Casanova

Finally, once everything was sorted, we had to go to Europe. The song contest was still two months away, but we had to do a press tour, dress rehearsals, live performances and so on. Basically, it meant we would have to leave now if we wanted to make it on time for the actual contest.

We drew our seats at random, and I wound up in the window seat next to Jet. Darcy was on the other side of him. As much as I hated the two of them having any interactions, Darcy seemed to get along with Jet, which meant I didn’t have to deal with him.

I glanced over to the other aisle. Noah was in the window seat, staring blankly out of it. I think he was missing Jane, who sat behind me. Luca was in the aisle seat, wearing a dressing gown and slippers. I have no idea where he got them from, but I had long given up questioning anything Luca did.

Between them sat Pete. Yes, we were so impressed by his dedication to the band that we decided to invite him to our performance. He would be our dancer. Somehow, we made it to Belgium in one piece. Our plane touched down, somewhat hard, on the tarmac somewhere in Belgium called Zaventem, though I could not tell you where that was. I had spent my life on one giant rock, a town so isolated that you were more likely to find a snake than another person.

But we should be fine. There would be a taxi somewhere around here, and we all had the information on the hotel address. I just have to not die before I get there, and luckily, there are a notably lower number of things that want to kill me in Belgium than back home. We disembarked the plane, and I could not be more pleased to get some fresh air. Okay, it was mostly so I could get away from Jet.

I wandered off towards the baggage area to try and find my bag. Most of our gear would be freighted over separately, so it was pretty much just the usual touristy stuff, clothes, money, you know, that sorta stuff. I focused on the ramp where the bags would come through. I didn’t even notice someone slowly creeping up behind me until I heard a deep whisper in my ear.

“Hello, Blake.” I let out a quick squeal and turned around to look up at Marco’s handsome face. He had a slight stubble, and his dark brown hair was combed in a way that made him look like a model. His brown eyes had a playful spark that made my heart flutter. My face was already a peachy red from the surprise, and now it was turning tomato red out of sheer embarrassment.

“H-hi, Marco,” I muttered, shifting my gaze to the ground. Holy shit. How could a man be so hot? Seeing him in person was next level. Like, holy hell.

“Shhh, don’t interrupt them,” Noah whispered to the others who were all watching Marco and me.

“Seducing the competition… nice. I approve Shorty.” Even though Darcy could only read lips, she knew Jet had said something inappropriate. She grabbed him by his ear and yanked him away.

“No, I will be the one seducing,” Marco replied with a mischievous grin as Jet was being yanked away.

Wait, what did Marco mean by that? Was he suggesting he was going to tame me? I mean, sure, he was tall, and I was short, and sure, he had a cool muscular male vibe while I was a skinny guy with a feminine face. But surely I wouldn’t go down that easily, right?

“Right Blake?” He added as he extended his arm past me. Wait? Did he mean here and now? I braced myself. I wasn’t ready for this. I closed my eyes.

“This your bag, yes?” he asked. I opened my eyes and saw he had reached past me to grab my bag, which had finally been processed.

“Ah… Um… Yes…” I responded, slightly flustered and a little embarrassed. “Wait a minute. How did you know we were flying in?”

“Luca’s vlog.” He responded as if Luca having a blog was a normal thing. I turned to Luca, who was on his phone.

“Luca. Do you happen to have some social media I don’t know about?” I asked, my eye twitching.

“I have an Insteplan; I’m following all the artists.” His tone was so monotone that it seemed almost as if it meant very little to him.

“I see. Well, did you think of letting the others in the band know?” I asked, now annoyed he didn’t tell the rest of us.

“I knew. I’m following him,” Noah responded.

“Yeah, same,” Jet called out. How was it that I was the only one who didn’t know everyone else had an Insteplan account? I turned to Darcy.

She signed back, “I knew because I follow them all.” Et Tu Darcy. I was now officially betrayed by everyone.

“You kids and your social mediaz~, back in my day, we had to send letters through the mail. But since the postie took forever to deliver them, we ended up just chatting in person.” Pete added with a laugh.

Pete! My one and only friend. Please, never change. You are the light, the heart of this band. You are the glue that keeps us together. I was betrayed by my bandmates, my best friend, and my love. But you, Pete, you were the only one who didn’t let me down.

“Are we waiting on anything else?” Noah asked, shifting the discussion.

“Nah. That’s it,” I responded.

“Then, should we head to the hotel or get some food first?” Noah asked.

“Honestly, I could do with something to eat,” Luca added.

“Cool, let’s get something to eat and then check in,” Noah commented.

Although everyone else was making plans and looking up open nearby places, I was more concerned about something else. “What about Marco? He can come, right?” I asked them, worried that they might exclude him.

“What? Did you think he wasn’t invited, Shorty? Of course, we already assumed he would be coming. You’re coming, right?” Jet asked Marco.

“Of course,” Marco responded before whispering along my neck, “unless you want to do something else.”

I could feel my face turn redder than a beetroot. Even though we had only just reunited, Marco was already making me go crazy.

Marco slipped a piece of folded paper into my hand as we walked over to a cab to hitch a ride to the nearest open fast-food joint. I unfolded it and saw it was a room number. I looked back to Marco; he gave me a quick wink and blew a kiss.

Stupid Marco for being too dang sexy.

I folded the paper and carefully placed it in my pocket. Although I was absolutely dead from the plane trip, I knew where I would be spending my time tonight.

─── ༻ ☼ ༺ ───

End of Chapter 4