CASUAL AFFAIR; brendon urie

Chapter Thirty-Seven

"I swear, if there isn't a mariachi band tonight, I'll be the one making your death look like an accident." I jokingly warned Sammi as we came to the entrance to the restaurant.

And waiting there at the doors, was Jinxx. No matter how many times I saw it, seeing him without his stage stuff on was always weird. Tonight, he was simply in a black shirt, black skinny tie, black dress trousers, and black boots. As soon as he turned and clapped eyes on Sammi, well ... his face lit up a hundred watts, and he held his arms wide, which of course, she ran right into. The pair embraced passionately, with Jinxx planting a kiss atop Sammi's head, murmuring something to her. Eventually, the two broke apart, and Jinxx pulled me into a friendly hug. "It's nice seeing you, Florence."

"Nice seeing you." I nodded back in return.

"The others are just in there, so-" he hooked this thumb in the entrance. "Shall we?"

Sammi linked her arm through his, grinning and leaning into him. "We shall."

Jinxx lead us right through the restaurant, the inside busy, but not quite full, to the far more bustling outside tables. It was loud, with talking, and laughter, and of course, a mariachi band playing on a small stage, some upbeat version of a popular Avril Lavgine song. And the table - our table - was bustling. Crowded around it were the rest of the band - Andy, CC, Jake, Ashley - but also CC's girlfriend, Lauren, who he had his arm wrapped around, looking gauzy in a gold shift dress, metallic make-up, and sparkly jewellery, totally out-dressing me in my black sheer with white polka dots sleeveless blouse, dark denim skinnies and black heeled boots, dark painted lips and hair hanging in soft waves down my back. There was also the other guy I'd be working merch with, Andy Two (nicknamed such due to him being 'the other Andy other than Biersack') and tour manager, Jon Syverson.

At our arrival, there was a great cheer, and greetings, Andy even standing up and leaning over everything in order to give me a firm hug. "Great to see you here, Florence. Hope the journey didn't wreck you too badly."

I snorted, patting his back. "I don't know how you Cincinnati folk roll, but we Nevada guys are strong and laugh in the face of jet lag."

He laughed, plopping himself back down, and waving at me to take a seat. Lauren said a sweet hello, CC waved, Jake seemed engrossed in his cell phone, but looked up to give a smile and a wave, Andy Two gave me a one-armed hug, and Jon shook my hand. Ashley, however, didn't make a move to greet me, but rather, his eyes roamed up and down my body. When he finally caught my eye he gave me a cocky smile.

There was a booming clap, that silenced all conversation, and even Jake stopped his furious texting, looking up at Andy - the clapper - who was wearing a stern look on his face. "And now," he slammed his fist down on the table, before breaking into a grin. "We dine!"

The rest of the night passed by in a blur of mariachi, jokes, banter and tacos. Ashley continued to eye me across the table, only every so often supplying his input, but I thought nothing of it. He'd flirted with me last time I'd done merch for them, and I knew my last attempt at letting him down had clearly fallen on deaf ears. I didn't even think it was particularly that I was his type. Or that he was even that attracted to me. More that, he liked women. In general. And because I'd said no, it had spurred him on, like a quest. Sammi and Jinxx, along with CC and Lauren were playing the cute couples, Jake the piner (after I found that it was his girlfriend, a British model named Ella that he was texting) and the rest of us made up for it with talk and laugh.

Even though any of us hadn't ingested what you'd consider a great deal of alcohol (though some were more tipsy than others, ahem, Andy Two), and we were still steady on our feet, Jinxx had insisted on calling us a cab to take us back to the hotel. Mine, Jinxx's and Sammi's cab was the first back, and there was a long, drawn-out goodbye between the pair of them that involved a lot of kissing and hugging, and caressing, before finally, Sammi shut the door behind her, and lay down on the bed beside me.