Drunk In Love

“Lynn”

Daniel's voice was hushed in a low whisper. Our faces were inches apart. My head was beginning to tilt to the right the closer we got. I could feel his hands on my shoulders as I closed my eyes. Suddenly the stabbing headache I had all day was slowly starting to disappear.

             _-_-_-_-__________-_-_-_-_-_________-_-_-_-

“What the hell!” Kadie grabbed my arm and pulled me aside. We'd just finished eating brunch with the girls when they decided to go back upstairs to check on the boys. “How are they not drunk right now?” She was referring to the table full of drinks that were consumed. Kadie and I could hold our liquor, but we had nothing on them. Aside from some excessive laughter, they all seemed to be functioning well.

I waited for Lauren and Sophie to walk a bit further down the hall before I snapped my head towards Kadie. “I don't know. But if this continues, we're in trouble.”

Sophie turned around, noticing how far we'd fallen away from the group. “Oi, ladies! We got a full day ahead of us!”

We piled into the elevator and went to the boy's hotel room. Eli opened the door, greeting Jenna with a bear hug.

The room looked even more chaotic then the night before. There were clothes and shoes everywhere and the pull out couch was opened with the sheets and blanket left unmade.

“How are you boys even able to breath in here?” Kate asked as she exaggerated a choking sound. “I feel so claustrophobic!” Her right hand clenched onto her chest as she picked up a t shirt from a chair, holding it as far away from her body, and tossed it to the side.

“Really, Kate?” Tom threw out his arms, gesturing to how huge the suite actually was.

“Lauren!” Daniel peeked out of his room when he'd realized we were there. He was wearing athletic shorts and a plain t shirt. He'd just gotten out of the shower by the look of his messy towel dried hair.

“Dan!” Lauren cried back with an even bigger smile.

“I need help with what to wear to the show” He rubbed the back of his head in confusion.

“Of course you do” Lauren shook her head. I didn't even know I was staring at her until she turned towards me. “He can't seem to do anything without me.” She smiled. My straight face slowly turned into a smile when I realized she was talking to me. She took a few steps towards the room but then turned back again. “Come on! We can use your help!”

I followed behind her into Daniel's room. He was leaning against the door frame as we walked past him. Lauren went straight to his bed where he had already laid out a few choices. I nodded at him as a non-verbal greeting. He winked back from behind his tortoiseshell Ray-Ban eyeglasses, a smirk quickly consumed his face.

I felt like such a little school girl as I felt myself blushing.

“I don't know about this one.” Lauren picked up a black shirt from the bed. She realized she was talking to no one and turned around to catch us childishly grinning at one another.

“Which one?” Daniel quickly walked towards her. “Oh, but I love this one!” He held it up with both hands, stared at the graphic design for a second, and then tossed it onto his suitcase. I quietly walked up next to Lauren as I watched them bicker. “How's about this one, then?” He picked up a white t shirt with a partial printed design.

Lauren snatched the shirt from his hand and tossed it onto the growing pile of clothes. “Absolutely not.” Daniel grimaced as he leaned his forearm onto her shoulder. “The festival is in the middle of a God forsaken desert! You're going to burn up in that.”

“What about this one?” I pointed to a black shirt that had been cut into a tank. It had a logo of a band I'd never heard of.

“This is perfect!” Daniel smiled as he picked up the shirt. “Thanks, Lynn!” He looked over at Lauren. “No thanks to you, Laur!” He joked. She stuck out her tongue. “Alright ladies, I'm going to need to change now, unless you'd like to help me with that too?”

Lauren and I both laughed. She lightly punched him in the stomach and he retaliated by playfully holding her in a head lock, only breaking her free when she screamed his name.

We went back out to the living room where half of everyone was missing. “Where did everyone go?” I asked Kadie. She was sitting next to Eli and Jenna as they watched something on his iPad.

“Huh?” Her eyes where still on the screen as she spoke, briefly looking up to see what I was talking about. “Oh the guys went to eat and the girls went back to their room to change. I think we're going shopping after the boys leave for their show.”

Even though Daniel's show wasn't until the late evening, the festival required all of their acts to come early in order to do sound checks.

Kadie and I went back to our room and changed. She wore jeans shorts with a crop top, and I decided to stick with a casual floral printed dress.

“Oh, you Americans are so lucky!” Carly sprawled out her arms, staring up at the sky. “We never get sun like this in London.”

“We should go to the beach!” Kate practically jumped with joy as she had the idea.

“Oh my gosh, Kate. That's brilliant!” The girls all excitedly agreed to ditch our shopping plans and head to the boardwalk.

Although we didn't actually go for a swim, we spent most of the afternoon flocking through the receding waves. After some time Lauren, Jenna, and Carly decided to lay in the sand. Kadie and I joined them.

“Coconut water!” An old Hispanic man shouted as he walked past us. “Get your fresh coconut water here!”

“Ohh” Jenna's eyes widened as she sprang up and approached the old man for a coconut. Carly got up and joined her. The two of them bought enough coconuts for all of us. It took the old man some time to cut off the tops of the coconuts.

“I wish Daniel was here.” Lauren said casually as she propped herself up. Kadie and I exchanged a glance before we looked over at her. “He loves rum and coconut water”

The old man finally walked away from Jenna and Carly, but they still stood huddled around each other. “Drinks are on me!” Jenna cheered as they both finally came back to sit with us. She called out to Kate and Sophie, who were walking along the beach, and gestured for them to come back to us.

Jenna handed me a coconut. I took a sip excitedly. I'd always seen people drinking coconut water straight from the source, but never knew what it actually tasted like.

“Agh!” I grimaced at the strong taste. “It taste like alcohol!”

“Shh” Jenna winked as she shook a tiny bottle behind her hand. Carly and Lauren laughed at my naivety. She'd obviously stolen it from the boys' mini bar. “Drink up!” She patted me on the shoulder.

Maybe it was our beverage of choice, or the sweltering heat, but we decided to lay out on the beach for a while longer.

Our lips began to loosen as we shared stories we normally wouldn't have. I could have sworn every other thing out of Lauren's mouth some how involved Daniel. Of course Kadie and I were the only ones to pick it up.

Apparently Kate and Lauren worked for the same media publishing company and told us some of the scandalous office gossip. Sophie mainly talked about how different her life had became now that she moved to LA from London. And Carly admitted to how annoyed she was with wedding planning.

We only got up when Sophie realized what time it was.

“We better get going if we want to catch the Kicks' show. We've got a bit of a drive out there.”

We went back to the hotel to change once again and headed on our way to the deserts of California. Thankfully Jebrone had arranged for a nice big SUV to pick us up from the hotel.

I was amazed when we finally got to the desert. It was like it's only country. There were crowds of people for miles. The heat was unexplainable, but the view of mountains and palm trees in the background completely made up for it. “Oh my God” Kadie whispered to me. “This is heaven on earth.”

We jumped out of the car and headed to the backstage area. The girl's went to The Kick's trailer, while Jebrone insisted Kadie and I meet him at a lounge that was set up in the VIP area. He'd found some new artists and wanted Kadie to meet them.

“Have you guys been drinking?” Jebrone whispered to us as we approached him.

“Wha- makes you say tha-?” Kadie asked, unable to speak properly. We began giggling which snowballed into laughter so loud we were bending over in pain.

Jebrone didn't look too happy. He grabbed our arms and pulled us out of the tent. “What the hell have you two been doing? K, you're here to meet clients! This is so unprofessional!”

“We had to keep up with them!” I tried hard to make out my words. “Let's have fun' they said. 'American girls are suppose to be crazy' they said.” Kadie laughed again at my horrible British accent as I mocked the girls.

Jebrone sighed heavily as he rubbed his forehead. “Okay, you two need to go somewhere else. I can't have the clients seeing you like this. I'm going to introduce them to Adam when he comes and you can just figure this out tomorrow.” His hands ran in circles in front of us.

He turned around and walked back into the lounge tent. We looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders. It was like we knew what we were doing was wrong, but we couldn't help the way we were acting.

There were hundreds of little pop-up shops, and food stalls set up. Kadie and I made our rounds before it was time for The Kick's show.

We headed to their trailer. Everyone was sitting around so we joined them.

Suddenly our behavior didn't seem so weird by the way everyone else was acting. Daniel walked up to me and I smiled. He grabbed my cheek and lightly pinched it. “You've got the cutest little cheeks, you know that?”

“Oh for Pete's sake, Dan!” Jenna called out from across the trailer. “Leave the girl alone!” He laughed softly before he walked out of the trailer.

“Come on guys! We're up next.” The boys piled out and we all followed after them.

When it was finally time for them to perform we were seated in a VIP area just off the stage. It was nerve wrecking seeing the crowds that were waiting for the band to come out. There were thousands of people. I couldn't help but wonder how Daniel felt.

Needless to say, when he finally came out on stage he sang and danced around like him and the boys were the only ones there. It seemed like something took over him and he became a different person as he talked to the crowd between songs. Like for once he finally showed his confidence.

Kadie caught me beaming as I stared at Daniel. “So, are you finally going to admit you like him?” She shouted over the loud music. I gave her a look back. “Come on, L. It's so obvious you two like each other. He's too touchy-feely with you. You should say something after the show.”

“You think so?” I asked. She nodded her head in affirmation.

Daniel's set lasted an hour before they were done. We went back stage again to meet them.

The girls were squealing loudly as they embraced the boys in hugs and kisses. Everyone congratulated them on their biggest American show thus far.

There was a lounge set up for the band to hang out in after their show. Everyone quickly made their way over. To our, not so, surprise there were bottles of champage, and other alcoholic assortments waiting for us along with a table full of food for dinner.

“Oh shit” Daniel said as he walked next to me.

“What's wrong?”

“I think I forgot my phone in the trailer.” He felt around in his pockets, but couldn't find anything.

“Don't worry, I'll go get it.”I said “Besides, this is your celebration. You need to enjoy it!” I gestured to the lounge full of his friends who were happily getting drunk once again.

He smiled. “You're honestly the best!” I blushed.

I headed back towards the trailer. It was a little past sunset so it was already starting to get dark. I finally found the trailer and went inside. His phone wasn't anywhere in sight so I dug around a few things to make sure it wasn't hidden.

Just then I heard the door open and close. I turned around to find Daniel. “Eli had my phone” He said in a pant. He'd obviously ran here to tell me. “I'm sorry. I guess he must have picked it up for me as we were leaving.”

“Oh” I straightened my posture and walked towards the door where Daniel was standing. “Well, let's get back to the party then” I smiled at him.

There was a moment of silence. That feeling of knowing what I was doing, but not being able to control myself came back. I grabbed Daniel's face and pulled it closer to mine.

“Lynn”

Daniel's voice was hushed in a low whisper. Our faces were inches apart. My head was beginning to tilt to the right the closer we got. I could feel his hands on my shoulders as I closed my eyes. Suddenly the stabbing headache I had all day was slowly starting to disappear.

And then I felt a push. I opened my eyes and saw Daniel's upset face. His hands gently pushing my body away. “I'm sorry, Lynn. I-I-”

“Oh...my...God” I whispered, knowing I'd just made a fool of myself.

“I don't like you like that” He said with a remorseful face, quickly apologizing that he gave me the wrong impression.

“I'm such a fucking idiot” I said to myself again. “I thought...”

He shook his head before I could finish. “I'm in love with Lauren. She just doesn't know it yet.”