You Showed Me Love

A New Crush

While I placed the finishing touches on my makeup, I glanced over at my clock to see it was 4:30 PM. My outfit included a long sleeve black crop top and baggy gray jeans. To go along with it, I put on combat boots and a studded belt. I am going to a rock concert after all, I don't want to show up in regal attire or bright glittery clothing.

"Veneer, are you ready?! We gotta go!" I dusted the final amount of eyeshadow on my lid and shut the palette so I could run downstairs. At the top of the spiral staircase, I jumped onto the railing and slid down. My sister looked really unimpressed once I met her face so she rolled her eyes and booped my nose.

"You're such a child." A honk was heard outside of the castle and we both made our leave. Velvet's face was filled with anticipation and honestly, same. I've never gone to a concert outside of our village so this was probably going to be a good first time. Velvet grabbed her purse and we went inside the Caterbus that had the words 'one way to Volcano Rock City' coming out of the speakers.

"King Veneer, Queen Velvet." The driver tipped his hat towards us to which I responded with a bow and Velvet performed a curtsy despite not wearing a dress. Her ensemble was a dark red camisole with black lace, matching red shorts, and a black leather jacket. She still never goes anywhere without her high ponytail but instead of slicked back, it was just messy. On top of her head, was her crown made up of different colored leaves. It was an identical copy of my crown.

"Thank you for picking us up on such short notice." I thanked our driver and glared at Velvet who wouldn't make eye contact with me and was laughing awkwardly. She was supposed to drive us but completely forgot that her license was taken away a few days ago for speeding to a sale at her favorite designers store. I don't see all the excitement over Nova Swift, I prefer the simpler clothes that are just one color.

– – – – – – – –

We arrived at Volcano Rock City and it was so dark. The sky was a dark red and the only form of light was from the big volcano in the center of the city. There's a path heading into the bottom of the volcano and Velvet took the lead by following it. I trailed behind her and watched as bats flew by and entered the volcano. There were cheers and shouts coming from inside and heavy metal guitar was blaring.

"Are you two the King and Queen of Pop?" A troll with dark gray skin and spiky black hair asked us with a blank stare. I responded to him a little bit hesitant and with an awkward smile.

"Uhh... yeah?" He made a 'follow me' motion with his hands and we followed him up some metal staircase to a balcony that overlooked the stage. I was in awe of the view we had and watched Val walk onto stage with her guitar. Velvet screamed so loud when she saw her girlfriend which made me jump.

After Val came on stage, a male troll with pale blue skin and magenta hair came out too. His hair was styled so that he had some covering left eye and held a skull-shaped microphone in his hand. He looked at Val and she nodded, starting the opening of the song.

♫ "How can you see into my eyes like open doors?" ♫

The song started mellow but knowing that these are hard rock trolls, they're definitely bringing it up at some point.

♫ "Leading you down into my core, where I've become so numb~" ♫

Val played her guitar after singing that line and made the mood of the song a bit more aggressive. I'm still waiting for the cute one to start singing.

♫ "Without a soul, my spirit's sleeping somewhere cold~ Until you find it there and lead it back home~" ♫

My wish was fulfilled when the pink haired troll started singing alongside Val and the song sped up much more.

♫ "Wake me up!" "Wake me up inside!" "I can't wake up!" "Wake me up inside!" "Save me!" "Call my name and save me from the dark" ♫

All the hard rock trolls were going crazy for the two of them and so was Velvet. I was getting really into the song too as it progressed. When this is over, I need to figure out the guy's name. I can't keep my eyes off him and how he's putting all of his energy into the few lines he had. This feels more like Val's song than his but that was changed when they got to a different part of the song. It turned into more of a duet than a one man band.

♫ "All this time, I can't believe I couldn't see! Kept in the dark but you were there in front of me!" ♫

I jumped up and down while screaming as he sang and saw as Velvet leaned on the railing, wiggling her brows at me. My eyes rolled with a smile on my face and continued watching him perform with presumably, his best friend.

♫ "I've been sleeping a thousand years, it seems. Got to open my eyes to everything!" ♫

Me and Velvet were both in our own world with our attention solely focused on the one we preferred. The two of them put their backs together and sang the song with rock trolls banging their heads back and forth to the beat of the songs.

♫ "Without a thought, without a voice, without a soul! Don't let me die here, there must be something more!" ♫

I can tell the song is coming to an end because it's been going on for about three minutes now. That troll who brought us up here came back with two spritzers for Velvet and I and we happily accepted them before continuing to watch.

♫ "Bring me to life!~" ♫

Flamethrowers shot out from the stage as Val dragged out the last note and I could feel the heat coming off of them despite being far away. The rest of the concert went on without a hitch and they performed so many more songs with each other, with Queen Barb even coming out for a few of them. Once it ended, Velvet grabbed my arm and pulled me down the stairs.

"Where are we going?" She brought us around the outside of the volcano and stopped in front of a door.

"Backstage. I wanna see Val!" A security guard stopped us but his eyes looked at the top of our heads and saw our crowns. He stepped to the side and let both of us into the backstage area. There were a bunch of rock trolls with headsets controlling lights and music who were now off for the night. A door with a silver star on it stood in front of us and Velvet enthusiastically opened it to let ourselves in.

"Hi, Val!" They all jumped at Velvet's loud voice and were scurrying to hide papers. Probably just music that's a work in progress or something.

"Velvet! What are you doing back here?!" Val spoke with the pitch in her voice higher than usual. Velvet ran up to Val and hugged her, but Val looked kind of uncomfortable. Is she embarrassed or something?

"I came to see you, baby plum!" I snorted at the nickname along with someone else in the room. I looked over to see who it was and it was that pink haired troll from before. Good lord, he's hot in person. His eyes caught mine and he slowly walked over to me. His hand was out waiting for a handshake and he introduced himself.

"Hey, I'm Floyd." I was completely frozen solid at the sight of him but I had to answer.

"Floyd! I'm uh-" I cleared my throat and put a hand out to shake his, "I'm Veneer."

I mentally face palmed at how I tripped over my words like that but to be fair, he's the kind of person to get tripped up over. The way his pomegranate eyes sparkled, his calming voice even when being a rock singer, and his hair shining underneath the fluorescent lights of the dressing room.

"Yes, King of the pop trolls, I've heard of you." I was tapping my foot against the floor rapidly at how close he was. We both watched Velvet smothering Val in kisses. I giggled and Floyd was covering his mouth trying to hold back a belly laugh. He tapped my arm and got my attention back and opened his mouth,

"While we let them do whatever this is, wanna grab a bite?" My heart was pounding out of my chest and how can I say no to him?

"Yeah, sure." Floyd grabbed his bag and opened the door for me. I turned around to see if I could let Velvet know in any way that I was leaving. She looked directly at me and mouthed 'go'. I stepped outside the door and Floyd followed behind me.

Wait, is this a date?