Stay Beautiful

5 - Café Concert & 'Teenage Dirtbag'

5 - Café Concert & 'Teenage Dirtbag' 

The crowd cheered along to Luke –ahem, and his band, I keep forgetting about them.

Everyone fist pumped in the air excitedly and roared as they recorded the boys on stage with their phones and cameras. I tried to divert my gaze from the tall boy with the tight and ripped jeans, but it was impossible to even attempt to try. My eyes were glued to him and to how effortlessly good he was and how happy he looked while playing his guitar so intensely while singing with that voice that only real angels could have.

After they had played almost for two hours, time had flown by a bit too fast for my liking, it was time for the cover. The song Luke had said would be a surprise, the one that had me intrigued for the past ninety minutes. It was obvious I only used it as an excuse to not think about what had happened yesterday, because it confused me greatly and I had no idea of what it meant or of where to go from there.

“Now, we’re singing teenage Dirtbag!” Luke yelped excitedly, probably ecstatic by the adrenaline rushing thoroughly through his veins.

My mouth opened widely as I raised my eyebrows in shock. Luke’s gaze met mine through the sea of people and he flashed me the sweetest and most beautiful smile I have ever seen in my life. He winked at me and soon enough his band mates begun strumming some chords as our song started playing. I loved the mere sound of that, our song. It made me feel special, even if it was probably just in honor of our friendship.

I loved Luke no matter what. I did not care how he looked at me and if my love for him would never be reciprocated. In that moment, as he sang along to that song he knew meant so much to me, the one we had sang just yesterday at the market, I could care less about everything else around us, about everything else but him, and so I did as I let the butterflies tickle my belly while I grinned until it hurt.

After the performance and some claps on the back from everyone and anyone in the small place, Luke could finally come over to where I was, in a corner waiting for him. When there were so many people clustered into a small place, I got anxious.  He knew that.

As he made his way to me, I could see nothing past his gorgeous and breathtaking blue eyes. Sometimes I cringed at how cheesy and lame I sounded, even if it was all said in my head, when talking about Luke. I wondered if I was like that when I talked about him with other people, or worse, to him. He grinned happily and before I could even react, he had already engulfed me in a bear hug. That helped me relax though. After our almost kiss yesterday I had been a bit reluctant to, well, anything. I was not sure of how to react or if anything of what I was seeing or hearing was real or whatnot.

I laughed out loud as he spun us around. I held on tighter to his torso and buried my face deeper into his chest as I giggled, holding on to him for dear life. Well, I would hold onto him no matter what the circumstances were. Except if it was too obvious, of course. I would not like him to reject me for being too clingy. I let out a happy sigh as he put me down.

“You were amazing,” I breathed out. I immediately remembered how we had breathed out some words to each other before inching closer and closer, with our lips parted and our bodies intertwined. Luke’s eyes darkened, and I wondered right away if it was for the same reason, because he was remembering last night. He was all sweaty, and still shaking due to the thrill of the stage. His hair was disheveled and it was until I started to really notice him in front of me and take him in that I noticed we were once again quite close to each other.

I gulped nervously as his hands snaked down my arms and slowly found my hands. His fingers started to intertwine with mine and my heart started pounding heavily like his must have been because of his rush when a blonde girl approached us and almost literally got in between us. I felt disappointed but tried to conceal it, since I was not sure if he was even attempting at kissing me again before we were interrupted.

“Hello, I’m Rebecca and you were amazeballs!” the blonde girl yelped. Both Luke and I cringed at the same time as she said the word amazeballs, if it is even considered an actual word by someone.

“Uh, thank you,” Luke mumbled, taking a step closer to me. Our arms brushed and I sucked a sharp breath in, not being able to believe that I had had his lips so close to mine twice and that both times someone had interrupted us. Like, was destiny trying to tell me something here?!

“But, which was that song at the end though?” she asked next. “I have never heard it before.”

I scoffed mentally and fought the urge to slap her. I knew it was not actually about the song, but about how she stared at Luke like he was some piece of meat and she was hungry. He did not deserve such low and mundane thought about him. He was too perfect and so much better than that. He could do so much better than her –not that better meant me. “Are you serious?” I blurted out.

“What?” she questioned with a scrunched up face, apparently only then noticing I was standing right beside them. Well, I could not really blame her. Anyone that was with Luke forgot about everyone else. But somehow, today it only made my blood boil some more.

“It’s pretty much a classic of this generation,” I noted with a skeptical look. I heard Luke silently giggling beside me but I kept my focus on the girl.

“Is it?” she asked Luke, obviously wanting him to pipe in and defend her. Why would he though? He does not even know her! How silly of her to think that.

“Yeah, it is,” Luke simply stated with a shrug.

“Ugh, whatever,” she huffed, obviously annoyed that he had not backed her up. Damn, she was so annoying. I could perfectly picture myself punching her in the face. “I would love for you to come to my yacht for a party tomorrow,” Rebecca gushed giddily to Luke, making me want to throw up. I suppose I am a bit jealous.

Luke laughed nervously and when he saw she was serious, he cleared his throat. “Uh, yeah. Sabi and I would love to go,” Luke replied as he got his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him. I frowned at his odd actions and unexpected words but immediately covered it up as Rebecca turned to look at me with disdain.

“Sabi?” she echoed, almost spitting my nickname as if it was venom on her lips. I really did not like this girl.  

“Yeah, Sabrina. Sabi is a nickname,” Luke explained, though I assumed he knew exactly what Rebecca meant by repeating my name after him. She obviously was just inviting him and I was a nuisance in her way to get him. She appeared to be the kind of girl that only wanted to get a boy to sleep with her, and that infuriated me because Luke was so much more than just a good looking guy for a night.

“Oh, I see,” she muttered and pursed her lips into a thin line. “Well, I’ll see you there,” she said next as she took a step towards Luke.

“Yeah, I’ll see you there.” I felt him tense next to me and almost laughed at her desperate attempts to get him.

“Okay, so bye!” she chirped and leaned in to kiss his cheek. He leaned back quickly and I saw her offended face. She probably thought he was going to let her lips linger on him. But I knew he would not. He felt nothing but terror of her. And I never thought I would be so happy to see a certain person be as terrified of someone else.