She's Dancing Alone

I could feel my shoulders hunching as I read through the menu. The prices were ridiculous, I found myself scanning the descriptions for each meal as the names had me completely baffled. I mentally settled on a salad. Clichéd yes, but the idea of shovelling food into my mouth surrounded by men I barely knew wasn’t appealing to me right now.

A handful of waiters scattered the table scribbling numerous Italian names onto their small pads before dashing off in the direction of the opening to the kitchen. I sighed inwardly, taking in the objects and faces around me. Rian’s arm was tied loosely around Kara’s back and resting lightly on her side as she leaned into him and they whispered sickeningly sweet nothings to each other. I watched how he admired her; love clouded his eyes as they smiled to each other. It was a scene that, as I was a close friend, wanted to roll my eyes at, but at the same time they were so adorable I could only bring myself to tear my eyes from them. I glanced at the rest of the table; Jack, Alex and the aforementioned redhead were enveloped in conversation, clearly catching up on events that the each had missed on their time apart; I swear they were really just burlesque women in tight clothing.

“Hey there,” came a voice from beside me causing me to jump and turn swiftly. With a flustered look on my face I took in the male before me. I was instantly met with bright blue eyes; blond bangs framed them as he stared back at me. “Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to scare you,” he spoke softly. His skin was fair which complemented him. It was only then that I noticed he was crouched slightly next to me, his hand resting behind my neck on my seat. I relaxed and shook my head lightly.

“No, I’m sorry, I was just thinking too hard,” I explained.

“Don’t hurt yourself,” he winked as he stood up a little more causing me to crane my neck. He quickly glanced over his shoulder and dragged up a chair from the nearest table. He pulled it to the corner between Jack and I and took a seat down on it, shifting his body to face me. I was vaguely aware of Jack snapping from the conversation he had been in and throwing me and this stranger a curious look. “Hope you don’t mind. I thought you looked kinda lonely,” he commented before shrugging. “I was feeling the same,” he admitted and dropped his eyes to the floor causing me to chuckle. His eyes were brought back up and he smiled. The next thing I knew his hand was extended in my direction. “I’m Jonathan.” I glanced at his hand for a moment before returning his smile and pushing my hand into his.

“Brianna,” I replied. An amused look played on his features, it was either that or interest.

“Brianna,” he repeated with a small nod. “So I think I’ll be safe in saying you’re not in the band because I haven’t seen you before. Are you doing merch for someone?” He asked. Nice how he instantly went to merch girl instead of a techie or something. I bit down on my lip.

“Um, no,” I began shifting in my seat. “Actually I’m just a childhood friend of the guys,” I finished looking pointedly at the boys sitting across from me. Although I was paying more attention to the heated conversation revolving around our end of the table couldn’t help but notice the thoroughly confused stare Jack had on me. I simply threw him a quick smile before returning to my company.

“Oh, I see. So you’re coming out on tour to see what it’s like?”

No.

“Kinda.”

“Sweet,” he grinned.

“So, what about you? Do you have a musical purpose on this tour?” I asked sitting on the backs of my hands. He nodded proudly sitting up straighter in his seat.

“Indeed I do,” he almost beamed. “I play drums for the little band,” he joked.

“Oh really? I like hearing newer bands. What’re you called?” I asked honestly.

“We’re called Days Difference,” he explained. I nodded as if understanding and looked to the other end of the large table.

“So who belongs to you?” I asked looking amongst the unfamiliar faces.

“Um,” he began as he leaned closer to me and glanced in the same direction. “That one,” he began extending his finger to guide my eyes. “That’s our bassist, Micah,” he explained as his finger landed on a boy with dark hair who sat laughing. “The one next to him,” he continued as he moved to a blond boy, similar looking to himself, chatted animatedly to the other. “Is my brother,” he finished. My eyebrows perked up a little at the thought of him being in a band with his brother; it was sorta cute. “The last one’s Jeremiah,” he finished before sitting back in his seat. I turned to him with an amused smirk playing on my lips.

“So you’re three Js and a Micah huh?” I teased causing him to let a laugh pour from his lips.

“I suppose you could say that,” he nodded as four waiters approached from behind him with handfuls of plates. Seeing my look of distraction he turned and faced the men and girl carrying our food before taking to his feet. “Well I better go fill my organs,” he concluded as he pushed the chair he was sat on back under the nearby table. “It was nice meeting you.”

“You too,” I replied as he jogged back to his seat. I watched with a slight smile on my face as his friends and band members almost instantly involved him in the conversation. As I turned back I saw Jack was still curiously eyeing the boy as people began to call for their food.

“Jack, that’s you. You ordered the lobster right?” Alex asked tapping him on the shoulder to snap him from his trance.

“Hm? Oh, yeah, that’s me,” he muttered, confirming his answer with a nod of his head. He sat back in his seat and sighed as the plate was sat before him. There on the plate in all its glory sat perhaps the world’s largest lobster. The shell was a scorched red, bright enough to harm unsuspecting eyes covered in juices and an array of vegetables lined the side. At that point Jack and I burst into fits of laughter. Only he would order such a ridiculously large amount of food without realising it. We soon settled down and proceeded to toss mischievous glances at each other throughout the meal. I found myself finishing quickly and took slower bites of the food until more people had finished before placing my fork down.

Jack idly played with the shells of the beast before him, pushing it from one side of the plate to the other several times. I brought my foot up and lightly pushed him in the shin beneath the table. His eyes were brought up to meet mine and I simply smiled at him. He fought back his own smile before bringing his leg up to time mine in the same manner. I grunted lightly, shoving his foot away before crossing my legs. In the next instance Jack brought his foot to the side of my leg, stroking it lightly with his shoe causing me to look up to him with a strange look. He simply wriggled his eyebrows before both of us chuckled lightly again. Kara tossed me a curious look at our spontaneous synchronised laughter which I brushed off and continued with our under-table battle.

When it finally came time to leave Jonathan made his way back over to me with the dark haired boy I knew to be Micah and bid us farewell. All the time I could feel Jack’s arm slinked over my shoulder in what I felt to be a more protective manner than casual. I’d glanced up at him a few times and his demeanour remained completely cool. We swapped up the cars we rode in a little. Most of my trip was spent with my head leaning against the frame of the door next to me. The dark tones of the night sky mixed with the almost perfect silence and smooth rumbling of the car had me in a sudden tired state.

When we returned to the hotel Zack shoved my shoulder lightly in an attempt to make me more conscious. I let out a soft yawn before feeling as wide awake as before. We entered the hotel before stopping in the lobby. Rian had an arm around Kara’s waist as he spoke to Alex a small distance from where we were congregated. A moment after I’d noticed Alex walked slightly towards us, beckoning Jack, Zack and I forward to talk. We exchanged confused glances but did as we were instructed.

“Guys. Because Kara’s here now we’re gonna need to book another room. I wanna give her and Rian a little privacy. Y’know?” He asked looking around to see our reactions, we all simply nodded in agreement and understanding. “So unless we want four of us in a room together we have to decide who’s staying in a room together,” he concluded. Ah.