Adrien licked his lips, tasting the sweet notes of vanilla with the bitter taste of coffee as he looked down at his watch: 7:47
Thirteen minutes until it started. Just thirteen short minutes until he was one step closer to meeting his lady in person. He could hardly contain his excitement as the seconds ticked by agonizingly slow.
But it dawned on him that he hadn't signed up yet. Oh, no! Hopefully all of the spots weren't filled. He would be crushed if Ladybug wasn't able to see his surprise. He practiced all week for this!
He glanced over at Alya sprawled out on the couch, her head and feet tucked on either side.
"Hey, do you mind if I go and sign-up for open mic real quick?" He asked urgently, gesturing toward the back of the room.
Alya blinked up from her phone, scowling at him and twitching slightly as a vein popped out on her forehead. His eyes widened as he stumbled back, wondering what he did to deserve such a cross stare.
"Oh, it's just you, Sunshine." Quickly schooling her features, she sat up to make room for him, patting next to her and motioning for him to take a seat. "Don't worry about open mic. I already took care of it."
"Really?" Adrien brightly asked, patting his pocket with his monologue. "When am I going?"
"Not sure," she clipped as she glared at her phone, furiously tapping and growling. "I know there's a bunch of acts ahead of you."
"Oh," Adrien's whole mood slumped as he glanced over at his pain au chocolats that were staling by the second, patiently waiting to be shared with Ladybug.
"And sorry, I didn't realize it was you before. I thought you were another couch-stealer," Alya said, staring at her phone and squinting.
"Couch-stealer?" he asked as he sunk into the green cushion.
"Yes!" She seethed, hissing through her teeth. "Some jerk just sat down next to me without asking—practically on top of me, and when I asked him to move, he had the nerve to look at me as though I had three heads!" She growled, nostrils flaring. "So I told him that if he didn't get up, I'd ensure he would lose his head tonight."
She smirked, triumphantly. "That certainly got him to move after I went full-on Red Queen."
Adrien wearily shifted in the crumpy cushion, tempted to cross his legs as he brought his hand up to his nape. "Glad you're not mad at me, then," he breathed out with relief. He never wanted her to look at him like that again.
He once heard a story about Alya's sister where she took down five fully grown men at once—Alya's record was two.
And Adrien… Well, he may have won first-place in the recent French Junior Fencing Championship. However, when it came to hand-to-hand combat against Alya, the odds were definitely not in his favor. But he would at least give himself thirty seconds in the ring before he was knocked out—he wasn't that self-deprecating.
"Luka said he'll be up here soon," Nino announced, plopping onto the middle seat between them. "The other barista just arrived, and the crowd is slowing down."
"Oh, thank god!" Alya exclaimed, sitting up straight and bringing her hand up to her head as her phone lit up.
Nino tilted his head toward his girlfriend, eyeing her curiously. "Uh, yeah, but there's no need to get that excited about it, babe."
Alya typed furiously, grunting a "Huh?"
"I said—" Nino's face flattened, evenly saying, "That the world is ending and we need to evacuate the premises immediately or we'll die gruesome, horrible deaths."
Alya hummed, "That's nice, babe."
"Yeah, not to mention the plague of locusts that's coming."
"Oh, my god! No!" Alya moaned, clutching at her locks.
Nino nodded, sarcastically keeping on, "I know. Absolutely terrifying."
"What do you mean by—" she took a deep breath, exhaling a growl. "I can't believe this."
Luka appeared onstage, taking the mic in his hand and speaking with gusto as he said, "How's everybody doing tonight?"
Adrien was drawn to the stage, ignoring the couple beside him as Open Mic began. He joined in with the crowd, cheering loudly as Luka chuckled, "That's great to hear."
"Well, thank you all for coming out tonight. This is The Nook's first ever Open Mic, and I am incredibly excited to showcase Paris's talented acts."
"I know my sister, as well as the staff of this twenty-first arrondissement staple have worked hard to put this event together, and I want to thank all of you for your support of our local artists." A couple whistles and hollers sounded around the space before he said, "And on that note, I want all of us to give a warm welcome for our very first act on stage: Jade & Sai."
Once the duo on stage settled into position, Luka took a seat on the floor, resting his head against the couch's edge on Alya's side and glancing up at her briefly before settling in to watch the musicians.
As the performances continued, Adrien became more determined to impress his lady, knowing that somewhere in the crowd, she was standing and waiting for him. To think, they were already in the same room; his chest bubbled with excitement.
He was tempted to run up on stage and to declare himself right then, but like his mother said, "the best things happen to those who wait," so that's what he did. He waited and waited and waited and waited, trying his best to enjoy the comedians, the skits, the poets, and the musicians who came and went. All the while, thrumming his fingers against his pants pockets where his own lyrics sat, weighing on his heart and wondering what would happen after he spoke them aloud.
"I don't know what's going on with her," Alya hissed, talking to Luka in a hushed tone. "I thought she would've been here by now. Can you go check on her?"
Luka nodded, glancing over at Adrien, meeting his eyes before flickering back to her. "Yeah… I'll talk to Juleka real quick before heading over."
Adrien's love bubbles inside turned into thorny spikes as he piped up, whispering, "Everything okay?"
Luka smiled, reaching over and clapping his hand on his shoulder. "Just a little cold feet. Nothing to worry about though."
Cold feet? Adrien bit his cheek, shifting from Luka's easygoing smile to Alya's nails digging furiously into her sleeve. Although his gut was telling him that something was very wrong, he wearily smiled at his friends as the uneasy weight of doubt settled deep within his gut.
Luka weaved through the crowd, making a swift exit.
Alya tapped her foot furiously as she kept glancing between Nino and her phone.
Nino slung an arm around his girlfriend, tucking her in close and rubbing up and down her arm as the guitarist on stage sang a rendition of a slowed down pop song.
As the song finished, Juleka rushed up on stage, taking the mic from the guitarist and breathlessly saying, "And that was Jaq El, everybody." She clapped a couple times, catching her breath. "Wow, great job, man," she quietly praised as the guitarist packed up his instrument and saluted the cheering audience as he left the stage.
"Yeah, alright… cool. This crowd has a good energy tonight," she observed, moving her purple bangs from the left side of her face and scanning the room. "We're going to take a quick breather as my band Kitty Section gets set up. Go grab a refill of coffee and get some air. We'll be ready in five."
Juleka took a couple steps forward, bending down toward Adrien and covering the mic as she said, "Don't worry, you're up after us."
Adrien nodded eagerly, heart skipping a beat as he took out his folded paper. Smoothing over the edges, he read the lyrics and smiled to himself. He was so close to knowing who she was—he couldn't believe it!
After a few more minutes of shuffling, the band was in place.
"Hi, everybody! I'm Rose and these talented musicians and myself make up Kitty Section!" The lead singer shouted into the mic, the sound pulsing from the speakers.
The crowd's attention was immediately drawn to the tiny, bubbly girl in head-to-toe pink.
"Everyone, please show some love for—" Rose gestured over to her right. "—our rocking guitarist, Juleka."
Juleka strummed a few notes with a faint smile as she shuffled her feet.
"Nice, babe," Rose happily hummed as she twisted her body, pointing behind her. "And in the back, we have our gentle giant on drums, Ivan."
Ivan nodded sternly as he drummed a quick rhythm on the snare, ending with a clash on the cymbal.
"Mmmmm," Rose nodded in approval, crooning, "Love it, Van."
Turning to her left, she gestured to the other band member. "And last but not least, we have Zoe, our sick, new bassist."
The blonde girl with a blue beanie strummed a few notes, wiggling the string of her bass between her fingers and giving the end note a lovely vibrato.
Rose fanned herself. "Wow, someone needs to turn down the heat in here."
The crowd laughed and cheered as Rose hammed it up. "Thanks for the warm welcome, guys! We came here tonight to show all of you some new songs we've been working on. And this first one is dedicated to all of those who believe in magic." Rose looked back at her ensemble, kicking off with a "One, two, three, four—"
Rose growled as she belted out the first note. The drums' bass beat into the small space as the guitarist and bassist joined in.
"The power is off.
The world is at rest.
The darkness consumes our room acquiesced"
"I grab the matches and the candles to place
Drawing a pattern with white chalk mapped in the space"
"We were so close.
I wish there was a way
To find you once again,
Now that you're gone and gray."
"As our world sparks up,
bringing magic and light
Speaking into the fray, chanting into the night"
"The winds knock softly
Against the window frame
As I listen to its song
On a night, so warm and tame."
"We were so close.
I wish there was a way
To find you once again,
Now that you're gone and gray."
They leaned into the next song. Now that they had warmed up the audience, they picked up the tempo with an upbeat melody.
"They're incredible," Adrien shouted aloud, wanting to stand up and dance with the crowd as his leg bounced and head bobbed to the new rhythm. "We should see them again!"
Nino threw his head back, his hat nearly flying off as he said, "Yes! Absolutely! We gotta go! We'll take our girls, and you, me, Alya and Marinette can go see them live!" He nudged Adrien in the ribs with a wink. "You know, after all this is over."
Alya smacked Nino on the chest with a warning glare, hissing, "Nino!"
Adrien tilted his head, eyebrows knitting together. "Wait—what do you mean by that? Marinette's not—"
"Hey, which song did you like better?" Alya interrupted. "I'd say the first was my favorite: super spooky. Speaking of spooky, are we doing anything for Halloween? Maybe a movie marathon or something?" She smiled widely, reaching across her boyfriend and grabbing onto Adrien's sleeve. "Oh! I know! What if we go to your place, Sunshine? We could get some popcorn, eat a gazillion pieces of candy until we get sick, and put on one of those awful cult classic American horror films? What do you say? Same time next week?" She said with a crocodile smile so wide she put the Grinch to shame.
Adrien tugged at the hem of his sweater. "Uh, yeah. That sounds… nice." He slunk back into the couch, watching Kitty Section perform the rest of their set while thinking of the best way he could open to grab Ladybug's attention.
The band performed longer than the rest of the acts, but it didn't seem to matter. The room exploded as they finished their third song with a clash.
"Thank you all so much for your support!" Rose threw up her hand, waving to the crowd and grinning widely. "And we want to thank The Nook for giving us the space to show you all a good time. We perform at Rasputin's on Thursday evenings. Can't wait to see ya there!"
Adrien's heart was racing as he clapped and cheered along with the crowd, grinning from ear to ear as the band took a bow.
Juleka turned to him and gestured to come up onstage. Like a newborn doe, he stumbled, shuffling over a couple steps to the stage.
This was it! His crowning moment where the world would go still as he poured his heart out onstage for Ladybug.
Juleka leaned into the mic, humbly saying, "Thanks so much for the praise. You guys have been awesome." The crowd applauded more as she shyly laughed into the mic, pushing her bangs away from her face. "Yeah, let's keep that energy going for our next act—" She threw her arm out as she said, "—Adrien."
He scanned over the crowd, accidentally snagging a spotlight, wincing and blinking away the tiny flecks.
"Come on. Get it together! You're a professional. You can handle the spotlight," Adrien thought, reassuring himself, "Ladybug is out there. She's here to see you. Speak from your heart."
He took a deep breath, staring at the microphone in front of him. "Hi, everyone." He smiled, bringing up his hand and giving a short wave. "I'm Adrien. I have someone special that I'd like to dedicate this to." Looking down, his hands were trembling slightly as he stuffed down his jumpy nerves.
He blinked a couple times, tilting his head up over the crowd of faceless heads as the back door closed with a brief flash of red.
"Was it her?" He thought as a flutter billowed inside of him like seeing the first snowfall in winter: new and exciting, childlike wonder taking over his features.
Adjusting his collar, he glanced down at the lyrics his mom used to sing, knowing that if she was around, she'd be cheering him on. He smiled softly as he confidently looked up and said, "Ladybug, if you're out there, this one's for you."