Hollywood Hills and Suburban Thrills

The day dragged on and by the time I got another break it was four thirty. Only two hours left and I can ditch this hell hole.

I stretched out on the couch that sat in the employee lounge, making myself comfortable as I waited to be called to work again. The flow of customers had choked down a lot since I had arrived at noon. Now there was only two or three people total in the dining room. And seeing how slow it was, it came to no surprise to me that Noah joined me in the lounge shortly after I had arrived.

"So what did you do last night?" he asks with forced innocence. That's when I suddenly remembered that the night before was the night of Warped Tour. How had this slipped so easily when twenty-four hours prior to this moment, I was practically jumping for joy at the mere thought of it?

But I shrugged anyway. "Nothing," I answer, drawing patterns on the tile floor with my finger. "I basically went to bed."

"Oh," was his reply and he seemed a little disappointed when I looked up at him.
So I caved and asked, "How was your night?"

Now he was beaming. "Fucking amazing!" he practically shouts. I quirked an eyebrow at him, my nonverbal way of saying 'go on', and he obliged, diving into his adventures at Warped. "You will not believe how many times I got elbowed in the-…" he trailed on with his story of mosh pits and merch booths as I let my mind wander.

It trailed back to that morning with William. I was still a little mind-boggled that I had been so comfortable with him—a guy that I had known for literally a few hours. It seemed so unnatural of me.

Could I possibly be softening? I wouldn't allow myself to believe that. All my life, I have had to have a strong exterior to get through the difficult times, like my parents splitting up and all my lonely years of high school since I was an only child. Maybe that was why I never really got into bands themselves; I focused more on the music to get me through than the people behind it.

So maybe that was why I was so comfortable with William. He was the one that wrote the music that I had sought refuge in for years. Perhaps I was so relaxed with him because I figured he would understand what had gone on in my life because it could've possibly happened in his, as well.

I shook my head. I'm making this too difficult. Maybe I'm so comfortable with him because he's so sweet. Sweet enough to make me believe a guy like him could possibly be attracted to a girl like me. That thought made me scoff; who in their right mind would see anything in me? I'm a nobody.

"…--I was a little upset that The Academy Is… wasn't there but I suppose Cobra was just as good." Noah continued and that suddenly caught my attention. At the mention of The Academy Is…, I twitched on the couch, but attempted vainly to pass it up as a cough. Unfortunately, Noah is sharper than I give him credit for. "What was that, Dani?" he laughed.

I looked at him skeptically. "Nothing," I say, trying to play it off as just that, but he didn't buy it.

"Something about The Academy Is… that you're not telling me?" He guessed and I swore mentally. How in God's name did he read me so well?

I cleared my throat in hope that it would keep my voice from cracking. "No," I say, and to my astonishment, my voice broke on the one syllable. That made him beam.

"Tell me what you know!" His knees met the floor hard and he scooted toward me, sitting in front of my face and crossing his legs like a little kid. I rolled onto my back to stare at the ceiling.

"Well, before I say anything, you have to swear not to let anyone else know about this because if it circles back to my mom, I'll never see the light of day again." He pinched his fingers at the right side of his mouth, dragging them across his lips as if he was zipping them shut, and then looked at me, expectant. "Ok," I sighed, "this morning, I got a phone call from William Beckett of--…"

"Are you kidding me?!" Noah screeched, causing me to flinch, before I had finished. I narrowed my eyes at him and once again, he zipped his mouth closed and I started where I picked up.

And I told him the entire story. Each time I stopped, hoping to be finished, Noah would ask a question and guilt me into answering it; that boy and his devilishly cute eyes.

"So you're telling me that for three hours this morning, you were at your house with William Beckett, and then at noon, he—along with Sisky and The Butcher—drove you to work, and you just walked into the diner like it was no big deal?"

I reran what he had said in my head, noting that I had left out one fine detail before walking into the diner, but I let it slide and nodded instead of stating it.

"Wow." He was playing with his shoe laces now and I felt a smug grin twitch onto my face. Apparently he didn't read me as well as I had thought or else he would've figured out about the--… "HEY!" he shrilled again. I looked over at him, shocked, to see that he had an accusing smile on his face and was pointing at me. "If the TAI boys drove you to work, then that means that the boy kissing you in front of the restaurant was--…" he trailed off, and his face switched from discovery to reflection, and then he was gawking at me, wide-eyed. "…William Beckett?!"

I didn't even feel the need to deny it at this point, so I let my cheeks flush red and looked away as he started to ramble in gibberish.

"It didn't even mean anything, I bet." I state in a low voice, mostly to myself.

"Did mean anything?" he repeats, baffled. "How does a kiss on the cheek from a guy you barely know not count for anything?"

That got the wheels in my head clicking; he had a point. But I wasn't going to let him know that. "He was just being…" I trailed off, looking for the right word.

"Extremely friendly?" Noah finishes with a trying smile.

I glared at him again. "A gentleman," I corrected, and that was all I had to say about that. So, I swung my legs off the couch, narrowly missing his knee, and walked out of the lounge. Of course Noah was with me in a split second.

"Don't be mad, Dani," he teases with a laugh. "I was just kidding. I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it."

"Whatever you say, Noah." I reply monotonously, grabbing a ticket pad and leaning on the counter, watching the door desperately for someone to walk in.

"You're not mad, are you?"

I saw a car park on the street outside. "Are you going to tell anyone?"

"No."

Five people walked inside and I jumped. "Then I'm not mad." And I walked out to greet them.