Not Another Broken Doll

Chapter 21

Ruth put on her clothes. Hannah approved, though she could not wait to see her friend show those incredible tattoos she had. She knew Ruth wasn’t there yet, but at least the hope remained. Hannah agreed to take the train with her on her way to the concert. When they got to Hafen City, she waited until Chris was visible before disappearing into the crowd with the rest of her friends, who were already gathering at the agreed spot. She wasn’t looking forward to hanging out around Marco again, but she couldn’t say no to the whole team going together. She would figure it out.

Ruth saw Hannah disappear into the crowd and looked at Chris coming closer. She was fairly certain that was the first time she saw him wearing a t-shirt and not a button-up shirt. His hair was combed back and still wet from the shower. He had let his beard grow for a few days, and she thought the stubble suited him. He hadn’t seen her yet, so she moved closer until he saw her. He looked at her and he smiled to himself.

“Are you ready?” she asked.

“Always. You?” he said, and gave her a ticket.

“I haven’t been to a proper concert since I was nineteen!” she said and smiled “I think I owe this to myself. Thank you for bringing me here.”

Chris didn’t say anything. He had done his maths and he knew exactly why she hadn’t been to a concert for five years. He guided her to the entry. They got their V.I.P. bracelets and went in.

Ingrid waved from behind the sound table. Ruth got closer to greet her and she introduced herself.

“You go have fun, it’s working night for me here” she said, and she paid attention to something coming through her radio straight into her earpiece. “Got it, five minutes to first show guys” she spoke to the microphone. “You, chef!” she said calling Chris over. He had not been called that in a long time. He walked closer to hear clearly “You look after my little cousin or I will show you what I can do with a bunch of guitar strings, got it?” He nodded and smiled. She didn’t need to add anything else. He walked back towards Ruth.

“I think Ingrid approves of you” Ruth said as they approached the bar to get some drinks.

“I think she has literally just threatened my life right then” he pointed out.

“Yes. She was very specific though. If she didn’t like you, she would have said something involving breaking your knees and tossing you into the Elba” Ruth shrugged her shoulders.

“What kind of women are you people?” he asked in confusion.

“We’re Hausmanns” Ruth answered seriously and grabbed her drink. “We come from a lineage of fighting women and we are trained in martial arts from an early age. Ingrid was the national champion of Jiu Jitsu when she was 18, and then she gave it up to study music and business at university.”

“Remind me not to make either of you angry, then” he said. Ruth smiled at him. She could not think of a scenario in which he could make her that mad. She didn’t think anyone on Earth could. Chris could not get enough of that smile. He knew he was smitten to the core and that as his age that was rather stupid, but he also knew that he had never felt like this before. He had had a long talk with himself and he decided he was going to enjoy the ride, wherever it took him. “We should go, they’re starting” he pointed out.

The first band were local, and they did covers of older bands from around the world. They were good, but still green. Chris thought they could do with listening to the music they were playing a bit more. The second group was better, and they had their own material. Chris could see Ingrid sat at the sound table making sure everything was perfect. And Ruth, right next to him, she was having a great time. He was dancing and singing along with her. After this band there was going to be a fifteen minutes break in which a comedian was going to take over whilst the headliners did their sound tests.

“Alright Hamburg good evening” the guy started off. Ruth shook her glass and checked that it was empty.

“Let’s get some more” she said and grabbed Chris by his arm and led him to the bar. “Are you having a good time?” she asked. The side of the bar was quiet as the comedian seemed to be really good at his job.

“I am. I can’t believe you got these tickets to begin with” he said. “What about you?”

“It has been a long time, but I am having fun” she said, glowing. She sipped from her fresh drink and looked at him strangely. “Your hair looks funny.”

Chris got his hand through his hair and pushed it back, in a hopeless attempt to make it look better. “Let’s call it concert hair” he said and shrugged his shoulders. “Let’s go, headliners are up next.”

They moved in between the rows of people until they could go no further. They stood right next to each other and waited for the music to begin. This band were known for always starting with a ballad they had written years before and that they only ever played live. The audience went crazy and they all started singing along.

They were having a good time, and the band had a good frontman who interacted with the public. Ruth got angry in a flash and turned on her heels. Chris looked at her and she saw that she was looking for someone. He had been to enough concerts to know that somebody had been inappropriate to her. He grabbed her hands and made her turn in front of him.

“Now it’s my turn to help you with an i***t” he said to her ear “Let’s play it cool here, Ruth. Do I have your permission to hug you from behind?” He asked to her ear. She nodded. She was curious, and at the same time she was surprised she trusted he was not going to make her feel uncomfortable. She felt safe, and let her body lean on his a little bit. Sometimes something so simple as asking a question makes all the difference.

They stayed like that for another song, singing along. Then, from behind Christoff, a fight broke out. He covered Ruth with his body and moved her away from the kerfuffle. They turned around and they could see that someone who was very drunk had tried to punch someone else. Security were on their way. In the middle of the chaos, the fight escalated, and Chris ended up getting punched himself, and he had to take a few steps backwards to make more space. His nose was bleeding, and Ruth looked at him with wide eyes, not really understanding what was happening. People started throwing their drinks at one another, creating a shower of beer and cocktails that rained on everyone. Then someone thought it was fit to use a fire extinguisher to disperse everybody on that side of the stage. Chris pulled Ruth into his jacket as soon as he saw the dust going towards them and guided her out of the chaos.

Once in the street, Chris started coughing and Ruth pushed out of his embrace. Both of them were covered in fire extinguisher dust, and his nose was still bleeding.

“Chris! Are you alright?” she asked as she patted him on the back to help him calm his cough. “What even happened in there?”

“Are you alright?” he asked as soon as he got his breath back. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine” she said. “How’s your face?”

Chris had forgotten about his face. He touched his nose and he concluded he had had it worse.

“I’ll be fine” he said. “Let’s go, I live nearby”

He did not wait for an answer. He grabbed her hand and guided her through the waterfront towards his place. They walked for a short time before they arrived at a glass door. Ruth looked up and saw that this was a relatively new building. She followed him in, confused at how she got all the way there anyway.