the book shop > j.l < MID EDIT

eight

john

he walked off stage and grabbed the first towel to come into sight, freeing his forehead of all the sweat. his mind on overdrive with the look of bookshop girl dancing and singing along to their music. she looked so free. the way her body swayed forwards and backwards made him feel lightheaded.

she looked like she'd not had fun in a while. the way her friend encouraged her to have fun by lifting her arm in the air connecting their hands and dancing together, it made him think that this wasn't her scene. and she really didn't go to pubs like she'd said, not that he thought she was lying.

the rest of his band bounded off the stage grabbing water and towels cleaning themselves the best they could. pete came off last walking past everyone and straight out of the dressing room to host his 'party' which the band knew was just an excuse for some kind of orgy. he was a pretty disgusting guy.

"well bye pete," stu remarked sarcastically rolling his eyes at petes arrogance. rightfully so.

"right lads, drinks on me tonight, it was a good one, and everyone's going to petes party tonight so the bar will be empty thank god," paul said excitedly grabbing some money from his wallet.

"not me tonight paul, i'm going to meet astrid, she's in town for a while so you know. when love calls." stu replied happily at the thought of seeing his long term lover from germany, "i'm off, see yous later then yeah?" they all shook hands and sent him off before he burst with excitement.

"then there was three," john laughed.

"well i'm going to get drinks, you comin'?" paul look around expectantly.

"yeah," george said walking round to open the door to the dressing room,

"i'm coming, just give me a minute" john replied sitting on the dressing table. the two bandmates nodded and walked out.

john sat only for a minute or two in silence, just to collect himself before going back out to socialise. he inhaled deeply to calm his heart rate, he didn't know whether it was because he was anxious at the thought of the bookshop girl being out there, or the thought of her not being out there. he didn't know why he needed to see her again. maybe just knowing her name he would be able to push her out of his brain and forget about her. however, that didn't seem likely.

he walked over to the door letting himself into the open bar. surprised to only see around ten people left in the club. paul wasn't lying when he said everyone had gone to petes party. he spotted his friends at the bar ordering the pints.

"you're lucky you even get served in here you cheeky git," john overheard frank as he went and stood to the left of george and paul,

"and you're lucky we don't report you for harassing poor underage girls you pervert," john butted in wanting frank to shut up.

everything about frank disgusted him. frank had got to be around thirty, and took pleasure in trying to get into underage girls pants. which of course was always unsuccessful. frank was an alright looking guy, he was just way to sleazy, a shame really.

john took a sip of his pint zoning out from whatever paul and george were talking about overhearing a conversation from a few barstools up. he flicked his eyes up to peer around paul and george slightly so whoever he was looking at wouldn't see him straight out staring.

and there she sat.

her legs were crossed and her hand played with the straw inside her drink, swirling it around.

"keep your voice down they'll hear you!"

"penelope anne dawson! he was ogling you on stage you need to speak to him,"

john smirked to himself knowing it was a good chance they were talking about him, he couldn't take his eyes off of her whilst he was on stage.

"that's her isn't it?" george whispered snapping him out of his eavesdropping.

"what? who?" john played out innocently, pretending not to know who he was on about.

"bookshop girl, you couldn't stop staring at her whilst we were on stage," george teased, making john roll his eyes.

"wait that's her?" paul interrupted involving himself in the chat.

"that's her bookshop girl," george confirmed shaking his head in the girls direction.

"in the yellow?" paul quizzed, john nodded his head sceptically not wanting them to make a scene.

"she came? you're sure?" john stayed nodding his head.

"well are you going to say hello?" george asked as if it's the most simple thing in the world. john shrugged his shoulders, genuinely not knowing whether he would or not.

"her friends fit too," paul chuckled looking over at the exotic girl sat opposite her, "bloody hell johnny, you sure are punching mate" paul continued.

john replied in a more hushed tone, "i'm not punching, i've met her once, she just came to see the band"

"oh please, john if she were here just to see the band, she would've left by now, or gone to petes party, but she's still here. it's a sign! fate even" george said waving his arms exaggeratedly.

all three of the boys stared over at the girl who all of a sudden was yanked out of her seat by her friend saying, "oh my goodness if no one else is going to address the gigantic elephant in the room, i will gladly. bookshop girl, come on."

then the girls were on their way over to the boys.