Take Me Home

“On a scale of one to ten, ten being the worst, how much do you think tonight is going to suck?” Connor asked as she walked along side of me. It was freezing and her words turned into a cloud of steam as they hit the air.

“It might be fun.” I tried to be optimistic even though I knew that it was going to be as bad as it was every Wednesday night. All Connor did was raise an eyebrow before we both laughed at my poor attempt at optimism. “Ten.” I answered finally.

There was a crowd of people swarmed around the pub when we were about a block away. I had figured another drunken fight had broken out and everyone was huddled around to see a show but the sheer size of the crowd made me rethink that. As we neared the door we became painfully aware of the paparazzi when they flashed their cameras in our faces and then backed away after realizing we weren’t anyone important.

“The fuck?” Connor mumbled, grabbing hold of my hand and hurling our bodies into the crowd. People were pushing and shoving us around, a girl who could be no older than sixteen grabbed a fist full of my hair and yanked at it. It wasn’t until I threw my elbow into her face that she released her grasp on me.

“Jesus Christ, who the fuck is here? The Queen?” I growled angrily trying to straighten out my long hair that I assumed had to look like a rat’s nest at that point.

I don’t know she managed to push to the front of the mob but Connor finally made her way to the door where a man stood towering over us and pushed us back when we tried to walk in the door.

“Um, excuse you.” Connor snapped and walked forward again only to be shoved back again. The man in front of us didn’t even look at us. He kept his head held high and watched the crowd we had just fought through.

“This is bullshit.” I said tiredly, already about to call it quits when Connor switched from sassy to angelic in ten seconds flat.

“Excuse me, sir. My name is Connor and this Lincoln, we’re the band that’s playing tonight and if you don’t let us in we’ll lose our pay and then we won’t eat this week.” She said in an overly sweet voice. I just smiled at the ground trying to stop myself from laughing at her act.

The man turned his head and talked into a small two way radio and before I knew it another giant man was pushing us inside the pub which caused an uproar from the swarm of people outside. People were screaming and I swear to God I heard people crying. I turned around to try to get a look at look at the mass of people we had just pushed through but was blinded by the flashing cameras. I quickly turned around to find that this man pushing us inside the pub was also walking us to the stage.

“What the fuck is going on?” I asked Connor as I looked around the pub and saw that it was packed. I don’t think one more person could have possibly fit in the building if they tried.

“Well obviously,” Connor said setting her guitar case down on the edge of the small stage. “Our adoring fans are here to see us play.” She smiled which in turn made me shake my head and laugh as I followed her lead and set my guitar case down. Even if Connor didn’t seem interested, I still kept wondering who was there.

After quickly adjusting our mics, I took a seat on a stool beside Connor. I tuned my guitar while Connor did her usual job of introducing us to the crowd. Connor was the one who did all of the talking, she was more of a people person as where I only talked to strangers when I absolutely had to.

Connor began to play a song that we had written together, it was our combined thoughts and feelings on our history of messy breakups. I joined in by strumming my guitar and harmonizing with her at the appropriate places. While Connor was singing I took it as my opportunity to look around the room. I couldn’t recognize any famous faces but I assumed they had to be there because security was so tight. As I looked around the room it suddenly dawned on me that we were preforming in front of probably the biggest crowd we’d ever preformed in front of before. The best part was that people were actually watching, they were listening to us!

As we came to the middle of our set and the end of another song the applause was overwhelming and I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. I looked at my best friend and saw that she seemed to be in the same boat. “I’m Connor. This is Lincoln. We’re going on a short break. We’ll be back in a few.” Connor said and another round of applause echoed through the room.

“What even?” She asked me excitedly as we stepped off the stage. “I don’t know who the fuck is here but they are welcome to come back next week and bring all of these people with them.”

I nodded my head in agreement. “This is insane.”

“Come outside for a smoke?” Connor asked, fishing around in her pocket until she pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.

“I’m going to run to the bathroom real quick, you go ahead. I’ll meet you out there.” I said and watched her walk toward the side door that led to a small patio where people sat when the weather was nice.

I got to just outside of the bathroom door when another large man moved his entire body in front of me and blocked me from moving anywhere and all the sudden I heard screaming and I could see camera’s flashing and from what I could see from behind the large man a group of guys filed in the door. I couldn’t recognize them as anyone important. Instead of craning my neck to try to catch a glimpse of them I instead began to voice my opinions on the how annoying their security was.

“ I have no idea who any of those people are. I just really want to use the bathroom before I pee myself! Is that too much to ask?” I grumbled to myself and crossed my arms over my chest. When the man in front of me didn’t move I turned around and pushed my way through the crowd and stood at the bar. I really needed a drink after the day I was having. I had sold my most prized possession and I was still mourning the loss of that guitar.

I groaned to myself as I watched the bartender walk toward me with a smile on his face. He was the owner’s son and he went out of his way to be a dick. “What can I get for you?”

“Rum and Coke.” I answered robotically.

“You do know you have to pay for this, right?”

“What?” I asked dumbfounded. “Your dad said we get free drinks on nights we’re playing!” I cried.

“My dad’s not here tonight so…my rules.” He gave me a crooked smile and walked off toward another customer.

“Dick.” I said under my breath and I instantly regretted when I watched the bartender march toward me again.

“What’ll you be having?” he asked, and I stared at him like he had just grown three heads.

I relaxed when I heard an Irish accent ordering drinks from behind me which meant he hadn’t heard me. Meaning I was safe and was still getting paid. It was money I that would Connor and I would use buy food for the week.

“And uh…whatever she wants.” The accent broke me out of my thoughts. I looked at the blonde who was now standing next to me smiling at me. I wasn’t sure if he was referring to me or someone else so I stayed quiet.

“Still rum and Coke?” the bartender asked me while he glared at me. I nodded with a smug smile on my face. I had no idea who this guy being me a drink was but I didn’t care as long as I had the satisfaction of watching the asshole bartender hand me a drink.

When the bartender placed the drink in front of me I smiled sweetly at him. He sent me one last nasty glare before he walked away. I turned the stranger and smiled as best as I could. “Thanks.”

“Anytime.” He smiled again and offered me his hand. “I’m Niall.”

“Lincoln.” I said and shook his hand.

One of the security guards appeared out of nowhere and began pushing him toward the back corner of the pub. “Nice to meet you!” Niall called over his shoulder as walked away with a round of drinks and a security guard scaring away anyone who got remotely close to him. I had no idea who Niall was or why he had security guards but I sure was thankful for the drink.

“Same.” I said to myself and took my drink and set off to find Connor.