Three days

Chapter 5 - KATE

The bass hit me in the chest the second we stepped through the doors.

It was one of those mid-sized venues that always smelled like beer, sweat, and the faint metallic tang of old stage lights. The kind of place where the floor sticky in patches and the sound system was just loud enough to make conversation feel like a shared secret. Alex’s hand rested lightly at the small of my back as we moved through the crowd, guiding without pushing. Maya was already bouncing ahead of us, weaving between people like she’d been born in a mosh pit, while Marco trailed behind with two plastic cups of something cheap and cold, grinning like this was the best idea anyone had ever had.

“Told you it would be packed,” Maya shouted over her shoulder. “These guys always sell out when they play the smaller rooms.”

I nodded even though she couldn’t see me. My heart was still doing that stupid little flutter it had been doing all week whenever Alex was near. After the wall, after the second kiss, after the way he’d pressed his mouth to my knuckles like it meant something, everything felt slightly off-balance in the best and worst way. We hadn’t defined anything. We hadn’t even really talked about it again. We just… kept showing up. Texting. Sitting closer than friends. Looking at each other a second too long.

Tonight felt like a test neither of us had agreed to take.

The opening band was already halfway through their set when we found a spot near the left side of the stage, close enough to see the sweat on the drummer’s face. Alex stood slightly behind me, close enough that I could feel the heat of him whenever someone jostled past. Maya linked her arm through mine and leaned in, voice pitched high with excitement.

“Okay, be honest—how many times have you looked at him in the last five minutes?”

I elbowed her lightly. “Shut up.”

“That’s not a denial.”

Marco handed me a cup and raised his own in a mock toast. “To bad decisions and good music.”

Alex took the last cup, his fingers brushing mine for half a second longer than necessary. When I glanced up, the corner of his mouth twitched like he was fighting a smile. The stage lights shifted from blue to deep red and the lead singer launched into a song I recognised from one of Maya’s playlists. The crowd surged forward a little. I felt Alex’s hand settle more firmly against my waist, steadying me without making a show of it.

We stayed like that for the rest of the set—Maya dancing like no one was watching, Marco shouting lyrics he only half-knew, me swaying in place with Alex’s presence a constant, quiet pressure at my back. Every time the chorus hit, the whole room seemed to move as one. I found myself laughing more than I had in weeks, the kind of laughter that came from the chest instead of the throat.

Between bands, we drifted toward the bar for water and a quick break. The air outside the main room felt cooler, less thick. Maya and Marco disappeared toward the merch table, already arguing about which poster was cooler. That left Alex and me leaning against the wall near the bathrooms, sharing a bottle of water like it was the most natural thing in the world.

I pulled a cigarette from the pack in my jacket pocket without thinking. Old habit. Muscle memory. The lighter flared and I took a slow drag, watching the smoke curl upward under the fluorescent lights.

Alex watched me for a second, then reached out and gently plucked the cigarette from between my fingers. He didn’t stub it out right away. Just held it, looking at the glowing tip like it had personally offended him.

“You should quit these,” he said, voice low enough that it stayed between us.

I raised an eyebrow. “Is that an order?”

“It’s a suggestion. A strong one.” He finally crushed it against the side of the trash can and dropped the remains. “They taste like s**t when you kiss someone.”

My stomach flipped. “You’ve been thinking about that, have you?”

His eyes met mine, steady and a little darker than usual. “Yeah. I have.”

Something soft and dangerous unfurled behind my ribs. I didn’t look away. Neither did he. The hallway noise faded for a moment, replaced by the distant thud of the next band’s soundcheck.

Maya’s voice cut through it like a knife. “Are you two going to keep making heart eyes or are we actually watching the headliners?”

Marco appeared behind her carrying a black tour hoodie that was definitely too big for him. “Leave them alone. They’re having a moment.”

“I’m allowed to interrupt moments,” Maya declared. “It’s in the best-friend contract.”

Alex rolled his eyes, but the tension in his shoulders eased. He nudged my arm with his. “Come on. Before she starts planning our matching tattoos.”

Back in the main room the lights dropped and the headliners walked on. The first chord was pure electricity. The crowd roared. Maya grabbed my hand and pulled me closer to the front, and somehow Alex stayed right with us, one hand brushing the back of my neck whenever the pit got rowdy. I sang until my throat was raw. I danced until my legs ached. At one point Marco lifted Maya onto his shoulders so she could see better and she screamed the chorus so loudly the people around us started laughing and joining in.

Halfway through the set the band slowed everything down for a quieter song. The kind that made people put their phones away and just listen. Alex’s arms came around me from behind, loose and easy, and I leaned back against his chest without thinking. His chin rested lightly against the side of my head. For three whole minutes the rest of the world narrowed to the sound of the guitar and the steady rise and fall of his breathing.

Maya caught my eye over her shoulder and mouthed, Told you, with the biggest grin.

When the song ended and the lights flared back up, Alex didn’t let go right away. His mouth brushed the shell of my ear, voice barely audible over the applause.

“You’re going to get me in so much trouble.”

I turned my head just enough to answer. “Good.”

The rest of the night blurred in the best way. We stayed until the final encore, until the house lights came up and the floor was littered with empty cups and discarded setlists. Outside, the air was cool and sharp. Maya declared we needed greasy food immediately or she would perish. Marco agreed with the solemnity of someone who had never turned down late-night fries in his life.

We ended up at a twenty-four-hour place a few blocks away, crammed into a booth that was slightly too small for four people. Maya stole half of Marco’s fries. Marco stole half of Maya’s milkshake in retaliation. Alex sat next to me, thigh pressed against mine under the table, and every time our hands bumped reaching for the same napkin it felt like a private joke.

At one point Maya leaned across the table, eyes sparkling. “Okay, serious question. Favourite song of the night. Go.”

We all answered at once, overlapping and arguing. Alex’s answer was quieter than the rest, and when I looked at him he was already watching me. The corner of his mouth lifted in that almost-smile that still made my pulse skip.

Later, while Maya and Marco were distracted by a heated debate about whether the drummer or the bassist was hotter, Alex reached under the table and linked his fingers with mine. Just for a second. Just long enough for his thumb to brush across my knuckles the same way he had that afternoon on the wall.

“Still a bad idea?” I asked softly.

He squeezed once. “Still a bad idea.”

But he didn’t let go.

By the time we spilled back out onto the street the city was quieter, the kind of late that felt suspended between one day and the next. Maya hugged me tightly, smelling of sweat and cheap perfume and pure joy. Marco clapped Alex on the shoulder and said something too low for me to catch, but whatever it was made Alex shake his head and smile for real this time.

We walked the last few blocks together before splitting off toward our respective homes. At the corner where our paths diverged, Alex stopped. The streetlight caught the edge of his jaw, the soft shadows under his eyes.

“Text me when you get in,” he said.

“I will.”

He hesitated, then leaned in and pressed a quick, careful kiss to the corner of my mouth. Barely there. Still enough to send heat racing down my spine.

“And quit the cigarettes,” he added, already stepping back. “I’m serious.”

I laughed, soft and a little breathless. “I’ll think about it.”

“Think harder.”

Maya’s voice floated from further down the street. “Are you two done being disgusting? Some of us need beauty sleep!”

Alex rolled his eyes again, but the look he gave me before he turned away was pure warmth. I watched him walk until the darkness swallowed him, then turned toward my own place with the bass still echoing in my bones and the ghost of his mouth lingering on my skin.

For the first time in a long while, the night felt like it might be the start of something instead of the end.

Even if it was still, technically, and according to Alex, a terrible idea.