Chapter Three: Girls
Babe u busy tonite? Cum to my show.
Rachel wakes up to this text from Noah a few days after she gave him her number. They've been texting back and forth a little since then, but no substantial conversation.
*Rachel (not babe), *are you, *tonight, *come.
She texts him back, then immediately follows after with:
What time? I get off work at 8pm.
Rachel abhors it when people use "texting shorthand" when sending her messages, and she refuses to use any of it whatsoever. Besides, its not like they have one of those old phones where you have to press the same button multiple times to get the letter you want so there is no excuse in her honest opinion.
After waiting a moment for a text that doesn't come she decides to get out of bed and start her day. She lives in a small dorm room on campus of OSU with Santana (it is much to small of a space to safely share with the other girl, but that is a topic for another day). OSU was supposed to just be her safety net because she was obviously meant for New York City, Broadway specifically. But life, as she recently has learned, does not often turn out how one imagines it will. So instead she is stuck in Ohio. As she finishes getting ready and is about to head out to her first class of the morning she stops to check her phone one last time, smiling when she sees that Noah has replied to her text.
prfect sho starts 830 txt me when ur on ur way
She is about to text him back about his terrible texting skills and that he should not just assume that she is coming to the show because she could still very easily say no (that's a lie because she know that she cant say no) when she gets a second text.
That was on purpose, don't send me an angry correction text. I do know how to type like an adult, I just choose not to. See you tonight babe.
Rachel can't stop the laugh that bubbles up inside of her. This man is going to drive her crazy – and enjoy doing it – she can already tell.
When she walks into the bar that night she is a little late and Young Blood's set has already started. They can't be anymore than halfway through their first song though because it's only a few minutes past eight thirty.
Oh dig my shallow grave, it's not me you'll save. Cause I'm a lost cause. I'm a lost cause. A lost, lost cause.
The more she pays attention to the lyrics she hears him sing the more she starts to think that Noah has some serious demons. Rachel has always been a curious (nosey) person and really wants to know what happened to Noah that would cause him to write these words.
Tonight the band is playing in the basement of a hipster coffee house that is similar to the one that she works at, but the crowd seems to have more rowdy punk kids than too-cool hipsters. There is way too much pushing going on for Rachel to be anywhere near comfortable being near the stage so she decides to just find a nice wall to stand against and enjoy Noah's wonderful vocals and colorful lyrics a safe distance away from the chaos. All too soon the first song is over and after Noah takes a swig of water he's stepping back up to his mic and talking to the audience.
"How's everybody doing tonight? Good?" He looks cocky, but when she hears his public yelling out to him she thinks that it may be justified. "Great. So this next song, I wrote it a few years ago but y'all seem to like it well enough. It's about all those girls. You know the type; young, naïve, heartbreakers that think they know everything. But they don't, cause they're just girls."
The crowd goes wild as he starts talking about the song, no doubt recognizing what song it is and when the first few notes sound out she's a little confused because it almost sounds pop, but she rolls with it, enjoying how into it everyone in the room is.
Cause they're just girls, breaking hearts. Eyes bright, uptight, just girls. But she can't be what you need if she's seventeen. They're just girls. They're just girls.
The basement is small enough that even though she is against the furthest wall she can still see the sweat that is running down his face and for a moment she thinks I want to lick it off of him then she realizes how gross that is and decides to forget about that thought.
After a few more great songs the band is done with their set and they start to pack up their equipment. Once Noah puts away his guitar he jumps off of the makeshift stage and is totally pounced on by a gaggle of girls. Rachel tells herself she isn't jealous – she has no right to be – but she cant stop the feeling from bubbling up inside of her as she watches all of these girls throw themselves at him. But just as soon as the thought finishes forming in her mind he is excusing himself and making his way over to her, leaving behind some very unhappy admirers.
Rachel melts on the inside when he aims his smile at her.
She plans to ignore that feeling for as long as possible.
"I was starting to think you weren't going to show up."
"I only missed the first few minutes. Besides, its not like you were lacking females to watch your show…" She trails off, peeved at her self for showing a bit of her jealousy.
"Fuck them." He states, face serious. "You're the only one I wanted here tonight."
"Noah! Be nice! They are your fans." She chastises him, doubting very much that he wants to be known as that guy, the one who is a dick to his fans.
"Whatever, I just used this show tonight as an excuse to get you to come see me." As an after thought he throws out "Glad it worked" with that ever present smirk.
Rachel takes a moment to take him in and formulate what to say before she answers him. He isn't dressed up or anything like some bands do when they play. He looks exactly like he has looked every time she has seen him; a tank top and blue jeans. His tattoos are on display – most likely on purpose – and he is still sweating a bit. She has to struggle to keep the thought of licking his neck and the side of his face at bay. He starts talking again before she can remember she was trying to come up with something witty.
"Do you want to go out sometime?"
She is shocked for a moment, but then quickly answers "What makes you think I like you enough to want to do that?" She feels quite smug until he starts talking again.
"Well, for one, you cant keep your eyes off me. I saw you watching me on stage, like you wanted to devour me. I'm totally into that by the way, babe." He smirks at her look of embarrassed outrage. "Plus you came tonight. And you approached me first at the coffee shop."
He is right, but she hates it when she isn't the one who is right. So she decides to make it a little difficult for him, even if just saying yes to a date with him honestly wouldn't be all that bad.
"You'll have to work harder than that." She says, throws him her best attempt at a sultry grin and leaves. "Goodnight, Noah."
A/N so another chapter down… I feel a little ehhhh about this chapter (well, this story all together) I didn't get very much of a response for the first two chapters so idk. Anyways, review! Let me know your thoughts! Also, I forgot to say what the songs used in the last chapter were so here they are: "I'm A Mess" by Ed Sheeran and "Breathe Me" by Sia. And as for this chapter the songs are: "Lost Cause" by Imagine Dragons and "Girls" by The 1975. Hope y'all enjoyed and check out the music! These are some of my favorite songs at the moment.
