I stayed in my room for most of the following morning, I didn't want Oli bugging me about Brian. Yes I liked him, but it didn't mean anything. I'm sure I was now one of thousands of girls with a crush on 'Q'. I grabbed my laptop, with the intention of blogging about last night's gig. But when I opened it, I found myself searching for Brian's show. Now that I knew him, I wanted to give it another go, but I didn't want Oli to know. She would only take the piss.
I only meant to watch a few minutes, to give it a chance and to see if I could find it funny. The next thing I know it's 3pm, Oli was back from work and I'd been watching back to back episodes for over 4 hours, just to see Brian's face. Jesus, what was wrong with me?! Hearing Oli come up the stairs, I quickly shut my laptop and threw it to the end of my bed. I grabbed my book and pretended to be reading when Oli inevitably burst through my door.
"Have you stopped wallowing now?" She asked, as she plonked herself on my bed.
"I'm not wallowing, I just fancied a lazy day." Oli lay down beside me, resting her head on my shoulder.
"So if you're not wallowing, you wouldn't mind a little road trip this evening then?" I could feel her grinning into my shoulder. What was she planning? "Because I may have got us tickets for tonight's show in Brighton...and I'm not taking no for an answer."
I tried to object but she wouldn't let me. "I don't care Shae. You're coming with me, and you're going to enjoy it. Even if you don't see Q...which I know you want to...I want to see as much of them as I can because I don't know when they will be back in the UK after this. And you being my best friend, will accompany me happily. Right?"
I laughed at her outburst and nodded "yes, of course I will. Now move, let me get dressed."
Oli decided to drive to Brighton so we didn't have to rush for the last train back. We left early to miss the rush hour traffic but we still hit some. Oli asked if I wanted to listen to a podcast that Brian did with Sal, one of the other Jokers. I shrugged, indifferent. "Do you think I should text Brian? Let him know we're coming? Or would that be weird? Or would it be weirder to just turn up and not say anything? We might not even see them. You only got normal tickets right...?" Oli let me ramble, she knew me well enough to know that I needed to get everything off my chest.
When I had finally finished, we were just entering Brighton. "Just text him Shae. You want to, and if he sees us and you haven't, he will wonder what's up." She picked my phone up from the dashboard and threw it at me. I typed out a quick text hey, how are you? Guess who has been dragged to Brighton tonight... I put my phone back down and looked out of the window. I loved Brighton, it was one of my favourite places to go. "Have we got time for food?" I asked "I really fancy some chips!"
Oli laughed "you always fancy chips when we come to Brighton!" She swung the car into the car park and we made our way to the chippy. I was massively aware of my phone, horribly silent and burning a hole in my jeans pocket.
"Stop it. He'll be doing meet and greets." Oli didn't even look over her shoulder to speak to me, she always knew what was going through my mind. She passed me my food and we walked down to the seafront. I sat down on the first bench I saw and started eating, only stopping when I felt my phone vibrate. I passed my chips back to Oli. "Hold these."
Meet me at the stage doors in 15 minutes
That was all it said. "What the fuck?"
"What? WHAT?" Oli grabbed my phone out of my hands and read the text. "Well what are you waiting for? Come on!" She threw my phone back into my lap as she stood up, and pulled me off the bench. "We'll have to hurry to get there on time."
I chucked my phone into my handbag and followed her. Fuck sake Brian. I thought. I'd be red faced and sweaty when we arrived now.
I pulled Oli to a stop around the corner from the venue. As much as I didn't want to admit it, I was really nervous about meeting Brian again. I needed to catch my breath, check my face and get my head straight before we saw him. After a quick fluff of my hair and a swipe of my lipstick, I was as ready as I'd ever be. I slid my arm through Oli's, she squeezed back and gave me a big smile "you've got this Shae"
Brian was stood outside the stage door on his phone as we rounded the corner. He looked up when Oli called his name, and smiled.
"Hey," I started, half waving awkwardly as we reached him.
"Hey to you too," he pulled me into a hug "this was a nice surprise."
I leaned back slightly and laughed "Well you have that one to thank for this. She just couldn't bear to only see you guys the once!"
Oli stuck her tongue out at me, but she had no shame in her fan girl-ness.
"Well I guess I should thank you too, Oli." He released me and pulled Oli into a big bear hug. "I've managed to get you guys side of stage tonight, so you can hang with us until we go on...if you want?"
Oli immediately agreed, she was in heaven. "As long as there's alcohol, I'm good." I replied.
Brian showed us into the green room, which was full of the other Jokers. Brian introduced us to everyone properly...even though we had the meet and greet only two nights ago I hadn't really met any of the others.
"Ah so you're the infamous Shae?" The one who was introduced as Joe piped up as he passed us. "This schmuck hasn't stopped talking about you." Brian punched him before running his hand through his hair, nervous.
I nudged Brian with my hip and laughed. "Aww, ain't you cute?" I teased. Inwardly I was doing a little victory dance. He handed me and beer and pointed to the empty sofa. I sat in the middle with Brian on one side and Oli on the other. Oli immediately started up a conversation with Sal, leaving me to talk to Brian.
"So you've been talking about me, eh Q?" I joked. It was weird calling him Q but everyone else seemed to. He shrugged, obviously still embarrassed. "If it makes you feel better, you've been topic of conversation too." I smiled as his eyes lit up. "Although, Oli was involved...so it's inevitable you guys come up in conversation." I couldn't help but wind him up, it was in my nature. I quickly had to reassure him when his face dropped slightly. "Dude, don't take things so seriously. I'm just playing with ya!"
While we talked I noticed him moving closer to me, trying to be sly putting his arm over the back of the sofa. I leaned into him and whispered to him "You are so lame." He pulled back, looking confused. "Come on..." I stood and made my way out of the door.
"What's going on?" Brian asked as he closed the door behind him. I pushed off the wall I was leaning on and walked towards him.
"Sorry, I just..." I paused, biting my lip. Fuck it. I thought and just grabbed the front of Brian's t-shirt. I pulled him towards me and kissed him hard. For a second he flailed, but when his brain caught up to what was going on he responded in kind.
A cough and a laugh behind us broke us apart. I turned and saw Oli and Sal leaning against the wall watching us. I glanced and Brian, who looked embarrassed, then looked at Oli laughing and just shrugged. "What?'
"That was our ten minute call" Sal said, trying not to laugh. "We were coming to get you to show you where to go....but I think you're good. I'll erm, show Oli where to go. You can meet her there?" With that, they scurried off, arms linked and giggling like children.
Brian took his hat off and ran his hand through his hair. "I'm never going to here the end of this now," he sighed.
I looked at him curiously, "So? You're a grown man Brian, you can do what you want. Who cares what anyone thinks. I know I don't." And I really didn't.
"It's not that I care, it's just I know what they're like. They will wind me up about it for days. It's just annoying that they busted us." He put his hat back on and laughed nervously.
"Well next time..." I grinned, poking him in the stomach, "next time, we'll just have to make sure they don't find us."
He grinned back at me, before grabbing my hand and pulling me down the hall, in the opposite direction to where Oli and Sal disappeared to. We turned a corner and he pushed me against the wall. "I'm so glad you said that!" He whispered roughly into my ear, before his lips descended on mine once again.
