Page 10 of Rock Me

CHAPTER THREE

Jez

Her eyeballs are flickering under her eyelids, so at least I know she’s alive.

I lift her over my shoulder, and search for the nearest exit. Mike, our body guard, is next to me in an instant.

“Over to the left,” he growls into my ear and clears a path for us to the door at the side of the bar. There’s a guy stationed there, and Mike talks to him for a moment, before waving me through.

He pushes the door open and suddenly we’re outside. The cool air fresh against the back of my neck.

“Can you find a bottle of water?” I say to Mike, and he nods and goes back inside. I lay her down, propped up against the wall.

“Hey, Toilet Girl,” I say, patting her gently on the cheek. “You okay?”

She stirs and her eyelids flutter for a moment. “Stop calling me that,” she murmurs, her voice groggy and barely audible. She takes another breath and her eyes open wider, looking around. “What happened?”

I breathe a sigh of relief to hear her speak, “I don’t know. You just kinda decided you didn’t want to stand up any more.”

“Damn. How embarrassing.” She shuffles back so she’s sitting upright, her back flush against the wall.

“Nah, it’s okay. You knighted me, so it’s only right I fulfil my duty of saving a damsel in distress.”

“I was not in distress,” she glares at me, seemingly regaining full strength.

“What about the phone in the urinal part?” I say, pointedly.

She scrunches up her face, and it’s hard not to note how cute she looks when she does that. “Yeah, okay, that was kind of distressing.” She pulls her sweater tighter around her body. “Sorry. And thanks.”

“No problem. Are you cold?”

She shakes her head and takes a deep breath, slow and steady, then exhales, the color fast returning to her face. “I get claustrophobic sometimes. It was just so loud and crowded in there. Guess I found it a bit overwhelming.

I wave her explanations away. “It’s fine. My friend’s just gone back inside to get some water. He won’t be long.”

“Oh. That’s okay. I should get back inside, anyway. My friend is waiting for me.”

“Your boyfriend?” I ask. Hoping she’ll vigorously deny having one.

“What?”

“Before, when I came out of the restroom, you asked if your boyfriend was in there.” And he was also there basically dry humping you at the bar, I think to myself and somehow managing to keep quiet. Try not to sound like a stalker, Jez.

“Oh, yeah. I, er, I better get back inside.” She pulls her legs under her and gets ready to push herself up. I know I should offer her my hand but I don’t really want her to go.I’m not sure what’s drawing me to this woman, but I don’t want our interaction to end just yet. As bizarre as it’s been so far.

“Hey,” I say, trying to sound as cool as I can. “I’ve had a pretty crazy night. Do you mind keeping me company out here for a few minutes? My friend will be back soon with some water. You should have a drink, it will help refresh you.”

She thinks about it for moment, and relaxes back against the wall. “I guess I can sit for a few minutes. I could use the air.”

I slide down to sit next to her, stretching my legs out in front of me, running my damp hands over my jeans. Why are they so sweaty? What the hell’s wrong with me? It can’t be because of this woman. I haven’t felt nervous talking to a woman since… fuck. Since never is the right answer. So, that can’t be it. But something tells me, I’m lying to myself.

The wall is vibrating from the music inside the building, humming against my back. And we sit there listening to the night’s mélange of thumping beats and car horns for a minute. The band and I don’t spend that much time in L.A., being mostly based in London. And just like the spoken language, each city has its own dialect of city sounds. I could be blindfolded in London and know exactly where I was. Here in L.A., the rhythm of the city is only now becoming slightly familiar.

Out of nowhere, she says, “It’s my birthday today.”

“Oh, happy birthday,” I say, facing her.

“Thanks.” It’s one word. And flat. Not how one is meant to react to birthdays.