The Drug in Me Is You

“Here it is. Free like I promised” he winked as he gave me a little push towards the bathroom at the end of the hall.

I nodded, mouthing a thank you and went in, locking the door behind me. I sighted, relieved that I was finally alone. I had lost the, never existing, urge to go to the bathroom. I stood looking at my unrecognizable reflection in the oval faded mirror. The walls were covered with band ads from all different kind of events: tours, band battles, acoustic sets. I wonder how long I would have to stay in here, till he left.

I inched towards the door, peeking through the tiny hole on the lock. I was able to get a glance at his distressed black skinny jeans, as he was leaning on the opposite wall. I got a better look at him as he lit a cigarette .

He wasn’t planning on standing there till I got out, was he?

“Hey man, got some fire?”

Another male voice directed him the question and I was soon able to see another pair of legs appear beside him. A stretched out arm waiting for his cigarette to be lit as well.

“Thanks. What you doing here? Waiting for something?” the other man asked him.

“Someone” he corrected.

I gulped. That someone would have to be me. I then felt completely embarrassed by how long I was taking, when I wasn’t even doing anything. But of course, that’s the least thing someone who waits for you while you go to the bathroom thinks. I was about to flush the toilet as part of my little act, but then realized it’d be better if they knew I wasn’t here for that kind of use of the bathroom. I reached into the small pocket of my leather jacket and pulled out a small case with some makeup and wipes. I re-touched the minimal, and put it back where it previously was. Then, taking a deep breath, opened the door.

“Finally” he commented as I closed the door behind me.

“I was, retouching my…makeup” I motioned at my face.

He nodded, said a ‘see you later’ to the guy beside him and once again took me by the hand. But he wasn’t heading back to where we had come from.

“Where are…?”

“Shh…You’ll see.” I could sense the grin on his face as he said that, a feeling I didn’t share at all. I was scared. I was being dragged who knows where by some stranger.

We finally reach a small badly lit room, where he closed the door behind us. He turned to me, placing his hands on my shoulders and leading me to the wall close by. My back hit the wall softly, as my heartbeat raced, afraid of what he was going to do.

“Demi, was it?” he asked, serious this time.

I nodded, unable to form words.

“Have I seen you before?” he asked another question, his eyes staring at my lips.

I shook my head, quiet convinced that I had never seen this guy before in my life.

He chuckled. His right hand started tracing my left arm gently.

“I think I have” he was now amused by the fact that he apparently knew me.

I was just about to deny it, since clearly he was confusing me with someone else, but his lips pressing on mine prevented that from happening. I didn’t move a single muscle as he kissed me deeply. He tasted like cigarettes. He pulled away once he saw he wasn’t getting any response, like he wanted.

“You’re a bit shy, aren’t you?” his hypnotizing eyes focused on mine, as I nodded.

He let out a sight, and stepped back. I watched as he pulled out his phone and read, what I assume was, a text. He seemed uneasy by it and approached me once again.

“They’re about to announce the winners, we should head back”

This time, he didn’t grab my hand like before. He stretched out his, waiting for me to take it.
I hesitated, but took hold of it, since he was going to take me where I did want to go this time.

“There he is!” shouted the guy from before as we reappeared in the not so dark room.

Now that I took a better look at him, he was the drummer of his band. The other two approached us shortly after, as they all talked about the other bands and how they sucked big time. One of the judges voice, our vice principal’s to be exact, made everyone quiet down. He greeted everyone and thanked them for being here tonight, as he then proceeded to explain all the well know contest rules. Then the judging started.
I was too busy searching for Ella and Jaime, to even pay attention to the critics and compliments coming from the judging table.

My eyes eventually found Ella’s leopard print dress and I was beyond thankful for her odd taste in clothes.

“I gotta go” I murmured, obviously not being heard by anyone.

I started walking away, but his hand didn’t let me go. He was now gripping me tightly, still focused on the judges. I tried to free my hand, even using both of mine to do so, but his grip was just too tight.

“Let me go” I begged, pulling on his arm so it were impossible for him to ignore me.

He looked at me, pissed off by me interrupting him as he was trying to listen to the judges judge his band.
His face then softened as he looked at our hands. Then sighting heavily he walked towards me.

“What?” he asked annoyed.

“I need to go back to my friends.”

“You need to, or you want to?” he asked, again with his muddy brown eyes.

“I…I-I want to” I looked down as I answered, afraid of how he might react.

But he reacted in the way I least expected him to do so. He was now guiding me through the crowd towards Ella and Jaime. How did he know who I meant when I said ‘my friends’?
I could see Ella as she spotted us making our way towards the table. Her eyes widen and she nudged Jaime on the arm. Great, now they both watched us in shock.

“Well, he we are. I’m gonna head back to the guys to see if we won this or not”

I was so focused on my friend’s faces that I was taken once again by surprise when his lips crashed against mine. My eyes widen a bit as he kiss me passionately, with his hand holding my face in place. When he pulled away, I was just as shocked as Jaime and Ella.

“I’ll catch up with you later, but just in case” he winked as he headed back to where his band was.

If I weren’t already leaning on the table, I would have fallen to the floor.

“You do know him!” Ella shouted at me in awe.

I would have denied it, like I just did minutes ago, but it would have been useless anyways. I just slowly and carefully, not to loose my balance, took a seat back in my stool. I remained quiet as I pretended to pay attention to the final evaluation of the judges.

The tension filled the place as the judges generated suspense when announcing the winner. Only then, had I realized I had no idea of what the bands’ names were. I had been so caught up in my own thoughts that I hadn’t even heard them being mentioned.

“And the winning band is…. Cold Hearted Suicide!”

Just as that was being announced I could see Ronnie and his band with their heads down, some apparently cussing about the lost. So, his band wasn’t Cold Hearted Suicide, then it had to be the last one. The second one was too happy and colorful to have a name like that. And just as I was having this mental discussion with myself, the first band made their way on stage to receive their prize. They would appear on the cover of a local magazine as well on a local radio and got to film an ad for some brand of clothing that I had now forgotten it’s name.

Just then I was remembered that the winning band was apparently Ella’s fave, of course due to it’s lead guitarist.

“Aww!! Oh my God! Oh my God! They won! They won!” she bounced up and down, excited as if there were no tomorrow.

Jaime just clapped along with the rest of the public as they said some thank yous. Now that the battle was over, everyone started making their way towards the exit. We waited a bit for everyone else to leave first, and then followed Ella as she made her way towards the backstage area. I really didn’t want to go there again. Just as we passed some people that were greeting the winning band, minus it’s guitarist, my eyes accidentally met with Ronnie’s.

Why, oh why, did that had to happen more than once tonight?

When we got to almost the end of the hallway, Ella squealed so loud I swore I had gone deaf. She ran up to the dirty blond guy and started gushing about how much she had loved their performance, and of course why not, about how hot he was as well.

Thinking about going deaf turned out in me going blind, partially, as a hand covered my eyes and blackened everything.

“Need a ride home?” the husky voice asked, planting a kiss on my neck.

I broke the contact, pulling away, only to look astonished at the black haired guy. I turned around to look at Ella and Jaime, who had now as well joined in on the gushing, but this time with the drummer who had joined them.

“No, thanks. I got one” I replied, even though I was pretty sure that I would have to wait till who knows what hour to get home, since they didn’t have strict parents like me.

I turned to look at my friends, who were now both gushing at the guitarist and drummer, who had joined them. They hadn’t even noticed me standing here with…..him.

Come on, Demi. Say yes, what’s the worst that could happen?

My self conscious was not behaving like it normally did. I always had listened to it, it was always there for me through all those rough moments, but now it was just being irrational. It was telling me to accept a ride from a stranger who had forcedly kissed me minutes ago.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Come on, let’s go before it gets even more late” he said giving me his hand to take.

I sighted in defeat, and took his hand. He wasted no time in guiding me towards the front exit. I looked back as we headed off, my friends were not even aware that I was leaving without them.

Once in his car, a black old one, don’t ask me brands or models cause it was dark out and I wasn’t all that into cars to know anyways, there was an awkward silence. But it didn’t last much.

“I want you” he whispered, looking straight forward, as the car was still parked.

I gasped. I had obviously made the wrong decision. I reached to open the door but he stopped me, not physically though.

“Don’t run away. I knew you would react like that if I told you that, but I think I’m in love with you.” he now looked at me, a caring expression on his pale face.

“But you don’t know me” I whispered.

“You’re wrong. I do know you. You're that quiet girl that’s always with those two outgoing ones. You go to school dress in sweatpants and band t shirts, and you wear no makeup at all. Cause you're gorgeous and you don’t need it. See? I do know you.”

I was left speechless. That should have made me feel flattered but the fact that someone was, um, spying on me all this time made me feel really uncomfortable.

He wasn’t spying on you, just taking notice, Dem.

Ugh, stupid self-conscious!
Wait, what did he say last?

“You think I’m….” I couldn’t even finished that sentence, that word was just too much for me.

“Gorgeous. Beautiful. Breath taking. Stunning….”

He would have kept going if I didn’t stop him. So I was surprised by myself when I leaned in to silence him with a kiss.
When I pulled away, a huge smile was spread across his face. Though, I’m sure there was one on mine as well.

“You’re perfect” he whispered before leaning in to kiss me again, this time more passionately.