When It's Broken

He was never the type of person who ever wanted to actually date someone. Sure, every now and then he'd take a nice girl out on a simple date, but it never became more than that. Plus, he felt as if he never had the time for a girlfriend anyway. Between touring, other band events, and managing a social life, it rarely left any time for him to actually go out and find someone who was decent enough to take home to meet his parents.

So he opted to be single. He never really minded anyway. Well, until now. Because as he sat there all alone in the middle of the pub, watching as almost every single person in the room talked or laughed or danced or drank with some other person, he began to really feel alone.

He never realized how much he missed taking a girl out for a spontaneous date, or getting to be the only person that a girl got to dance with. It was something short of nostalgic.

He ordered another beer, taking a seat on one of the tall barstools. Glancing around the room, he half wondered if any of the people in this room wanted to be single. He really doubted it, but it was comforting knowing that maybe everyone in the room wasn't having as good of a time as they looked.

"Whatchya doin all alone over here, Joshy?" The man shook his head, taking a sip of his beer before turning towards his best friend's girlfriend.

"Never call me 'Joshy' again, yeah?" he chuckled as she took a seat next to him.

"But Joshy just suits your little punk attitude perfectly. Okay, no I'm totally lying. Anyway, what are you doing over here anyway? Don't you wanna go talk up some fine ass girl or whatever you guys say now a days." Lucy tried.

"Nice try. But I don't know. I'm just not really feeling it tonight."

"What? Is the one and only Josh finally getting sick of chatting?"

"You know, I think I just might be. So, what's up with you? Where's Max at?"

"Eh, who knows. Him and Matt decided they were going to go be drunken idiots and me being the best girlfriend that I am, decided to let them."

Josh let out a laugh, "If he breaks up with you, I'll kill him."

"Yeah me too. Oh, hey there's Daphnee. Josh come with me, I want you to meet someone." Without giving him a chance, the young woman grabbed his wrist and dragged him to a corner of the pub that a young, dark haired woman had just appaered in.

"How was the bathroom?" Josh looked at the blonde oddly, wondering to himself why she was so strange sometimes. "Don't give me that look, Joshua. Anyway, Josh this is my best friend Daphnee. Daph, this is Max's bandmate Josh. He sings for their band."

Daphnee looked over at the guy, discreetly looking him up and down. His hair was dark and somewhat wavy, and his facial hair looked as if it could use a bit of a trim. "Hi," she said softly.

"She's your best friend, yeah? I have no idea how you put up with her." he joked. Josh was also casually checking the young woman out. She was no doubt from some place over in North America judging by the way she spoke. She had dark brown hair that fell past her shoulders, but her eyes were the first thing that popped out to him. They were a bright blue, contrasting nicely with the darkness of her hair.

Daphne smiled at his attempt at a joke, "Yeah, I'm not sure either."

"Oi! I don't appreciate being talked about while I'm right here. Have some respect, yeah?"

"We are only stating the respectful truth, Luce." Josh countered with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah. Hey you two stay here, and I'll be right back." Lucy said quickly before leaving the two to stand awkwardly together.

Josh scratched the back of his neck, "So where are you from, then?"

Daphnee looked over at him, almost startled by his question. "Uh, Arizona."

"Oh really? What part? It's pretty lovely place, at least the parts I've been too. Warm, but nice."

"It's a town right outside of Phoenix, um Tempe?"

"Oh yeah I've heard of that. So why'd you end up moving to dreadful old England?"

Daphne froze at the question. She honestly didn't know how to answer it. There was no way she could just up and tell someone, a stranger to be more exact, the actual reason that she left her home for a foreign land. But what could she tell him?

"I um, uh, I really just wanted to see what London was like." she finally managed to get out. Josh looked at her oddly before smiling.

"Man, sometimes I wish I had the balls to do that. I mean just leaving your home country to move some place you've never been, that's really awesome! So how long have you lived here, then?"

"About six months or so."

"Ah, so you've had time to do all of that touristy stuff and get a feel for England-"

"Josh! Who is this lovely lady you're speaking too? Got yourself a hot night, then, huh?" Daphnee stood there awkwardly as the no doubt drunk man in front of her hung loosely off of Josh.

"Max, I think you need to lay off of the drinks. Where's your girlfriend at, you should get going." Josh spoke, trying his best to keep his bandmate steady.

"I don't know. I think she left me. It's quite sad, isn't it Joshy?" Josh just laughed as Daphnee wondered how she could leave the scene without things getting more awkward. But before she could devise a plan, Lucy was walking up towards them.

"There you are! I think it's time we get you home, babe." Lucy spoke, amused as she watched her boyfriend attempt to kiss his bandmate. She grabbed ahold of her boyfriend before realization took over her.

"Shit, Max lives on the complete other side of town, Daph."

"I can take her home, if you'd like?" Josh offered, smiling at the brunette in front of him. She didn't know how to respond. She was barely comfortable riding in a car with Lucy, her old friend, let alone with someone she just met.

"Oh my gosh, Josh, that would be fantastic! I'll talk to you soon, okay Daph? We can go shopping soon or something!" Lucy said before quickly helping her boyfriend away before he made a scene.

The two stood there awkwardly before Josh spoke up. "Are you ready to go now?"

Daphnee stared at the keys in his hand, trying her best to remain calm. She could do this. It was just a short car ride, everything would be fine. He seemed nice, plus Lucy trusted him to take her home. Nothing bad would happen. Shutting her eyes, she opened them back up before answering. "Yeah, uh, let's go."