FAVOR | Awsten Knight

0.4

November 2019

The end of October flew by quicker than Val could have expected. Although, her Halloween costume definitely topped everyone at the party she briefly visited on Halloween night. She was the best looking Lava Girl in the nation by far.

But it's not Halloween night anymore. Val is not standing in a house party people watching. She was currently standing outside the back of a venue in Atlanta. Her Uber had just dropped her off and now she was hesitant to enter the building.

She wasn't sure why, but she knew it was working up her nerves. A bubble began to form in her throat slowly blocking her airway.

Suddenly, the door she had her eyes locked on swung open, causing her to let out a cough. Air finally flowing through to her lungs.

"Oh hey, uh, you are??" The man, who the door had revealed, stood in front of her questioned as he looked her up and down.

Val's eyes scanned the figure. His black tee shirt hung loosely on his broad shoulders with the right side reading "Crew"

Val straightened her back to fix her posture before speaking, "Oh yes," she tugged on a friendly smile. "Hello my name is Valerie, i'm here to work Waterparks merch."

The man who was once skeptical now appeared friendly.

"Ah yes Valerie! I'm Lucas," He said, stepping closer to reach his hand out. Val kindly shook it while he started back up, "We're glad to have you here. You actually came at a perfect time, the trucks are about to pull up with merch." He took a step forward, out of the doorway, to glance past her down the street.

"Oh thank god, the uber kept making wrong turns. I was worried he'd make me be late," Val giggled.

"It all works out. Here let me show you the table," Lucas said, spinning on his feet to enter the doorway once again. Val swiftly followed behind, glancing up at the wall of the venue. Posters and signatures of artists who had once visited the venue were plastered on the walls.

Suddenly Lucas had stopped in front of her. He reached to his left to slightly swing a door open. That door had a sign labeled "green room" to its side.

"Hey, y'all start soundcheck in 15," he stuck his head in to speak into the room. "Alright thanks,'' a voice echoed from inside.

"Sorry about that, anyways I assume you know the drill right?" Lucas directed back to Val, continuing to lead the way once away.

Val couldn't help but try to sneak a peek into the room, but was ultimately unsuccessful as the door fell closed too quickly. She moved her attention back to infront of her.

"Yup!"

"Perfect, here we are" he gestured to the table that sat before them. It was tucked against a wall which had clear view of the stage. It was honestly a score. Val had the unluckiness of being stuck in a tight hallway to do merch before.

Out of nowhere a sharp ding was heard. Lucas cocked his head down and pulled his phone out of his back pocket, reading the screen following it with hum.

"I gotta get work on some other things but hey it looks like the truck just pulled up," he tucked his phone back away to make eye contact with Val again. "It was great to meet you though, I'll be around if you need me."

"It was great to meet you too, im looking forward to this" She smiled, replying to him.

As Lucas left Val turned to the table.

"Alright let's do this."

Val made her way back out of the building. By now a few people had joined the back of the venue doing their individual tasks. These people pushed past Val with equipment and what seemed to be manikins? Val assumed they were set pieces.

Carefully making her way past the people, avoiding running into anyone, Val made her way to one of the few open trucks. In front of her sat stacks and stacks of brown boxes. Exhaling, she pulled herself into the back of the truck to begin the long process of bringing the boxes into the venue.

She had grown quite used to the weight of the boxes over the years. That was something Val took pride in, she didn't need help from anyone.

Making her way down the hallway was a difficult task due to the dim lights and of course the boxes in her arms slightly obscuring her view. She was doing pretty well until the boxes pushed back into her face throwing her off balance.

"Oh shit!" a voice called out. Val moved the boxes to her side revealing a man with neon green hair. She quickly picked up on the fact that he was in the band she's working for.

The previous night Val spent time looking into this "Waterparks" band. There was no way she could go into this completely blind. That didnt mean she took a deep dive into them, she just got to know the basics.

Plus, why else would some have that color hair unless they are in a band.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry I didn't see you there, are you okay?" Val started apologizing profusely, not wanting to make any bad first impressions.

"Don't worry about it, I'm fine plus it was totally my fault. I shouldn't have just backed out like that,'' The man's face flushed a slight red color while rubbing the back of his neck bashfully, "are you alright? I hope those boxes didn't hit you too hard" he chucked gesturing to her hands

Picking up on his voice, she realized this was the same guy Lucas had spoken to just moments before.

Val slightly laughed back at his comment, "Oh yeah i'm good, its fully on me I should have moved these to the side," nodding her head to the boxes. Val took a moment to pause and focus on the man in front of her.

She scanned his face. Instantly noticing his two toned eyes. Heterochromia. She'd never actually seen it on someone in person before. It was way prettier than she could have imagined.

Val was taking it in. She loved analyzing people and found it fascinating. Though something she did not find fascinating was the fact that she had been staring at this man for a few seconds too long.

Snapping out of it she quickly continued on, "ah I'll get out of your hair now. The show tonight is going to be great, See you later!" word vomit almost taking ahold of her as she encouraged him, while swiftly walking ways. She hadn't even bothered sticking around for him to speak anymore.

All the man could do was watch her walk down the hall and wonder just who this girl is.