The Dip and the Resurface

Part 4

Tyler

"I don't think I caught your name before," I asked her as the bartender placed a margarita in front of her.

"You can call me Margarita Girl," she winked at me, "as that is probably how you're gonna remember me after tonight."

I laughed at her remark, "well, I don't want you to call me Long-Island-Ice-Tea-Guy."

"How about Ruined-My-Shoes-And-Threatened-To-Ruin-My-Dress-Too-Guy?"

"Worst superhero name ever," I rolled my eyes and it made her laugh. Shit that sound was pleasing.

"How about I just call you That-Cute-Guy-From-The-Bar," she said, looking me over. Was she flirting with me?

"You can call me whatever you want," I said with a goofy smile plastered across my face.

"So, Cute Guy, what do you do for a living?"

"Take a guess, Margarita Girl," I urged her.

"You're in the music industry, obviously - otherwise you wouldn't be at the Brit Awards. Still, I'm not sure I have seen your face before... Producers are often quite anonymous, so I'm guessing that's your profession."

I shook my head, "I wish! That would've been cool. I am in the music business though.."

She looked at me intently, scrunching up her small nose as she took me in, "music is a lot of things. There are musicians, managers, scene technicians, producers - although I guess we already ruled that one out. Hmmm, I might need a clue before I start bombarding you with questions: Do you have any tattoos?"

"Loads!" I nodded eagerly.

"Ah, so you're definitely a musician then! Guitarist, maybe?"

"Never excelled at it," I shook my head.

"Clearly not a drummer," she said, looking at my arms.

"How dare you," I said in mock horror, clutching my heart as if I had been offended.

She smiled, "singer?"

"Bingo!"

"Singer! Of course!" she exclaimed, "That's quite nice! Honestly didn't take you for a front man though.." she sized me up.

"I'm not," I laughed, "It's a shared position as we're only two in the band."

"Oh, cool!" she said and looked me over once more. I wondered what she was thinking.

"What do you do?" I asked her before she had the chance to ask me more questions.

"Unfortunately nothing cool - I just work at Wembley Stadium as a floor manager. I make sure that everything goes smoothly at different events, and concerts and what not. Clearly nothing to get psyched about," she laughed, "I'd rather hear about you! Are you and your band upcoming? Or are you huge in America and just haven't hit that vein in Europe yet?"

I didn't want to talk that much about my career. It would just come out as if I was bragging. I decided to steer the conversation in another direction: "How about we put our careers aside and just...talk? Let there be a little mystery for a while, you know. No careers. No names. Margarita Girl and That-Guy-From-The-Bar."

"The Mysterious Cute Guy - I like that!"

Josh chose that exact moment to show up next to me and say, "Yo, Tyler! Where the hell is that water?"

So much for keeping my name a secret...

"Oi, sorry. Didn't mean to interrupt," he said as he noticed that I was talking to a girl. She didn't seem irritated by him, but just send him a blinding smile. Something that made my stomach spark with just a tiny fleck of jealousy.