Say Hello, Wave Goodbye

Chapter 10

Later, after I'd had a good shower and changed into some of my stolen clothes, I found myself with very little to do. The band members who'd so kindly offered me their home had cleared off to work for the day, leaving me alone to explore the flat. Not that there was much to explore. John and I had parted warmly that morning, with him promising to take me out for something to eat tonight and me enthusiastically agreeing. I'd decided not to let the book bother me for now - what harm could this do? We might go on a few dates now and then, like tonight, and we'd only slept together once. I can't have been the first girl he tried an arrangement like this with.

Talking of sleeping together, I was still thinking about that hours later and revelling in the fact it actually HAPPENED. The time it took me to calm down was embarrassing.

Eventually, I decided I needed to get out and see more of 1981 while I still had the opportunity; staying in a flat all day seemed like a huge waste of time. Now that I'd secured a safe and dependable place to live, I could spend the rest of that money any way I wanted. That felt kind of pointless considering all my stuff would stay here at the end of the month, but it sounded like fun. I spent all morning just browsing in the shops. Something about this place had me hooked, and I wasn't sure that I wanted to go home when the time came. To distract myself from that thought, I bought a leather skirt and a shirt that were so 80s it was PAINFUL, then ate my feelings in another cafe similar to the one I'd found myself in yesterday. Except this time I was much calmer and thinking primarily of John, and the date he'd promised tonight. I couldn't wait.

By the time I arrived back at the flat that afternoon, I only had an hour left to kill before everyone arrived back. I spent that time getting ready, choosing to wear the skirt and top that I'd bought; standing in front of the mirror after doing my makeup and changing, I thought I looked more than decent. Despite the fact I'd chosen those clothes off my own back, I hoped John liked them, too.

The second he walked through the door with his bandmates that evening, John focused straight on me, approaching with a grin and taking me by the lips. His intensity took me by surprise, considering we'd only met less than 24 hours ago, but boy did I like it. Beneath all my makeup, I blushed. When he did eventually break away from the kiss, he spoke against my ear in low tones,

"I've been thinking about you all day..."

"And I've been thinking about this morning a lot, too."

"Me too, but I was thinking more about tonight," he gave me a thirsty look, "I see you've already gotten ready - I'll just be a couple of minutes, I've got to change."

I nodded speechlessly, watching him go and wondering how the hell we'd slept together earlier, and how the hell we were going on dates together now. It really was baffling. If this was a dream, then I'd done very well for myself. But while I was lost in my daydream, I didn't hear Roger approach me quietly, too busy thinking about John.

"He tends to have that effect on people. And he really likes you, you know." Roger told me gently.

Despite his gentleness, I jumped a mile.

"OH! Hey Roger-"

"Sorry about surprising you like that," he laughed apologetically, "I was just saying, I think that John really likes you, he's talked about you a lot today."

Roger seemed trustworthy to me, so I couldn't help but believe him; I was beyond shocked. Mainly, the disappointment I felt was the biggest surprise - I should've been ecstatic, but my knowledge of my time restriction felt like a fresh wound. How could two people with such an instant connection be tortured like this? It didn't seem fair.

"You don't know how much that means to me, Roger," I put on a brave face, "because I like him so much too."

"I'd noticed."

I was about to reply, but at that moment, John emerged from his room, sporting a fresh shirt and re-styled hair. GOD, he was sexy. He managed to make a simple outfit look classy, and I was ready to do him all over again.

"Are you ready?" He asked, picking up his wallet from the kitchen side.

I nodded, and away we went, down to a small restaurant, where we talked for so long that our food got cold. Normally, I ran out of things to talk about on dates, but today I had no such trouble. I'd never laughed so much, either. John had some kind of natural charm, and he was definitely exercising it on me - he managed to draw out plenty of stories about myself, which was a miracle since I hated the spotlight being on me for too long. He shared equally as many, if not more. The evening was amazing, but before long, 9pm rolled around, and much to my surprise, John got to his feet to leave.

"Where are you going?"

"WE are going to the Rum Runner, luv. We're playing tonight and I thought you'd like to see what happened backstage." He offered me his hand.

I took it.

"Of course I'd like to see that, John," I smiled.

He didn't even wait for the waitress to bring the bill; he just left the money on the table and dragged me away outside, grinning all the way. I couldn't help but grin too. Together, we raced hand-in-hand down the street, which attracted some odd looks, but I found that I really didn't give a shit. I was enjoying this immensely. The feel of his hand in mine, gripping hard, was turning me on immensely, too. Hopefully, we'd spend tonight a much more satisfying way than the last.

By the time we reached the Rum Runner, both of us were unkempt and messy, the wind having blown our hair into birds nests. There was no way he was presentable enough to go onstage. Despite this, however, a steady queue had already started to form outside the club, which seemed to have quenched John's carefree attitude a little.

Once we'd made it inside, we were met with the band's less than happy managers, who John had failed to notify about his date. That worried me slightly, since this was my fault, and the first impression I gave wasn't particularly savoury, dressed like this, too. Paul and Michael escorted him away to give him a dressing down, and to dress him up. In the meantime, I could only wait, anxiously, for the show to begin.