Désobéissance - Palaye Royale

Chapter 9

IX

NICE TO MEET YOU

"Hello..."

I turn to see if it's really me he's addressing. The vigil that accompanies him put himself as a barrier so that people don't come too close to him.

"Do you have a few minutes to talk?"

No doubt, he's talking to me. 

My surprised head must probably be priceless because he doesn't hide a certain amusement by seeing the effect he has on me. Ellie slaps me on the back to make me react. 

"Um yes..."

"Come, follow me."

He motioned for me to follow him, which I did without thinking, under the amazed looks of my friends and everyone else present. We cross the room. He heads for the lodges. My heart is beating fast. What does he want from me? I think he realizes my embarrassment, and, no doubt to make the moment less embarrassing and less private, stops just outside a door, in a long corridor.

"Kylie told me you were there."

Oh...Come on Lexie! Talk to him for Christ sake!

"I wouldn't think you would remember me..."

He takes off his sunglasses. His eyes meet mine. He looks at me intensely, I look away from his hazel eyes. I have flashbacks from my dreams of that night, from my lips meeting his. I blush at it. 

Why is he making me feel like that? 

It's might sound crazy, but I had never really paid attention to him as a full-fledged person before. For me, the members of Palaye Royale are above all a group of very good musicians who like to have fun playing on a very sophisticated image between punk and Victorian spirit. But the person standing in front of me right now is anything but that. Well apart from his clothes. And despite the celebrity, he shows an accessibility of which I didn't believe him capable. And I must admit that he's really cute. He must have no trouble convincing girls of... 

Wait a minute, is he trying to do that with me? 

He bites his lip in nervousness. 

How can someone who plays in front of thousands of people can be shy?

"Yes, of course I remember you..."

I quickly become all red. I'm so hot. I need to get some fresh air. But I pretend that everything is fine. I hope I don't faint right in front of him. It would be the icing on the cake. 

"I was really looking forward to seeing you again. Your name is Lexie, right?"

He probably knows it from Kylie. I'm not going to answer him a banality like "Yes, and you're Emerson right?". Everyone here knows exactly who he is. I also can't get past that, and still wonder how I got here, in this cramped corridor, exchanging a few words with him. But I think there is nothing worse for someone like him to try to have a conversation with someone who doesn't answer. And besides, it doesn't look like me. 

"Yes that's right, nice to see you in other circumstances than our collision from last night."

Phew, he smiles. 

"Are you used to do that?"

His question questions me. 

"To do what? Collide in strangers on the street?" 

"Uh no... I'm talking about the audition."

Oh, yes of course. The audition. The reason why I'm here. 

"No... To tell the truth, this is the first time that we participate in something like this." 

"It's nice to see that girls are able to defend themselves in music."

This remark is extremely misogynistic but I cannot blame him for noticing it. It's true that there are few recognized women in the rock, punk or metal scene. 

"You don't even know if we good enough!"

"No, but I can't wait to see that. When do you play?"

I take my cell phone out of my pocket. 12:42 pm. 

"Well, in less than twenty minutes..."

"Ah... I hope I haven't distracted you!"

You're kidding? I could faint in the minute, but everything is fine, I'm all good! 

Our conversation is interrupted by Brian. He calls Emerson from the end of the corridor. 

"Man come on! We're eating everything!"

He seems to recognize me too.

"Oh but you're with the girl from yesterday! Excuse dude!"

Emerson gives him a fake annoyance face.

"I have to go back to the girls anyway."

"Yes, and I wouldn't want to be accused of favoritism."

We exchange a look. I'm about to go away to let him join the others but he holds me by the wrist.

"Please don't go away tonight again."

Is it his sentence, the punctuation of his almost imploring voice or the feeling of his hand on my wrist that creates such emotion in me? Surely the three elements together. But I no longer know what's going on. I just respond with a nod and a smile. He gives me back my hand and I walk away without looking back. My legs are shaking. Air. I need air and fast. I pass in front of Ellie, Matt, Maxine and Carole without paying too much attention to them so much I have my mind confuse. They follow me outside. Carole breaks the silence.

"Did he show you his dick or what? You shiver like a dead leaf!"

"What the hell?!"

We laugh.

"God you're annoying to keep everything for yourself!" Ellie said to me as she sat down next to me on the sidewalk.

"My mind's a little confused to tell the truth... But to sum up, he told me not to disappear again this evening."

"Does he thinks your Cinderella or something?" Maxine exclaims, laughing louder.

"Ah ah! No, he was really... touching..."

"What! He touched you?" Carole exclaims, but noticing that her joke goes too far, she calms down immediately.

"You will be on stage in fifteen minutes" Matt points out to us while looking at his watch, bringing us back to the reality of competition.

I get up and stretch. I have to release all this tension. I'm taking a deep breath of fresh air. I signal the girls to come closer to me. We stand by the shoulders in a circle.

"It is in these moments that we need a war cry!" Maxine tells us.

"I have one!" Said Carole.

I'm already afraid of what she will told us.

"C'est la grosse bite à Dudule!"

"It's not a war cry!"

"No, but at least it relaxes the atmosphere. I can sing it to you if you want, I know the song by heart!"

Ok. She's definitely crazy. But I like it. We stop her all the same before it degenerates.

And now, here we are. On the side of the stage, ready to go. Palaye Royale takes their place behind the table. Carole leaves to settle behind the drum. Maxine goes to my right, Ellie to my left. A roadie comes to connect the jacks to our guitars, checks the setting of my microphone then leaves me room. The light from the spotlight blinds me. The advantage is that I see neither the crowd in front of us, nor Emerson. I have to concentrate as much as possible on the music.

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