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Word count: 2 107
In the years of being a sound technician for Panic! at the Disco, you had seen bassists come and go. That Dallon had left the band made you sad, but it did not really come as a surprise to you. You had liked Dallon a lot and you were looking forward to his future projects, but right now you were nervous to meet the new bassist. The rest of the band had already met them, but you were 'just' a technician, so you had to wait until the first rehearsal to be introduced to the bassist.
The practice room was cool, but not cold and the touring band members were seated somewhere in the room between their instruments, cables and amplifiers. The only ones missing were Brendon and the new bassist, so it was no wonder everyone turned to the door when it opened. Brendon came skipping into the room, followed by a young woman.
"For those who don't know her yet," he announced, "meet Nicole!"
You could have sworn the earth stopped spinning when you laid eyes on her. The woman Brendon had introduced as Nicole had long, wavy blond hair and slightly tanned skin, making her look as if she spent the majority of the time at the beach. She had stunning blue eyes and wore a green sweater that she nervously pulled over her hands. The shy smile on her face was breathtakingly beautiful as she waved awkwardly to the musicians and technicians.
"(Y/n)?"
You were torn out of your trance by Brendon's voice.
"Can you help her set up the bass, please?"
You nodded and quickly got up from the spot on the floor you had been sitting at. Why were you so nervous all of a sudden? You just had to plug in some cables.
You walked over to Nicole, smiling at her and feeling your heart flutter as she smiled back.
"I'm (y/n)," you introduced yourself.
"Nice to meet you," she answered. Wow, her voice was so beautiful, just like everything about her.
"Nice to meet you too," you told her, leading her through the room, over to where you had prepared the amplifier for her.
You waited patiently until she had unpacked her bass and plugged in the necessary cables with skilled fingers. Quickly you helped her set the amplifier to the right volume, then you settled back down on the spot on the floor where you had been sitting earlier. The whole time your heart was beating fast and you could not take your eyes off of her.
~*~
There were only a few rehearsals until the first pop up show. You always made sure to be there as early as possible so you could spend every minute possible around Nicole. She had started talking to you the first day, asking you lots of questions about yourself, and you asked about her. Even though your nervousness had subsided over time, your heart still sped up when you saw her and often the simplest things she said drew a blush on your cheeks. But you noticed that she also blushed at a lot at the things you said, and she always came to talk to you during breaks or after practice and that made you feel more self-confidant. Soon you were full on flirting with each other, obvious to everyone but the two of you.
It was the last rehearsal before the first show. As usual the musicians and technicians were collected in the windowless practice room. You watched Nicole play, as always, and she shot you one of her breathtaking smiles every other minute. After a while Brendon announced a break and you quickly got up, walking over to Nicole, who seemed more nervous than usual.
"You alright," you asked, carefully placing a hand on her shoulder.
She nodded, before she looked at you. "Just not sure about tomorrow," she replied.
You motioned over to the table on which beverages were set up and poured both of you a cup of water.
"There's nothing to worry about," you tried to encourage her. "You're playing fantastic."
"But what if I make a mistake?"
"Listen, the whole crowd will be so focused on Brendon, that they won't notice if you slip a few times. But I still don't believe that's gonna happen, you've made hardly any mistakes in any of the rehearsals."
She smiled shyly at you, before suddenly wrapping her arms around you.
"Thank you," she whispered, sending a shiver down your spine.
~*~
The venue in Cleveland was small and intimate, nothing compared to the arenas Panic had played in the last years. Backstage was busy with musicians tuning their instruments and doing vocal warm ups and you went on stage to check all the cables again. Doors would open in a few, so you made sure that the stage electronics were safe from the audience, and duct taped the last loose cables to the stage. A little duct tape here and there has never hurt anyone. You went just backstage when the first excited fans entered the venue, and smiled at their cheering, before disappearing behind the safe curtains.
You always loved the buzz backstage. There was excitement, even when it sometimes got close to routine. People tried to hype each other up for the show and those who had to do singing were trying out accords, even when not in the same room. Your fellow technicians hurried around, making sure that all the instruments were prepared properly so there would be no embarrassing incidents, and made sure the microphones were all connected to the control unit. Of course all this had been checked during sound check already, but it was never wrong to check a few times more. You were done with your job for this part of the evening, so you went to look for Nicole.
You found her in one of the rooms furthest away from the stage, fixing her hair in the mirror.
"Hey there," you called her, entering the room.
She looked up and smiled, but you could see how forced it was.
"Stage fright?" You asked sympathetically and sat down at a chair.
She nodded quietly, and turned back to the mirror.
"You're gonna be fantastic," you told her, secretly admiring her outfit consisting of a tight black shirt, a black skirt and black knee-length socks.
"You think so," she turned around to you, and you could hear the doubt in her voice.
You stood up from your chair and walked the short distance over to her, taking her hands gently into yours.
"I know it," you assured her.
"Are you going to listen," she asked.
"Do you want me too?"
You tried to catch her eyes that were fixed on her hands in yours, and she nodded.
"Then I'll listen, I'll listen to no one but you," you quietly said to her.
A smile spread over her face, making the room light up and your insides all fuzzy.
"Then there's nothing that can go wrong," she grinned.
You smiled back, glad to have encouraged her, and marveled at the tiny blush on her cheeks. Did she even have the faintest clue how cute she was? Just in that moment one of the other technicians came into the room.
"Nicole, are you ready," he asked, completely ignoring that you were still holding her hands.
"As ready as I'll get," she answered, still smiling.
"Great, you'll go out in a few, see that you get to the stage," he commanded and out of the room he was.
"There we go," she whispered.
You smiled at her again before she suddenly leant forward and pressed her lips against yours, just quickly, and let go of your hands. Then she hurried out of the door.
You stood there completely dumbfounded. Your heart had skipped a beat and was now beating twice as fast. Had she really just kissed you? On the lips? How did that happen?
You glanced at your reflection in the mirror in front of which you stood. Your eyes were widened and your cheeks flushed pink. A tiny stain of her red lipstick remained on your lips; the only evidence for what had happened. For a moment you wanted to leave the stain, as a reminder for yourself, but then everybody else could guess what happened, and you did not want that, so you wiped it away. Just in that moment the crowd outside was bursting into applause and cheers, meaning the band had entered the stage.
You quickly walked to the front and joined one of your colleagues, Mike, at the control desk. It was not your job to work there, but you knew how to control it in case Mike wanted to use the bathroom. Also he was good company and you could see Nicole perfectly from here. Mike acknowledged you with a quick nod and focused back on the control panel.
The first song the band played was 'Don't Threaten Me With A Good Time'. You could tell that Nicole was still nervous, but she had put on her self-confident stage persona, smiling happily into the crowd in front of the stage. Every now and then she looked over to you and you shot her a smile that she returned twice as bright.
Time flew by as it always did when the band was playing a concert. The entire time you were watching Nicole, who started to feel more comfortable on stage and moved around a lot more. When the last glorious note of 'Victorious' sounded through the hall, the crowd went crazy and you quickly hurried over to where the musicians left the stage. Brendon was the first one to come off stage. He had lost his golden jacket somewhere along the way, now only dressed in black shirt and black trousers. He gave you a quick, sweat sticky hug, grinning brightly and you congratulated him to the successful start of the mini-tour. He smiled even brighter and returned the congratulations, since you had helped to make it all possible, and continued his way to the changing room.
The last one to come of stage was Nicole. She was slightly sweaty, by far not as sweaty as the men, and was pulling her hair into a ponytail. Her cheeks were reddened and you had never seen anyone smile as brightly as her.
"You did it," you cheered and flung your arms around her.
"I did it," she agreed and hugged you back.
You noticed the faint smell of perfume in her hair, and her still sped up breathing. You pulled back from the hug and glanced at her face. She was still smiling, shining eyes and crinkles around their corners. Her lips were so perfectly red and looked so kissable, that you could not resist the urge anymore. She had kissed you too, before the show.
You leant forward, connecting your lips to hers, nervous if she would be okay with it, but she kissed back without hesitation. You could feel butterflies erupt in your stomach and pulled her closer to you, savoring each second of her sweet lips against yours. The feeling of her body against yours made you feel like you were floating. You could feel her hands wandering over your back where they had rested during the hug and wander into your hair, running her fingers through it gently, tangling them in your strands.
When you pulled back, she giggled quietly. For a moment you stared at her face, wondering if it had really been you who had made her blush so hard, who made her giggle so joyfully.
"When y'all are done making out, you'll join us for drinks?" Brendon interrupted your peaceful moment.
You wanted to pull away, not intending to get Nicole in any trouble, but she kept her arms wrapped around your waist.
"Sure," she answered Brendon's question.
"You too, (y/n)," he asked you, completely ignoring that he had interrupted the two of you.
"Yeah, anytime," you agreed.
"Then come on, we're leaving," and with that he turned away and left you alone again.
"Shall we," Nicole asked, running her hands along your sides, down your arms and grabbing hold of your hands.
You could not resist the temptation and kissed her again, pressing your lips to her soft ones quickly. You could feel her smile into the kiss, just like yourself. When you pulled away again, reluctant, since you wanted the kiss to last so much longer than that, she gently nudged you with her nose.
"Let's go," you decided, took hold of her hand and led her down the corridor.