The rest of the day was a blur. Again, we had to re-film some scenes and this time, when Megan had to save Damon, it felt more intense.
My lips felt numb every time I looked at Ian's eyes. My skin shivered when he touched my wrists and he looked oblivious to what was happening to me.
Thank god that was over, the only thing I wanted to do right now was go to my hotel room and never leave.
I was walking out to the parking lot and I heard Kat's voice calling my name. I stopped dead in my tracks and turned around to face her.
"So tomorrow's our day off. I was wondering if you'd want to go to the dance studio with me tomorrow?" She asked. I haven't had a full-on dance session in a while and I sure missed it. So I agreed and Kat said she would text me the address later.
When I was getting ready for bed I couldn't help but notice Ian's scent was all over my shirt. That night, I slept with less difficulty than pasts nights. I had the shirt right beside me, bringing a feeling of calmness with every breath I took.
-x-
The next morning, I got ready and went to the dance studio, following Kat's directions. I was expecting a full crew to be in there. But I felt slightly surprised when I only found Kat inside the studio, warming up. She looked at me and smiled.
"Hey! We got the studio all by our selfs today. How cool is that?" She asked as she got up to greet me.
I started warming up with her and she wanted to know more about my dancing experience.
"Well, I started in high school. I had some friends that were dancers and they got me into all of it. A few years later, one of them got a dancing studio and we decided to make a dance crew, just for fun." I told her.
"And what you do?" She asked wanting to know what do I dance.
"A little bit of everything, really. Mainly hip hop and breakdancing. But I've learned all kinds of things." I said.
-x-
It really felt like I was hanging out with a best friend of mine. We understood each other so much and we were having a great time. It was like those practices I have with the crew were we would do whatever we came up with, and it would make our day.
She started teaching me some of her own choreographies and she even recorded us dancing together. I tried to teach her some of my personal choreographies and she was getting the hang of it.
"Know what?" I asked.
"Let's see what you got." She said walking towards the small radio she brought. She started looking for something to have me dance to and I laughed while I walked a few steps towards the middle of the studio.
The song Look At Me Now by Chris Brown started playing and a bunch of memories came rushing to me. I giggled as a got ready to dance while Kat started recording me.
It was like I completely changed personalities. I went from a 'sweet and shy' vibe to a more underground kind of vibe.
I started dancing with power and confidence. I felt my hair flying in all directions I moved my head to. I stopped at some point only to point at my reflection in the huge mirror like I was dance-battling with myself.
When the vocals of the song became fast I started to do popping and some waving, all in synch with the music. When the rapping ended, I jumped and landed exactly when the chorus started again.
Then I went out of character and I moved my hands along side of my neck on a slicing motion to say I was done. Kat stopped recording.
"Girl! You got some moves!" She said.
-x-
After we were done, we parted ways and it didn't took long for the video of us dancing to be on Instagram.
' @katgrahampics: Day off well spent with @Vero1996. She's got the moves. '
I was back at the hotel when I got a text from Alex.
' Wtf Is this!? '
She sent me a picture too. It was a picture of a magazine page. Pictures of Ian opening a door for me, Ian and I sitting together and laughing were all over the page. And, in the corner, Ian and I leaving the place. Great. I responded quickly.
' I wish I knew myself...'
At that moment, my phone started ringing and the caller ID said 'Daisy'. I quickly picked up and greeted.
"Hey, V, guess what?" She said. "The band got a gig!" She said excited.
"Daisy," I instantly sounded sad. "You know I can't just travel to the other side of the country right now. How are you guys playing without a lead guitarist?" I asked.
"You didn't let me finish!" She complained. "The best part is that the gig is at this bar in Atlanta so, are you up for it?"
A smile grew on my face slowly and I answered with only two words.
"Hell yeah!"
I heared Daisy's laughter on the other end of the line. "Great!" She said. "I'll text you the address" and, with that, she hung up.
I called Michael Malarkey immediately. He wanted to see my band play ever sense I told him I was in a band. He picked up and greeted me.
"Hey! Remember when you said watching my band playing was something that just had to happen?" He said yes. "Well, it could happen. Tonight."
"Finally! Let me now where later. I'll tell the others." He said and hung up.
The others? Well, I guess they would want to see it too...
-x-
I have to admit, I have missed these people. From Roy, Mark and Danny's occurrences to Daisy, trying to control them and get them to focus. Roy thought it would be appropriate to play the batman theme on his bass and Danny started singing it with a high-pitched voice. They try to entertain themselves while sound-checking.
Luckily, the guys brought my guitars with them and I was just sitting aside tuning them. Michael got here a while ago and hung out with us for a bit. He said Paul and Ian were coming too.
I was done with my electric guitar so I sat it aside and picked up my acoustic when I noticed some one sat beside me. I quickly looked to my side to find Ian. He said an awkward 'hello' and I hummed a greeting.
"So," he started saying. "do you prefer us to act as if yesterday didn't happened or..." He didn't finished the sentence.
"I thought you were already doing it." I said without bothering to look up at his face. He stood silent for a few seconds.
"Here's the thing." He said. "I don't usually go around throwing myself at people, okay?" He said, explaining himself. I kept tuning my guitar, not wanting to face him but, now I couldn't ignore his hand holding mine, preventing me from adjusting my guitar strings. "But I need to know what did it meant for you." He said and I brought my face up to look at him and he was closer than I thought.
We exchanged a long look before I could make myself answer him.
"Honestly." I struggled to find the right words. "I don't know what any of this means."
He didn't looked surprised at all. Like he was expecting it. He kept his eyes locked on mine and I forgot how to speak for a moment.
"Well," he said. "Good luck up there." He said before he gave my hand a slight squeeze and let go, leaving to catch up with Paul and Michael at a table not too far away from the stage.
The lights went down and I knew it was show time.
"Good evening, everybody." Said Danny to the microphone. "We are Rated B. And I'm not talking movie categorizing, that's actually the name of the band. Blame her, she named it." He said and pointed at me, gaining a few laughs from the audience. "Now if you don't mind, we're gonna be playing a few songs for you tonight. The first one is called Animal."
Mark gave us our cue and we all started playing. No, it wasn't one of our original songs. This song is played by Neon Trees. But we were only going to play covers tonight. Danny started singing and Roy took care of the bass while Daisy and I went silent for the verse. For the chorus, I joined in the vocals with Danny, and I could see the audience jumping and singing along. Some of them were taking pictures or recording. I got lost on the music and started jumping around too. For the bridge of the song, I joined in again and Danny did the harmonizing for the background.
Hush, hush. The world is quiet. I sung.
Hush, hush. We both can't fight it. I dared to look at Ian after singing that line. He was looking straight at me, smiling widely.
Is us that made this mess
Why can't you understand?
Woah! I won't sleep tonight. I kept that note for as long as it lasted and everyone started cheering even more.
I won't sleep tonight!
We finished the song and everyone went crazy. Next song was Check Yes, Juliet by We The Kings. After that, Dance, Dance by Fall Out Boy. For the last two songs, Danny stepped down so I could sing. I stepped in front of the front microphone and Danny left the stage.
"I kicked the other guy off the stage for the rest of the set. He should be doing shots somewhere around here by now." Some people in the audience laughed. "So, since our set is almost over," I heard some 'aaahh's from the audience. "I was thinking on lowering the adrenaline a bit so here's Painting Flowers." It was a song by All Time Low. I heared some clapping from the audience and when I looked at Ian, I found him, Paul and Michael cheering like crazy.
The song started and I left my everything on that stage. The audience was clapping along and some of them turned on their phone's flashlight. Again, at the bridge is where the vocals became strong.
I hear everything you say
But I don't wanna lose my head.
After that, the energy came crashing down and then exploded for the chorus one last time.
After that song was done, I could feel everyone's eyes on me as Mark, Roy and Daisy left the stage and I pulled out my acoustic guitar. I sat down on the chair that was settled up for this moment.
"Now, for this last song, I wanted to sing something that the majority of you would know. So, this one is something classic. We are Rated B, and this is Heart-Shaped Box." I said and immediately they started cheering. I looked over at Ian again and his phone was facing my way.
This version of the song, was a cover from Evanescence. And it required every bit of vocal energy I had left in me. I started playing and everyone went silent to listen. They would go crazy at the times I raised my voice, cheering and clapping. I felt the adrenaline going through me with every second that went by until I closed my eyes to finish the song with emotion. And, once again, every one started cheering when I finished. I said a quick 'thank you' to the microphone and 'good night'. Michael and Paul were waiting for me at the side of the stage and greeted me with a hug. I apologized for how sweaty I was and Michael said he was used to it already. They said how much they liked the set, how good I was and they said they were leaving so they gave me another hug and left.
I saw Roy, Danny, Daisy and Mark going for the door and I sent a quick wave their way. I went backstage to get my stuff and found my acoustic guitar with a note.
' Thought you would need this here. You're welcome. -D '
That girl could read me like a book. I picked up the guitar and looked around for something, but didn't knew what. I froze when I felt an arm wrap around my waist from behind and a phone being faced to me. I could see Ian and I on the screen and my muscles calmed. Ian was hiding half of his face behind my ear, a half smirk was showing. I could feel his breathing on my neck, it almost made me lose my balance. But I kept my cool and gave a smirk too.
The picture was taken. And the hand holding is phone went to my waist so he had a full hold on me. His lips came closer to my ear and the near touch sent shivers all over me.
"I don't know what this means either. But I just can't fight it." He said as low as a whisper.