𝚄𝚗𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚢 | ᵈᵃᵐⁱᵃⁿᵒ ᵈᵃᵛⁱᵈ

4.

𝚁𝚘𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚍𝚊𝚖, 𝙽𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚜

The flight was just absolute shit!

Four hours of sitting still in a metal death trap just isn't for me. Not to mention the turbulences. The only thing that calmed the anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach, even slightly, was listening to my 'It's free therapy baby' playlist. Which consisted of Arctic Monkeys, The Neighbourhood, The 1975 and the occasional Muse song. A pretty dope playlist in my opinion.

Casey and my sister on the other hand were sharing a pair of headphones to listen to the entry's of our competitors. She even made a list of all the acts!

They were speaking lowly as to not disturb Joe, who was fast asleep in the seat beside me. Ella was scribbling furiously on the page with all the act names, adding notes to some of them and underlining others all while still listening to Caseys input on the matter at hand.

I was kind of glad that they left me out of it honestly. I didn't want to arrive there with a fully formed opinion and expectation just to have them crushed..

Live performances and studio recordings are two extremely different things. Someone could sound like a literal angel on a record and be the most boring and underwhelming performer live. And most importantly, I don't want to fall in love with a song just to be totally disappointed by the personality of the Artist.

The drive from the airport to the hotel was uneventful as well. The driver seemed to ignore our presence which was fine by me. The early morning caught up to me by now and I was exhausted and ready to fall sleep then and there.

The only thing keeping me awake was the thought of the dinner this evening. I was dreading it a lot.

If you haven't noticed yet, I'm not good with social situations. I blame my severe anxiety and introvertedness for that one. So sitting in a room full of strangers, all pretty much speaking different languages, was my nightmare!

Ella was always the more outgoing one, she had a pretty easy time meeting new people with her quick and witty comebacks and her charming smile.

Me on the other hand, Well I was as she so fittingly put it 'a cucumber with anxiety' or as Casey liked to say 'a pinata full of issues'. Always overthinking and worrying.

Music helped me shut the intrusive thoughts out. At least for a time.

The car slowed down in front of a beautiful hotel. A group of guys stood in front of the building around a ashtray smoking. They were all dressed in black from head to toe and they would looked quite intimidating with their long hair and dark tattoos if it weren't for the booming laughter of a blond boy with short curls. The others seemed to grin at their friend obnoxious laughing fit.

"That's Blind Channel" my sister filled me in "They're representing Finland this year. Quit the merry bunch aren't they?" She seemed amused by the scene in front of us. The Group was jumping around and bumping into one another while laughing loudly. One of the guys, a young man with long blonde hair and tattoo covered arms pulled the first guy under his arm to ruffle his curls with his fist while laughing at his struggling friend.

My attention was forced away from the group when Joe called my name.

"Come on Lia! We're already behind schedule you can stare at the competition later." Ella and him were already walking trough the entrance.

"I wasn't staring!" I muttered to myself quietly. Casey must have heard me because he replied "Oh you definitely were." while bumping me out of his way with his hip.

"Oi, you dickhead!" I screamed after him while running with my suitcase to catch up to him.

One of the smoking guys, another heavily tattooed man with long brown hair, was watching us approach in mild interest while hitting the blond, who was still not done tormenting his poor friend, over the head. He said something in finnish and suddenly six pairs of eyes were trained on us.

"Hello Badlands, is it true that if you brits aren't drinking tea your drinking beer?" The blond with the short curly hair teased. His friends chuckled.

"What absolute rubbish i don't even like tea." I told them with a frown. They laughed in response.

We finally caught up to others who were standing in front of the elevator. Ella held three keys cards in her hand.

"Come, come our rooms are on the 6 floor with the other big five. I was informed the dinner was moved forward by an hours so you only have about two to get settled and change into something more appropriate than lounge wear." he informed us quickly. 

It was obvious he was quite stressed by the change of plans so we nodded like obedient children and huddle into the elevator.

We ended up in a long corridor with a handful of doors leading into different suits by the look of it.

"Your rooms are the last three on the left side of the hallway. If you need me I'm on the floor below you in room 273. We'll meet here at 6:45 pm sharp understood?" Joe looked at us sternly while pressing the button to close the elevator doors once again.

"Here are your cards. Lia you have the first room, Casey you're beside her and I have the last one." My sister pressed the key cards into our outstretched hands and walked of to her room.

"See you later." she said over her shoulder while walking into her room, us doing the same.

My home for the next few weeks was huge! The room was spaciously decorated. It had a minimalistic feel to it which I adored. The queen sized bed had black covers and sheets which fit perfectly with the modern black and grey furniture.

I set my luggage down in front of the closet and left it there. I could unpack later, right now I just wanted to lay down and relax for a bit.

I closed my eyes with a heavy sign when my head hit the soft pillows.

A quick nap never hurt anybody right?

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Me getting overwhelmed by your nice comments and votes:

(if you know who this is than you're really cool and we're friends now. i don't make the rules :))