Witchy Days 37: At the Rock Show

The evening of the concert is finally here!

“Hello, hello, hello! Nice crowd we’ve got going here! Are you ready for a good time?! We are Moonlit Rose and we are here to rock you tonight!!!

Hey! Hey! Hey!
Hey! Hey! Hey!

Hey you, so you hit another brick wall
Your beat down but your not behind the 8-Ball
Hey you, when you break it’s not a reason to bleed
Let’s Go. Let’s go. Let’s go.

It’s not the end of the world
Just because you’re in pieces
It’s ain’t the end of the world

Were all so young
Into love & violence
Live and let die
And lets go ♪♫♪♫

The band lineup:

Rory Oliver (vocals/guitar) and Rocky Tanker (drums) by @gaiahypothesims

Benjamin Zhou (bass/vocals) by @nectar-cellar

Kane Hunter (keyboard) by @amuhav

Who’s gonna tell you when it’s too late
Who’s gonna tell you things aren’t so great
You can’t go on thinking nothing’s wrong
Who’s gonna drive you home tonight 

Who’s gonna pick you up when you fall
Who’s gonna hang it up when you call
Who’s gonna pay attention to your dreams
Who’s gonna plug their ears when you, when you, when you, when you, when you scream 

You can’t go on thinking nothing’s wrong
Who’s gonna drive you home tonight ♪♫♪

You can’t go on thinking nothing’s wrong
Who’s gonna drive you home tonight ♪♫♪

The gang was enjoying the concert to the max, forgetting their former worries. While his sister and friends were all dancing together, James found himself singing along to the band, forgetting everyone else here. This was one of his favorite songs and he tended to lose himself when it came on.

Eventually, he became aware of someone watching him. Turning towards the riverbank, he spotted a familiar face.

After their disastrous meeting the previous day, he didn’t expect anything good to come from further interactions with Elsa-Marie, but damn, she looked good. And she was totally giving him the “can we talk” look.

Wondering if he was really such a glutton for punishment, he decided to bite the bullet and approach her.

“I wanted to apologize for earlier,” Elsa-Marie told him. “You didn’t do anything to deserve me going off on you yesterday. I was just having a shit day. Truth be told, it would’ve been better to cancel our meet-up, but by the time I realized that, it was too late.”

That he did not expect. But she was genuinely apologetic and he found himself warming up to her.

“You know what? You weren’t the only one at fault yesterday. I was also in a mood and overreacted to questions that were actually pretty reasonable,” he admitted.

“Reasonable? I said you could be a serial killer!” she gasped.

“True, but it is a wild world we live in and these kinds of people do exist,” he conceded. “And meeting someone through online dating can be kind of weird. Considering that other than having a few chats on the website, we don’t really know each other. I can’t blame you for being careful.”

“Wow, you’re really…” she bit her tongue. She wanted to say he reminded her of a teddy bear, but she realized this probably wasn’t something a guy would want to hear from someone they barely knew. “Understanding. Do you think we can have a do-over?”

“I don’t see why not,” he agreed.

At that moment, the band cranked up the volume, starting up another power-ballad.

“Would you like to dance?” he yelled over the speakers.

“Yes!”

Do you wanna go to heaven tonight
Leave the evidence far behind
Say alright, alright
Do you wanna be my lover tonight
We can leave everybody else behind
Say alright, alright 

Do you wanna see heaven tonight?
Underneath those lights you will look so beautiful
Do you wanna see the stars before they fall?
See the stars before they fall

Do you wanna be my love tonight?
And for all my life it could be so wonderful
Do you wanna see the stars before they fall?
See the stars before they fall ♪♫♪

You gotta burn it down, you gotta blow it up
You gotta give them hell, you gotta pull the plug
And you can run away, and you can kill the beast
And you can try to kill yourself, but you can never kill me

Hey! If this is how the world will end
Well you can burn it again
‘Cause we will not go quietly
Hey! If this is how the world will end
Well you can tell all your friends
That we will not go quietly
(Not go quietly) ♪♫♪

“Thank you for being amazing, Dronningslund! Keep rocking and we will see you all very soon!”

The band started taking their leave, and other than a few wild groupies, the crowd began to disperse.

“Me too,” he told her. “It’s only 10. Do you want to grab a couple of drinks and chat?”

“I was just going to ask the same thing,” she told him. “There’s a nice bar not far from here.”

“Lead on, then.” 

“That was amazing!” Atherton was super hyped-up from the concert. Tessa and Toby disappeared as soon as the concert ended, but considering how handsy they were during the last few songs, it was obvious where they were and what they were doing. “I knew they’re good, but the concert blew my expectations out of water.”

“Mine too!” Polina laughed. “We should do this more often. Go to shows together.”

“I’m in if you are,” he agreed. “I loved dancing with you.”

“Did you now?” she winked, hugging him. “Only dancing?”

“Oh, you know I love doing much more than dancing with you,” he grinned.

A familiar, irritating voice distracted her attention away from him and towards the other end of the square.

It was the blonde from the coffee shop and she was practically draped over the band’s drummer.

“Rocky, baby, do you remember me?” Aly batted her eyelashes at him.

“Aly-kitten? How could I forget you?” Rocky seemed to be absolutely smitten. “How have you been doing, baby girl?”

“Your baby girl’s been missing you while you’ve been on the road,” Aly leaned in for a kiss, which he willingly returned, pulling her close.

“Let’s get out of here,” Polina told Atherton, her mood ruined after seeing the mess that was happening before her eyes.

“Ok, but what’s wrong?” he asked.

“Them.”

By the time they walked away from the square, she was furious.

“The gall of it all. She’s engaged!”

“Not to Rocky, I take it?” Atherton understood.

“No, to some bloke named Lance. Who is pretty much wrapped around her little finger and is buying her an expensive wedding dress.” She told him how she and Tessa saw that couple the previous day.

“I see,” he nodded. “I wonder if Rocky knows. Judging from his social media, he’s not the type to get involved with an engaged woman.”

“I just don’t understand. You’ve seen them. The way she looks at Rocky, like she’s visually eating him up. I don’t know if it’s lust or love, but it looked more real than whatever she feels for her fiance. And if she feels like that about one person, then why marry the other?”

“Well, you said it yourself – she wants the big fancy wedding, with the dress, and the guests, and whatever else is involved. And that Lance guy is here, while Rocky is off touring around the world. And considering that Rocky has a whole lot of women who would gladly snatch him up, she’s making a play for the safe choice.”

“It’s fucked up,” she said.

“Can’t argue with that,” he agreed.

“What happened to actually fighting for the person you want?” she wondered.

He shrugged. Truth be told, it was really easy to let the person you want go. They almost did and if not for a crazy chain of events, they had a good chance of not being in one another’s life. But he didn’t like thinking about that.

Almost as if to remind him that life should not be spend thinking about sad what-ifs, something cold and hard hit him on the head. “Ach! What is that?!”

“Atherton? Did we check the weather?” she asked, rubbing her head too.

“No! Shit, it’s hail!” And it was only increasing! “We need to get some cover! Be careful!”

“I’m trying!” she laughed, as they ran for the nearest shop. Running on heels from hail was not how she pictured the evening ending.

---

After the concert, James and Elsa-Marie made themselves comfortable in a little bar not far from the square. Now that the hype from the concert was wearing off, they were feeling a little awkward, but both were determined not to ruin this evening like their previous meeting.

“This was a good concert,” she said, wondering if she should order a drink too. Her nerves could use it, her tongue – not so much.

“Yeah, they’re pretty good. I’ll be honest, I don’t know Moonlit Rose that well, except for a few songs. My sister and her friends are fans though,” James admitted.

“Oh, me too. I like them, but I wasn’t planning to go. But my friend had a ticket and she had something come up at the last moment. You know how this things go,” Elsa-Marie smiled. “So, you’re a firefighter. How is that going for you?”

“It’s alright. I like being able to go out there and help people. Even if they often make that hard. The sheer number of people who don’t know about basic cooking safety would shock you. And then there was this lady who tried to microwave popcorn in a plastic, non-microwave safe plate – she couldn’t understand why that almost razed her house to the ground. And then, we get all these fires from heating devices, but I understand that – the Stoneshields has a notoriously bad heating system, so people try to warm up how they can. What about Dronningslund? You guys aren’t that far from us. Is it the same?”

“I think we used to have that problem too. But in recent years, the local government’s been investing in that infrastructure. According to my father, it’s gotten relatively better.”

“That’s good,” James nodded. “I wish we could get some of that going at home, but our government could use even more improvement than our infrastructure.”

“That’s a good one,” she chuckled. “Trust me, we’ve got plenty of those jerks here too. I wish we didn’t.”

She notices the bartender paying a little more attention to them than to the glasses he’s supposed to be filling for the other patrons. Whether he’s checking out her or James, she can’t quite tell.

“Want to go to a table?” she asks James and he agrees.

“You’ve noticed that guy creeping on us, right?” he laughed uncomfortably.

“Yeah, he was pretty obvious,” she smiled. “Probably not his first time hitting on or picking up patrons. Bars are pretty much a perfect place for that – drunk uninhibited people wear their hearts on their sleeves and are easily impressed by anyone more sober than them. And then, when you take into account the number of bartenders who help questionable individuals drug their dates, the idea of public drinking places somehow gets less fun.”

“It can’t all be that bad, right?” James asked, noticing her somber tone.

“Oh, sorry about that. I guess I can’t stop being at work even during my off time,” she gave a weak laugh.

“Where do you work?” he asked.

“At the police department. I’m a crime scene technician,” she explained.

“Wow, that’s pretty cool! So you get to be at the forefront of all the trouble right as it happens,” he realized. That explained a lot about her knowledge of the darker sides of life.

“Pretty much. It’s not all that fun,” she admitted. “It’s one of those jobs that requires a lot of concentration and attention to detail. And sometimes, we get new people who are the opposite of that. Which is sort of why I was in such a crummy mood yesterday.”

“Tell me more,” he was curious.

“We had a killer in the city,” she explained. “Which is probably why I got so testy with you the other day. Sorry again about that, by the way. I really didn’t mean to insult.”

“Hey, it’s ok, you’ve apologized plenty already,” he reassured her.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, of course,” he told her. “Things happen.”

“They do. This killer, well, he was a messed up one. I’m not going to tell you much of what he did, but be glad we caught him.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” he told her.

“And we almost didn’t catch him. We have this new guy at work and he’s the absolute worst. He would misplace his own brain, if that was possible! We were only able to pinpoint the killer during his last hit and this idiot almost lost all the evidence. Yesterday was supposed to be my day off and I’m woken up at 6 in the morning by my frantic boss who can’t find the most important evidence in the case, because it’s not at the station! I had to rush out in whatever I could throw on and we spent three hours looking nonstop, until we finally found the evidence bags in the new coworker’s car.”

“Yikes. How does he still have a job?” James asked. “If something like that happened at my workplace, this person would be on instant probation.”

“If only! He’s the nephew of the old chief of police, so he’s got people vouching for him.”

“Double yikes,” James shook his head. He hated it when nepotism helped the wrong people get ahead.

“It’s ok. At least, because the evidence was found in his car, he couldn’t blame me for the mess,” Elsa-Marie laughed. “Like last time.”

“Makes sense. People who aren’t very good at their work are always eager to shift the blame onto others,” James nodded knowingly.

“Especially when the others happen to be female at better at said work than them.”

“Triple yikes! Well, if things don’t work out here, you know the Stoneshields has a police department too,” he half-joked.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she smiled. “What about you? You’ve mentioned things were making you upset too.”

“I was upset,” James admitted. “There were some issues with our parents. My sister and I, we’ve left home as teenagers and haven’t gone back. For good reason. And they’ve started sending letters to my sister, telling her our mother was bedridden and needed help, all that jazz.”

“I take it, she wasn’t and you found out?” Elsa-Marie asked.

“I ended up hiring a private eye to visit them. Turns out they’re both just fine. Still getting drunk and fighting all the time, but otherwise fine,” James sighed. “I wish our relationship wasn’t in such condition, where I feel like I need to hire investigators to figure out what sort of crap they’re up to, but that’s the state of things.”

“Have they done that before?” she asked.

“Well, two years after we’ve moved away, I got a letter from Mom, informing me that our father died and that she needed money for the funeral. I instantly called our home number to talk to her. Our relationship wasn’t great, but I still wanted to give my condolences and give her any support I could. And guess who answered the phone?”

“Your father?”

“Bingo. I guess they weren’t expecting me to call, at least not at that time. Ever since then, I take any communication from them with a a big grain of salt.”

“I’m sorry about that,” she told him. “Familial relationships can be complicated. You’d think having the same DNA with people would make getting along with them easier, but it just seems to raise the difficulty level.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” he nodded. “What’s your family like?”

“Well, it’s just me and my Dad,” she told him. “And he’s getting up there in years, but still sharp as a knife. Especially when it comes to complaining about everything that crossed his path.”

“Tough client,” James chuckled.

“You’ve no idea. He nearly had a conniption when I told him I was going into the force. Although, I don’t think he had any reason to suspect I was going to pick an easy, calm career – we’re too alike in personality, frankly.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Does he know you’re on a date, by the way?” James asked.

“He knows I’m an adult who has her own life to live,” Elsa-Marie smiled. “We’ve gone over that in high school, when I went steady with a boy from class and he thought I was too young to make such decisions. He tried to ground me, but I was already working part-time and moved out into an apartment with some friends. Considering that I was already 18, he was faced with the reality: either he accepts that sometimes I make decisions he doesn’t like and doesn’t get in the way of that, or I won’t live with him. Besides, it’s not like I give him a hard time over who he dates.”

“Does he?”

“Oh, yes, despite his difficult personality, he seems to be a big hit among the older singles of Dronningslund!” she laughed.

“I aspire to that in my old age,” James told her.

“Don’t we all!” she agreed.

The bar started closing up and the two of them both realized they enjoyed each other’s company.

“It’s been nice to get to know you. I’m glad we got a chance to talk things out,” James told her.

“Me too,” she agreed. “In all fairness, I should’ve warned you I can be a bit harsh with people, especially when I first meet them. I thought, with us chatting through the app that won’t be an issue, but I was proven wrong.”

“I think we both got off to a weird start,” he shrugged.

“But maybe we can continue on a better way.” Elsa-Marie looked outside, only to see the still continuing hail. “How are you getting home?”

“I guess I’ll take a cab,” he told her.

“Yeah, but I’m parked nearby. Do you want a ride?”

“If it isn’t too far out of your way, sure,” he agreed.

“It isn’t. Just one last thing,” she leaned over and planted a kiss on his lips. “Sorry, I’ve wanted to do that all evening.”

“The feeling was mutual,” he flushed. Honestly, he would’ve liked to do a whole lot more with her than just kiss. Judging from the look she was giving him, it seemed this feeling was mutual as well.

“Should I drive you home?” she asked. “Or would you like to stay over with me?”

“I think you already know the answer to this question,” he told her.

He was only here for a few days. They may as well make the most use of it.

---

After getting caught in the hail storm, Polina and Atherton finally made it to a little winery, ducking inside and out of the still falling sleet.

“Oh, man, that was quite a surprise!” Polina laughed, trying to catch her breath from their run. “The weather was perfectly nice and then this?”

“Hey, imagine if this had started when the band was playing and we were all in the square?” he pictured the situation. “It would’ve been chaos!”

“I know, right?!” she agreed. “Let’s be grateful we got to have our concert in peace.”

Now that they have stopped, her legs were letting her know exactly what they thought about that run in heels. He noticed her wincing.

“Hey, why don’t you get a seat and relax, I’ll bring us something to drink. I think we could use it,” Atherton offered.

“Not a bad idea,” she agreed. “Although, I’d like to see what they have and maybe bring a gift for the Crimsons.”

“Alright. Which reds do you have?” he asked the shop clerk.

“We have well-aged Nebbiolo and Sangiovese from Italy, we have Pinot Noir from France, we have some good American brands of Cabernet Sauvignon…” the salesman showcased the store’s offerings. He shot Polina a funny look. “Are you ok, miss?”

“Yes, just fine!” she couldn’t stop the giggles. “It’s just that this is the second time today we’re dealing with unpredictable forces of nature.”

“Feeling better?” Atherton asked as they sat by the window, enjoying their glasses of the Merlot while observing the raging storm outside.

“Much better,” she told him. “It’s a good thing we were close to this place. Imagine being stuck somewhere out in nature during this.”

Almost as if to prove her point, the next increase in the sleet fall was followed by a roll of thunder.

“We got lucky,” he nodded. “Although, I don’t mind this at all. It’s nice – just the two of us, good wine…”

“It is very cosy,” she smiled, agreeing with him. Visiting the city with their friends was fun, but sharing an apartment with three other people didn’t leave much room for privacy.

Not that they got all that much of it back in the Stoneshields. From the look on his face, she knew he was thinking along the same lines as her. Sure, they went on dates whenever their schedules allowed, but between life getting in the way and other factors, both wanted more.

“You aren’t still upset about that couple, are you?” he asked.

“Them? No, I’m over it. Their life, their choices,” she shrugged. “It is kind of amazing, though, in a bad way, how someone completely normal can become a bridezilla when they get engaged. I mean, a wedding is supposed to be a happy day, not some sort of a combat experience.”

“Oh, I don’t know, I don’t know,” he laughed. “Considering how some marriages turn out, the wedding day and its preparations are really a taste of what’s to come.”

“That’s so true,” she chuckled. “According to Aunt Olga, Boris was almost late to their wedding because he got really engrossed in a book.”

“I can absolutely picture it.”

“Have you ever thought about it?” he asked. “Getting married, that is.”

“Of course, who hasn’t?” she said.

“Yeah, but not just in general terms,” he clarified. “But as it pertains to your life.”

“I guess I have,” she studied him. “Even before we got together.”

“And what do you think?” he asked.

“I like the idea of marriage and family. I just think, somewhere along the line, a lot of what it’s all about gets distorted,” she admitted. “By life, circumstances, people…”

“Do you think it would happen to us, if we get married?” he asked carefully.

“I would say no, but I think so will most other couples,” she told him, noticing he has blushing. “Hey, are you ok?”

“Yeah, not bad, it’s just the wine,” she coughed a bit.

“Wait, are you talking about marriage in theory or are you trying to ask me if I want to marry you?” she asked.

“A bit of both,” he told her, blushing a bit more.

Eventually, the storm subsided enough for the couple to risk hailing a cab and they returned home. On the way back, the the two of them tried talking about anything but the question that had their minds in a tizzy.

Atherton worried that jumped the gun with taking about the Big M, especially when he didn’t even think to go ring shopping yet. Truth be told, the idea to ask her was a fairly spontaneous one, likely brought on by his own hazardous experience on the boat. This didn’t mean that the sentiment was any less real than it otherwise would have been, but maybe she thought it was?

On her part, Polina was really taken by surprise. And the idea of marriage kind of sent her into a tailspin. On the one hand, just moments before he asked, she was thinking how nice it would be to spend more time together with him. Getting married was certainly a way to do that. On the other hand, the idea of building a family mildly terrified her. Not because she didn’t that way about him. She did.

She just had no idea if she had it in her to build a family with anyone.

“Are we good?” his question brought her out of her thoughts. The moment they came home, she pulled him to the bedroom and they got busy doing what they wanted to do since the situation on the boat. If her response to his advances was any sign of how things were between them, his question was of the rhetorical nature.

“Of course we’re good,” she told him. “I just didn’t expect you to ask.”

“Why not?” he asked.

“Because,” she told him. “I feel like I know nothing about what it takes to make a family.”

That got a hearty chuckle from him. “Does anyone ever?”

“No, I suppose not,” she agreed. “I love you. I don’t want to screw this up.”

“You love me?” he smiled.

“Of course, you doofus,” she told him, trying to playfully punch him, but he caught her hand and kissed it.

“I love you too. So our feelings are mutual. That’s already more than what a whole lot of others have. I think, for the rest, we can play it by ear,” he offered.

A big roll of thunder shook the whole house enough to make the windows rattle and Polina realized something – she didn’t just love Atherton. Here, with him holding her, she also felt safe and comforted. And this wasn’t the first time she felt that way. There were so many instances where she would worry about things, but the moment he said a few warm words to her, she would calm down.

She didn’t know if she was going to be good at building a family, but she knew he was someone she wanted to build it with.

“Let’s do it,” she told him. “I’m in.”

“Yes!” he hugged her even tighter, imagining their life together. He wasn’t planning on all this when he woke up today, but he was glad things took this turn.

After all, marriage was always a gamble. No one really knew whether a relationship will succeed or if it will fall apart spectacularly.

But some things were worth gambling for.