Page 10 of Give Me What I Want

I couldn’t lip read for this, so there was no way for me to make out anything that they were saying, and I should’ve just watched the TV and distracted myself like the others were, but no matter how uncomfortable I was becoming watching Bea and Ro, I couldn’t look away.

I sat upright suddenly as out of nowhere, as though someone had hit a switch, they grabbed each other by the hand and plastered ridiculous smiles onto their faces. I tilted my head in confusion, and then it all made perfect sense. A swarm of girls descended on them, all giving them enough space to be respectful, but still desperately trying to get the most of their attention.

Fans.

“Guys,” I said, but the other two didn’t respond. “Guys,” I said a little louder this time. Still nothing. “Guys?”

“What, Cole?” Mav sounded frustrated, maybe hehadbeen reading after all.

“They’ve been hit with a bunch of fans.” I relayed what I was seeing.

“Did they stop arguing?”

“Yeah, it was creepy actually. They’re like little robots.” I laughed.

Jord twisted to look out of the window too. “Mhmm, those are some pretty creepy smiles. You’d have thought that as performers they’d be better at this.”

“No one has questioned the legitimacy of this yet though, so clearly it’s only us who can see past their bullshit smiles.” Mav got up, joining us and leaning over me, his arms on either side of my head, caging me in. His necklace with its little rose hanging from it hit me in the back of the head, but I didn’t complain.

“I guess I’ll go join them quickly, then grab our food, since they’re not arguing anymore,” Jord said, getting up and groaning as he stretched. “What shall I grab?”

“Surprise me,” Mav and I said at the same time, and I laughed under my breath.

“On it, see you in a few.”

We watched as Jord made his way across the forecourt towards our bandmates, relieving them of some of the attention. Mav didn’t move, still hovering above me, and I stayed where I was too, making the most of a moment where my best friend didn’t seem like he might break. We didn’t speak, just watched, and only separated when Bea came skipping our way, towing Ro along behind her with an unreadable expression on his face.

Mav sat back in his chair, and I frowned out of the window, having lost sight of Jordan. “Where’s Jord?” I asked, spinning to face Bea and Ro as they came through the door.

“Grabbing food. One of the girls out there was from the pizza place and she was on her break, she offered to help him, so we left him to it.” Bea explained.

“So he’s out there, all alone?” I asked.

“He’s a big boy, he can handle himself. Anyway, the entire crew have stopped too, so it’s not like he’salonealone,” Ro said, releasing Bea’s hand and smoothing back his hair.

She shook her hands, seeming unsure about what to do with them now, then excused herself to go ‘freshen up’.

“Please tell me that you two are done for the day. Can wepleasejust have some pizza and chill out all together in here? No more acting, no more fights, just Deity chills?” I pretty much begged, widening my eyes at Ro.

“We’re done. I want to chill too, man.” He sighed, kicking off his shoes then coming to sit down on the sofa beside me. Nodding, I turned back to the window and stared, scanning the faces of people coming and going, taking in each of the crew members that I recognised until I saw Jord’s smiling face heading our way with a tall guy carrying a pile of pizza boxes and a cute looking blonde girl in tow.

I relaxed, sinking down into the squishy cushions, feeling comfortable again at last, and grinned as Jord directed the pizza guy onto the bus, telling him where to put the boxes. He thanked him, passed him—not subtly at all—a small wad of notes, then whispered in the girl’s ear. Her cheeks flamed red, then she stepped up onto the bus.

“The fuck are you doing?” Ro barked and the girl froze, colour draining from her face at our bassist’s harsh tone.

“Pushing my luck,” Jord said with a shrug. We all knew what ‘the fuck’ he was doing, attempting to get lucky with a girl and break our one rule all at once, most likely trying it today because he knew that we were all mentally drained and might let it slide. But Ro wasn’t one to let things slide.

“Clearly. Nice try, but it’s not happening.” Ro widened his legs and spread his arms across the back of the sofa, glaring at Jordan and the blonde.

“Then I guess I’ll see you guys in ten,” Jord said with a wink, then took the frozen girl’s hand, and dragged her back off of the bus.

Ten minutes later, just as he had said, he came swaggering back onto the bus, black hair a mess, lips puffy and pink, and with makeup stains on his white tee. The smell of sex clung to him as he sat down with a stringy slice of pizza and began to demolish it like he was a starving man in desperate need of sustenance.

“You’re a pig,” Ro said, raising his brows at our guitarist.

Jord spoke through a mouthful of pizza. “A sexy pig who is living his best life.”

“Sure you are, bud,” Mav said, getting up to grab us each a drink from the fridge.

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