CHAPTER TWO
Rosemarie began walking closer to the source of the voices, hoping she would see someone she recognized. Fortunately, she could see the back of Vince's head from where she stood.
She cleared her throat quietly before speaking, "Vince?" She asked. His head whipped around and a smile came to his face. "Rosemarie!" He said, beckoning her over with his free hand. His eyes moved up and down as she came around to sit in an open chair next to him.
Awkwardly, she waved to the others. Rosemarie soon recognized them as the other members of the band. She looked down as she and Nikki's eyes met. Vince wrapped an arm around her as she sat down.
For the duration of the conversation, Vince kept his arm wrapped around Rose and she kept her eyes to the floor.
Nikki seemed to be tuning out the other boys as he kept his eyes on Rose. She looked up occasionally, but he never looked away, enjoying the way she blushed when she caught him staring.
Nikki was confident in his skills in the art of seduction. If he wanted Rosemarie, he would have her, and boy did he want her.
Vince stood up after a moment, "I'm gonna go to the bar before it gets full." He stretched then looked down at Rose, "You want anything?"
"Yeah, a White Russian, please." She asked and reached down to her bag to grab her wallet. Vince scoffed, "I'll pay for it."
Tommy followed after him, "I need a beer or something." The drummer said as he tagged along. Vince and Tommy disappeared into the darkness and Rose strained her eyes to see where exactly they went. She had been at the Whisky before, just never backstage.
That left Rose, Mick, and Nikki in the room. Mick looked at the two of them, "I think I need a drink too." He said and stood up,
Rose remained silent. Nikki cleared his throat and sat back in the folding chair. "You don't want to be here." He observed as he looked her up and down, she looked uncomfortable.
Rose looked at him, her eyebrows knitted together in confusion, "No, no... I want to be here." She nodded and opened her mouth again to say something, but decided to stay quiet.
"Really?" Nikki dragged the word out, "Do you just not want to be here with Vince...?" He pressed on, hoping to get more out of her.
Rose remained silent for a moment thinking that if she said something it Nikki would say something, then Vince's feelings would be hurt.
Nikki stared at her with a cocked eyebrow, "C'mon, I'm not gonna tell him." He responded as if he had read her mind. Rose looked up at him, "I want to be here, it gives me an excuse to get out of the house." She explained, "I just felt pressured to come along, so I accepted the invitation, then he mentioned some sort of after-party? I am definitely not dressed to go to any sort of party." She spoke quickly, oversharing her feelings like she tended to do.
Nikki chuckled, running a hand through his hair, "He didn't mean a literal after-party... He wanted, well, nevermind."
Rose blushed as she realized what Nikki was meaning.
Outside the back area, people were beginning to flood in and the bar quickly grew noisy. Rose shrunk back in her seat, she didn't necessarily want to go out and bump and grind with 80 strangers.
Nikki continued looking at her until Vince returned, "Tommy found a girl at the bar, we're not gonna be seeing him for a bit." Vince said lightheartedly and rolled his eyes. He took his seat next to Rose and handed her the drink.
Rose studied the glass for a moment and took a sip. "Thank you." She smiled.
Vince nodded in response. He looked at Nikki, then back to Rose before wrapping an arm around her.
Nikki put his arms up innocently and reached down to grab the beer bottle that was next to his chair. Rose sensed some sort of tension between them but decided not to question it.
-
Later, Rose sat side stage as she watched the band perform. She wasn't enjoying herself and thoroughly drunk. She sang along and danced by herself. Nikki couldn't help but cast his eyes over to her every few minutes. There was something about her, and that may have just been the fact that Vince had called dibs.
After the set, Vince was first off stage. A dopey smile was spread across his face as he took a towel from one of the roadies. He wiped his face and handed it back.
"That was electric." He sighed, "I'm never gonna get tired of performing."
"You say that now, but wait until you're fifty or sixty." Rose smiled. Vince shook his head, the smile not leaving his face. "I'm gonna perform till the day I die, baby!" He leaned forward to kiss her cheek but she moved out of the way, missing his lips by a few centimeters.
Nikki stifled a laugh, she may have been drunk, but she definitely wasn't interested in Vince.
Vince didn't seem to notice, he just kept on down the path towards the back. Tommy and Mick followed after while Nikki hung back to wait for Rose. She stumbled forward a few steps and then regained her balance.
"You alright there?" Nikki asked kindly. Rose nodded happily and began to follow the rest. Nikki followed, he watched after her to make sure she did not trip over any chords or curtains that were sticking out. He followed until they were back into the small room with the chairs. Rose remained standing as all available chairs were taken. She could have sworn there were five before.
Outside the room the crowd was still roaring, Tommy closed his eyes as he listened.
"How was it from your end?" Vince asked Rose, he stared at her as she swayed back and forth, not hearing the question. Eventually, he gave up and went back to talking amongst his bandmates.
"What's the plan now?" Mick asked, his eyes flicking around the room for something to tell the time, "It can't be that late."
"Food?" Nikki asked and received nods of approval in response. "Rose?" He then asked and looked at her the same as Vince had. She turned her head towards him and nodded, "I could eat."
They waited for the crowd to die down, but it didn't, "I think we're just going to have to leave, the crowd ain't getting much quieter." Mick observed as the level of noise had only gotten louder.
Vince nodded, "Fair enough." He said with a shrug and got up.
-
Rose knew not to get in the car with strange men, but in her drunken state all common sense left and she happily got in the car.
Rose took a seat in the passenger seat and buckled her seat belt. The car wasn't yet moving but she felt incredibly car sick. It was more than likely because she had downed five White Russians on an empty stomach. She grabbed onto the handle and closed her eyes, the nausea hadn't subsided, only getting worse once the car started moving.
The boys in the back were loud and rowdy, Rose focused on the mingling voices trying to keep her bile down.
Eventually, the car came to a stop in front of a small diner, Rose didn't bother to look at the name as she got out of the car and laid down on the ground, hoping it was cool enough to calm her.
Vince stared down at her as she laid on the ground, "You need some help?" He asked as he leaned down to pick her up. Rose didn't protest as she got up and wrapped an arm around him for support.
They entered the diner, earning stares from the few patrons. The only people in the small place were mainly older, it was clear that the eatery wasn't very popular with the town's youth.
Mick requested a booth and they got an empty booth in the far corner. Overhead, the light flickered casting dim yellow light on all of their faces. Nikki noticed the sickly pale color that Rose was and worriedly asked, "Are you okay?"
"She's fine," Vince answered for her, casting a sour glance at Nikki. It wouldn't be the first time that Nikki had stolen a broad from him, but to Vince, it seemed like she wasn't interested in either. He would get her a little drunker, and see what happened.
Rose did nothing but hold up her thumb and gave him a small smile, appreciating the fact that he took some interest in her.
After a moment or two, a waiter came up and asked their orders.
Rose looked over the menu and set it down. "Just some water for me, thanks." She said and handed the menu to him.
Nikki stared, worried. She needed to eat something.
"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked again.
"Just a little nauseous. That's all." She explained as Vince opened his mouth once again to speak on her behalf.
The waiter returned with her water, and she downed it and got up. "I've enjoyed the time-" She burped quietly, "Excuse me, but I think I need to get home and go to bed. Thank you for the drinks, Vince."
"Hey, now," Vince said, his words coming out quietly, "Just stay and hang out, I'm sure that you'll feel better after you get some food in you." His expression was the same as the expression he had used at the bakery to get her to come along to the show in the first place, she began to feel guilty and sat back down.
"Yeah." She said, "I'm sure that will be fine." Rose nodded uncomfortably.
As she sat at the booth, she twiddled her thumbs. She was still pretty buzzed, now zoned out as well. Which meant she was unaware when Vince asked her to get out of the booth so that they could leave.
After nudging her a couple of times, Rose moved and allowed Vince and Tommy to get out of the booth. Nikki and Mick exited through the other side. As she followed them out of the diner, she regretted coming along in the first place. She wanted nothing more than to be home in bed, clean and showered with her pajamas on.
-
[wc: 1737]
Hi! I'm so excited to be getting this up and going again. Once again, thank you all for the support, it truly means a lot.
- mea