Curious

Chapter 18

The night had been exactly what I needed, I instantly forgot about Lewis, and Brad for that matter. Spending time with Archie was different, I felt like I had known him all my life. Conversations were easy and effortless, we laughed at the same things. When his hand grabbed mine, it was natural, no awkwardness. We danced through the concert and then he showed his favourite bars around Birmingham. 

“Lads, this is Olivia.” He introduced me to a table of boys in a well lit bar. He ushered me forward with his hand on the small of my back. “Damn girl.” A boy who was easily 6 foot and built like a brick shithouse, wolf whistled whilst smirking. “Be nice.” Archie mimicked me from earlier, to his friends. I laughed and shook my head. “Alright boys.” I greeted them, giving them a little wave. “A northern bird. Not bad Arch.” Another boy chimed in. I thought my northern accent had long gone after living in London but apparently it was still strong enough to be recognised. No one understood how pleased I was to hear someone say that to me. I was a proud Northern girl. 

The boys all shuffled and made room for me in the booth whilst Archie went to the bar. “Two seconds, I’m going to grab Luce.” A boy, whose name I learnt was Tommy, slid out the booth and motioned to the door. “His girlfriend.” Seth, a boy with blonde curly hair and striking blue eyes, informed me after noticing my confused look. “Oh cool.” I said, wondering what was taking Archie so long at the bar. Just then he came back with drinks for all the table. We all returned to our conversations, laughter filling the booth at something Seth said. “Hey guys.” A girl’s voice interrupted the laughter. There stood next to Tommy was a tall, slim girl. She had pin straight blonde hair and piercing green eyes. “Luce, this is Olivia.” Archie said, gesturing to me. I had a feeling she might have known who I was by the tour merch she was wearing over a little black dress. “Oh my god.” She tried to  whisper but everyone heard. Her eyes lit up and immediately grabbed into a hug. “Hey.” I smiled. “Archie, why didn’t you warn me?” She shot at Archie. “Am I missing something here?” Tommy interrupted, causing Lucy and I to laugh. “Big fan?” I asked her, pointing to the tshirt that had Aaron’s ban all over, receiving a slightly embarrassed nod. “Her cousin is in the world’s biggest boy band.” Lucy shot at her boyfriend as if it was definitely common knowledge. “Oh now it makes sense why you would be hanging around backstage at an Arrows concert.” Tommy smirked at Archie. “You were backstage?” Lucy asked Archie, her jaw dropping. “Only through the support act, I hung out in the crowd like an ordinary person when the band came on.” He shot his hands up in defence. I had to laugh at his defensiveness because Lucy definitely looked like she would have had his head off if he had been backstage and not told her. 

I had got talking to Lucy and she was actually a really genuine person. I could imagine us being friends, she was a lot like Beth and she would have loved her.  “So go on, tell who your favourite is.” I asked her, curiosity getting the better of me. They are all super fit, sorry that’s awkward.” She laughed realising she was talking about my cousin. “Trust me, after reading half the things said online about Aaron, you calling him fit is nothing.” I waved her off, pretending to bork about all the R rated things I have accidentally read about Aaron, both of us laughing. “But my favourite is definitely Brad. There’s just something about him that screams bad boy.” She smirked with her eyes glistening, glancing over to the boys making sure Tommy didn’t hear. I literally choked on my drink, causing a coughing fit. “You okay Liv?” Archie asked with a raised eyebrow. “What? No yeah I’m fine, just went down the wrong way.” I swallowed hard. Maybe forgetting about my moment with Brad the other night would be a little harder than I thought. I quickly changed the subject, feeling my cheeks heat up at the mention of his name. 

It was now 1:30am and we had ended up in a club called Popworld, which played all the guilty pleasures from the 70’s to the 00’s. My kind of place until those guilty pleasures included my cousin’s band much to Lucy’s delight. Beyonce’s earlier music filled the room as Luce and I danced the night away on the dancefloor and the lads chilled at the bar. The good thing about your cousin being in a boy band was that people old enough to be in clubs very rarely knew too much about each member so not many people at all recognised me. I had posed for a few photos with one or two but nothing to get in the way. “I absolutely love this song.” Lucy screamed, running to get Tommy. 

I took this as my que to get a well earned drink. I slotted in between Archie and Seth at the bar. “Having fun?” Archie smiled at me as I nodded. I quickly ordered a drink which Archie insisted on buying. “You know, I don’t think I got a chance to tell you how amazing you really are at dancing.” He said motioning to the dancefloor. “Well why don’t I show you a few moves then?” I smirked, dragging him over to the floor where Lucy was already dancing with Tommy. I couldn’t believe how much a genuinely good night I was having. It was like I had known these people forever, laughing and joking with everyone.