Under My Thumb // Mick Jagger

008

🌼Ria's POV🌼

Everyone was already on the bus when Mick and I arrived—though tonight was different because no one was back in their bunks. Everyone was sitting on the couches and talking with each other. The strong smell of alcohol told me exactly what was in the plastic cups they all held—as if the empty beer cans scattered across the bus didn't already give it away. This was much more what I expected a rock band's tour bus to look like.

Mick steps in front of me and walks over to the mini fridge, grabbing a Coke and handing it to me. Charlie, who sat on the couch right next to the fridge, watched him do so. "No alcohol for the lady?" He jokes with him.

"Uh uh," Mick says. It was my turn to be joked with. "In three years I'll think about it," he tells me, referring to when I'd be of legal drinking age. I know he was only messing around, but I couldn't help but feel a little excited when he said "in three years," like he was certain that I'd still be part of his life in three years. I wasn't too sure where I would be going after the tour ended, but I guess that was a problem for me to think about another day.

Ignoring what Mick had just said, Charlie holds a beer can out for me, which I take and hold in my free hand for only a second before Mick takes it away. "I know you weren't about to give my girl a beer when she's only eighteen," Mick tells Charlie.

Again, Mick's words sent butterflies to my stomach even though I'm certain he meant nothing of it.

"And you," he says as he turns to me, the smirk on his face telling me he wasn't actually upset. "I know I didn't just see you take a beer from someone."

"You didn't," I assure him while biting my lip to hide my smile. "It smells funny, anyway." I scrunch my nose up and shake my head. I did want to try it, though. All the other guys were drinking and they were only a few years older than me. I'd have to take Charlie up on the offer one day when Mick isn't around.

"That's right. A good girl like you doesn't break my rules," he says.

I look up at Mick when he called me a good girl. But, when my now timid eyes met his playful ones, I didn't have the confidence to say anything back. Instead, I looked over at Charlie to see whether he thought anything weird of what Mick had just called me, but he didn't seem to be bothered. Maybe Charlie was right—maybe it was nothing—but the way Mick said it and the look he gave me made me think he knew exactly how his words make me feel.

Charlie stands up from his seat only to grab the beer from Mick's hand and take his seat again. "If you're not gonna drink it," he stops to pull the tab open. "Then I will."

Mick shrugs his shoulders and walks over to the couch where Keith sat. I take my seat in the middle between the two of them, but inch over a little closer to Mick since I felt more comfortable with him.

"Maria, what do you think your friends would say if they knew you ended up on tour with the coolest rock band?" Keith asks. His feet rest on the table in front of him, which was covered in cans and food wrappers.

I look up at Mick, like he would have the answer for me, but he obviously didn't. He didn't know my friends. I only talked to a few people back home, but I wouldn't say I ever made any close friends. It wasn't even that I couldn't make friends. I just preferred to be on my own most of the time.

He smiles down at me and shakes his head. "That's something only you can answer, Ria," he says. "Go on," he encourages me with a pat on my shoulder.