Fluorescents

28

" 'Cause I was still unsure
But it's something I'm used to
And I can tell by your face
No one's ever been rude to you."

My ringing phone shakes us away from the conversation and I lift my finger up before motioning that I'm going outside to answer the call. He nods and I head outside in order to answer the ringing phone that pulled me away from me laughing at Derek's puzzlement towards me & Alex. Once Im finally outside and I answer the call , Clair's voice rings through the phone.

" Hey girl." She says through the line as I look through the window of the diner. I watch as Derek types on his phone vigorously before bringing it to his ear. His body shakes and I already picture his foot tapping against the floor vigorously. Why does he seem so agitated?  " You still there?" Clair asks and I shake myself away and focus on my own call.

" Yeah, what's up?" I ask and she laughs at the fact that I was distracted.

" Well we have to leave in like 20 minutes for the venue." She informs me and I pull my phone from my ear and gaze at the time. 11:21. We were scheduled to leave towards the venue at 11:40. I thank her for reminding me before hanging up and making my way inside to inform Derek. I walk towards the table as he gazes down at the table and continues tapping his foot and holding the phone tightly against the side of his face.

" Fuck you." I hear him silently mutter through the phone before setting it down and gazing at me with a clearly fake smile.

" Uhm, we have to head back." I tell him and he nods his head before we decide to take our food to go and leave a tip. We make our way outside the small diner and begin to make our way back to the hotel in silence. I pull out my phone and gaze at the time to try my best to kill the awkward tension. The imaginary force field I was hoping would come from my phone doesn't work as I had originally presumed and I put my phone away after looking at the time that reads. 11:31. The hotel isn't that far of a walk so I put my phone away and gaze down at our calm paced feet.

" So what did you wanna talk about?" I ask him, looking away from my feet and gazing back up at him. He scratches the back of his neck and his eyes stays fixed towards the buildings as we walk past them.

" Uhm, you know." He shrugs his shoulders and continues looking away from me and scratching the back of his neck. " Nothing really, just wanted to talk." He purses his lips and shrugs his shoulders before gazing back at me. A part of me is curious as to why now, out of all times, he decided to talk to me again. I know he's lying and he did mean to tell me something but I don't push him. As we continue walking through the city I let my mind wander as I gaze up at the large mountains surrounding the secluded and small city.

---------------------------------------------

" He thought what?" Shay exclaims trying her best to hold back her fits of laughter. I laugh along with her, not as loud of course, and she covers over her mouth when she notices the boys around her jump up at the sound of her rambunctious laughter.

After me and Derek's very short breakfast we made our way back to the hotel and rode the bus to the venue. Me and Shay didn't have much time to talk on our way there since the drive was short and I wanted to be able to tell her everything and when we did finally arrive at the venue I had to get to work quickly. So now after being able to finish everything we've been able to finally talk in her boyfriend's dressing room while we wait for the band to finish preparing for their soundcheck.

" It was weird." I tell her and she shrugs her shoulders before gazing up at the boys messing around in the dressing room.

" Just make sure he stays wrong." She says letting out a laugh, still looking up at her boyfriend and ignoring my gaze. I raise an eyebrow at her and give her an obviously confused gaze. She looks down at me for a second before looking away again and speaking. " Just stay away from Alex." She says once again and I nod my head before this time being the one to look away from her. I gaze down at the distressed section of my black jeans and finger the seams of my striped shirt.

" Yeah." I mutter ambiguously, trying not to let her know of all the thoughts flooding my mind at the moment.

" Hey." She says coming up to my side while rubbing my back. I look away from my outfit and look up at her with a fake grin. She can see right through me. " I know how you feel right now." She tells me and I wait for her to continue. How could she possibly know of the way that this man has constantly taunted me and tossed me around like a piece of crap? Every time I've ever seen them interact with one another she is so hardheaded and confident. " I care for you and well-." She says still continuing to rub my back and speak to me in a sweet tone. " he's just the type that likes to fuck with people's minds. " She says rolling her eyes to which I laugh. " Just make sure you don't get too involved with him, he's a huge mess." She says as she lays her head on my shoulder and continues to rub my back. I nod my head and we both take a deep breath, both of us deep in thought. He's not the only mess. My life isn't as clean cut as everyone thinks.

Neither of us say anything so I watch from the corner of my eye as Shay admires Christo when he laughs at one of his bandmate's jokes. A wider smile instantly covers her face and she continues to gaze up at her boyfriend with the light reflecting onto her eyes. Ive never really bothered to care for relationships of that sort, but seeing her look at him with that gleam in her eyes gives me a craving for it. I wonder what's to come of me and A- Derek now.

I continue to watch as she admires her boyfriend but soon enough im shaken away when the door to the dressing room opens and a crew member walks in. I raise myself up from the sofa to talk to him but he walks up to Shay before I can reach or speak to him. She continues to admire her boyfriend but is shaken away as well from the crew member.

" Shay?" He taps on her shoulder lightly and she looks away from her boyfriend and looks towards the crew member with a raised eyebrow. " A band member from the main band is in need of your assistance." He tells her and I watch as she bites down on her lip and nods her head while gazing back up at her boyfriend with almost a guilty grin. She lifts herself up from the sofa and doesn't dare to look towards him again as she walks out of the room and goes to 'help the other bandmate'. At first I believe that Christo isn't paying much attention and is too engulfed in the conversation with his bandmates but my original presumptions are butchered as he looks away from his bandmates and gazes towards Shay the second she raises herself up from the sofa.  His eyes follow her as she walks towards the door and walks out. He lets out a deep exhale before looking down at his feet and gazing back up at his bandmates with a smile much different from his original one. My heart aches for him but I don't bother to think about it too much. Shay is my friend, I hope so, and I should be encouraging her to strengthen her relationship and end what she has with Alex but I don't have the right to tell her what to do. It's her life and it's her relationship(s). I just hope she doesn't mess everything up with Christo. They always seem so happy when they're together.

" Hey guys." I go up to the opening act and remind them that soundcheck is in ten minutes before walking out and making my way onto the floor with the rest of the crew. We finished the set up early today so I was able to talk to Shay for a while but now I have to recheck everything for the sound checks. I walk around and receive info and updates from all of the specialists before standing behind the soundboard and waiting for the opening act.

" Hey." Derek sings songs, coming up from the side. I look over to him and he gazes at me from the side as we both lean against the wall.

" Hey." I respond back with a smile before uncrossing my arms and moving my hair away from my face. I'm not sure how to react. It's been so long since we've interacted with one another like we did the first day. Well it's only been 6 days but it's felt so much longer. Everyday on this tour feels so long. So much drama seems to unfold everyday and I'm glad that I've finally removed any possible personal relationships with the toxic people causing it.

" So I was thinking maybe tomorrow when we get to Denver I could show you around, since I was born & raised there." he says with a smirk and I instantly nod my head. I've traveled completely around the US with cage and they were great company to scour the cities with but being able to go with a native will be amazing. Hopefully I won't look like too much of a tourist next to him. " Sounds like a date." He says and my stomach churns on reflex. I know it's just a saying but I still feel on the edge. I've never gone on an actual real date so the word throws me off. I nod my head less confidently and we both look away from one another and gaze up at the opening act as they step onto the stage.

" Ready boys?"