Duplicity | l.s

09

I was frozen in my spot, staring up at a man who I haven't been face to face with in two years. Was he always this tall? Did he grow? I knew he was tall before but standing right in front of him showed me how much he was towering over me. His face looks relatively the same but more developed with muscle, sharper cheekbones, sharper jaw, manlier face then when he was nineteen but the same scent. His eyebrow piercing was gone, it was notched now. A thin white stick was resting between his lips, but not a cigarette.  

Was that a lollipop?  

I immediately let go of his arms as he let go of mine, out of startle I stepped back once so there was a good space between us now. My heart was pounding against my chest cavity, causing my whole body to ache.  

"You." He spoke sternly with the stick between his teeth, I got the scent of cherry when he spoke. He definitely has a sucker in his mouth right now.  

Stepping back I see that he's in a dark grey almost black t-shirt on with an unzipped grey hoodie over it, the hood actually up on his head so his curly hair was only sticking through the front.  

I crossed my arms over my stomach as I was not prepared on what to say back. I didn't think I'd run into him one on one when my guards down, I thought it would've been at least with the rest of the band. But no, I had to slam into him when I turned a corner.  

"I'm you're new photographer." Was the only words that came to mind as I spit them out so quickly.  

Oh my god I'm an idiot.  

His eyebrows remained furrowed, staring at me with great intimidation. I wanted to choke on my nerves and run away like this situation didn't happen, my stomach was in knots.  

"You don't think I know that?" He instead says from what I expected.  

I thought he was going to be surprised.  

"Well I—"  

"This is my bloody tour, we voted whether or not allow you on this fucking thing you know." He spoke as that was all news to me.  

"You... voted?"  

"Yeah. We all voted." He repeats with a certain strictness in his voice like I was in trouble. He bent down and picked up a key card on the ground, making me realize I didn't have one in my hand anymore.  

He stood back up straight and tall, taking a step forward and holding out the keycard.  

"I was overruled." He muttered under his breath while holding out the card for me to retrieve, his eyes burning right into mine harshly like he was extremely pissed off.  

I froze my inhale at his words, staring into his cold eyes that sent a chill through me. His jaw was sharp in a clench, every part of his face chiseled in a harsh way.  

He didn't vote for me, but I'd be stupid if I acted surprised by that.  I took the plastic card from his chipped black finger nails, ending the conversation by walking around him and to the direction he came from down the hall. I didn't want to entertain his time if he's gonna be a total dick.  

I hurried off without another word, my card gripped in my sweaty hand and my heart racing from the confrontation. I wasn't prepared to see him right at this moment, to run into him like that. I hate how shaky I am because of it, he the same asshole he was when I went to his show two years ago. I shouldn't let people like that make me feel this shaken up.  

I read the number on the keycard 2934, looking up at the rooms and seeing how I was going in the right direction. I walked down numerous twists and turns until I found the matching room at the very end of the hall.