You Showed Me Love

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The walk back to the concert venue was agonizing with Veneer skipping and humming mine and Val's song the entire time, occasionally letting the lyrics slip from his mouth. He's acting like a six-year-old child and I'm the parent who's absolutely done with life. The twisting feeling in my chest isn't helping either.

Upon reaching the venue, I found that door that was painted obsidian black with a simple silver star on the top with the words 'Performers Lounge' engraved into it. Veneer had shut up completely, thank god, and was now standing behind me hunched over and looking half asleep with his eyes lidded and doing the frog blink.

I turned the knob to be met with Val and looked around to find the Pop Queen but no sign of her. Val was packing up her guitar into the carrying case and noticed the two of us standing in the door frame.

"Geez, where'd you take him?" Val quirked her brow at Veneer running inside from behind me and launching the alcohol from his system into a garbage can. The two of us cringed at his display but to be fair, I watched him down 3 tequila shots and an entire tequila sunrise in a pretty moderately sized glass.

I went inside the lounge and placed myself onto an ugly navy leather sofa that didn't go with the rest of the room. Whoever decorated this needs some serious interior design tips. I watched Veneer sit upright and wipe his mouth before looking in Val's direction and his face lit up. He shot up and started running towards her. Oh god, now what?

"Velvy!~ I had sooo much fun!" I clasped my hand over my mouth and snorted loudly at him thinking Val was Velvet while he hugged her. Val looked over at me wide-eyed and mouthed 'I want to die' before pushing him off of her.

"Nope! I'm not your sister." A small 'thank god' escaped from her mouth after saying that and she directed Veneer back over to me. I looked at Val with confusion as she stood in front of me holding Veneer so he wouldn't fall face-first into the ground.

"What the hell do you want me to do?" I looked under the sofa to see that the sneakers I left under there before the show hadn't moved, so I pulled them out and started lacing them onto my feet while questioning Val.

"Velvet went back to their castle so you gotta take him home." My eyes rolled and I stood up off the sofa, grabbing my phone out of my pocket and calling a cab to come pick us up.

"Cab will be here in 5 minutes." Val nodded and handed me Veneer before waving and leaving the lounge. The next 5 minutes were filled with Veneer doing more humming while I made sure nothing was left behind before we both left. A honk was heard outside by the two of us so I helped him up and we made our way outside.

Veneer plopped himself down into the back of the surprisingly large cab, it was more like a limo, and I sat across from him on the black seat.

"Pop Village castle." The driver looked a little shocked at my request but he shook it off and rolled up the partition window, leaving me and Veneer in silence. That was until about 10 minutes into the journey. Veneer moved over to the seat next to me and slightly crawled over.

"Did you know that you're, like, really cute?" His fingers danced across my thigh as he got closer and I began leaning back with my body heating up and my eyes widening. Jesus Christ, he didn't have that much to drink, what's going on with him? My mind was running with thoughts as Veneer walked his fingers up my arm.

"I uh-" I was cut off by him placing a finger on my lip and moving it to my hair where he twirled it and played with it. Fuck fuck fuck, please say we're almost there. He's practically on top of me right now and it's going to drive me crazy. My prayers were answered when the driver pulled up in front of the castle and stopped driving.

I moved myself out from underneath Veneer and went straight for the door, rapidly pulling on the handle until the driver unlocked it. I don't think I've ever moved faster in my life but I needed to get out of there. Veneer followed me out and I was met with the sight of his rather beautiful castle once again. I love how the white bricks look with all the glittery green accents despite glitter being one of my most hated things.

Veneer was audibly struggling and grunting trying to get out of the cab-limo, so I turned around and placed my hands out for him to take. He finally got out and I guided him to the front gate. God please let his sister still be awake, it's like 1:00 AM.

I knocked my fist against the silver gate and it didn't take too long for someone to answer, but it wasn't the queen. She looked me up and down and tilted her head.

"Oh, are you Floyd?" This troll appeared to have pink skin and even brighter pink hair that was held up in a ponytail. Wow, she is the pop-iest pop troll I've ever seen.

"How do you know my name?" I just processed that she knows who I am despite us never meeting. She was holding a white teacup in her hand but used her opposite one to hold out for a handshake.

"I'm Poppy, Veneer's best friend. Me and Velvet were just talking about how you took him out on a little date." I hesitantly shook her hand and got a slight whiff of the beverage in her teacup. It smelt like a hazelnut coffee with a hint of chocolate or something, it's nice.

"Do you wanna come in for a cup?" I came back to reality at what she said and turned around to see Veneer still just standing there looking like a walking corpse. I looked back at Poppy and spoke,

"No it's okay, I just came by to drop him off, so uh, here." My hands were placed on both of Veneer's shoulders and I gently pushed him towards Poppy. Once he moved, he did the exact same thing he did with Val.

"Oh my gosh, Poppy! When did you get here?" He fell face first right at her feet and was out like a light. Me and Poppy both stared at his sleeping form and snickered slightly.

"I'll take it from here, thank you for bringing him back." I threw her an awkward thumbs up and she placed her teacup down onto a table to drag him inside by the arms. Wait, shit-

"Hold on a second!" Poppy lifted a brow and I quickly crouched down to go through Veneer's pockets. I found it and pulled out that napkin I drew him on along with a pencil that was in my pocket. The backside of the napkin was blank so I wrote down my number on it and placed it back in his pocket.

"Let him know it's there, okay?" Poppy had a shit-eating grin on her face and I stood back up to walk away.

"Nice meeting you."

"You too!"

The gate shut and I was left alone with my thoughts. Please call me back, I don't want Val making fun of me for 'not being able to pull' or whatever she calls it. The cab was still waiting for me so I hopped back into it and was on my way home.

As I sat down and told the driver where I lived, I pulled out my phone to start writing lyrics for a new song. As I was typing away, the thought of Veneer moving his fingers through my hair came back and I flushed.

It kinda felt nice.