Cameraman, Swing the Focus

Chapter 43

Nicole stood her ground, her hands tucked into her armpits to try to keep them from falling off. Their breath was visible as soft white clouds in the air of their exhales.

Z took half a step closer to her and she felt like she was holding her breath, waiting to see what would happen. "I had a great time with you," Z said. She didn't move any closer, and something seemed to change, so that Nicole suddenly knew she wasn't going to. "I have to go, but I'll see you around sometime?" 

Nicole felt cold in a way that was no longer due to the weather. "Oh, yeah. I hope so." Z pulled her into a short hug. She didn't even have time to bring her arms up and hug her back before Z was stepping away, nodding to herself. 

"Have a good night, Nicole." She walked off down the street, and Nicole stared after her even once she'd disappeared around a corner. 

"Shit," Nicole cursed aloud, not sure where she'd gone wrong.

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Months went by and Nicole hadn't managed to see Z again. She'd gone by the bar a few times asking for her, but they always said she wasn't in, and that they would pass on the message. Eventually she took the hint and stopped going.

Brendon had messed things up with the guy he'd been seeing too, so they'd ended up spending a lot of nights together on the couch with a tub of ice cream and some romcoms. 

Spencer and Jon had only gotten more maddeningly in love when they got engaged, and finally one night, Brendon reached another breaking point. 

They'd just got home after another hasty retreat from the Joncer household, having narrowly escaped seeing someone's bare ass. Brendon had ranted for most of the walk home about how sad and lonely they were, Nicole not even having the energy to try and combat those statements. They weren't wrong and both of them knew it.

"We're going to a concert," Brendon announced. Nicole had flopped down on the couch, mostly tuning out his monologue until that point.

"Sure, concerts are fun." Nicole felt like she was humouring him, and he'd probably have forgotten most of this in the morning. Even if he didn't, she wasn't adverse to seeing a show.

"No. I mean we're going right now. Get dressed." Brendon full on kicked his bedroom door open, sending it flying into the wall of his bedroom and most likely denting it.

Nicole struggled into an upright position, feeling confused. "What? I am dressed." Brendon popped his naked torso back into the living room, holding a different shirt in each hand as he chose what to wear. 

"You need to look hot." Nicole made a disgruntled noise at that. "If you're going to find someone to sleep with you, the sweatpants are going to be a major obstacle to overcome." 

Nicole looked down at her pants with a frown as Brendon disappeared back into his room. "Wait. Come out here and tell me in real person words what the fuck is happening." There was a crashing noise in Brendon's room, and he came out with his pants half on, hopping on one leg to pull them up.

"I saw this flyer for some mysterious band that's playing tonight only." He buttoned up his fly and pulled Nicole to her feet, steering her into her bedroom and proceeding to pull clothes out for her to put on. "They don't have a name, and they all wear masks, and everyone in the audience gets a mask to wear too. At first I thought it was kind of creepy, but now I'm thinking it's a great way to find someone to hook up with that's not based on looks!" 

Nicole was trying her best to keep up, but attempting to get dressed and listen to high speed Brendon logic was a little too much. "So because everyone's in masks, you think we'll be less shallow and hook up with ugly people?"