WHEN JAY MET MAI

Dance, Dance

THE MUSIC WAS LOUD and Mai felt a wave of sweat hit her nose. She scrunched her nose and looked at Maria. It was the first time she was in a club so everything was new to her. Right now, she didn't like it too much. She trusted Maria with her whole heart so she let herself be pulled by her toward the crowd. 

Aside from the loud music, Mai could hear cheers from the crowd all pilled up near the stage. The crowd wasn't that big, which reassured Mai a bit. She looked around the room. The lights were dimmed and some low red lights were on each side of the room. On the back were some round tables with stools, beers and glasses left on the table. Bright lights were focused on the stage where she could see a boy with short hair with an outfit that would belong in Freddie Mercury's closet. She didn't know why but she felt drawn to him, from the way he was holding the mic to the way he was playing guitar. 

All her attention was on him she didn't even feel her friend tap on her shoulder. She turned her head and saw her friend smiling at her. She handed her a beer and brought her to the middle of the crowd. Mai looked at her beer and could hear her parents disapproving, but something about the atmosphere made her feel brave and she took her first sip of alcohol. The liquid burned in her throat and she made a grimace, her friend who had been looking at her started to laugh.

"It's alright, it's always disgusting the first time, take some more, you'll like it soon enough," Maria screamed in Mai's ear as the loud music filled the room. 

Uneasy, Mai nodded and took another gulp of beer, it was still disgusting. Mai was focusing on her presence in the pub and started to get anxious. She looked at her best friend who was dancing and singing along to the song the band was playing. 

Mai took a deep breath and started to dance to the rhythm of the song being played. She bopped her head and started to listen carefully to the song being played. The sound that came out of the speakers started as noise but soon became a melody. Impressed by the music from the band she got on her tiptoes and took a closer look at the members of the band. 

The drummer, in the back of the stage, had a bandana covering short hair and was bopping his head while quickly playing the drums. On his left was the bassist of the group, not missing an opportunity to jump on the stage. He reminded her of someone she had seen before, she quickly remembered seeing him on Maria's lock screen photo. She connected the dots and understood that he was her boyfriend. 

Her attention then went to the other guitarist who was singing. Mai could recognize that guy that had caught her attention earlier. The brown-haired boy had closed his eye to sing his part and opened his eye when the bassist started to sing. When he opened his eyes, they landed directly on Mai's. 

When she realized that the singer was looking at her and not someone behind her, she felt her cheeks heat up. She broke their eye contact and looked on the ground hoping he hadn't seen her red cheeks. He continued to sing as if nothing happened. Mai took a gulp of beer and got closer to Maria as the song ended.

Mai quickly recognized the song being played and jumped up and down as the band was playing one song from one of her favorite band The Who. She completely abandoned herself to the music and danced to the song. The songs they played next were all songs she heard before and like which got Mai to admit she liked the band and mentally noted that she needed to follow on social media. 

Mai had never had that much fun before and she liked the feeling of freedom she was feeling while listening to the Vaughaners. She didn't if it was because of the band, because she was breaking her parent's rules or the alcohol in her blood, but she liked how she was feeling.

As the closing time of the pub came near, most of the crowd had left, only around twenty people were left. People were sitting at the table with Maria along with other people. The Vaughaners had swapped their electric guitars for an acoustic one. The band finished their concert with the brown-haired singer sitting on a stool singing with his soft voice the song. 

Mai felt in a trance as she listened to the boy sing. With much more alcohol on her blood than supposed to, she felt brave enough to not look away as they locked eyes. As soon as their eyes met, she felt her surrounding blur. Time went on too quickly and the song ended as the whole pub applauded for the Vaughaners. 

Maria, with a proud smile, asked Mai if she liked it and would like to go backstage to meet the band. Mai hurriedly nodded and the two girls asked the way to reach the backstage area. A woman pointed them towards a black door. 

Mai's corner of her mouth lifted upwards, she walked quickly filled with anticipation of meeting the band. Her mind in a fog due to the alcohol, she absentmindedly followed her best-friend.