In The Shadows: Part I

The Chinese Restaurant

Harry kept flicking tiny pieces of cabbage at Mitch and smiled when he responded by throwing them back. It had been 30 minutes since they had to leave the pub and Jeff and the rest of the band had gone off to Charlotte's house for karaoke and drinks. Harry had immediately feigned hunger and said he and Mitch would be there soon. In reality they both did not have the energy to go on and act like the entire night hadn't been ruined by the lighting director tipping of the paparazzi. Mitch had walked across the empty parking lot with Harry to the Chinese restaurant across the road where they proceeded to order obscene amounts of food.

"Thanks for not making me go face Sarah dude," Mitch said in a whisper

"Don't mention it. I was already over the whole thing, you know me, a romcom and a salad and I'm set for the night. Besides, it's about time Jeff won at karaoke night," Harry said shrugging it off.

Mitch held Harry's gaze for a moment knowing that as true as that was, Harry had also been pretty wound up the past couple of days. The tour had been crazy and he needed a night out to feel normal and get lost in a crowd. Try as he could, Mitch could not relate. His silence and resting glower made him fade easily into the background and it was only amplified if the person next to you shone so bright you were eclipsed in their presence. Mitch considered telling this to Harry when he felt someone watching him. Instinctively he frowned thinking it was the paparazzi but his heart stopped when he recognized those glittery brown eyes. The glitter and shine was gone from her face but she still knocked the wind out of him.

Confirming she was real he said, "Vodka cran?"
Their voices met and collided again that night and almost in a trance he stood to go introduce himself before she disappeared again. Halfway to her he realized what he was doing and stopped. Harry was tugging his sweater.

Throwing a nervous glance at the two girls, Harry said, "Mate, you alright!"

Before he could say anything to his mystery girl, her blonde friend stood up and beelined straight for Harry.

"Hi, omg hi hi hi. Umm, my name is Hal and I'm such a huge fan. I absolutely love your music and everything you stand for and all that. I wanted to come to your O2 show but the tickets were so pricey I couldn't spring it on a student budget..."

Amused and no surprised, Harry hugged and her reassured her that she was no less of a fan because she couldn't get to a show, her support was enough. As she melted at the direct attention from her hero. Mitch took the opportunity to finally introduce himself.

"Hi, I'm Mitch Rowland," he said suddenly feeling nervous as Hal and Harry paused their conversation to eavesdrop like helicopter parents.

"I'm Margot Hill, but my friends just call me Maggie. I never liked Margot, felt a little too close to maggot, actually when I-" she stopped abruptly with a nervous laugh. She pulled a few stray coils back into her bun as he suddenly realized, yes he would very much like to know how her sentence ended. Suddenly nothing seemed as important as getting her to keep talking.

"Do you want to sit with us, if you're not in a hurry?"

"Yes! We'd love that actually, we're so tired of all the dancing and noise," Hal jumped in immediately directing all her words at Harry.

Mitch and Maggie rolled their eyes in unison and they moved their food to the corner booth the boys had occupied. Harry and Hal had bonded over the fact that they were both vegetarian and were immersed in an intense conversation about carrot bacon and whether it really tasted like bacon.

"So, what are you doing having stir-fry noodles at midnight with the Britain's hottest artist?" Maggie said in her warm rich voice her low voice almost failing to reach his ears.

"I'm the guitarist in his band and we really just craved some Chinese take-away after the show," he replied in an equally cool offhand manner but his quippiness fell flat. He wanted to take himself out to the sidewalk and kick himself for how uncool his attempts at coolness were. She seemed thrown by his sudden change in demeanor and he apologized and corrected himself.

"We were actually out for a couple of drinks after the show and some paparazzi showed up which made everything suddenly less fun. So we snuck out and came here."

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I can't imagine having to cut your night short because of that."

"Yeah, I was really excited about my vodka cran," he said trying to make the conversation light again.

"Then why don't you guys come with us to Hampstead, our classmates were having a party to celebrate end of classes," Hal said brightly. Mitch hadn't even noticed they had been listening in. He watched Maggie throw Hal a panicked look and said that they were actually not sure if they were going and would probably head home for the night.

Harry looked at Mitch to see what he wanted and Mitch tried to convey without words that he wanted to do anything possible to give him time to show Maggie that he actually had a personality and was interesting when he wasn't too busy being too flustered to talk. Still, he didn't know if Harry just wanted to head back to their place. Harry smiled at him and turned to the girls brightly.

"Well, you're in luck girls. We are looking for fun and some drinks. And Hampstead is actually on our way home so if you'll allow me, I'll call us an Uber and we can be on our way," Harry said walking out.

Hal looked like she was about to pass out and Maggie was throwing murderous glances at her. He was sure she would back out because she had seen through the glossy veneer and decided he wasn't worth the time.

"You don't ha-," he started trying to give her an excuse to leave but Hal whispered into Maggie's ear and she seemed to calm down. She actually shot him a smile and for the first time that night he was suddenly very grateful for the chatty blonde. 

Harry walked back in to tell them their ride was here. The girls went to the washroom as Mitch cleared the table, his heart pounding. He hadn't been this excited to spend time with any girl since-, since Sarah. Oh Sarah, he loved in ways he never thought possible but there was so much working against them. Then here was Maggie with her warm smile that left him flustered and her confidence that made him slightly envious. No matter what residual feelings existed, he knew he owed it to himself to explore this new connection.