Rain on My Parade

Once I was sure we were far enough away from Oli where we wouldn't run into him again (for a while), I apologized to Jordan right away. I probably should've stayed with Oli to clean up whatever was left, but I couldn't risk my heart eating itself.

"Operation get along with Oli has officially begun," Jordan announced after I got some food in my stomach. We were sitting at a Panera Bread, and I just finished eating one of the most delicious wheat wraps ever. Wasn't considered breakfast but it was damn good.

His accent made his words fumble into each other that I couldn't help but laugh at him.

"What's so funny?" He playfully shoved me, and I smacked him back.

"Nothing. Your accent is awesome, that's all."

"Oh, yours is something to be proud of," he teased and cleared his throat. I prepared myself for his awful attempt at an american accent. "Where is my cheeseburger?"

It was so cliche, I had to physically stop myself from throwing my body out of the seat. "Why is it whenever someone from England tries to mock Americans, they have to use fast food in their sentences?"

"Part of our culture." He shrugged. "We grew up learning that you wankers only eat fast food and drink fizzy drinks 'til you croak."

"I can tell you right now, that that is entirely false for most people actually," I said, as I balled up my napkin and rested it on my empty plate.

"Sure, for you. You're well fit," Jordan said, batting his eyes at me. I tried ignoring the small twist in my stomach as he focused all of his attention on me, but sure enough, the longer I sat across from him in fluffy tension, the worse it got.

"Not gonna happen," I pointed out, leaning back into my chair as I admired the groups of people filtering in through the side doors. I half expected my brother to waltz in searching for me, eyeing my coffee covered tshirt, making a scene about leaving me alone for five seconds and I've already started chaos. Something ridiculous to prove he could be overbearing.

"Never say never. By the way... You willing to change your shirt at some point? It's starting to smell over here."

"No, actually. I had planned on wearing it the rest of the day," I said, grinning as Jordan used his fingers to squeeze his nose. "I'll change as soon as I meet up with Meghan."

"Lovely. You've got a bit on the lanyards." He pointed to the multiple bands hanging from my neck, but surprisingly, the coffee only ended up on mine.

Deciding to tease Jordan even more, I said, "hey, watch where you're looking. Sicko."

He gasped, raising his eyebrows in astonishment. He held a hand to his heart and cried, "what kind of man do you take me for?"

"An average man. Come on," I snorted, getting up slowly from my seat and watching the crumbs fall to the floor. "Let's go back to Meghan. I'm curious how you guys pass the time."

--------------------

"Took you long enough," she greeted me, her eyes shifting between Jordan and I. We must have looked a little awkward, since I was covered in drying, black coffee, my appearance somewhat disheveled. "What happened to you?"

"There was an accident," I said simply, picking up one of the nicely folded shirts on the table.

"Do I want to know the details?"

"Probably not. It'd bore you to tears."

She didn't press any more than that, and instead tossed me one of BMTH's thick tank tops. "Here. You kind of smell."

I looked down at the gray top, admiring the simplicity of their logo on the front. That was something I definitely recognized when I was doing research. I smiled to myself as I thought about how strange it was to see Jordan and the others in photos online. Then here he was, next to me like an old acquaintance.

"Jordan?" I questioned as I began taking off the lanyards. He had taken a spot in one of our vacant chairs, looking as peaceful as ever, his long limbs stretched out and resting.

"Hmm?"

"I was looking you guys up the other day... It's funny seeing you online compared to how you are now. You're actually right next to us, in the flesh. Just hanging out."

He laughed, obviously not surprised that I had done my own exploration. "It is quite odd, isn't it? I've gotten used to that stuff though. Meghan told me you didn't even know who we were."

"Well, I knew of the band." I walked around the table and slid it in a way where I could fit myself behind it. Meghan watched me curiously, listening quietly to Jordan and I's conversation. She then began ripping open another box, getting the gist behind what I was doing. "I didn't want to go into it by Google searching too much."

"Probably a good thing you didn't," he snorted, rearing his head to watch me. "You should use the loo to change, you know."

I didn't say anything, instead dropping down below the surface of the table. As my cheeks slightly heated from his words, I looked over to my right--nobody was coming--and began stripping off the crusty shirt. When I threw it onto the floor, I peered down at my bra, making sure I didn't have to change that as well.

"Jordan, you owe me--", I instantly froze at the sound of Oli's voice booming around the corner. He was definitely to my right, but my body wouldn't allow me to turn. He had cut off his own sentence, and my heart had begun to hammer painfully in my chest. The blood inside my cheeks prickled so much that instantly, I knew they had turned a deep shade of red. Was he checking me out? What was he doing?

"Holy shit," I shrieked, my body responding to my head, finally, and reached for the tank top. And still, no one said anything as I whipped the piece of clothing over my head and looked over at Oli, full on. "Do you mind?"

"You're changing in public, you do realize that, yeah?" He folded his arms across his chest, unwavering. I stood up quickly, pulling down the bottom of the top and trying, horribly, to control my breathing. My face was still dark red, I could feel it. Thinking about it made it worse. "Not like it's anything to get embarrassed over."

I hissed, feeling a million emotions at one time take over my being. Being angry was not on purpose, but the more he spoke, the more prominent it was. "Really? Please tell me how I should be feeling right now."

"Should I say 'I told you so' now or...?" Jordan interrupted. I twisted my head towards him, warning him to keep his mouth shut. He smirked, holding up his hands in surrender.

Meghan stood there dumbfounded, her eyes now darting between Oli and I. "Something else happened today, didn't it? It's day one of tour."

I threw my arms up in my own surrender, wishing I could stop having these bouts of embarrassing moments involving the lead singer. "If it's like this all the time, I give up."

"Give up now if you're in such a tizzy over this," Oli said, walking over to the empty chair next to Jordan, plopping down comfortably. Everyone kept their eyes on me, waiting for my reaction but I was stumped. Each sentence that came out of his mouth was uncivil, and honestly, disgusting. If I didn't have to see him often, it wouldn't be as big of a deal. I could just ignore him, but of course, I was merching for his band.

"I apologized earlier for the coffee incident. That was my fault." I placed my hands upon my hips, eyeing him carefully. I felt like the bigger adult in this situation, which gave me a reassuring spurt of bravery. He tilted his head curiously, using a tattooed finger to brush a thick strand of hair from his eyes. "This incident can be both our faults, I guess. Can we start over?"

Oli didn't say anything at first, but gave a sideways glance to Jordan, who was grinning at his best friend, enjoying the banter. The difference between the two was so apparent, I wished getting along with Oli was as easy as I had been doing with the keyboardist.

"I don't want to start over," he announced, looking me up and down. But there was no emotion to his face. Strong, and rigid. He wasn't going to budge easily. "But we can be civil towards each other."

I sighed, feeling the color go back to normal along my cheekbones. "That's fine. As long as there's no more tension, I can make it five months."

"Tension?" Oli asked, furrowing his eyebrows. His tall frame rose from the chair and said something quietly to Jordan. It was much too quiet for either of us girls to hear, but it made Jordan roll his eyes. He looked all smug as he watched Oli walk closer to me. I stumbled back, a breath hitching in my throat. "I wouldn't write it off that quickly."

I felt dizzy as the words left his mouth. He was so close, I was mesmerized by the modest amount of stubble growing above his lips. I couldn't move, once again, as my blood lit the rest of my body on fire. But I thought... I...

He glanced down at my mouth, leaning in before quickly turning back towards his friend. "See ya later." He walked away calm and collected, and I watched, mystified, as he turned around the left corner and disappeared.

"What?" I whispered, glancing around my environment, not making eye contact with either of the two still there. My first reaction was that he was goofing off, because there was no way he'd come onto me like that seriously, especially after the circumstances. From what I could tell, I was no Molly, who sounded like a person that could hold her own. In fact, I knew Oli didn't go for girls like me, because I was well educated, and sophisticated. Yep, he was just messing with me. There was no way.

"Well," Meghan began, taking me out of my erratic thoughts. "Apparently you're in for a treat."