Just Making Things Harder

After the show, we wanted to leave as soon as we could. The band got all their stuff loaded up and just as they were getting ready to go, girls swarmed the band. Well, mostly just Oli.

As usual with other bands, they didn’t really notice the other members, leaving me to comfort them and their sulking.

“Oli, you did so great tonight” I heard one particularly annoying girl say, “You guys haven’t played in a while, why?”

Oli shrugged, “We’ve been ah bit busy.” That wasn’t good enough for this girl, though.

“With what?” She asked, attaching herself to his arm.

“School, life, other ‘fings. Do ah need to explain more?” Oli rolled his eyes. I tried to stifle my laughter, but failed and earned a glare from the girl and her friends.

“Well we’ve missed you” She said, holding him still, “You should go out with me and my friends. We can have some fun.”

It was obvious to everyone else that Oli wanted nothing to do with the girls, but they didn’t seem to notice. He tried to pull her off as he declined her request, but she continued to ask. He was throwing us all looks, begging for help. None of the guys wanted to get into it, but I was a little more gutsy.

“Excuse me, but my friend here has things to do elsewhere tonight, so he can’t go anywhere with you” I said as politely as I could. My efforts were pointless, though, when all the girls glared at me and moved in on the kill.

“And who are you? Some groupie?” One said. I tried so hard not to laugh in her face, since they were the dictionary definition of “groupie”.

“Actually, I’m a good friend of Oli’s and the whole band, which you lack to even notice their existence” I said in a matter-of-fact tone, “And as Oli’s friend, it’s also my job to dispose of the band whores.”

They all looked offended. Oli moved away from them and behind me. He grabbed my arm and tried to pull me away, but I stopped him.

“And who are you to call us band whores? It looks to me like you’re riding all their dicks. You’ve probably fucked them all and haven’t dated any of them” The particularly annoying one claimed, flipping her fried blonde hair over her shoulder.

That managed to piss me off.

“Listen here you bottle blonde little whore-” I started, but was interrupted when Oli pulled me behind him.

“Actually, she’s mah girlfriend. Now if yeh slags don’t mind, we need ta’ be goin’” Oli said, before turning and ushering us all away.

I was a little shell shocked. Did he call me his girlfriend? I mean, I know we went on a date and we do have some chemistry, but I didn’t know that made me his girlfriend already.

Then again, I do have absolutely no experience with dating, really.

“Oli-” I started, but he shushed me. “We’ll talk latah’” He told me. I just nodded.

Cam gave me a sceptical look, but I shook my head and he dropped it.

Oli told Cam to go ahead and head home, since he was he one who gave me a ride. Oli assured he’d get me home safe and Cam, after a second or two of hesitation, agreed.

The entire ride to my house was silent. Neither of us really knew what to say. I invited him in when I got home, first making sure that my mother wasn’t there.

I offered him a drink and sat down, trying to overcome the awkward silence. Why it was awkward, neither of us really knew. Maybe it was just because we were avoiding the elephant in the room.

“Oli-”

“Kyle-”

Both of us attempted to talk at the same time, but paused. When I didn’t continue, Oli took it upon himself to.

“Look, ‘m sorreh I called yeh me girlfrien’” He said. I stared at him for a second, shocked.

“Why are you sorry?” I asked, my face scrunching up in confusion.

He sighed and put his face in his tattooed hands, “We onleh went on one date and ah sorta jumped tha’ gun. I didn’ think ‘bout if yeh would be readeh’ for tha’.”

He looked physically distraught about it, thinking that he offended me or something. I stood from my chair and walked around the table to him. He didn’t even look up.

“Oli look at me” I told him, and he slowly did as I said, “I wasn’t hurt by you calling me your girlfriend. Actually, I kinda liked it. I was hoping soon I really would be, and I was hoping you meant it when you said that.”

“Realleh?” He asked. I just nodded. He grinned. “Well in tha’ case, Kyle, will yeh be mah girlfrien’?”

My grin matched his as I nodded my head. Without warning he stood from the chair and wrapped one arm around me while slipping his hand up to hold my cheek. He leaned down, a bit too slowly for my liking, and I got on a toes to reach him first.

With this moment, I realized why I had waited all that time for someone to come along.

Some may say it was me being picky, or a little bit too judgmental on who I was with. I knew then that it was just because I was waiting for someone different. Someone who could change things for me.

And even though there were bumps on the way just making things harder, I still managed to get here.