Closing Time

“They're really good!”

I shouted over the booming music that filled the quaint little venue.

I was on my way to grab dinner that night when I'd ran into Jebrone. He was scouting new artists for his record label and some how had drawn me into helping him out.“Please stay, Lynn. I could really use a fresh ear.” He tried to convince me. “My budget is tight right now and I gotta be sure I'm making the right choice signing them.” I honestly think it was because he felt bad for me. I looked like an off duty prostitute from the 90's with my untamed hair and baggy clothes. Jebrone, on the other hand, looked like a dapper model who just walked off of a runway. I was the Vivian to Jebrone's Edward. It was bad.

We sat at a tiny table for two in the back of the venue near the bar. There was a mosh of people in front of us enjoying the show. Jebrone had ordered us a couple of drinks and we quietly drank them as we listened.

Daniel, who I'd met earlier, stood behind a keyboard as he sang. There were three other guys on stage, another keyboardist, drummer, and guitarist, whom I hadn't met yet. The keyboardist and guitarist sang back up vocals as Daniel's soft melodic voice hypnotized the audience.

“Aren't they?” Jebrone finally responded. His eyes were still set on the stage. “Apparently, they're planning on leaving their current record label.” He leaned in closer to the table as if he were telling me a secret “Every label has been trying to sign them, but I think I've got them in the bag”

“Whaaat” I sang as my eyes widened. “I haven't even heard of them” I lifted the straw from my drink and took a sip. To be fair, I wasn't into underground music like Jebrone was.

Coincidentally Daniel had just finished singing, “We been The Kicks. Thank you for coming!” He said as the band exited the stage, to which the audience responded with roaring cheers.

“Oh, trust me” Jebrone puffed as he sat back in his chair, “they're huge in Europe! They've been huge there for a while now. Dan wants to expand, globally, but their label isn't doing much for them.” His eyes trailed behind me and he began to smile, “speak of the devil!” He stood up from his chair and gave a handshake hug to each of the band members. “That was fantastic! You guys were phenomenal!” I couldn't help but laugh as I listened to Jebrone. He sounded like a hype man from the 50's. All he needed was to pump his shoulders up and down as he spoke to complete the look.

“Did you enjoy the gig?” Daniel asked me as Jebrone continued to smother the other band members with compliments.

“It was great!” I tried getting up from my chair to join the group, but he gestured for me to stay in my seat. “You guys were great!”

“Thanks” he blushed.

He seemed like a modest guy who wasn't used to getting attention. Which reminded me of the question I asked him earlier in the night, but hadn't gotten a response to. “So, you never told me how you knew Poppy.”

“Right” He sat down in the chair Jebrone had been sitting in. “I met Poppy at Uni in London. She had been dating one of my friends. We didn't talk much, but eventually she became fond of me the more gigs we started playing.” That was Daniel's nice way of saying she's a fame whore.

“You guys were never...” I tilted my head down and gave him a look.

“Oh, no no, God no!” He smiled and waved his hands. “She mainly kept in contact with me for that reason. I only came to the dinner that night because I was in town and a few of our Uni mates, who I hadn't seen in a while, were there.” It made sense. He seemed too sweet and shy of a guy to be caught up in any of Poppy's schemes.

Elizabeth, the band's manager, came rushing towards them. “Dan, shall we?” She asked as she stood behind him.

“Of course” He stood up from his chair. His hand reached down towards me, “it was a pleasure. We'll be gigging around the city for the next week. You should stop by again.”

I took his hand and shook it. “Yeah, for sure.”

Elizabeth smiled at me before she placed her hand on Daniel's back and guided him through the crowd towards Jebrone and the other band members.

I stood up, trying to get Jebrone's attention. When I finally did I gestured to him that I was leaving. He excused himself from his conversation and walked back over to me. “Where are you going? Don't you want to stay?”

“You guys have boring business stuff to tend to that I'm pretty sure I won't understand. Plus, I'm staving” I held my stomach, realizing why I'd even stepped out of my place that night.

“Are you sure?” He asked before giving me a hug. 

I nodded my head. "Thank you for helping to distract me. It really helped"

 We said goodbye and I pushed my way through the crowd and back out onto the main street.

I was devastated when I looked down the street to see that Chipotle had closed. I looked around and noticed that everything else had shut down for the night as well. Just my luck.

I headed back home, trying to remember what I had in the fridge, hoping there was something to make a concoction with.

As I walked up the stairwell of my apartment I began pulling out my key. I was startled when I saw someone sitting outside my door.

“Jonah?”

He looked like he'd been waiting there a way by the way he nodded out of sleep. His hand removed the napkin that was covering his nose. It was covered in blood.

“Oh my God!” I rushed to his side, “are you okay?”

“So, I ran into Connor today.” He half smiled. “Literally”

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Readers,
I've been thinking about creating a new side blog. I've written a short introduction on my personal blog (http://ramblingsofaserialrambler.blogspot.com/) The story, if I do decide to continue it, will be a spin off of Daniel's band The Kicks in the prospective of his new manager Zooey. Head over and let me know what you think!
Xx