The promise. [Short Chapters]

Chapter Eighteen.

"So, will I be seeing my lovely girlfriend tonight?"

The question should have been easy to answer. 'Of course you will, Matt, I wouldn't miss your show for the world'. But it wasn't. I held my mobile away from my mouth so Matt wouldn't hear my sigh of frustration. I really wanted to give him an assuring, positive answer, but it was difficult. The first week back at school was nothing short of agonising since I'd found out about Josh and Iss. I don't know why I was so upset-- I thought I was over Josh, but I guess that was just a lie.

"Me, miss your show? Never." I tried my best to hide how strained my voice was coming out, and luckily, Matt didn't notice a thing.

"Awesome," Matt grinned. "I miss having you around every day."

"Yeah, me too," I said lamely. "But Ella, Ryan, and I are getting in the cab like right now, so we'll see you in less than an hour, yeah?"

"No Iss?" Matt wondered aloud, and my stomach lurched at the sound of the name.

"She left with Josh an hour ago," I muttered. With every word, it was harder to not sound so bitter. As I slipped into the taxi cab, I decided it was time to kill the conversation before my anger progressed any further. "I gotta go though, love. See you soon."

"G'bye, baby," Matt gushed right as I hit the 'end' button.

I groaned at myself. Why did I always get myself into doomed relationships? First Josh, now Matt. My track record was not looking too nice. My mind was kicking itself for the cab ride down to the small club in Weybridge, and when we finally arrived, it kicked itself even harder as I saw Matt waiting outside for us.

"Hello, beautiful," he smiled as he opened my door and put his arms around me, squeezing me in a tight hug.

"Hi," I mumbled in reply, and for the second time in the past few months, I thanked the world for the lovely soul that was Bobby. He slipped out of the club, examined the small queue that was forming, then turned to Ella, Ryan, and me, so I slipped out of Matt's arms.

"Lola, Ella, can you two do me a massive favour?" Bobby asked in a rushed voice. When the two of us nodded, he continued on, "The boys are playing some new songs tonight, kind of a new direction for the band, and they want some feedback. Will the two of you linger in the crowd and see how they react? I told them if there was positive response, they could party at my place tonight."

Ella hesitated for a moment, since she'd always loved spending the shows backstage, so I jumped on the opportunity. Anything to avoid watching Iss cream her skirt over her new man for the entire show and then drink my troubles away afterward.

"'Course we will!" I answered over-enthusiastically. Ella shot me a look that Ryan just laughed at, and Matt looked vaguely disappointed, but he shrugged it off. "Now do we have to queue up like normal kids, or, since we're your lovely little helpers, do we get in early?"

Bobby rolled his eyes lightly. "Follow me in, I'll make sure you lot are on the list."

And we were, so we strolled into the club to check it out for the forty-five minutes before the gig started. Matt had to go backstage to make sure things were running smoothly, but as he turned to leave, he offered for the rest of us to come back with him. Ryan accepted, but Ella and I had other plans. There was some sort of best friend telepathy telling the both of us that we needed to talk, so as the boys headed backstage, we wandered around the dance floor, cleared out so it could double as a pit for the kids who would inevitably start a circle pit.

"Something's up," Ella stated simply. "Everything okay with you?"

"Iss is a no-good tart and apparently I'm jealous." I hoped that would be blunt enough.