ROCK N' ROLL NEVER DIES

Chapter 6

Braxton walked me to the old part of the city — he, allegedly, had errands to run there too — where they had this cafe with the best coffee in the world.

Out of curtesy I asked if he wanted to join and his response was, "Rain-check, Angel, gotta run." So I enjoyed some quality alone time with a marvellous cup of hot beverage.

"Marlene? Hey." Scott pulled out and sat on the chair opposite of me.

"Hey," I greeted, surprised to see him.

"What are you doing here?" we asked at the same time, he laughed and I smiled.

Scott gestured with his hand towards me. "Ladies first."

"This is my favourite cafe."

"They do have the best coffee," he agreed.

My smile widened — I was sure my eyes sparkled too.

He suddenly started nervously fiddling with a sugar shaker in the centre of the table. "So...I haven't — I mean I was thinking about it...I wanted to ask," his eyes shifted, lifting his focus upon mine, "if you would care to go out with me tomorrow night for dinner?"

This time I knew my eyes sparkled. But I was careful and hid that, not wanting to come off as too eager, even though I was internally squealing.

"I would love to."

His relief was evident enough. "Did you expect me to say no?"

"No, I still own a mirror," Scott joked. I gently pushed his arm away.

~~~

"Help me!" I whined at Ivy.

"I am, sweetheart, but you don't like anything we try out." She pulled another top off one of the shelves. "Maybe this."

I was a nervous mess only half an hour before the date. I couldn't afford it at the time, but I couldn't help it when the skirt made my calves look to big, the pants didn't hug my hips right, and the top made me look like I had a double chin.

"No, no, no!" I pulled yet another piece of clothing over my head and threw it on the bed.

Ivy took ahold of my shoulders and shook me. "Marlene, calm. Down." She took a deep breath in, me following suit. "There is nothing to worry about. You're funny, caring and smart. Don't even get me started on sexy as hell. With enough confidence you can make him beg in anything you'll wear."

I huffed out a breath, but smiled nonetheless. She was right, I had nothing to worry about.

Within this newfound moment of peace we found a perfect outfit — simple yet effective, elegant yet not over the top — and I moved on to make up.

Our doorbell rang, so Ivy left to open the door.

"Hey, baby," I heard a male voice say. Tom. Again. I mean, he was great and I had nothing against him, but there were two more incidents where I had to leave the apartment because the music they'd put on wasn't enough to muffle the sounds anymore.

They weren't dating; they decided, since they enjoyed sex with each other so much, they would stay fuck-buddies. They were probably the only people in the world who could pull shit like that and not catch feelings.

"Hey, guys," Ivy greeted them.

Scott and Tom came together, the former to take me out and the latter to keep my friend in.

"Where is Marlene?" I heard Scott say.

Standing up, I grabbed a jacket from my bed and joined them in the hallway.

"I'm here."

Scott looked me over, his gaze tangible almost as though he was tracing my lines with his fingertips. The almost invisible parting of his lips confirmed my outfit choice as the right one.

I smiled to myself.

"Shall we?" he asked, voice still a bit rough.

"We shall."

And off we went.