When I walked back into the lounge, Vicky immediately launched herself at me, ''What'd he say, what'd he say?'' she whisper-yelled at me, not wanting to attract the attention of the other band members relaxing in the lounge.
''We're okay. He said it was okay,'' I replied, tucking a stray piece of hair behind my ear.
Vicky smiled.
''I told you that all you needed to do was apologize.''
----
I chilled with Vicky and the rest of Cobra (besides Gabe, who was still wandering somewhere around backstage with the techies.) for the next hour or so.
Yawning, I stretched my arms over my head.
''What time are we going on?'' Vicky asked.
''In like 10 minutes, or something,'' replied Ryland, looking up from his issue of Kerrang! magazine.
''Mmkay,'' she replied, as I rose from my seat on the couch next to her.
''Where you going, Mads?'' she asked me, lazily.
''Bathroom,'' I replied, as I made my way towards the door leading to backstage.
''Okay. Just be back before we go on – I need one of your good-luck hugs for a kick-ass show,'' she said, winking.
I smiled.
''Okay, I'll try,'' I replied, sticking my tongue out jokingly, as I opened the door and walked out into the backstage.
If I thought that my earlier walk backstage had been hectic, it was nothing compared to what was going on now.
Since Cobra was scheduled to be on in a manner of minutes, the atmosphere behind the scenes resembled one of organized chaos.
Even more techies scurried around, clutching cables and wires, faulty mics, and lightbulbs for the stage lights, their headphones and walkie-talkies buzzing, and the passes attached to their carribeaners jingling.
I was bumped into at least twice by the time I had reached the small bathroom on the other side of the backstage.
The bathroom was pretty disgusting inside, so I spent as minimal time as possible inside, emerging after a short two minutes, gasping for breath.
As I opened the door, I felt it bump into someone.
''Oh! Geez, I'm sorry, I --'' I started, and then I realized who was outside the door.
It was Gabe.
''Do you make it a priority to keep bumping – no pun intended – into me?'' he asked, smirking.
''No, I guess I'm just so lucky like that,'' I retorted, closing the door behind me.
When I looked up at him, I didn't even realize what was happening, but soon, his lips were pressed against mine.
I couldn't help but melt into the familiar feeling, the familiar taste of his lips on mine, but then I realized what I was doing.
''No, you are NOT letting this happen again,'' a voice in my head angrily reminded me, as he pulled away from me.
''Sorry Mads, I've been waiting to do that,'' he whispered with a smile, as a techie waddled over, ushering him towards the direction of the stage.
I stood rooted to the spot in front of the door to the bathroom, dumbfounded.
What had just happened here?
''Uh, excuse me, can I get by?'' asked a techie with large guages and bright blue hair, pointing to the door of the bathroom behind me.
''I – uh, yeah. Go ahead, sorry,'' I stuttered, moving away to let him pass.
I slowly made my way back towards the lounge, just as Vicky, Alex, Ryland, and Nate were coming out, heading for the wings of the stage, where their instruments were stored.
''There you are!'' Vicky exclaimed, accusingly, as she saw me.
''What took you so long? Last I checked, using the bathroom DOES NOT take ten minutes!'' she added.
I was still trying to wrap my head around what had just happened, so I didn't answer.
''..Hello, earth to Madison Felicia Richards? Are you there, Miss Richards?'' Vicky asked again, waving her hand in front of my face.
I blinked, and shook my head, finally looking at her.
''Oh! Uh, sorry V – I got held up with all the chaos going on backstage...'' I said, in a half-hearted lie.
I knew that she could tell I was lying, because she gave me one of her 'looks'.
Luckily, we only had time for one good-luck hug before Lara – the head technician – pushed Vicky and the rest of the guys towards the instrument storage, so I escaped with no further questioning.
I wandered back into the lounge, not really sure what I was going to do for the next hour – the duration of Cobra's set. All I was sure of, though, was that I was not, under any circumstance, going outside into the venue and listening to their set.
There was no way that I wanted to see Gabe, or have to face Vicky's accusing looks.
So for the next hour, I sat on the couch in the lounge, thinking of what had just happened between me and Gabe, bitterness overwhelming me.
''How could he do that? Bastard. After all that's happened – all I've gone through. He knows! And then he just goes out and kisses me like that!'' I thought, furrowing my brows as I angrily scrubbed the remains of my nail polish off my fingers.
