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Word count: 2 781
You watched Nicole move around on stage, and your heart beat a little faster remembering the conversation you had had earlier that evening. Ever since you had first seen her, you had had a crush on her. Now that you were on tour, you spent a lot of time together, hanging out in the bus and talking for hours about your favorite movies, the best books you had ever read and about everything else that came to mind. The better you got to know her, the more you liked the blonde bassist and soon you decided to ask her out. Sure, it was the stereotypical roadie-tour-member-cliché but you had the feeling that she might like you back. So when you had finally found the courage to ask her out for a drink after the show, it should not have surprised you that she said yes, but it did.
Now you were impatiently following the songs on the set list, always counting how many songs they had left to play. You knew you could not just take off after she came off stage. She probably wanted to shower and change her clothes, and you had to help cleaning of the stage.
When finally the last note of the last song echoed through the venue and it was replaced with the cheering from the audience, you took a deep breath. You were incredibly nervous, even though you were not sure why. You had spent literally days talking to Nicole, why would you get nervous all of a sudden? Tonight would not be much different, except for maybe her noticing your flirting a bit more.
You were still deep in thought, when the band came backstage. You noticed just in time to see Nicole walk past you, sending a bright and breathtakingly beautiful smile your way.
You looked around for your fellow colleagues, and when you had found them, you walked on stage together, starting to pack microphones, cables and all the other things on stage. Two other guys were busy taking apart the drum set while you peeled duct tape off of the floor, cursing under your breath because of the glue residue that got stuck on your fingers.
Luckily cleaning up the stage was a quick process, considering how many people helped and not long after you found yourself climbing the stairs to the tour bus that most of the roadies, including you, shared with the band. Nicole was nowhere in sight yet, so you took the time to quickly getting ready yourself. You took a bottle of water to the bathroom and used the water from the bottle, soap and a flannel to get the sweat and dust of the venue off your body. Of course there was a shower in the small bathroom, but from the experience of other people you knew that showering on the bus was a bad idea if you did not want to get ill. Even washing hands was critical since the water was not very clean. After your lick and promise, you applied some deodorant and put on some fresh, not sweaty clothes, a jeans and a t-shirt, which color accentuated your eyes nicely. You were just done fixing your appearance in the mirror and exited the bathroom, when Nicole came climbing into the bus.
"Hey, " you greeted and waved rather awkwardly to her.
She did not seem to mind since she smiled and waved back.
"I'm with you in a moment, I'm just gonna put my things away," she told you.
You nodded and watched her walk to the bunk area of the bus. You checked your pockets if you had everything; money, your ID and the pass that allowed you access to the backstage and the busses.
"There I am," Nicole grinned, appearing at your side. She was wearing black skinny jeans and a white shirt, carrying a thin jacket over her arm since the night was cool.
"Great, you ready to go," you asked, unable to keep the smile off your face.
She nodded and together you left the bus, waving goodbye to the other two roadies who were sitting on the couches in the bus.
The night was cool, but not uncomfortably cold as you made your way from the fenced parking lot of the venue out onto the street. You were quietly involved in a conversation about tonight's show and you had a feeling that it would be an amazing first date, if you could call a drink at a bar a date.
Not even an hour later that feeling was gone completely. You had made the conscious decision not to walk into the first bar you found since that was where the rest of the band and crew were doubtlessly spending the evening. Instead you had walked a few blocks further down the street until you found a cozy looking Irish pub. You always had had a weakness for Irish pubs. This one, just as most others you had been in, had a homey atmosphere. The walls were made out of big stones, the counter made of dark wood that had been polished until it reflected the green fairy lights that were hanging from the shelves that were lined with different kind of whiskeys and other spirits. The tables and chairs were made out of the same dark wood as the counter and soft, dark green cushions made sitting a comfort. Even though it was summer , a warm fire burnt in the fireplace at the other side of the room. The owner of the pub was an elderly, roundish man with red cheeks, white hair and a friendly smile. He offered the two of you a table in the corner of the room, away from a loudly chatting group of young men.
Nicole had ordered a Guinness and you were sipping a dandelion lemonade (who knew these things existed) while you were snacking on the peanuts that the pub owner had placed on the table for both of you. It was a calm conversation, the nervousness from earlier was forgotten. You continued slipping compliments into the discussion, every time watching proudly how Nicole blushed a little and looked away, trying not to grin too brightly. Everything was working out wonderfully and you loved the buzz her company was giving you, the constant little butterflies that happily fluttered around your stomach. You were even holding her hand by now; she had made a stupid joke about herself and you had assured her that reality was far from what she just had said. You had taken the opportunity and placed your hand over hers that was resting on the table. For a moment you had been afraid she might pull away, but she had interlocked her fingers with yours instead, another hint of a blush creeping on her cheeks.
And then the door to the pub had jumped open and in had come a small crowd of ten people, all loudly laughing and cheering. At first it had not bothered you. They were just having fun. But then one of them started pointing into your direction. At first you had thought it would be fans of the band, who had been at the concert and recognized Nicole. But the truth was a little more upsetting than that.
After pointing to Nicole they quickly talked for a moment before they made their way over to where you were sitting.
"Nicole, is that you?" a tall man with ginger hair had asked. Nicole had turned around and you did not even have to see her face to know it was lighting up with a bright smile. She had jumped up and hugged the man, and then all the others as well, inviting them to sit with the two of you, before she introduced them. Apparently they were old friends of hers, people she had not seen in person for a few years. Everyone was absolutely delighted at that unexpected reunion, and you did not mind at first. You were happy for Nicole to have met some old friends of hers.
You should have realized that your peaceful evening alone with the beautiful girl opposite you was utterly destroyed, when one of her friends suggested to move to a bigger table so all of you could sit comfortable and not crowded around a small table in the corner. You were okay with that, curious to learn more about Nicole's past, but then you ended up on the other end of the table, as far away from her as possible. You wanted to ask her friends to change places with you, but you did not find the courage. Also you had noticed that she had introduced you as a colleague, not as a friend or even date. You were a little hurt by that, since you considered her your friend, but she probably had a good reason for that. For a while it was a merry party, everyone was talking about what they had been up to since they last saw Nicole and you listened intently. But then the conversation got carried away to these people's jobs, their families, their relationships and the latest gossip. No one ever made the slightest attempt of talking to you and you did not know what to contribute to the conversation either, since you were a complete stranger to all of them.
You took a look at the clock that hung over the door to the bathrooms. An hour had passed since Nicole's friends had come in. They had ordered beer and whiskey, Nicole had ordered strawberry lemonade and you had decided on getting a second glass of the dandelion lemonade. You watched her as she was talking to her friends, trying to understand what they were talking about, but being separated from her by the several people between you made it almost impossible to hear what she was saying.
Time ticked by. You still watched her. In the beginning she had looked over at you a few times, but in the past hour she had not looked at you once. Slowly you started to get frustrated. It was okay for her to catch up with her friends, but this was supposed to be your evening. You wanted to impress her a little, flirt with her, make her blush. Instead she was eyeing the ginger man at her side. You tried to read their body languages. Did they have a fling in the past, was he maybe even her ex? Was she attracted to him? He sure as hell was attracted to her. Your frustration grew with each passing minute. If she had planned to spend the rest of the night with her friends, then why had she not told you, so you knew the 'date' was over? Was this even a date? You were pretty sure you had used the word 'date' when you had asked her out that afternoon. 'Would you like to grab a drink after the show, you know just the two of us, as a date?' You were pretty sure that this was what you had said, after all you had rehearsed this sentence hundreds of times in your head before saying it out loud. Maybe she had thought you were joking?
It was long past midnight and it had been over two hours that you had moved to the bigger table. Still nobody talked to you and Nicole seemed to have forgotten completely that you were there at all. You were upset, upset and sad and angry and jealous and disappointed and hurt all at once. You decided to give them another thirty minutes and if nothing changed, you would leave. Thirty minutes turned into forty-five and then into sixty before you finally pushed your chair back. You were shaking with suppressed anger but were trying not to show it.
You leant over the table and tried to shout for Nicole, but she did not hear you. You could not walk to her chair either, since she was sitting in the very corner, her friends shielding her from any contact you could have made.
"Hey, can you tell Nicole I'm leaving," you asked the girl you had been sitting next to.
She nodded and poked her neighbor into the side, saying something to him and pointing to Nicole and then you. You also watched how the girl's neighbor passed the message on, but then it was swallowed by the tipsy talk of some bearded guy. You gritted your teeth. Eventually Nicole would notice you were gone. And she would find her way back to the venue as well, since she had a smartphone, like everyone else.
You walked up to the counter and paid for the two drinks you had had, the pub owner shooting you an apologetic smile.
"Not the most successful of dates," he asked, taking the money from you and putting it into the till.
"Not really," you answered, taking another look at Nicole. She was so beautiful, her blond hair gently fell over her shoulder, her lips parted to a wide grin.
"Sorry for that, dear," he answered and handed you the change, "maybe this makes your night a bit sweeter."
You noticed that together with the change he had handed you a little lollipop. You smiled sadly and waved goodbye to the friendly man, then you stepped out of the door and into the night.
The street was deserted as you walked down towards the venue. You unwrapped the sweet and popped it into your mouth, lazily sucking it. It felt nice, the sweet taste of the candy replacing some of the bitterness you had gained towards the unlucky encounter in the bar, and you almost felt at peace when you walked past the bar where the rest of the crew had gone. For a moment you considered going inside and checking if they were still there, maybe to hang out with them, but you decided against it. After all you were still disappointed that this 'date', or however you want to call it, was not at all what you had imagined it would be like. Even though it had started out so nicely!
You were done with your lollipop and flicked the paper stick into a nearby dumpster when you suddenly heard hurried steps approaching you from behind.
"(Y/n), hey (y/n), wait!"
You turned around and watched as Nicole was running towards you. In the light of the street lantern you could see that her cheeks were reddened from the cool air and the running; her thin jacket hugged her frame perfectly.
"(y/n), I am so sorry," she panted, stopping a few feet away from you.
"You met a few friends and wanted to catch up, that's okay," you answered. You wanted to sound sympathetic, but instead you sounded bitter and sarcastic. You also wanted to feel guilty at the sad expression that flickered over Nicole's face, but you just felt satisfaction.
"I am so sorry," she repeated. "I haven't seen them in ages and... they really mean a lot to me. I know I should not have forgotten about you, and I am so sorry. Please, I know I have no right to ask that, but can we maybe try it again, go on another date? That is, if you still want to and I completely understand if you wouldn't because I really messed up just now. I just wanted to go on this date with you so badly and I can't believe it ended like this, and I totally understand that you are mad now, I just really like you and-"
You watched slightly amused how Nicole way waving around helplessly, trying to explain herself and apologizing in the same breath. Yes, maybe you were a little mad, but by far not as mad as she seemed to assume and after she had told you how badly she wanted to go on this date with you, you made a decision. With a few steps you were in front of her and cut of her nervous bubbling with a demanding kiss. She melted into you immediately, her hands wrapping around your neck as you pulled her into you, running your fingers up and down her spine.
When you pulled back a few moments later, a shy smile was playing around her lips.
"Second date sounds amazing," you agreed, running your hand down her arm until your fingers wrapped around hers.
"Okay," she mumbled, still slightly taken aback by your sudden kiss, but she smiled.
Hand in hand, giggling and laughing you made your way back to the venue, trying to memorize this eventful night.