metulji - jan peteh

Super Shagadelic Fantasy

Arriving back from the toilet, after nearly getting lost a few times, Jan was sat with his head in his hands again. The band wasn't talking to him anymore; they'd moved on and, although they were still laughing, it was probably to do with something else. I sat down, moving his hand from his face gently, placing it back onto the table and replacing it with mine. I gently tilted his face towards me, and it was almost as if the bags under his eyes had gotten darker in the time I'd been away.

He sat up completely, giving me a tired look and sighing slowly, rubbing his eyes. 'They want us to sit with them.' he stated.

'What did you tell them?' I asked, deciding to stay neutral. If Jan wanted to sit with them, then I wouldn't want to upset him. Yet, after his little speech before, I assumed the opposite.

Just as expected, he replied, 'I told them no. We barely get any free time as it is.' Sweat I hadn't even noticed had built up rolled down my back in relief. The boys weren't bad, I just didn't want them to get involved in us. I was lucky to still live with my parents, and not with friends personally - I imagined that it would be incredibly difficult to deal with issues without having your own space to hide away in. 

'Okay.' I responded, again staying away from taking sides. Wanting to end the conversation, and move things back to focusing on the date itself, I changed the topic completely. 'Pancakes?' I asked, smiling at him, hoping to change the dark look on his face. He looked down at his plate, almost excitedly, before suddenly turning confused. My heart rate spiked as I worried if something was wrong; more specifically if that something was me.

'Why do I have so many blueberries?' he questioned, gesturing with his fork before using it to pick one up and pop it into his mouth. I calmed in relief, my heart slowing back to something relatively normal; it would never be completely as expected, at least not while I was around him.

'I don't like blueberries, so I gave you mine.' I informed him.

'You don't like blueberries?' he scoffed in disbelief, before eating another.

'They taste awful.' I retorted, backing up my words.

'No they don't.'

'Look me dead in the eyes and say that again.' I flirted, just wanting him to initiate eye contact.

'I don't know if we can work past this.' he joked, faking extreme worry.

'Well, I can't be with a blueberry lover. I have a strict zero-tolerance policy for them.' I added, placing my arms into a cross shape and pushing them into him gently.

To that, he picked one up, checked it over, and threw it at me, aiming for my mouth, which wasn't even open. To his disappointment, he missed completely, and it fell straight down my top, ending up inside my bra.

'I'd still eat that one.' he shrugged.

~o~

Eventually, we did join the group at their table. Jan was sick of being able to hear them whispering about us, just loud enough for him to hear some parts of the conversation but not make out every word. After we'd done with our food, he stood up, practically slammed his hands onto the table, and walked over to them.

'Make way for the couple!' mocked Bojan in one of the worst British accents I've ever heard. He moved up a seat and encouraged Nace to do the same, so that we'd be forced into the middle, opposite each other. I decided to seat myself in between Kris and Nace - the less intimidating of the 2 pairs. Jure hadn't seemed too bad, but he and Bojan definitely fed off each other, both spurring the other on. Also, sitting next to him meant also sitting next to Bojan, who looked all too eager to scare the shit out of me the moment I hit the chair. He was so outgoing that it was intimidating; I knew he meant well, but it was hard for me to adjust to his constant banter having only met him last night.

Jan started to ask the important questions. 'Why are you here?' he interrogated, turning to Jure, who looked entirely innocent.

'Breakfast. Bojči decided.' he insisted, nodding over to him. He wasn't intimidated by Jan's intrusive questions like I would've been. I was fascinated by their confidence to just stand up to each other like that.

'It's true, we had nothing in. And someone threw my beer away.' Bojan stated, eyeballing Jan.

'You were half asleep with it still in your hand.' he pointed out defensively.

'And you were in my bed. My rules, Janči.' he argued playfully, ruffling his hair. 'Why's it so messy already?' he added, looking around the rest of the group knowingly, making sure to avoid my gaze.

Jan tried to hide the proud smile that was making its way onto his face; once he knew it was trying to come out he forced his neutral glare again. Luckily, only I was watching him, as the rest were too distracted by Bojan's shocked look. I also kept my guard up - I could give our little secret session away just as easily as Jan.

'Glad we turned up before you two got into a SSF.' Jure bantered, clearly referencing an inside joke around the group, who laughed. Including Jan, which shocked me. I had no idea what that meant, but I assumed that it wasn't family-friendly.

'Lilia, what are you doing tonight?' Bojan asked, leaning across the table. An unrecognisable look sweeped Jan's face; although I knew Bojan wasn't trying to take me out, he clearly thought differently. 'During the shoot, I mean.' he finished, glancing at Jan to see if he'd provoked a reaction.

'No idea. Shopping? I don't exactly have any more clothes.' I laughed, to which Kris wolf-whistled.

'I think Jan would prefer it if you had no clothes at all.' he said, causing a ripple of chants from the group. 'Why don't you come?'

'To the shoot, he means. Don't worry about Kris, Jan, he's not competition.' Jure cackled, clapping Jan on the back, and causing Nace to let out a deep belly-laugh which reverberated around the walls.

Not wanting to respond to Kris' suggestion without at least some form of approval from anyone else in the group, I remained silent and emotionless. Although I wanted to accept, I also didn't want to get onto bad terms with the group if they didn't want me there. He glanced around to the other members with a 'should we?' sort of look, and when they all nodded, he asked me again.

'Come to the shoot, Lilia. Just one condition.' Kris stated. I listened intently, trying to concoct a rejection to the offer if I didn't like the terms.

'No distracting Jan.' He shook his finger just a few inches from my face, trying to keep his expression straight and serious. It only took Nace's sudden laugh for him to completely crack; the same applied for the others. In that moment, while they were all distracted, I was able to sneak a glimpse of Jan. He was smiling lightly, clearly excited that we wouldn't have to spend time apart after all. I'd figure out what to do about clothes later, but right now, I decided to let go of my tensity and just enjoy the fact that I was away from it all.

Suddenly, I was snapped back to reality by a loud voice. 'Janči's going to faint on the set, you know.' quipped Bojan, mocking him.

'Let's hope it's him and not Lilia, we have no insurance.' Nace critiqued, trying to sound like what I assumed was a Cambridge student. For some reason, none of the boys, except from Bojan, had managed to succeed in a convincing British accent, and even that was pushing it.

'She'll be fine until she sees me clean-shaven.' Bojan laughed, patting the stubble on his face. 'SSF.'

'SSF!' the group shouted. I joined in. No, I didn't know what it was. No, it probably wasn't appropriate. Yes, I wanted to feel like one of them.

We clinked our mimosa glasses and drank.