Content warnings:

A trail of viscous red fluid trailing down my arm was the first thing to catch my attention as a uniformed figure drags a mess of thrashing limbs away.

Did someone spill wine on me?

“Holy shit, Cal. Are you okay?” a familiar figure enters my vision from the side, picking me up by my other arm. She turns my arm over, revealing a currently bleeding wound on the other side. Ah, so it’s definitely blood then. “What the fuck was that guys problem.” she mutters, dragging me further backstage to look for a first aid kit.

She grabs one of her band’s tees from a nearby table, handing it to me to hold against my wound. I hold it in place, following her quietly. She’s muttering to herself quietly, silently cursing as she looks through some cabinets. Eventually though, she pulls out a first aid kit. Using a nearby sink, some neosporin, and a bandage, she starts cleaning my wound. At this point I feel sufficiently sobered and a lot more cognizant of my surroundings.

“Looks like it wasn’t a deep cut thankfully,” she sighs. She hands me a bandage, which I place over the cut. “You didn’t need to do that, Cal.”

I shrug, “He was being a dick to you. What kind of brother would I be if I didn’t do anything?” I look dumbly at the bloody t-shirt in my hand, looking towards Erin about what I should do with it.

“Keep it. Nobody wants a bloody band tee. We’re not that punk.” She chuckles at her own joke and I join her. I place the shirt on a nearby table to dry, making sure to keep it away from anyone else’s stuff. “Thanks though, Cal. I can’t say I don’t appreciate the assistance. Better you come to my rescue than some other guy who thinks he’s got a chance with me.” She rolls her eyes. I just nod, frowning gently.

“Sorry that I cut your mingling time short.” I look at the floor, kicking a foot.

“Oh, shut up. We both know it’s that asshole’s fault, not yours. Chin up, bro.” She closes the first aid kit and puts it away. “You look sobered up now. How was your first beer.” I blush lightly at the mention of my drinking.

“Ah, sorry about that, Erin…” I cringe away from her in embarrassment, my cheeks going rosy.

She laughs, slapping my back hard enough that I stumble and have to catch myself. “Pfft, I’m proud of you lil Callie.” She ruffles my hair at the mention of my childhood nickname, “ I was worried you wouldn’t have any fun coming here. There’s worse things to find out than that you’re underage drinking.” Her grin goes wide and I find myself trying to avoid her eyes. “Just didn’t think you’d be such a lightweight.”

My face only gets hotter and I cower lower, trying my best to hide my face. “I didn’t know that Long island iced tea was alcoholic until the bartender had given it to me…”

Erin looks at me with a stunned expression. For all of two seconds that is. She quickly doubles over into a full-blown laugh that only causes me to grow more embarrassed. “Damn Cal, and here I thought that you were finally reaching your rebellious phase. Guess I don’t have to worry about you after all.” I just nod quietly, my face still feeling flushed. “I should make my way back to my bandmates. They wanted my back by the top of the hour to prepare for our set. Try not to get any more battle scars while you’re out there, okay?”

“R-right. Good luck with your set, sis. See you on stage I guess.” I wave a goodbye, splitting away from her and heading back out to the crowd.

I nurse my arm, making sure the bandaid is on properly. With the excitement passed, I wave briefly at the security as I pass by. They wordlessly nod to me and I make my way back to the bar, sitting down on the first open chair on the far side of the bar, trying very hard to keep to myself and make myself appear as small and un-intimidating as possible. I’ve had my share of confrontation for a year.

When the bartender finally notices me and approaches me, I loudly ask for a rootbeer hoping that he doesn’t mishear me over the sound of the concert in the background. When he hands me a disposable and unassuming cup, I take a sip. After being certain that there isn’t alcohol in this soda, I drink it steadily while tapping my foot against my stool while listening to the band on stage.

The stool next to me scrapes across the floor as someone pulls it out to sit on it. Glancing over, I notice a pretty girl looking my way. “This seat taken?” she asks, sitting down before I get a chance to answer.

“Uh… no.” I respond, looking her up and down. Her hair is a wavy chestnut color and her ponytail bounces gently as she sits down. I can see her blue eyes meet mine and I look away, embarrassed to be caught looking. I turn back to watch the band in the background, sipping awkwardly at my soda.

After a few moments of silence, the girl sitting next to me speaks up when the music lulls into a quieter more melodic song. “So how’d you get the blood on your shirt? Get into a fight?” I look at my wound, noticing that there is in fact some blood stained into my t-shirt around where the wound was. That’s going to be a bitch to clean out when we get home.

I swirl my rootbeer around my cup nervously, swiveling on my stool to face her better. “Uh, yeah, I guess.” I shrug.

“Wait, really? I was just joking around, you don’t look like you could hurt a fly.”

“It wasn’t really a fight. Some guy was harassing people and I told him to screw off.” I shrug again, taking a sip of my rootbeer. “I think he hit me with a bottle? I’m not really sure. He got carried out by security.”

“Wow, brave and chivalrous. Color me impressed.” I raise an eyebrow at this, locking eyes with her as I’m trying to decipher whether or not she’s making fun of me. She seems genuine though. She holds a hand out to me, “the names Penny.”

I shift my drink to my other hand, fully turning to her and shaking her hand. “Uh, Calvin. Calvin Graves. Just call me Cal.”

“You’re pretty cute, Cal. I originally headed over here because you looked like a girl from behind, but you know I’m glad I came over anyways.” she shoots me a smile that sends warm fluttery feelings throughout my body at the compliment. Being mistaken as a girl from behind is fairly common for me because of my longer hair, so the comment doesn’t even lessen the compliment of her calling me cute at all.

“Oh, uh, you’re pretty cute too!” I pause after saying that, thinking for a second. I slouch slightly, deflating at the thought. “Though, I guess if you were hoping I was a girl, you’re probably a lesbian?”

She waves a hand dismissively, “oh, nah, I’m Pan.” I nod along in confusion, wondering what she means by that. Thankfully, she picks up on my cluelessness. “Pansexual. Not really concerned about gender in terms of partners.” I mouth out an ‘oh’ of understanding and some hasty nods. She giggles, taking a sip of her drink.

I think for a moment, digesting this new information. I’ve never heard of Pansexual before, but it certainly sounds nice. I’d never thought too intensely about my sexuality, it always seemed to come second compared to my studies in high school. Now with work, it’s been a hectic couple of months since moving in with Erin. “Huh,” I say, taking a sip from my soda.

Penny gives me a side-eyed glance. “Well, let me know if you’re a homophobe quick so I can go find someone else to flirt with if so.” She pointedly takes sip of her drink as I choke on my own.

Stumbling over my words, I wave a hand hesitantly. “No, sorry, that’s not it.” looking away from her, rubbing my arm self consciously. “Just, uh, thinking about myself I guess. I haven’t really thought about any of that stuff in a couple years. Been too busy for romance.”

Penny nods seriously, looking thoughtful. We sit for a couple seconds in silence, I steal a couple glances over at her while we’re quiet. I’m about to open my mouth when she pipes up. “Well, what about her?” she asks, pointing at a girl at the edge of the crowd near us.

She has short dyed hair and is wearing a tank top and glasses. I try to imagine holding hands with her, and maybe cuddling. I imagine being on a date with her at a shitty pizza restaurant and enjoying some good food. It’s a little hard to imagine myself in any of those situations, but they’re clearly pleasant thoughts. “Oh, um, yeah! She’s cute. I think short hair is cute, I could never do it myself.”

“Mhmmm” she points to a guy across the bar, “and him?”

I blush, but look at where she’s pointing. The guy she’s pointing at is absolutely overflowing with muscles, also sporting a tank-top as well as an undershirt. I try to imagine some of the same stuff as with the girl, but this time it’s even harder to bring myself into any of the scenarios. What would two guys do for a date even? Go… to the gym? That just sounds uncomfortable. “I don’t know. I mean, I guess he’s hot, but I can’t really see it.”

“I see. But he is hot?”

“I-I mean, yeah. Look at his muscles, he could probably bench press me.” I exclaim, waving my hand in his general direction.

She smirks, looking me in the eye, “is that what you’re thinking about.”

The room feels distinctly hotter as I take a sip from my rootbeer. I try to mumble around the rim of the cup as I take another sip, “Jus’ sayin’ is all…”

“Of course, of course.” she chuckles.

Salvation comes in the form of an announcement from the stage. “Ladies and Gentlemen, now announcing our final band of the evening, Typo Positive!” I turn slightly to see the stage as the noise from the crowd drowns everything else out. I add my own cheers to the crowd, seeing Penny do the same from my side.

I watch as Erin steps to the front of the stage as the crowd’s cheering dies down slowly. It’s hard to see from all the way in the back, but there’s no doubt in my mind that when she speaks up that she’s pumped. She shouts into the microphone, “Are you ready to make some noise?” The crowd cheers in response and I can see her nod to her bandmates as she checks her guitar. “We’re Typo Positive and this is our first song, Waiting!”

The next thing I know, the entire concert is filled with music and cheering. The thump of a drum, the strum of a bass, and at the forefront of all of those sounds is Erin’s voice over the crowd. I smile wide, bopping my head and my foot to the beat of the song as I lose myself to the music. I’d heard the song plenty of times during her band's practice and recording sessions, but there was something about the hectic energy at a concert that made every strum of a guitar, every shouted vocal, every crash of a cymbal, sound so much more than it normally was.

“But for now i'll slowly just be waiting, and waiting,” I lose myself in the lyrics, The cheers of the crowd fading into background noise. “and waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and waiting for you.” I feel a tug on my hand and I look over at Penny, pulling my hand towards the crowd. Hesitantly, I get up and leave my drink behind, allowing myself to be guided. She takes me to the edge of the crowd, before letting go of my hand and losing herself to the music.

I join the cheers of the crowd, mimicking Penny’s movements and trying my best to dance along with her to the song. “I've had enough, i'm breaking out, i'm waiting no more, no waiting.” Penny’s movements are erratic and confident, and as I see her enjoying herself I gain confidence in my own movements. “I'm fighting a way, out of the haze, i'm waiting no more on you.”

One song turns to two turns to three. By the third song, I slink away and back to the bar. Penny follows, her hand in mine. Exhausted, we both collapse onto our stools panting. We both order our own drinks, me a soda and Penny a beer.

“Thanks, Penny. That was a lot of fun.” I giggle, still trying to calm my heart down from the excitement.

“Yeah, tiring though. You really surprised me out there. I was half sure you wouldn’t dance with me.”

I nod, taking a long sip of my soda, “I surprised me too.” We sit in silence for a while after that, just enjoying the moment. Exhausted too, I definitely needed a breather after all that cutting loose.

“Ah, shit. I gotta go meet up with my friend before the end of the concert.” I turn to look at Penny and find her looking at her phone. “He promised me a meet and greet with the band.” I nod, awkwardly between a smile for her because she’s clearly excited about the meet and greet, and a frown because she’s going away. She looks a bit hesitant as she continues, looking at her phone nervously, “I can probably see if I could bring you with me if you wanna come…?”

I shake my head gently, “No, uh, I wouldn’t want to impose. Hope you have fun.” I give my biggest smile to her.

Instead of returning the smile, though, she holds out her hand. “Give me your phone.” Confused, but nevertheless compliant, I unlock my phone for her and hand it over. She fiddles with it a bit before handing it back. I look at the screen and see that she’s added her phone number to it. I look up at her in surprise, suddenly feeling very flushed. She just winks at me as she walks away.

I watch her walk away until she’s gone, still stunned into silence. After a moment, I pinch my arm hard. Yep, definitely still awake.

Wistful-Shiver

You know, I just realized that I meant to put the information about the song I mentioned at the end of the chapter.
It's called Waiting by Peak Divide and Rachel Lake.
https://youtu.be/Ux3HGFb2HTg