Laughter Lines (A Dan Smith/Bastille Fanfic)

19. Fame

When the boys were done with soundcheck, they each darted off the stage to head to the changing room. Dan slinked his arm around my waist right away, nuzzling my neck, he whispered, "Let's go somewhere private." My eyes fluttered closed as I considered it. Dan grabbed my hand and led me towards the staircase. We went up a couple of flights and entered a small door. I finally realized that Dan had brought me to the upper deck of the venue. The venue looked spectacularly massive from where we stood. "What are we doing up here, Dan?"

Smiling softly, he took a seat in one of the circles and murmured, "Come, sit next to me." Exhaling, I accepted his offer and took a seat next to him.

"I wanted to see how the stage looks like from up here," he pointed towards the stage. The backdrop was white, with a huge triangle in the middle. I thought it looked great. Even the soundcheck was enough to make my heart pumped up with excitement. Tonight's show is going to be spectacular. There was a moment of silence between the both of us before Dan started to speak again.

"I'm sorry about the earlier chaos. I hope the girls didn't scare you," Dan apologetically said while staring at his shoes. Grinning, I searched for his blue eyes and reassured him I was fine.

"They love you. And I can totally understand their excitement. Don't worry too much, Dan," I added. He beamed at my reply.

I have to admit, I couldn't stop staring at Dan the entire time. He was so breathtakingly good looking it was difficult not to study his features. Plus, I missed him, a lot. Now that he's on tour, it's very rare that I got a chance to see him like this. Feeling the need to be closer to him, I rested my head upon his shoulder and took advantage of the little time I have with him. Dan pulled me in tight and kissed my head.

I was absorbing his wonderful scent when my eyes tracked down writings at the back of his hand. I tried to focus on the writings to figure out what it was as they were written in a very small font.

"Are those telephone numbers?" I chuckled when I finally realized what it was.

"Ha! This," he shook his head and tried to erase the numbers from his skin. He pulled back to look at me with furrowed brows and quickly added, "Some girl wrote her number on my hand while I was signing autographs just now." His face was pink from embarrassment. I couldn't help but laugh at his reaction.

"Female magnet," I whispered, still laughing.

"What did you say?" He furrowed his brows even more. He narrowed his eyes but then laughed and looped his arms around me. As he leaned in trying to kiss me, I found myself inadvertently spouting, "You're surrounded by so many temptations Dan."

He paused before our lips touched. He started to frown, then smiled. "Why would you say that?"

I bit my lip, embarrassed at what I've told, I shook my head, then shrugged, "It has occurred to me that you're on the path to fame and fame brings certain... Package with it." Sighing, knowing now wasn't really the right time to have this conversation, I stared up at him.

Smiling, he ducked down to look me in the eye. "So it's not booze, drugs and gambling that you're worried about? I personally would worry about gambling if I were you," he chuckled.

"You gamble?" I looked at him with furrowed brows and opened mouth.

"No," he laughed. "Of course not."

I twisted my lips and smacked his chest. "I think for you it's always women."

The smile on his face faded a little as he looked over mine. "You have to trust me Anna. Just like how I have to trust you." His smile returned but it was laced with a little sadness. "I am certain I'll never find anything out there that will top you, but really, it is also quite possible that you may lose interest in me someday. Or maybe you'll decide you can do better...start dating one of the Arctic Monkeys or something."

Laughing, even though my stomach flipped a little at our conversation, I smacked his chest again. Leaning up to kiss him I muttered, "Never. I'm yours."

Chuckling against my lips, he murmured, "Good because with or without fame, my feelings for you will stay the same."

Pulling away from him, I gushed, "But do you think Alex Turner might be interested though?"

Raising an eyebrow, he grabbed my face and crashed his lips against my laughter. "I'm not going to let that happen."