Eyes That See Into Infinity

Chapter One

Three men sat down at a table.

One was cleanly shaven, with smoothed back brown hair, with sunglasses, and a small, tiny earring in one ear, as he'd failed to find the other. Behind the shades, his dark brown eyes scanned the room intently, looking for something interesting.

Another had black hair, falling past his shoulders, his sunglasses tinted with the deepest black, so that no one would be able to tell whether or not he had fallen asleep. His beard wasn't grubby, or untidy, but compared to the other two men, he looked rather...messy, despite his clean, and somewhat, suave suit. Not that anybody cared.

And next to him, was a man with peroxide blonde hair, with a darker shade of brown underneath, little tufts spiked up on top of his head. He was looking straight at the stage, and no where else. His sunglasses' frames were blue, and his famous blue eyes, was staring at the piano, that was just sitting there, not being played, and not having any attention paid to it, it's purpose uncertain. He crossed his legs patiently, and waited for the show to begin.

“There's Justin Bieber, there's Drake, there's Lady Gaga...”

“Shannon, who in the hell are you talking about?” Shannon Leto, the cleanly shaven man, with the slick brown hair, turned to face Tomo Milicevic, the man with the beard.

“The people that are here”

“You sure they're not imaginary?” To this, the man in the middle broke his gaze from the piano, and threw his head back in laughter.

“It's funny cause it's true” The man said, chuckling. Tomo laughed, and the two men high fived, like they were thirteen. Shannon scowled and crossed his arms sulkily.

“Tomo, we met Justin Bieber at Radio One Festival remember? Jared the moron here kept on calling him, 'The Bieb'” Jared Leto, the man in the middle, smiled at the memory, as his brother spoke it, in a manner of 'Believe-Me-I'm-Not-Crazy'. Tomo just nodded, and replied,

“Oh yeah I remember. He was annoying!” Jared opened his mouth to the reply to this, but his voiceless reply was interrupted by a man sitting at the piano, checking all the keys, and saying 'One Two' into the microphone. The man was beckoning to someone backstage, quite forcedly. Eventually, a woman, in no more than her 30s stumbled on, her black hair falling into her face. She was nervous, terrified, as her icy blue eyes stared out into the see of people.

Jared started to lean on the table in interest.

“Who's she?” Shannon asked. It wasn't in a 'Woaaah, she's pretty cute' way, even though she was. It was inquisitive, a genuine curiosity. But the truth was...Nobody knew. The three of them could hear the confusion and the curiosity in the crowd, people asking each other who this mysterious woman was, what was she doing on the stage and where did she get those velvet shoes?

The woman sat down at the piano, her fingers lightly hovering over the keys, as if uncertain to press down and play. A few people in the audience coughed, impatiently, which Jared found rude and irritating. She's obviously frightened, and the people had no regard for how she's feeling whatsoever, just wanted to pick her apart, figure her out, before she had even begun, like vultures. Jared saw the curtain move slightly, and then the woman took in a deep breath, and nodded.

And then her fingers pressed the keys, her foot stayed hovered over the pedal, and her voice sang, leaving the three men stunned. The woman was petite, a shy one with obvious issues of playing in front of large crowds. But from her mouth, out came a soulful voice, with a slight twinge of folk in it, giving it a twist. A good one.

As notes played from her piano, her eyes occasionally glancing towards the audience, more noticeably, his table, Jared watched her, stared at her, at her technique, at her body, and how it hunched over less and less as the songs went on, until she was eventually sitting upright, watching the audience, as they danced, whether it was fast or slow, to the song.

By the end, a smile, a genuine smile, broke out onto her face.

“That's it folks! I'm done! Buy my CD! What....Oh, okay I don't have a CD” Jared laughed and clapped slightly. Shannon just exchanged a look with Tomo, as they watched their band mate stare at this woman, knowing exactly what he wanted, and what he was going to say. Jared ignored them, even though he knew they were mentally talking about him.

“Well, when I do have a CD...Buy it! Bye! I'll see all the 'cool' people at the after party!” She ran off the stage, a sheet of music falling delicately to the floor. Jared checked his Blackberry...many messages, but that didn't matter to him. He quickly checked the time. 5 minutes until the initial show began. He smiled.

“She was pretty good” Tomo said, taking a sip of his drink. Shannon smirked, as Jared stood up, straightening himself out.

“Where you off too Romeo?” Shannon teased. Jared rolled his eyes, but smiled anyway.

“I'm off to the bathroom, okay fellas?”

“Sure sure” smirked the two men, as Jared left. He walked as quickly, but as casually as he could to the backstage area, making sure to not let his eyes meet with anybody else. He arrived there in a space of 30 seconds, leaving him enough time to charm, flirt and wink his way to being on top of this woman.

But for some reason, he couldn't move. As Jared stood there, watching her smile and laugh with a raven black haired man, with piercings and a few tattoos, before seeing her wave goodbye and hug another woman, he couldn't help but wonder why he wasn't boldly striding over there, like his usual routine. Bold strode, smile, a quiet hello, flattery, laugh, number, kiss, a few hours later, he's round their house, laying in their bed, naked as the day he was born, before quietly leaving.

At this thought, Jared smiled. Ah, the life of a bachelor.

So what was stopping him now? Intimidation? Fear? A worry of rejection? Or a combination of all three? Whatever was stopping the usual confident man from walking over there and making his usual moves, he disliked it. Jared put his hands in his pockets, and walked away, so pissed off, all he wanted to do was hit something.

Jared harrumphed as he sat back down at his table. Shannon and Tomo exchanged raised eyebrows, before Shannon asked his brother,

“What happened?”

“I didn't even talk to her. I was...I walked away” Jared muttered, grumpily, and ashamed. Tomo's mouth dropped open.

“Well, well..Looks like Mr Leto has lost his mojo” Tomo teased. Jared just glared at him. Shannon smirked, and stretched his arms, yawning quietly, as the hosts prepared themselves for the show. Suddenly, a light bulb clicked in Shannon's mind. A brilliant subtle plan to help his brother out.

“I bet you can't get her number at the after party” Jared almost immediately perked up, and asked,

“She's gonna be there?”

“Well, yeah didn't you hear her say, 'I'll see all the 'cool' people at the after party!'” Jared smiled.

“Yeah, I did”

“Well...I bet you can't her number there, before midnight”

“Are you trying to turn this into Cinderella, Shannon?”

“No, because Cinderella had LEAVE by midnight, and then she lost her shoe. That's not going to happen”

“Why not?”

“Because she had velvet Dr Martens on. Anyway, do you accept this challenge?” The music started up, the cameras started to roll, and the audience started to clap, scream and whistle. Jared grinned and outstretched his hand, to which Shannon shook violently.

“I accept” Tomo rolled his eyes behind his frames, knowing exactly what Shannon was planning. The three men turned to face forward, each of them anxious to get this show over and done with, each of them anxious to get to the after party.

After all, that's where the real show begins.

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Comment, voted...any constructive criticism is welcome!

xxxx