Beautiful Mystery (Owl City)

Chapter 4

[positive feedback makes me happy :) you're all amazing, and I hope you like this. <3

and yes, I'm very well aware that Adam doesn't have the fringe in his hair anymore. Sue me ^.^]

Brielle's POV:

I could do nothing but stare as the man in the black vest made his way to the stairs and onto the stage.

"I thought we'd never get you up here!" Beverly squealed into the microphone. Black Vest looked like he wanted to shoot himself. As he got closer, my breath caught in my throat.

He was breathtaking, tall, and I could see the muscles on his biceps through his thin white dress shirt. Brown hair with a fringe to one side and a little bit of stubble on his face, and big, innocent brown eyes. I stood before him and tried to will myself to do something. Smile, wink, anything, but nothing came.

For a second, he just stood in front of me, waiting for what was to come next. As the music started back up, he seemed to relax a little. The thing about me is, even though I hate this job with everything I have, when the music starts, I'm like a well oiled machine. Having done this for two years, I'd have to be. So it was more instinct than anything else when I slowly inched closer to Black Vest and draped my arms around his neck, prepared to give the best performance I could.

I don't know what I expected. Him to smile, dance with me, sit still and let it happen, even whistle or something. What I didn't expect was his hands flying up in an attempt to push me away. I stepped back for a second, a little taken aback. No one had ever reacted like that when I'd attempted anything like this. He looked at me for a second, like he couldn't believe he'd done it himself. I stood there, frozen, not knowing what to do.

"I'm sorry," he said loudly, loud enough for me to hear him over the ear-splitting music. "I can't." With that, he scurried from the stage as if he couldn't do so quickly enough, and snaked through the crowd to rejoin his friends. I couldn't help but glance longingly after him before remembering I had a show to finish before my paycheck was in my hands.

The show ended on what I could only assume was a good note, and the same way most shows ended. With the rubber band being ripped from my hair, letting it flow to it's true length near my waist, and my top almost completely unbuttoned. I gave one more wink, fake smile, and little wave to the crowd before strutting off of the stage in the direction of the right wing.

I took a deep breath and ran my hands through my tangled hair, pushing past all the other dancers without so much as a glance. Right now, all I could focus on was my check and two days of freedom. Not that I ever did much with my days off, but anywhere was better than here.

Oh, and the boy. I was definitely focused on the boy.

 I made it into the dressing room without having any interaction with anyone, and before I did anything else I made a beeline for my purse on the counter of the dressing room. I pulled out the notepad and pen I always carried around and sloppily scrawled my name and phone number on the top sheet. I ripped it from the rest of the pages, folded it into quarters, and fled from the dressing room as quickly as my heels would let me, pushing past a few dancers on the way. Upon running down the stairs to the side of the stage and into the crowd, I noticed that most of the dancers had already made their way out to mingle with the audience. If you could even call it that.

I scanned my eyes over the crowd, praying that Black Vest hadn't left. With how much he seemed to be enjoying the show, I doubted I'd ever see him here again. I looked to my left and caught a glimpse of his friends hitting on my co-worker Maria. That meant Black Vest should be here somewhere. Another quick once over of the crowd, and I saw him. He was leaning against the back wall near the exit, his head tipped back against the wall and his eyes closed, looking like he was praying he was imagining everything and that he wasn't really here. It took a few moments of self encouragement, but I was finally able to work up enough courage to approach him.