I woke early the following morning. Brian looked so peaceful as he slept, so I left him while I quickly jumped in the shower. He was still completely dead to the world once I was done. I looked at the clock, we had to pick Oli up in an hour so I thought I should probably wake him. I brushed his hair back out of his face and woke him. "Hey sleepyhead" I said quietly as he opened his eyes. "We've got to get Oli soon. I'm gonna go make some breakfast." I kissed him lightly before making my way downstairs.
Twenty minutes later, and still looking decidedly bleary eyed, Brian trundled downstairs. I laughed as I handed him a mug of coffee. "You are a star," he muttered, kissing my temple. I smiled back at him and sat down on the floor to play with the cats while he made himself some breakfast. "You sure you want to come with us today?" He asked. "Won't it be really boring for you?"
I shrugged, "not really...I want to see how good you guys all are. I mean, I need to pick my team right?" I teased him, knowing full well I was 100% Team Q. He playfully kneed me in the back as he passed me.
I looked at the clock on the wall. "Come on, we need to go get Olivia. She'll be bouncing off the walls by now." I held my hands out for Brian to help up. He he pulled me upwards, he gathered me in his arms and held me tight.
"If you're anything but Team Q, we are going to have a problem missy." He growled.
I leaned back and raised my eyebrows at him. "Oh is that so? What if I wanted to be Team Murr, eh? Because Murr is my favourite and I want him to go the furthest? What would you do Mr Quinn?"
I laughed out loud as his eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't."
"Try me." I countered, laughing again. "Come on, hot stuff. Let's go so you can show me what you're made of." I dragged him towards the door, picking my bag up as we went.
Oli was waiting outside the hotel when we arrived. She jumped into the back of the car, as hyper as I imagined she would be. We chatted as Brian drove to the venue. We had planned to do a little sight seeing tomorrow while the guys prepared for the punishment, so we discussed where we wanted to go. Every now and again, Brian would chime in with ideas too.
Brian led us into the training room a little later. Joe was already on the 15 foot wire, Sal and Murr were putting on their harnesses. "Nice of you to join us," Murr smirked at Brian.
"Fuck you," Brian laughed. "We had to pick this one up." Brian led us to the side of the room, where there were chairs set up. "You ok here?" He asked.
I nodded. "We'll be fine, just go." I pushed him off and plonked myself down on one of the chairs.
We sat and watched as the guys practiced. I was surprised at how well they were doing, but 15ft was a lot lower than 60ft. Add into that the noise of the crowds, the difference in temperature and the weather...you couldn't really compare. Just before they broke for lunch, Joe came over and asked if we wanted to see Bello, their trainer, show us how it's done. They all came and sat with us and we watched as Bello walked the wire like it was nothing. Brian had brought some food over with him so I dug in and listened as the guys ribbed each other about their progress.
The rest of the afternoon flew by, and before we knew it they were packing up for the day. Joe had offered to take us all out for dinner as a sort of pre-celebratory thing before tomorrow, as there wouldn't be a chance then. We piled into Brian's car and followed Joe's Fiat 500L to the restaurant. I couldn't help but laugh at the fact that Joe had the big version of my girly car.
I jumped out of the car as soon as Brian turned the engine off. "Beer me, Gatto!" I yelled as I caught up with Joe. He laughed and linked his arm through mine as he led me into the restaurant. It was a bustling steak house, my favourite. I forgot how loud we could be as a group, so I felt sorry for the hostess who was trying to take our drinks order.
"Alright, pipe down losers!" Oli yelled. The whole table was instantly silent, until Sal and I burst out laughing.
"Jesus Ol," I mumbled, shaking my head.
"This poor girl wants to take our order, so just order already. I'm hungry!" She answered.
We quickly ordered our drinks, I went for a beer with a whiskey chaser. For some reason, everyone had become slightly hyper. Most likely, it was the nerves about tomorrow manifesting themselves into craziness.
For Brian, his nerves seemed to be turning into something else entirely. He couldn't keep his hands to himself. His hand slid down my back, his fingers hooking themselves into the waistband of my jeans, as he kissed my ear. I giggled as I heard Sal complaining.
"Jesus you two, get a room." He moaned.
"Got one thanks." Brian mumbled into my neck.
"Fucking use it then!" Sal hissed. I didn't even turn my head towards him, choosing to flip him the middle finger and laugh instead.
During this time, our drinks had arrived. I downed my whiskey then nursed my beer. We were interrupted a few times by fans who had clocked us, so I tried to give a little more distance between myself and Brian. I didn't know whether he wanted to go public with whatever this was between us or not.
My meal was delicious. The most tender and moist rib eye steak, rare obviously, with what seemed like a thousand different sides. I was stuffed and content. Once we had finished, Brian resumed his assault on me. I could see there were still fans about so I gently pushed him back. "Stop, Brian." I muttered.
He frowned at that. "Why?" He asked.
"Well, I don't particularly want to be posted all over Twitter by those Tweens over there...I'm a teacher, remember? Not something my kids should see." I nodded over to the group of girls who were giggling and furiously tapping away on their mobiles. He sighed and nodded, and removed his hands. I felt bad but at the end of the day, we hadn't clarified what this was, and I had my reputation as an educator to think of.
