The Drug in Me Is You

"Demi you coming?"

“Yeah, I’ll be down in a minute”

I finished applying a final layer of eyeliner on my eyelids and smudged it to achieve the look I was wanting. We would be heading to a near by club for a battle of a bands contest that would be taking place there, in which lots of the bands were from our school. I wouldn’t normally attend these kinds of events, but my best friend Ella had wanted to go cause of this one guy in this one band. And then there was Jamie, who was just tagging along cause apparently the whole school would be there.

“Wow, you look gorgeous” Jamie exclaimed as I descended the stairs to meet them.

I had caught a quick glance at myself in the mirror down the hall, and was quite pleased with what I had been able to see. I almost never wore makeup, only for special events, like birthdays or weddings. I wasn’t even on planning wearing any tonight, but after seeing my friends all made up and getting an almost disapproving looks from them when they saw me with my hair in a ponytail and some Old Navy sweats, I had to at least do an effort.

“Really?” I asked, surprised to hear that word directed at me from someone beside my family.

Ella nodded and Jamie reach out to grab my hand and pull me along with them out the back door. My parents had approved of me going out with my friends, since I had been doing really well in school with my grades. Besides, I hadn’t really gone out other then that one time, at the beginning of the year Ella invited me to see some random movie at the nearby mall.

The cold night air caused me goose bumps as it made contact with my bare legs, in result of choosing to wear a short cocktail dress, imitating my friends. Once we reach Ella’s car, I opted for opening the closest door, and taking a seat in the back by myself. The club was just a few miles away, and Ella opted for blasting some Katy Perry songs on the ride. I didn’t oppose, but Perry’s music wasn’t really something I loved, but it was passable and quite catchy at times.

Once we had arrived at the street where the club was, we saw the block packed with cars and some people were making there way to the club. Ella quickly spotted an empty spot and took the opportunity of parking there.

“So, are you planning on making a move on him tonight?” Jamie asked Ella as we walked in our heels to the entrance of the club.

I felt completely alien to these kinds of conversations. You would probably think that just because I’m here going to a club at night with my friends dressed in a not so conservative way, that I would have at least had some kind of relationship. But you’re beyond wrong. I barley get notice by the other gender. And when I do, it’s only to make some stupid remarks, or joke about my appearance. So yes, I tend to not where makeup to class. I tend to go in some sweatpants and band t shirts, just cause I’m comfortable like that. Flip flops and sneakers are my best friends, and heels my enemies. I’m not at all what I seem to be right now. I was mentally preparing myself for the crap I was gonna get from the kids from school.

“Dem, you there?” Ella had now stopped walking and was waving her hand in front of me, while her other hand stopped me from advancing.

“Yeah…sorry, just zoned out.”

She gave me an unconvinced nod, as she grabbed my hand and led me closely behind her inside the dark club. The place was pretty packed, surely everyone from school was here. That made me get all tense and self aware. It was exactly how going to class made me feel.

“Oh, look! There’s a free table there!” Jamie shouted over the loud upbeat music playing through the speakers.

The official “battle” would start in about 10 minutes from what I was able to see as we passed a neon wall clock.
Of course we were able to find an empty table, everyone was trying to get as close as possible to the stage, they didn’t really care if that meant standing the whole show.

“Ahh!! There he is!” Emma squealed as her eyes focused on a short blond guy adjusting an amp on stage.

There were also four other guys taking place on stage, getting ready as well. They were apparently the first band that would perform. Jamie and Ella gushed between them about the, for their taste, attractive guitarist. His blond hair wasn’t that natural blond hair jocks have, it was a dirty blond shade, he wore black skinnies, but surprisingly his arms were clean, not a single tattoo in sight.

“Demi, seen anyone you want?” Jamie asked me from the other side of the small round glass table.

I almost choked at her question, since I had never been asked anything like this by her. She eyed the band on stage and then me, implying that I should point out one of their members. I turned on my stool, to examine all of them. They were all similar looking. Short spiked up hair, some had some lip piercing and tattoos and some didn’t, like Ella’s. They wore simple plain black pants, matched with white shirts. The singer was adjusting the mike on it’s stand, and started doing that old check speech.

“One, two. Testing. One, two”

My eyes were all over the place, towards the front, analyzing everything going on around me. This wasn’t so bad, I actually so far liked being here. It might have been packed with all the people from school, but there was a difference here. They were all focused on the stage, I wasn’t vulnerable here. I wasn’t gonna be the target.

Just then, my eyes locked with a guy standing behind the stage. His dark eyes held my blue ones for a portion of a minute, and then they fixed themselves on the band that started playing in front of him. I just turned back on the stool, facing my friends, as I tried to get over that feeling that had just pulsed through my body.

What was that?

It was a quite weird feeling I’ve never had before. Almost a mix of that feeling I get when I’m running late for an exam, and that other feeling I get whenever someone compliments me, which almost never happens. How odd.

I felt a tap on my arm, and looked up at Ella as she mouth something at me, but I wasn’t able to hear through the loud upbeat punk music feeling the place. She then gave up on trying to tell me whatever it was, and stretched over the table to grab my face with her hand and turn it in direction of the small stage. My fear of meeting eyes once again with that stranger soon vanished as I noticed he wasn’t there anymore.
I smiled, now being able to relax and enjoy myself just like Ella and Jaime were doing. The music was pretty good, I had to admit it. And once I figured out which the chorus was, I found myself singing along with the rest of the people, who apparently had heard this song before.

Afterwards the band played a few more songs, that the public seem to receive nicely and then it was the next band’s turn.

“How many bands are in this?” I asked Ella, taking the chance now that there wasn’t loud music blasting from the speakers.

She seemed to think about it, while watching the recent band leave the stage.

“Three I think.”

I nodded. It was a nice number, this surely wouldn’t last too long, nor would it be over in two minutes.
The next band was a little more….pop looking, to say the least. They had that longish kind of hair, not too long, but long enough for the fringe to cross over their right eyes in a dramatic way. Two, the one who I assumed was the drummer and the singer, wore bright red skinnies, and the other two, who would be the bassist and the guitarist, wore black ones like the previous band. Their shirts were white but with colorful graphics and quotes on them. Once they started playing it was just what I was expecting, a punk sound but more pop than the previous band.

Four songs later, they thanked the public and made their way down the stage. One more band, and the judges, who were mainly our music teachers and the vice principle, would have to choose the winner.
As the last band took their place on the small, but well lit stage, there were some random screaming. Apparently the band not only had gained some fans, but some haters as well. Thought most of that hate seemed directed to the guy arranging the mike and it’s stand. When he look up, my eyes met once again with the stranger from before.

The remaining of the time the band performed I tried my best to avoid looking at the singer, but that seemed always impossible. Somehow his eyes would always be looking my way. Or maybe I was just overreacting like always.

You’re not the center of the world, Demi.

I wish I could listen to myself, but there was no denying that this guys was looking at me the whole set. Ella and Jaime seemed to notice, cause once they had finished, they immediately demanded my attention.

“What’s with you and that singer?” Ella asked with curiosity in her eyes.

I glanced once more at the stage, only to see the drummer making his way off of it.

“Nothing….”

“Do you guys know each other?” Jaime asked.

I was about to reply the obvious when Ella spoke.

“Dem! You’ve known that guy for who knows how long and been hiding it from us?! Well, look at you…I guess we all have our secrets, don’t we?” she winked at me, with a proud smile.

I shook my head, not being able to believe the conclusions they were getting to.

“What?! No! I swear I don’t even know him. I haven’t even seen him before. Is he even from our school??”

Jaime smiled, amused.

Oh, no. They were not thinking I was interested in him, were they?

They both exchanged amused looks and looked at me at the same time.

“Demi, you want him, don’t you?” Ella asked sweetly.

I shook my head once again, since they had obviously hadn’t understood.

“No, I don’t. I-I need to go to the bathroom. I’ll be right back” I excused myself with the most old excuse ever.

I just needed to be alone. Away from them. Enough so they would just forgot about this. I had no idea where the bathroom was, since I hadn’t been to this place before. Luckily this place was fill with huge neon signs for almost everything: bar, stage, exit, bathroom, backstage…. Backstage?

I made my way to the bathroom, since it wouldn’t be a bad thing to go now, but ended up finding a huge line of girls waiting for their turn. This was just like watching a football game at home, everyone would hold themselves for almost an hour and then all go make use of the bathroom at the same time. I walked to the end of the line to wait for my turn. Standing there, humming some song I didn’t even recognize, someone poked my shoulder.

“There’s a bathroom backstage that’s free, if you want” the male voice whispered.

I turned around expecting to see a staff member of the place, only to come face to face with the guy that had made me excuse myself from my friends in the first place.

“I’m Ronnie” he smiled down at me, he was a few inches taller. Only a few.

I looked behind him, seeing the green neon backstage sign.

“Demi” I replied.

He smirked, obviously amused by something.

“What?” I asked, self consciously fixing my dress.

His eyes took notice of my action, and focused on the bottom of my dress. His opaque brown eyes seemed to change into a more muddy color. He stretched out his hand to grab mine, which really took me by surprise.

“Let’s go” he commanded as he dragged me without effort towards the dark back area of the club.