"So... who are you with?" The burly security guard steps forward, barring your way.
"I'm with the band," you say, your voice loaded with suggestiveness, and it doesn't go unnoticed.
He raises an eyebrow, taking in your too-tight dress and cherry red...
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It takes Van around ten minutes to come back to join the group, and he stalks back in, shooting me a scowl. I just smirk at him, wondering if he had to bolt off to the toilets for a sneaky wank. I hope so. It would serve him right.
I've been chatting to Benji about the gig but I can tell his attention is elsewhere. He keeps slipping his phone out of his back jeans pocket every few minutes and surreptitiously looking at it.
"Are you even listening to me?" I say after the tenth time, getting annoyed now.
Benji looks a little forlorn as he jams the phone back into his pocket. "Shit, I'm sorry Bella, it's just that I've not heard from my girlfriend Kate. She was supposed to be at the gig tonight and she didn't show, and now she's not returning my calls."
"You shouldn't put up with her shit Benji, you're too good for her!" Lucy's voice suddenly sounds from right behind us and I jump slightly. I hadn't even noticed her there.
I turn to see that her and Bob have moved over to join in the conversation but Bob looks embarrassed. "Lucy! Don't say stuff like that!" He pleads, then he looks at his friend. "Sorry mate!"
"It's okay, don't worry about it. Lucy's only saying what everyone else thinks and is too afraid to say," Benji says sullenly.
"What's all this?" I say, linking my arm through Benji's, ears pricking up at the thought of hearing some potentially juicy gossip.
It's not that I revel in other people's misery, it's just that all of a sudden I think I might have found a way to get closer to Benji who's been a bit of an enigma since I met him. And even though things are getting complicated enough with my increasing flirtations with Johnny and sexual tensions with Van reaching boiling point, there's always room for a bit more excitement in my life. And Benji is kinda cute...
"You don't wanna hear about all my problems I'm sure," Benji says, a hopeless little smile on his lips that just makes him even more endearing.
"Hey, if I'm coming on tour with you guys I really want to get to know you all better. And if there's anything I can do to help... a female perspective I can give..."
I'm interrupted by a loud snorting noise and quickly look up to see my cousin standing there, hands on hips with an incredulous look on his face.
"What?" I snap.
Larry's grinning but his tone is sarcastic. "Oh I wouldn't take relationship advice from our Bells!"
I quickly unlink arms with Benji and step over to him. "And what's that supposed to mean?"
Larry quickly glances between Bob, Benji and Lucy who are all wearing bewildered expressions, before looking back at me. "Can I have a word?" He says, grabbing me by the elbow and steering me away down the same corridor I'd been down with Van only a little earlier.
