All The Mixed Feelings (Van McCann)

Part 12

Abby

The night air was cool and it was welcome after the sweatiness of the gig. I pulled my top away from my body, thinking to myself that Alice probably still looked immaculate.

Michelle beckoned me towards the side of the building. As we walked around I could hear chatter and was surprised to see groups of fans standing around. "Come on, this way," said Michelle, leading me past them to a door where a large, burly security man was standing guard.

"It's Michelle and Abby to see the band," Michelle said. "Bob told us to come here?"

He consulted a clipboard, and then pushed the door open. "There you go girls, down the corridor and bear left."

I glanced behind me as we slipped through, feeling a little like we were trespassing. "This is exciting isn't it?" I giggled.

"Ha yeah! Feels like we're VIPs or something!"

We could hear chatter and laughter as we neared our destination, when Alice suddenly stepped out into the corridor. She looked us up and down with a disdainful look. My heart sunk.

"Hey, what are you doing back here?" She spoke, her lips curling up as if we were something unpleasant she'd just scraped off the bottom of her shoe. "Fans have to wait outside!"

I opened my mouth to speak but no sound came out. Michelle shook her head and stood tall, staring Alice down. "Bob invited us if you must know. Here, I'll ring him."

"No need!" Came a voice and I was relieved to see Bob's smiling face appear around the door. "Chill out Alice, they're not fans!"

"Actually we're huge fans!" Michelle smiled wide and stepped up to Bob, pulling him into a hug before pulling away. "You were so good!"

Alice gave Bob a thin smile and stalked away, back where she'd come from, but not before she'd turned and glared right at me. I felt so uncomfortable. "Hey guys, I might pop back to the hotel and meet you all there later if that's ok? I need to change anyway."

"Not yet, come on, we're celebrating!" Bob put an arm around my shoulder and urged me forwards. Then he lowered his voice. "Don't mind Alice. She doesn't like anyone."

It didn't make me feel any better, but I let myself be led into the crowded room.

The buzz inside was incredible. I saw Van straight away over the far side, his hair pushed back, damp with sweat, and a towel draped around his neck. He was talking animatedly with a small group and holding what looked like a bottle of whiskey.

I felt an arm around my shoulder and looked to see Johnny smiling down at me. "Hey, wanna go outside and smoke this with me?" He held up a joint in his free hand.

I shook my head, scrunching up my nose. I had absolutely no tolerance to smoking weed. "I'll have some of that though," I said, snatching the beer bottle he was also holding, taking a large swallow.

"So what did you think then?"

"You guys were awesome! I mean, I don't know what I was expecting, but.... I was blown away!"

Johnny's smile became a huge grin, showing his teeth. "I'll drink to that!" He grabbed the beer back off me and took a swig.

He led me over to a battered looking sofa and gestured for me to sit down, then he grabbed a couple more bottles of beer off the side, twisting the caps off and offering me one. I thanked him and sat forward, perched on the edge. "All seems a bit surreal being backstage!" I said.

"Does to me too, you don't get this playing at the bloody Bulls Head!" Johnny joked.

Loud laughter broke out over from Van's little gathering and we both glanced over. Johnny started chuckling. "Look at him, he's like an excited little puppy!"

That made me smile. Van was certainly hyper, he was shifting from one foot to the other, waving his hands around as he spoke. I watched him for a moment and his eyes flicked to mine. He gave me a little wink, and I looked away, instantly embarrassed.

"You stopping over at the hotel then?" Johnny was saying, and I nodded.

"Me, Van and Larry booked a suite, it's bloody massive," Johnny spoke enthusiastically. "Thought we'd splash out for a change."

We chatted for a bit and I was pleased for the company. To be honest I felt a bit out of place and Johnny's witty, easy-going personality put me at ease.

After a while, Larry drifted over and perched on the arm of the chair. "How ya doing?" He said. "Heard things are back on with your boyfriend."

"Errr... yeah, we made up."

Johnny's smile faltered and he looked thoughtful for a moment. "Hope he's treating you right."

"Yeah..." I began but was interrupted by Van shouting to his friend loudly across the room.

"Bond, come on mate, time to go and meet the fans!"

"Meet you back at the hotel?" Johnny started to get up, taking his phone out of his back pocket. "Hey, why don't you give me your number and I'll give you a bell when we're done?"

I hesitated, feeling strange about giving out my phone number to another guy, Chris would go mad if he knew. I did it anyway. Johnny was harmless enough, and Chris didn't need to know. I felt a knot of guilt burning in my stomach. I was supposed to be calling Chris. I checked the time. It was only 11pm, still early. I would call him later. Tell him I'd gone home so he didn't need to worry. An uneasiness started to creep over me as I played out the conversation in my head.

"Did I just see you giving out your digits to Bondy?" Michelle walked over, a little wide-eyed. "He's a fast mover!"

"He's just gonna let us know when they've finished meeting the fans," I told her. "Don't you think that's weird? I mean, actual fans hanging around outside to meet them like they're properly famous? I never imagined for a minute that they were that big!"

"I know right?" Michelle said excitedly. "It's kinda mind-blowing!"

We left to get a taxi back to the hotel, and we could see the lads posing for selfies with groups of fans, mainly girls. Benji and Bob looked like they were signing things.

Back at the hotel we freshened up, re-touched up our make-up and got changed. I put on one of my favourite tops, I'd been told before that it brought out the colour of my eyes. I didn't think I had an awful lot going for me, but I did love my green eyes.

Before long my phone was buzzing with an unknown number and Johnny was inviting us up to the suite where they were staying.

AN: Sorry for this rubbish chapter! I'll be surprised if anyone's still reading this far anyway lol!!!