Escaping Grace

"Sooo Vale, right?" CC was asking her as I caught up.
"Yeah. It's really Valerie, but no one calls me that," she shook her head.
I kept close to Clarke and Nate, who were both busy drilling Ashley and Jinxx on their techniques. Andy was quiet as we walked, and I glanced at him curiously. He didn't exactly seem to be in a good mood tonight, especially the way he'd plowed down to business.
I sighed, and we all huddled together as we waited for the streetlight to change. "So where are you guys from, originally?" CC asked.
"Small town down south," Vale replied, glancing over at him. "You wouldn't know it. It was lame. I'm so glad we got out of there."
"It couldn't be so bad," CC said, and we started across the street. His hand slipped to her back to help guide, and surprisingly Vale let him. I crossed my arms and hurried to keep up with them; short legs did not mean I was quick.
Nate suddenly stepped back to my side, and slipped a crooked arm around my neck. "Isn't this great?" he whispered in my ear. "We're actually HANGING with them!" I grinned. "I know right?"
After another forever of walking in high heels, we found the restaurant. it was actually a small diner in the corner woth vinyl seating and a nice fifties feel. We grabbed a big corner booth, and somehow (more like Vale finagling) I got seated between Ashley and Andy. Squeeeeee!!! And now I wanted to crawl under the table because what was I supposed to do now? My stomach was in knots and I clenched my hands in my lap.
"They have killer burgers here," Ashley said, twirling a menu. "When we first came here I think Andy ordered six to go."
Andy glanced away from his phone to Ashley, and shrugged. "Hey, they're good. What can I say?"
I lifted the menu and scanned it quickly.
"Hi!" I raised my head as a waiter popped up. "What would you guys like to drink?" Everyone rattled off their drinks.
"Okay, I'll be right back with you," he gave us an absent smile while never looking up from his phone. I doubt he'd He walked off, and Vale turned to me. "He was cute."
"He never looked up from his phone," I replied, still looking at the menu.
I generally always got chicken, because, well, you have to have your safety food and if they mess up chicken tenders then that is not a restaurant you want to be in.
I glanced over as Christian laid his phone on the table. I sat the menu down.
Clarke looked over at me. "Why do you even look at those? You already know what you want."
"It's safety food," I said defensively.
Please stop making me talk, I thought, beyond aware that Andys hip was right against mine. He was going to think I was an absolute loser.
"So are you guys excited for the show?" Ashley asked, leaning back in the booth.
"Totes!" Vale nodded. "I love Gardencenter Arena. We played there a couple months ago --- of course Nate did get manage to make the manager almost ban us after he slept with Sera." Ashleys hand slammed on the table. "YOU slept with Sera? No way."
Nate grinned. "You just gotta know all the right moves, my man. And let me tell you," he leaned forward, "that girl can handle her scotch. She drank me under the table!"
I rapped my nails on the table impatiently. This was not a conversation I was interested in.
Ashley leaned forward, and I straighened as I felt his hand brush the back of my shirt. I glanced over, seeing Jinxx on Ashleys other side, looking bored as he scrolled what looked like twitter.
The conversation dwindled off and I pursed my lips, ungodly relieved when the waiter FINALLY arrived with all of our drinks. He finally looked up as he grabbed his pad out of his pocket.
"Can I take your orde--- oh my God." his jaw dropped. "You're Escape from Grace. And you're Leah!" he burst, nearly crushing his notepad in hand. "Oh my God I never thought I'd meet you. You're stunning!" he gasped, and I grinned.
He was pulling a fanboy --- my fangirl approved.
"Thanks, but I'm also starving," I said, propping my chin in my hand. " And some chicken tenders with fries and a bottle of ketchup would be great."
He stared at me a moment more, and then fumbled his pen from his pocket and scribbled the order down. He took everyone elses, and then slowly backed away, staring until he went behind the counter.
"Poor Ryan," Ashley said. "Pretty and talented girls don't come here often, so his manners are a bit off."
I blushed, and brushed my hair behind my ear.
"Okay, so, what are you guys planning stage wise?" Clarke asked. "Are you going big for the first show or gonna range it up for a blowout?"
"We haven't decided," Jinxx replied, and they started talking about backstage technicalities that went way over my head. I leaned back against the cushion, and glanced over. Andy was talking to Ashley, and his black lip ring glinted in the light.
How many times had --- I bit my lip. Fantasizing about him while he was sitting beside me was probably not in my best interest.
"So," I glanced over at Andy, and he was looking at me expectantly, "you guys have been together for a year or two now, right?"
"Yeah," I literally was going to die if I embarrassed myself right now when he was talking to me. "Two years now. We caught our break at Gardencenter last year."
"Cool. Bandmates are hard to find that stick around," he said, and Ashley glanced at him before returning to listen to Vale and CC.
"We've always been together," I said, stretching slightly; I felt cramped and overly warm between him and Ashley. "I can't imagine anyone else."
Andy shrugged, tapping his phone against the table as we waited. I looked at him curiously; was he having band issues or something? Ashley had glanced over when he was talking about it.
I pushed it out of my mind, scooting back against the cushions. I might have been small but even this was tight for me. And these guys were like fireplaces with the heat they radiated; I was going to combust -- or atart fanning myself with the menu.
Abruptly, the waiter popped up, trays of food on his arms. He quickly gave us all our food, I even got a full ketchup bottle, and then stood there a moment, as if weighing his options. "Um, can I have your autograph?" he squeaked, and I blinked.
"Sure," I said, and he leaned forward to offer his notepad and pen. I scribbled my name down with an X and O at the bottom, and tossed it back to him, and his face lit up. "Thank you so much!" he burst, and disappeared as quickly as he'd come.
I dipped my fry in ketchup.
"So many fanboys," Vale commented.
"It'll only get worse," CC said, lathering his burger with so much mustard I could smell it. "Except for older people. They just gaze at us in horror and think we need Jesus."
I chuckled. "And then grab their kids and drag them off before it contaminates them too," I said, and they all nodded.
"Oh, the woes," he sighed, and I couldn't stop my cringe as he bit into his burger of yellow slime.
"Get used to it," Ashley bumped my shoulder slightly, " CC eats mustard on everything, even donuts."
I wrinkled my nose. I hated mustard.
I relaxed as we all talked, and it seemed like tonight wasn't going to be a bust. So far I hadn't absolutely embarrassed myself.
My back was aching from sitting so straight though. I glanced between the two guys I sat between, wishing I had an electric fan. I doubt it would be very polite if I started fanning myself with my plate.
Which was under seige as Nate tried to snag some of my chicken. I smacked his hand with a spoon, and he jerked it back with a wounded expression. "Oh, come on, Leah. It's not like you can eat it all." he muttered.
"You don't know that." I sat the spoon down slowly. "No one touches the chicken. Order your own."
Nate eyed me warily, but the spoon threat stuck and he kept his hands to himself. I couldn't eat it all, but I wasn't going to admit defeat yet.
We sat and chatted for a while, and all of us got along well. Andy started telling us about how he broke three ribs performing at one of his earliest performances, and I blinked. "I remember that. I was at that concert." I said thoughtlessly.
"You were?" Andy looked startled.
I flushed. "Yeah. It was when all of us first decided on becoming a band we all went together " I moitioned at all of us. "It was so intense."
"Yeah, you really should have thought more on the whole climbing the wall and jumping down thing," Vale said, sipping from one of the biggest milkshakes I had ever seen. Andy rolled his eyes.
I glanced at my phone, seeing it was almost eleven. I had an early morning at the studio tomorrow, and staying out all night was not going to help my singing capabilities.
"Well, it's been fun hanging with you guys," I said, slipping my phone in my very small and basically useless pocket, "but I need to get going."
"What? It's like eleven," Nate whined.
"I said I had to get going," I replied, "not the rest of you." "Actually, I gotta go too," Andy sighed, reading something off his phone. "It looks like we're needed in the studio early tomorrow for the new single."
Ashley groaned. "Seriously? They said we could start that Monday."
"He wants us to premier it for the show," Andy sat his phone down. "So we have to get some practice in."
Everyone started shuffling out of the booth, and the waiter appeared miraculously with our bill, which of course Nate wasn't able to pay for.
I sighed, sliding my card through the reader to pay for our meals. I rarely kept any cash on me.
I glanced outside, seeing Vale had one hand on CCs arm, laughing. Nate and Clarke with Ashley and Jinxx were actually heading off across the street. Where the hell are they going ? I wondered in annoyance.
The waiter handed me my receipt, and I stepped to the side to let Andy pay. I stuck the receipt in my back pocket, and and turned.
I blinked.
Everyone was gone.

Notes