Limoncello

Chapter 7

"Never to suffer would never to have been blessed." ~ Edgar Allan Poe

—

Nick's pickup peeled into the dive bar's parking lot, loose gravel crunching under the tires as he pulled into a parking space. Noah's car followed close behind and parked right next to him, music blaring and bass thumping. Nick hopped out of the truck and made his way to the bed to start unloading the drum kit, while Maeve followed suit. Noah popped out of the driver's seat, leaving the door open as he stood next to the car. Doja Cat's Say So blared through the speakers and into the evening air as he loudly sang along to it. A stone faced Nicholas exited the passenger's seat and Jolly got out of the back seat to start unloading instruments.

Maeve began to laugh as she watched Noah. "Really?" she giggled, hands on her hips. "Doja Cat?"

"It's art, you wouldn't understand," Noah responded before going right back to singing along.

"He does this every time," Jolly sighed. "Don't feed into it." Maeve just laughed even harder.

Finally Noah turned the car off, music silencing along with it, and started helping Folio unload the kit.

"Do you guys need any help?" Maeve questioned sweetly, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

Folio looked over at her. "Nah, we got it, doll," he shot her a wink. "Thank you."

Maeve felt her entire body flush in an instant, as if her entire body had engulfed in flames.

Doll.

Was he just teasing? Was it a joke? Joke or not, she loved it.

She nodded. "No problem," she whispered, fighting the shy smile that threatened to spread across her face, heart pounding out of her chest.

She trailed behind them as they walked to the doors. It suddenly clicked that she should probably hold the door for them. She quickly bolted around and in front of them to open the door. They all muttered their appreciation as they walked inside. She followed behind Nick after he walked in. Her eyes immediately widened. The bar was dimly lit, the brightest light in there being a red neon Budweiser sign perched on a shelf behind the bar. Besides herself, the only other woman in the establishment was one of the bartenders. The rest of the patrons were men.

Suddenly, she was overly aware of herself and what she was wearing, crossing her arms over her stomach, her eyes darting around as she followed her friends. The guys walked over to the area where they were supposed to play and began to set up. Maeve, cowered into herself, stood as close to them as possible without getting in their way. Nick glanced over at her, furrowing his eyebrows before walking over to her. "Maeve? You good?"

She looked up at him with a tense smile. "Um, yeah," she started. "Just a little anxious."

"How come?" he questioned, slight frown on his face.

"It's nothing serious," she tried to reassure. "Just feel like I stick out like a sore thumb."

Nick nodded, sucking on his teeth before responding. "Well, no one's gonna mess with you. Not if I- um, we can help it," he motioned to the guys.

Maeve nodded in response, slowly uncrossing her arms, "Okay...Thank you."

"Of course," Nick said, grabbing one of her hands. "We've gotta keep you safe." He pressed a quick kiss to her knuckles before slowly dropping her hand and walking off to finish setting up, leaving her red in the face and giddy.

—

They put on a phenomenal show. While their music wasn't something that Maeve would typically listen to, she found herself nearly hypnotized by the combination of their talents and stage presence. She figured she probably made a fool of herself cheering them on, but she couldn't find it in her to care. They deserved the hype. When they began to pack up, she walked over to them, a bright smile adorning her face.