answer still shocked.
"Yeah, you're probably right...you two probably want to start getting ready. Damon said he'll meet us there." He says to the both of us.
"Silas...please handle..." Nadia trailed gesturing over to Tessa and Kobe who were still wrestling on the floor screaming at each other.
"I got it don't worry, go on."
As he said that Nadia got up heading towards the stairs, before she went up she looked back at Tessa and Kobe. "Yeah...yeah...Silas can handle that."
❆
We pulled up to the place Damon had told us he was at, as Tessa pulled into the parking lot it was quite full and I could tell it was a bar of some kind without searching for a name.
We all rode together, well the girls did. To separate Kobe and Tessa, Silas had to force Kobe to ride with him. It was a struggle before we left because Kobe insisted on annoying Tessa, on top of that she almost didn't want to come.
Nadia and I had to calm her while getting the whipped cream out of her hair. We reassured her that it was all out and everything was fine...even though I might have missed a few spots. Besides she had chased him down and sprayed him with some too so they were even now...hopefully.
As we were walking up to the bar there was a group of more people in front of us and my anxiety started to kick in, there were a lot of people. As we got inside it was almost pitch black besides the dim red and blue lights that radiated off the stage. It was a karaoke bar, why were we at a karaoke bar?
It made sense because we couldn't get into a regular bar because of our age but still, I wondered why a karaoke bar. The further we got inside the more my heart started to palpitate, we ended up picking a table that was closer to the front and centered with surrounding tables in front of us.
"Dude this is so sick I wonder if Damon is here already," Kobe says grinning from ear to ear and looking around.
"Yeah he is, he's performing tonight so he's here thirty minutes early," Silas answered.
"Ugh, I wish he would hurry up why make us come so early if he isn't ready yet?" Tessa asks irritably while using a napkin to wipe her forehead.
"We aren't early, we were supposed to be here an hour ago but I was stuck pulling you two off of each other remember?" Silas said gesturing over to Kobe and Tessa.
Tessa throws the napkin onto the table in frustration."Oh you mean because this peasant wanted to be an immature child? Like what are you five?"
"Hey, don't be mad because you don't know how to take a joke. You literally got whipped cream all in my nose." Kobe says as he sniffed.
"Say one more word-"
"Guys, can we stop?" Nadia blurted resting her hands on the side of her face. "We're here for Damon let's not ruin his night please, and Kobe for now can you stop with the jokes."
Kobe nodded his head in agreement."Yeah, okay, no more jokes."
Tessa rolled her eyes at Kobe before turning to Nadia. "Come to the bathroom with me?"
Nadia nodded as she got up from her chair pushing it in. "Jose, do you want to come with us?"
I heard everything around me but I was zoned out, I couldn't shake my nerves. I felt like I needed some fresh air but I couldn't put in the strength to stand up.
"Jose?"
"Huh?" I blurted snapping out of my gaze. "Oh...uhm no you two go." I could sense Nadia grew concerned but before she could say anything else Tessa had already pulled her away from the table. I felt the presence of someone looking at me and as I did my eyes landed on Silas who was sitting across from me.
"I'm going to go get some drinks for us or for me...anyways I'll be back," Kobe says jumping from his chair and heading in another direction.
As Kobe left, Silas got up from his seat and sat next to me where Tessa once was. "Is it your nerves?"
I fiddled with my hands twirling them around one another before answering him, "Yes."
"Josie...if you're not ready to be in places like this let me know. I'm sure Damon would understand if-"
"No...no I would never miss his performance. He wanted us here, and I want to be here for him."
He sat there for a moment without saying anything, but I could see out of the corner of my eye, his gaze never left me. As I continued to fiddle my hands around he grabbed them with his hand and held them. As he did calmness rushed over my body, as the warmth of his hands covered both of mine. I slowly looked over at him and we locked eyes with each other. "You're so strong you know that?"
I let off a slight smile and so did he. He made me smile, he made me feel safe.
The lights of the bar started to dim more and I looked over at the stage and saw a man coming out walking up to the microphone. "Alright, alright, welcome everybody. It's karaoke night what you all came for, let me hear some noise for tonight!" His voice echoed through the bar and as it did it was welcomed by applause.
"I recognize some familiar faces...and some new faces it's always good to see new faces here at Rocks. But uhm, for everyone that is new and has never been to our events let me explain what this event is alright? Every Friday night we have these events called Rock After Dark and during this event, you perform. If we have any singers, if you do poetry, rap, or in this case...drummers you showcase your talent on that night. With that being said, I have my best bud here, and normally he performs with his crew but tonight...he's performing on his own. Give it up for my friend, Damon Boman!"
The crowd erupts in clapping and screaming and as they do Damon walks out on stage. He looked...great. He was wearing his black jacket that was slightly open showing his necklaces that dangled down to his chest, he wasn't wearing a shirt underneath.
Then he paired it with black ripped jeans and black shoes. As he sat down behind the drums, his hair fell over his eyes, and as the song started he started to play. When he started I knew exactly what song he was drumming to and it was Beggin' by Maneskin.
Everybody around was captured in his performance, the lights switched from blue to red and from red to blue. The sound of the drums made me feel as though I felt every beat in my body, I could feel the music. He was completely giving his all in his performance and I know he really enjoyed it, he was doing what he loved and that made me happy. He had the whole room rooting for him and it was that way from beginning to end.
I hadn't even noticed that the rest of them had come back to the table until they started cheering for Damon. When the song ended everyone immediately went into cheering and so did I, he was incredible. He got up from the seat and gave the man who welcomed him a hug before grabbing the microphone.
"Thanks, everyone, and thanks to Cal for having me. You guys were an amazing crowd." Damon says before handing the microphone back to Cal. He waved bye to the crowd before walking off the stage. As he walked up to our table Kobe and Silas greeted him.
"That's my first time watching you play in person man, you really owned that stage tonight," Silas said patting him on the back.
"You did bro, you did really good," Kobe says talking with his mouth partially full. "The food here is so damn good too."
Damon covers his nose and pushes Kobe slightly. "Yeah your breath stinks dude, you smell like onions."
"What's wrong with onion-"
"I'm so so so proud of you Damon," Nadia shrieks standing up on her tiptoes to hug him. "You were so amazing."
"You know I'm actually glad you didn't play badly so I wouldn't have to cover my ears all night," Tessa says smiling at Damon.
"You know Tess," Damon trails walking over to Tessa. "I'm glad I didn't play bad either so the only bad thing I have to look at and listen to tonight is you."
Tessa rolls her eyes at him."Please I'm the best thing you get to look at tonight."
"Actually-"
"Uh, Damon, I'm happy I got to see you perform. Words can't express how...great you were thank you for inviting me." I say to him.
He lets off a slight smile at me and bends down to give me a hug. "Thank you for coming Josie, it means a lot to me."
"Alright now that we got that out the way, where's the food?" Kobe asks sitting back down at the table.
Damon sat down at one of the empty chairs."Yeah, I'm actually hungry, let's order something."
"Let's do it."
"No more onions."
"But-"
"No more onions."
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