"Pfft! You said what?" Joanne laughed, her hand on a bent knee as she slapped Lilac's shoulder. "I can't believe it!"
The show had just ended and the doors opened, letting out a flood of people with sweaty bodies but content faces. Lilac saw Joanne waiting for her at a corner and walked up to her. They fell into stride and waited on the pavement for a cab, chatting with one another with a gush of excitement. 602Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEUHY3xzVZj
Despite the issue she had earlier, Lilac thought the whole performance was amazing. She would have preferred to stay back a little and hopefully get some pictures with her favourite bands but the waiting line were full, especially with the VIP ticket purchasers. Even if she managed to slip in later to get a quick meet and greet hug, the chances were just slim. 602Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj0afGJVben
The both of them weren't even supposed to be out on a school night so staying out late was definitely a risk, considering how she told her parents she was just going to watch a movie with Joanne….which was hours ago.
It was getting late and since they had classes the following morning, Lilac thought they best head home then. She would just have to be content with the autographs and posters for now.
She filled in Joanne on what happened then. Hoping for a sympathetic then an anger burst from her loyal friend, all she got was a laugh in her face. Lilac's mood soured and she looked at the girl disbelievingly.
When Joanne explained to her that there's a possibility that he did not do that on purpose, she was beginning to have doubts – still, she refused to let it slide at the moment because there was also the fact that he might have done it on purpose.
Lilac was torn on feeling guilty and standing her ground. As ridiculous as it was, she hadn't expected to have a bunch of crowds squishing people around in the hype of the music, either.
But what was she supposed to think, anyway? It wasn't like she'd been to many shows! The only show she had ever been was her kindergarten's theater recital as a kid - and that didn't have people moshing in it.
Oh, don't kid yourself, Lilac. You've watched music videos of gigs and all that so really, you should at least get the idea. Her mind sneered at her.
Good fucking point, actually. Lilac shook her head in disgust and embarrassment at herself.
"Yeah, well. Believe it." She muttered lamely, her cheeks heating up in embarrassment at the looks they were getting. She gritted her teeth at her laughing friend. "Jo, I swear to God, if you don't stop, I'm going to-"
The sound of someone's laughter reached their ears. It wasn't exactly hard to mute the incessant chatter and laughter around them, but this one in particular had them tuned into the conversation.
A male voice laughed. "She told you to stop humping on her?"
The sound of feet shuffling was heard before someone cleared their throat and said, "Yeah. Which isn't true, by the way. I was just squished behind her." The voice sounded embarrassed.
Lilac, stunned by what she heard and was positive that the conversation was about her; since she had told a guy that earlier - shared a brief look with a confused Joanne, before turning around to find the source of the conversation.
A few steps away from her stood three guys; the same ones who came out from the blue car.
Under the neon signboards, Lilac noted a tall and lanky guy clad in green plaid t-shirt and dark skinny jeans standing in front of the entrance. He looked embarrassed as his friends laughed and the spiky haired male slapped his back in a friendly gesture. He wheezed out, "That's the last thing I'd ever thought of you as. If anything, you'd beat the living shit out of anyone who do that!"
"Dude, I get it so shut up already."
Lilac felt her cheeks heated more and subconsciously look around, hoping no one would look their way. Oh, really now Lilac? It's not like anyone knows they're talking about you! Her conscious mind scoffed at her.
Beside her, Joanne's tone was curious when she said, "Is that him?"
Lilac was looking at them and barely heard what her friend said as her mind urged her to leave the place - but her legs didn't get the memo. She didn't want to suffer any embarrassing moment right there. It didn't matter now that she might be having second thoughts about accusing him after what they said.
Just when she willed her legs to move, his gaze snapped to hers, him looking surprised like he was caught red-handed and she almost stumbled on the pavement, making her legs stilled then.
His friends looked to where his gaze was and nudged him slightly. She heard a distinct voice saying, "That her?"
Hearing footsteps approaching them, Lilac glanced at his companions, curiosity and a grin plastered on their faces. Not able to think of anything other than fleeing the scene, she turned around and grabbed Joanne's wrist, dragging the now confused girl away from the approaching males. She heard two voices saying at the same time:
"Lilac? What's wrong?"
"Hey, wait a sec!"
The second voice was a male and she assumed it came from the Mohawk guy – he seemed to be a lot more talkative than his other two companions.
"Hey, miss. You dropped your keys!"
She frowned. He was probably talking to someone else.
She heard a sigh. And then, fast feet shuffling before a hand clamped down on her shoulder. "Excuse me, you dropped your keys."
Startled, she turned around only to find the same guy whom she might have accused wrongly and the one who looked terribly embarrassed with his friends earlier. He was looking at her in concern as he pulled his hand away from her shoulder. Casting a brief glance over his shoulders, she saw his friends slowly making their way to them. Okay, so it wasn't the Mohawk guy who called after me. Not that it made any difference, she thought to herself.
Mustering some courage to reply him, she ignored the blush appearing on her face as she took the keys from him. How the hell did I dropped that? She shot him a brief smile and said, "Thanks."
She started to turn around but before she did, he blurted out, "So, uh, how much did you hear?"
She looked up at him, noting that he had an embarrassed look on his face while his hand rubbed the back of his neck and the other was in his pocket.
He was asking about the conversation which she had heard earlier. She wondered why he asked but answered him nevertheless. "Pretty much from the part where I told you to stop humping on me." She tried to opt a tone of nonchalance.
An awkward pause ensued. Then, he cleared his throat uncomfortably but looked in her eyes and said, "Oh. Well…I really didn't hump you. On purpose that is."
Lilac met his gaze, wanting to look away immediately at the burning intensity of his molten brown eyes. What is with this guy and looking…intensely concerned? It had taken her aback for a little bit. But there was something behind his eyes that caused a sudden understanding to dawn on her, making her evaluate her thoughts.
His eyes had looked genuine and sincere when he said that and try as she might, there weren't anything that she could conclude to doubt that. She sighed at herself internally. It was quite strange that she had immediately concluded on something, especially since he was a stranger. She didn't know why considering she tend to analyze things first, but it had a calm effect, and though she should have felt afraid, she didn't.
Clearing her throat, she glanced down at her shoes, then the pavement – looking everywhere but his face. Lilac could feel the traitorous pink hue colouring her face again – only this time she had realized her mistake. When she felt composed, she nodded slowly and met his gaze again. "Okay."
Taking a step back, she glanced beside her and latched onto Joanne's hand – the girl seemed to be cautious but she also kept glancing ahead of her. Lilac didn't pay any attention to that as she gripped her best friend's hand and smiled a little at the guy in front of her. "Well, we're gonna go now."
As she took a few steps, she paused and turn around quickly to him and said, "Oh, and uh, I'm sorry." Lilac flashed an apologetic smile at him before turning away, dragging her confused friend in her wake.
"Oh my God, I just realized something!" Joanne suddenly shouted.
It was Wednesday afternoon, and they were both in the library because Lilac thought they could use some quiet area with a vast access to knowledge – for free. Knowing that they wouldn't focus entirely on studying for their test tomorrow if they stayed at each other's place, she thought the library was an excellent idea.
It had worked for the first hour since they were there until Joanne disrupted the stillness.
Lilac was in the midst of flipping the next page of her History book when her best friend startled her. They were rewarded with a quick hushed but stern whisper from a matron nearby telling them to be quiet. Lilac knew people were giving them looks but she was too bemused and irritated at Joanne to pay attention.
"What the hell, Jo? Shout it to the world too, why don't ya?" Lilac whispered and gave her friend a look of exasperation.
Joanne whispered her apologies to the people around them before casting an embarrassed and apologetic look to Lilac. "Sorry. Believe it or not, I was surprised myself."
Lilac raised an eyebrow, this time in slight amusement. "Really? You're surprised that you just shouted?"
The black haired girl shrugged before saying, "Oh that? Not really. Actually, I was talking about something that I just figured out."
Lilac nodded before resuming what she did. She scanned the content of the following page, searching for an information on some Roman gladiator for their History quiz all the while trying to focus on what Joanne was saying. It barely worked.
She sighed inwardly. Multi-tasking just wasn't for her.
After going through the same sentence for a few minutes, she gave up on that and bookmarked the page before focusing her attention to a dissatisfied Joanne.
"What?" Lilac asked, a little defensive at the look she was receiving.
Joanne sighed. "You're not paying attention to me."
Lilac didn't bat an eyelash when she said nonplussed, "I am now."
Joanne narrowed her eyes at her best friend before composing herself. "Right. As I was saying just now, I think I know who he is. This one guy I saw at the gig two days ago."
Lilac looked at her expectantly. "And you're just only telling me this now?"
"That's 'cause I just remembered! Not that I want to," She muttered the last under her breath.
Lilac nodded slowly. She had heard Joanne's mutter and was immediately curious. Despite her friend being a little too popular with the opposite sex, she'd only known her to have only two boyfriends and harmless flings. Joanne was not one to get flustered easily nor let anyone get to her. She was a strong girl albeit a little stubborn and Lilac was thankful she had Joanne as her best friend.
She also stood on her principle in keeping a minimum amount of teasing and flirting with them, lest she led them on. Joanne was considerate and nice like that, and as her best friend, Lilac would defend her to the ends of the earth if anyone dare to say otherwise.
Regardless, her best friend also wasn't one to usually blurt out a random epiphany in the oddest places of a library and proceed to frown over said finding.
Lilac's interest had really piqued then.
"Okay, are you gonna tell me who this guy is or do I have to find him myself?" Lilac asked, her face while impassive held a serious tone.
Above them, someone had cleared their throat loudly.
They were almost afraid to look but did anyway. A stoic faced middle-aged woman in a crisp greyed coiffeur narrowed her beady eyes into slits at them and Joanne gulped inaudibly. Lilac couldn't look away as she stared at the woman wide eyed.
The library matron leaned towards them, a little bit too close for any of their liking – it seemed that Lilac was the newfound target since she started to zoom in on her – and said with that politely sweet yet dignified stern tone, "Now, girls. You are disrupting the peace in this library. I'm going to have to ask you-"
It would have been the first time anyone saw the duo getting out of their seats as though it was lit with fire.
"Never thought I'd say this but…" Joanne gasped as she lowered herself to the ground beside a sprawling Lilac. "That woman scares me!"
"You…and me both." Lilac replied breathlessly, shielding her eyes with her arm against the glaring sun.
The moment they guessed what the matron's words were, the both of them had glanced briefly at one another before gathering their things in a speed of light and rushed out of the place. Sprinting away from the building that seemed to radiate some weird vibe – to Lilac, anyway – they came to a stop at an empty gym court on a field and laid down on the concrete ground, catching their breaths.
A few minutes later, Lilac sat up suddenly, ignoring some football jocks practicing on the field and shot Joanne a glance. "She reminds me of that evil witch in Harry Potter. What's her name, again? The one who has too many cats." Lilac scrunched her face in concentration as she pondered out loud.
Joanne tried to get her breathing in control as she took in her surroundings with an impassive look. She hadn't been exercising or doing anything that guaranteed a good workout and so the sudden running took her off guard. She was sure she shocked her muscles too.
Joanne vaguely remembered that Lilac was saying something and gave an unfocused half-hearted answer. "Why are you asking me? I don't even know who that is…"
The space beside her suddenly felt cold. Puzzled, she looked up and saw that Lilac was now standing in front her, arms crossed and face indignant.
"You. Don't. Know. Who. Harry Potter is?" Her words were slow but sharp, making Joanne feel as though she was being stabbed with each words. Lilac shrieked then. "You don't know Harry Potter? Wh-How are we friends?" Then, with a haughty look, she said in a British accent, "Bloody hell, I feel offended."
Joanne looked at Lilac in confusion. A flicker of realization dawned on her before she rolled her eyes. "Oh cut the crap, Lilac. I know who that is, I just wasn't paying attention earlier." before mumbling, "Thought you said Henry Water or something."
Lilac looked at her in confusion and spluttered, "Henry Wat…you know what, nevermind." She shook her head at the hopeless girl.
It wasn't until they gathered their things and sat on the bleachers did Lilac remembered their earlier conversation. "Okay, spill. You haven't told me who the guy is and why he bothers you."
Joanne's eyes lit up like a bulb at that reminder and she nodded vigorously, getting into the gossip mode. "Right, so remember the gig we went a couple of days ago?" She continued without waiting for Lilac to acknowledge it. "Well, while you were talking to this one tall dude," A flash of recognition passed across Lilac's features but she listened patiently to Joanne. "I was sizing him up, you know, the one you were talking to and while I didn't find anything weird to note on – he looked pretty cute, by the way," Joanne glanced at Lilac with a grin which the latter pointedly ignored, "but of course, that's not the point."
Clearing her throat and taking a deep breath, she continued, "So I tried to size up his friends not far away from us when I thought I recognize one of them." Then she shrugged before frowning, "I didn't then but I do now. Ugh, I can't believe I actually recognized him."
"If you don't tell me who he is, which mind you, something that I have been asking for the past hour since the library, I'm going to walk away." Lilac said impatiently. Seriously, she thought, Joanne gets distracted quite a lot, it's barely amusing.
The girl in mention raised both limbs up in defeat before blurting out, "Alright! You saw this one guy with the Mohawk hair, right?" Lilac nodded without hesitation and Joanne continued, "Well, he's my ex in middle school. You don't know him, actually. This was a year before you moved here."
Lilac nodded slowly, taking it all in. It was unexpected to hear that. Lilac didn't think Joanne would have gone for the punk clad looking guys as her usual eye candy tend to flock on the jocks and even the too much brainier sort of type. This was something new to find out, she mused.
"That's about four years ago, Jo. Unless you still have feelings for him, I don't think you should be all too bothered by seeing him again." Then she gave her somber friend a smirk. "Mohawk, huh? Never would have guessed it."
Joanne pushed her friend lightly. "Shut up. We were both fourteen and stupid. Still, he looked different from when I last saw him. You know, he had a shorter version of a Mohawk back then, and his hair was black, not pink." She chuckled at the memory lane before sighing wistfully. "Oh, whatever. We were just kids back then."
Lilac shook her head. Sometimes it was difficult to follow the mood currents Joanne had. "Actually, we still kinda are 'kids.' You know, teenagers." Lilac grinned cheekily. Despite the cheery tone she held, Lilac wondered if she should demand the whole story from Joanne then. Judging by the slight frown on the girl's face, she decided to ask her later sometime.
Joanne, a little less frowny now, let a small smile curved her lips as she rolled her eyes at her friend's smart ass comment.
They were too immersed in their conversation that they did not notice a small group of guys approaching the court, until they heard loud murmurs and occasional laughter around their vicinity.
Lilac glanced up and her eyes widened before she started to pick her bag and books and move. Joanne, who was completely clueless on why her best friend was acting weird looked at her and said:
"Lilac! Where are-"
"Oh hey, looks like the court is taken." A male voice said from a short distance as they neared the girls.
Lilac's wrist had a death grip by none other than her best friend, who'd successfully stopped her by pulling her down to the bench. She missed the mark and Lilac ended up sprawling across Joanne's lap. A few wolf whistles and snickers made both girls looked up in horrification as each realized who their unwanted company were.
"Henry." Joanne's tone was disapproving as she frowned at him. Lilac, however, although she was aware of the boy she met at the gig looking surprised, caught onto something crucial at the moment. She leaned into Joanne and whispered, "Henry? Henry Water?" It couldn't be that. But what are the odds, she thought.
Momentarily forgotten about her ex-boyfriend's presence, Joanne frowned and whispered back, "No, that was random. This is Henry Jacobs. It doesn't matter, though."
Lilac nodded mindlessly before ignoring Joanne and her ex to glare at each other and battle some words out. Feeling sort of out of place for reasons she couldn't think of, she decided to look around casually, but of course her gaze accidentally landed on the tall brunet beside Henry. She couldn't help but to at least acknowledge him. "Hi." She said quietly, clutching her bag strap tight in her fist. Quit being awkward, Lilac!
"Hey." He smiled a little, rubbing the back of his neck absent-mindedly.
Lilac didn't know how to process this really. She never thought she would see the boy from the gig again and by the way he…oh no, that couldn't be, she thought to herself in panic. Before she realized it, she blurted out in disbelief, "You go here?"
Everyone stopped what they were doing then, eyes focused on a still disbelieved Lilac and the slightly confused boy.
He nodded slowly. "I would think so…considering I'm wearing the school's band's jersey." He grinned at her then while his other two friends who had been observing them quietly chuckled. Great, now they think I'm stupid.
Lilac was a little peeved, but decided against letting them know that. She ignored them and said nothing but gave the guy in front of her a hard stare. She was also a bit irritated by his cheeky comment. Okay, so it seemed like an innocent response but she couldn't help but feel like an idiot about it.
Huh, he was part of the school's band. That makes two of us but how the hell did I not notice him before?
She couldn't let him win on that one. Opting an 'oh really' look, she said in a tone of skepticism, "Well I don't know about that. For all we know, you could have sneaked into this school wearing someone's shirt."
"Or I actually have a brother who goes here and are in the same club as I am." He replied drily as he shared a look with his now grinning friends.
Lilac paused in thought before saying, "Well, do you?"
"No, I don't." He said smoothly with a smile that suddenly infuriated Lilac.
"Then you sneaked in wearing someone else's shirt to come here. That jersey is exclusive and I know it 'cause I'm in band, too." Lilac replied with a knowing look. She was only joking about it, of course because while the jerseys were exclusive only for seniors, the school was literally at the end of the street that it wasn't interesting to even sneak into. To her, at least. And the guy in front of her looked like he might have shared her view on that as well.
She didn't know exactly why she was having fun picking on him but it felt so effortless and carefree to be in such situation with him. It was both alarming and intriguing.
His grin fell away. Lilac saw his expression schooled into one of annoyance before he droned, "Oh yeah, 'cause I have a fetish for that."
Lilac couldn't help it. She widened her eyes and said with a serious look in defense. "Hey, you said it."
No one said anything for a fraction of moment before the vast court were filled with deafening laughter and cackles. Even Henry and Joanne joined in.
Lilac wiped a tear as she struggled to catch her breathing. And the look on the now red faced, shocked guy did not help her situation either.
Not knowing what else to say coupled with the hilarity of the situation, she ended up holding her hand out and blurting, "I'm Lilac, by the way."
Still red-faced and a little disgruntled, he eyed her outstretched hand and shook it before muttering almost sullenly, "Grey."
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