padam - a jan peteh pov story

5

Despite Bojan's stubbornness, we hoped that this would end like past occasions - he would turn up eventually. It wouldn't be the first time on which he'd refuse to do something, only to come around a short period after, shocking everyone present.

My living room sat empty, aside from me and a very tired Igor, who was making himself comfortable on the dining table. Although I might have usually scooped him up and placed him on a softer surface, I didn't mind him now - I needed to be as mentally prepared as possible to guarantee that everything went smoothly. To ensure that the knife did not drive itself deeper, and to affirm that, if that were to happen, it was not my fingers grasping the handle. I suspected that I would have to take the blame for the initial damage, yet I would not be framed for any further incidents.

Nace was the first to arrive, as agreed - we had told the others to arrive at 2:30, and, glancing at the clock, it was currently 2:15. Enough time for us to talk everything over, but short enough to make sure we didn't linger on details. Like me, Nace was precise and ordered - he knew how important the upcoming meeting was.

I viewed his text message that told me that he was here, before setting open the door in anticipation for his arrival. Shoving the doorstop into place, I allowed the slightly cooler air to press onto my face, relaxing the sweat that slowly crowded onto my brow. However much I wanted to pace the apartment prior to him entering, the loud whir of the elevator told me that there wasn't time for that. So, instead, I tried to relax my closed muscles on the sofa, my knee beginning to bob up and down as a result of my intense focus. The elevator soon calmed itself down, and footsteps rang out down the corridor.

Although I wasn't facing the entryway, it wasn't very difficult to assume Nace's actions; I had witnessed them enough times to know. He didn't say anything as he advanced from the laminated floor in the hall onto my entrance mat, yet took a slight pause in his steps, probably to question why the door was open. Seeing that I wasn't turning around to welcome him, he attempted to become stealthy, removing his shoes near-silently and starting to take pinsteps towards me. It took him a few seconds to get close enough, and then-

'JANČI!' he shouted directly down my ear. Despite already anticipating what was coming, I jumped at the sheer volume of his voice.

Had it been anyone else, I would've probably been at least slightly annoyed, yet it had always been impossible for me to feel anything like that towards Nace. He was so pure-of-heart, and his huge smile when I finally met his eyes caused my once casual expression to break into a bright grin.

'Natko.' I greeted cheerily, struggling to pull my face back to something at least somewhat normal. In spite of the reason for our meeting, we were both able to burst out laughing, as I grabbed him in an attempt to pull him over back of the sofa, to sit next to me. Although I knew he was much stronger than me, he seemed to let me succeed, falling over the short backrest and immediately faceplanting onto the seat. His chuckles reverberated through the soft fabric while I ruffled his hair, both of which were strangely theraputic.

After he had successfully managed to manouvre himself into a seated position, we began to talk over how we would keep all parties happy, especially Bojan. Although neither of us had talked to him personally, Kris had made out that he wasn't exactly open to criticism of his actions, something that we both agreed would be the biggest issue. We went over the potential outcomes, some much worse than others, before rounding back to where we started within a few minutes.

'It's just so random of him. We haven't had an argument like this in so long.' I remarked, breaking my eye contact with Nace and glancing towards the wall, slipping off into my memories.

'Not since I joined the band.' he agreed.

'But I guess we had to stick together through the Eurovision season.' I supposed, suddenly gathering that perhaps the reason we hadn't fallen into disagreement recently was purely because we were unable to, rather than us just getting along better than ever. 'We couldn't afford to have an argument then, it would've affected our performance.'