Four Doors Down(23)
“Becca just remembers a guy called Sven who used to teach our mom’s yoga when we were little. He used to really make us laugh,” Ryan tells Bianca, barely containing his grin of amusement.
I glance at him and start to laugh. There is no guy that used to teach our moms yoga, but he’s given me the perfect excuse to let my laughter out. Sam starts chuckling along too and Bianca narrows her eyes and turns on Sam. “What are you laughing about?”
“Oh, Sam knew him too,” Ryan explains, his eyes twinkling mischievously and I grin at him.
Bianca sits back in a huff and crosses her arms across her chest, clearly annoyed that Ryan has stuck up for us and therefore she can’t have a go at us. “So your moms are friends?” she questions.
Ryan nods and looks over at me. “Oh yeah, Becca and I go way back. Becca just doesn’t like to be seen in public with me.” I narrow my eyes at him. I consider that a bit rich since he was the one who dropped our friendship when he became too popular for me. “Sven would be so sad,” he says with a completely straight face. When my eyes find his, it’s impossible for us both not to start laughing all over again.
I shake my head and pull myself together, ignoring the glare of death I’m getting from both Bianca and Jessica and the curious looks I’m getting from the rest of his friends. I almost burst out laughing all over again when I feel Ryan kick me under the table. I refuse to look at him or else I’m pretty sure Bianca will throw something at my head.
I feel a hand on my shoulder and turn to see Charlie standing behind me with Chris beside him.
“Hey,” I smile at him, but he’s not looking at me. He’s looking at the guys sitting down across the table from me, Ryan in particular, and he doesn’t look pleased.
I pull myself together and shuffle to the end of the booth to get out, and he reaches out a hand to help me up. When I take his hand, he pulls me hard, yanking me into his body and crashes his mouth against mine.
Yup, that’s right. He kisses me, hard, even using tongue. Right. In front. Of. Everyone.
I swear, his hand is on my ass and everything.
There’s a second of silence and then the catcalls and wolf whistles start. I’m mortified and know I’ve gone bright red. Charlie is smiling smugly at me. I know my previous record at the party may differ, but I’m really not one for PDA. I can’t believe he just did that!
I turn and grab my bag, the only one not laughing and whistling is Ryan, who’s staring down at his food probably trying not to throw up after witnessing that major PDA. I don’t blame the poor guy. I flip them all the finger and let Charlie lead me to another booth with Sam and Chris following (and laughing) behind.
Charlie grabs my hand and pulls me out of his car, telling me to hurry up as he tugs me along behind him.
He’s so cute.
After a lot of stress and despair (on my part), Sam finally convinced me to get Charlie tickets to see The Red Rhinos for his birthday. I’d never heard of them but Sam told me Chris had mentioned them and they were an up and coming British band that were touring the States. When I saw the look on Charlie’s face when he opened his card with the tickets inside, I knew Sam had been right. He loved them.
We make our way up to the entrance of the small club and I’m suddenly nervous, thinking I might get carded but the bouncer barely looks at us and when we make our way in. The room is swamped. Like literally filled to capacity. You can barely move. I look around and I’m suddenly apprehensive. I love going to gigs and I love live music, but it’s usually chilled and open mic nights. Not like this. This place is crazy. You can’t take a step without bumping into someone. The crowd in here seems a lot older than us. Everyone’s got a drink in their hand and seem to be shouting at the people in front of them. I automatically feel myself step closer to Charlie.
He wraps his arms around me and when I look up at him, his eyes are shining. He bends down and kisses me quickly on the mouth and my grin spreads. He’s happy. He loves it and that’s all that matters. This night is about him and as long as he’s happy, then I don’t care about anything else.
He leads me over to the bar and orders us a couple of drinks while my eyes scan the venue behind us. I check my phone; Sam and Chris are coming too and are supposed to meet us here, but I haven’t seen them yet. I take the drink that Charlie offers me and attempt to not screw up my face when I taste the liquor in it. I still haven’t forgotten how hellish I felt after that Madison party and I do not want a repeat performance of that.
“Charlie?”
My head turns and I see a tall blonde standing a little further down the bar looking our way. Charlie steps out in front of me blocking my way. She comes over and hugs him in greeting, and I see her eyes sweep to me in interest and I wait for him to introduce me, but he doesn’t. I step closer to them, trying to listen to their conversation, but they’re leaning into each other and talking quietly. That coupled with how loud it is in here means that I can’t hear a word of what they’re saying. Someone knocks into me from behind and I drop my purse on the floor. By the time I’ve managed to pick it up in and amongst all the different legs, the blonde has disappeared.
“Who was that?”
Charlie glances down at me. He replies but I can’t hear him over the sound of the warm up act on the stage. I shake my head indicating that I can’t hear and see him glance down the bar again. My eyes follow him and the blonde is standing down there with a couple of other girls, and they’re all looking over at us.