Ever So Slightly

After another hour of music and general head banging, Will comes back on stage.

I get butterflies at just the sight of him, and a sudden hot flush, my cheeks going pink.

I seriously hope I’m not going menopausal.

‘So guys,’ he says.’ The shows over now - but we’ll be back out here to meet y’all in like, fifteen minutes, so don’t go away, okay?’

‘But Will,’ says Gabe placing a hand on his chest. ‘This has been such a great audience - I reckon we should give ‘em one last song.’

‘You think?’ asks Will smiling, and turning to face them. ‘What do you think guys?’

The crowd go wild as the guitars start up again, and Gabe and William begin their final song, yelling, ‘Like a cold day in August-’ out across the room.

At the end, as the song is slowing to a close, Gabe turns to William and they circle each other, so slowly, as if mesmerised. They get closer and closer, until the music stops, at which point Will launches himself forward to Gabe’s lips, and they kiss - for a good ten seconds.

My jaw drops again, horrified, and I turn to look at Bianca, who is laughing. She turns to me.

‘I knew they would,’ she yells over the ecstatic fans. ‘They’re such crowd pleasers, honestly.’ She grins and claps as they continue. My body feels hot and like - I think I’m turned on.

‘They do this a lot?’ I ask.

‘Oh yeah,’ she replies. ‘You can get pictures on the internet - the fans make YouTube videos describing how they’re gay together-’ She see’s my expression. ‘Oh they’re not,’ she reassures. ‘Don’t worry. This is all crowd pleasing. Come on - we’d better leave before the fans squish us.’

Reluctantly, I climb back over the cage and follow her through the door, all the way back to the silent backroom, collapsing exhausted on the couch.

‘So what do you think?’ she asks.

‘About what?’ I say, turning my head to look at her.

‘About my pedicure. The show, duh! What did you think of the show?’

‘It was fucking amazing,’ I sigh. ‘So fucking intense - and Will was so…good.’ I finish, blushing.

‘Good, uh huh.’ She looks at me sceptically. ‘You sure there’s nothing between you? You seem awfully hung up on just some guy.’

I feel a blush spread to my cheeks. ‘Hu- I’m not hung up! In don’t even know him that well! It’s not like that!’

She looks as though she’s about to retort, but the door swings open and the bands traipse in wearily. I look around for Will.

‘He’s not in here,’ Bianca whispers in my ear smugly. ‘He and Gabe go out and sign autographs after shows.’

Damn. Caught.

‘Yo Bianca!’ yells one of the guitarists for Cobra Starship. ‘How was is?’

‘Great Alex, really uh- intense, as Hannah put it.’

‘So you liked it huh?’ he asks, turning to me.

‘Yeah, really amazing,’ I say, voice cracking slightly. ‘The crowds were just like…wow.’

‘You know, most people are like, wow the band! Or, wow the LIGHTS! But the crowds? Now that’s one I haven’t heard yet,’ grins Ryland.

I laugh along with a couple of other people.

‘Did you notice my guitar switch out?’ asks Alex. ‘We were like, half way through Church Of Hot Addiction, and the amp stopped putting out. I was just strumming along on a fucking un-amplified guitar and you couldn’t even hear me.’

‘No way,’ says Bianca. ‘Isn’t that when Vicks and Gabe started bumping and grinding? See, no one will have noticed.’

‘And did you see Bilv and Gabe at the end - man, I hate it when they do that, it’s just like, so eww,’ puts in Chiz. ‘The crowd loves it, and we’re all just like ‘stop it guys‘.’

‘Stop what?’ greets Gabe, walking through the door with Will in tow.

Suddenly I find myself feeling ridiculously shy.

‘Stop your porn show on stage, man. It’s sick!’ grins Mike.

‘Mmm-mmm,’ grins Will, slapping both hands on Gabe’s arse and grinning sarcastically. ‘You know you love it.’

‘Aw man!’ Mike places a hand over his eyes.

Will stops. ‘Seriously though guys, the manager wants us out. The fans are like, bashing the doors down and shit, and he just wants to be able to tell them we’ve left.’

There’s general rolling of eyes and leaving through the door as William walks over to me, sliding his right arm round my shoulder again and twirling my hair round his fingers. We begin to make our way out.

‘So how was it?’ he whispers to me, bowing his head and putting his mouth so close to my ear I can feel the condensation on his breath.

‘Fucking awesome - really intense,’ I repeat. ‘You were- you were amazing, Will.’

I feel him smile against my neck as we step out of the building and into the cold night’s air.

‘What time is it?’ I ask.

‘Ten, half ten - something like that I think.’

‘Wow, it’s pretty early. I mean, considering.’

He drops down into the seat of the Delorean, and I crouch down to sit on his knee, swinging my legs into the car. As the doors close and the engine starts, I lean my head back onto his shoulder and close my eyes, relaxing to the rumbling noise of the road. After a few moments, Will raises his hand to brush a some stray strands of hair from my face, and replaces it on my thigh, rubbing circles gently with his thumb.

My skin burns under his touch, and I know, i want this to last forever.