Kids in Love

There was a loud applause as the band left the stage. Another band took their place, they weren't as good, but they kept the energy up. It was nearing 1:00am and the place was dying down a little. Alice could see the guys coming off the stage and making their way towards the bar, herself and Lindsey were talking about music, "Yeah, but really? Dolly Parton?" Alice asked, Lindsey played the bass guitar in a punk Dolly Parton cover band.
"Hey!" she got defensive, "Don't diss Dolly, she's a queen!" Alice laughed.
"You just don't seem like a fan of country music is all..." she shrugged,
"True, but that's good country music!" she retaliated.
"Did I just hear someone say 'good country music' over here?" Frank rested his arms on the the bar and smiled at Alice.
"Hey!" Alice beamed, "You guys were amazing, holy shit!" she ducked out from behind the bar to join them, she gave Frank a tight hug, "great job." She could feel Frank still buzzing with adrenaline in her arms. They let go and Frank turned to her, "How about I get us some beer and we go dance?" he asked.
"Perfect, see you there."

Alice walked toward the dance floor, it was crowded but nowhere near as busy as it had been. She ran into Gerard on his way to the bar and grabbed him by the arm.
"Hey, Gerard. You see that girl behind the bar" she turned and pointed to Lindsey who was getting drinks for a man with bright green hair, "She's Lindsey, she goes to the Pratt Institute and she was asking me about you earlier. Just thought I'd let you know." she pulled away from him and winked. Before she could walk away he pulled her back to him and looked down at her. "How the hell did we go so many years without you?" he asked with an elated grin.

Frank met Alice out on the dance floor with a bottle of beer in each hand. Alice could still see the excitement in him, he still hadn't come down from the high of performing. She mouthed a thanks to him as he pushed in beside her on the crowded floor. She could feel him pressed close next to her, feel the heat radiating from his body. Her heart beat picked up and she could feel herself breathing unsteadily. The as the song ended and the band began a faster one Frank twisted around so they were facing each other instead of watching the band. They were painfully close, their bodies pressed almost entirely against each other. For a moment Alice was lost, forgetting where she even was, jumping around to the beat with Frank, moving together. She could feel his chest grazing against her and his tattooed arms brushing her skin. Just as the song came to an end and the crowd settled for a moment Alice snapped out of her trance and looked up at her friend. She knew she had to stop dancing with him or she would do something she'd regret. She caught her breath for a moment, "Frank!" she called up to him over the noise of the people around them, he ducked down to her and put his face beside hers, which was counter-productive. "I'm kind of tired, I think I'll go finish my drink at the bar." she called again. He nodded and moved to speak into her ear, "That's cool, I might stay and watch the rest of these guys' set, is that okay?" he asked, she could feel his warm breath on her cheek.
"Oh yeah, that's fine. Have fun!" she smiled and exhaled deeply turning to walk away.

As the night went on the crowd dwindled leaving Lindsey plenty of time to talk to Gerard it would seem. Alice approached the bar, she could see both of them leaning against opposite sides of the counter, laughing and grinning. She had no clue what they were talking about but they looked happy. She took a free seat at the opposite end of the bar, leaving them to flirt on their own. From her perch at the edge of the counter she could see Frank on the dance floor, bouncing along to the beat of the music, and Ray was standing near the stage talking to the club owner, Bob she thought she remembered Lindsey calling him that. Alice wasn't sitting alone for long, Mikey came to stand next to her, a half empty beer bottle in his hand. "Hey there," he smiled and took the seat beside her, "are you responsible for this?". Mikey used his bottle to gesture toward the flirting couple a few feet away.
"Oh, yeah. I'm afraid that was me. Don't they look cute though?"Alice looked at them, they both had porcelain skin and jet black hair, they complimented each other in an odd sort of way. "That's Lindsey, she's an art student like Gerard. She was asking me about him while you guys were on stage." Alice explained, "Speaking of which, you're headed to college this year too, aren't you?"
"Uh huh," Mikey nodded, "I'm going to be studying English and journalism hopefully" He told her. She realised that she hadn't really spoken to Mikey in so long. Despite Frank and her being best friends for so many years, she was still great friends with Mikey when she was young and he had meant so much to her that she really regretted losing contact with him so easily.
"Woah Mikey! I had no idea you liked to write, where's this coming from?" she nudged him playfully on the arm.
"Uh, I've mainly just loved reading since I was little and I took up writing a couple of years ago. It started off as Gerard and I just kind of making up stories for comics and stuff but then I really grew to love it." he explained.
"That's amazing dude, I'm glad you have something you enjoy." Thinking back she did remember that it was rare to see Mikey without either a book or a comic in his hands.

Mikey and Alice continued to catch up the bar began to thin out even further. Gerard and Lindsey continued to chat, she could see him examining her tattoos just as she had down earlier, turning her arm gently in his hands and grazing her fingers slowly across the ink. Alice let out a loud yawn, "Tired?" Mikey asked, she tried to respond by shaking her head 'no' but another yawn struck her in the process. "Okay, so that was a lie." he looked down at his phone, "It's almost three am, wow! I'm gonna go see if I can round up Frank and them we'll head, cool?" he asked.
"No, let me. It'll do me good to walk around a little, wake myself up." she sprang up out of the stool and quickly grabbed the counter to steady herself from the dizzy headache she had gotten, Mikey grabbed her by the hips to keep her up for a moment.
"You sure you're okay there Alice?" he laughed at her defiance as she nodded furiously.
"I'm gonna go find him, I'll be fine!" she pushed herself off the counter and stood up straight, walking into the sparsely populated dance floor towards the booths around the corner from the bar area.

Alice scanned the area, digging the heel of her hand into her eye and groaning. She needed her bed more than she previously thought was ever possible. There was an abundance of tattooed dark haired teenage boys in the bar that evening and her eyesight was blurrier than usual so it took her a bit longer than it should have to spot him, his read sweatshirt catching her eye. As she walked closer she saw that he was with someone else, a girl.

Notes

Hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Comment and tell me what you guys think! xxx