He Knows

8.

When it was about 2:30pm I shut down my laptop. I checked my makeup and pulled the hairtie out of my hair to let it down in it's natural wavy state.

Ten minutes later my doorbell rang. It was Hannah. "I'm coming!" I yelled through the intercom as I was grabbing my stuff. Phone. Jacket. Money.

I ran down the stairs to meet my best friend. "Ready," I smiled. Together we walked towards the bar.

When we got there Douwe and his friends were already there. I knew them already. It were Thijs, Jeroen and Stijn. I greeted them and they introduced theirselves to Hannah.

I sat down next to Douwe and Stijn. "What do you guys want to drink?" Douwe asked us. "A beer." I answered. "I'll have a white wine." Hannah smiled. She was sitting next to Thijs, who was sitting in front of me.

"So you're the girl Douwe won't stop talking about. I know we met yesterday already, but we never really got to talk," Thijs said when Douwe walked away to get our drinks. "Well... I don't know if he talks about me..." "He does," Stijn joined the conversation. "Oh.. Then I guess I am..."

Douwe comes back with our drinks and sits back down next to me. "Oh hey, I got this idea, would you guys like to come to the show tonight?" He asked me and Hannah. I nodded, "yeah, I'd love that!" I looked over at Hannah who shook her head, "I can't... I gotta work." "Ah that's too bad... But you will come right." Douwe turned to me. I laughed, "yes, I already confirmed that." He smiled, "I know, I was just making sure." I smiled back at him. "What time do I have to be there?" I asked. "Well, you can come a little early and hang out backstage. Stijn is doing the same, maybe you could go with him. I have to be there pretty early." "Sure, I'll pick you up at around 6," Stijn said. I nodded, "alright."

We talked some more until Douwe, Jeroen and Thijs had to go to the venue. "I'll see you tonight!" Douwe smiled at me. "Yes," I smiled back. "It was nice meeting you, Hannah!" He looked at her. "Nice meeting you too!" He waved once more and then left the bar. "I gotta go too," Hannah said, "can't be late for work." I smiled, "you can.. You'll probably get fired, but then you can just work here." "Sure, Joanne," she laughed. Hannah gave me a hug and left.

"We have almost 2 hours to kill, care to grab a pizza together? Or do you want to have dinner alone, I'll pick you up at 6 then," Stijn said. "Pizza is good, we could go to my place to eat, so I can change into something else for tonight." Stijn shrugged, "if you want to, it's fine by me." I smiled, "alright, let's go then."

--

I opened the door to my apartment and walked in. Stijn followed me. He looked around, "nice place." "Thanks. It's small, but it works." I walked to the kitchen, "do you want a coke?" Stijn nodded and sat down on the couch, "well, the smaller your apartment, the easier it is to clean. Your place is pretty tidy." I laughed as I handed him his drink, "you should've seen it this morning when Douwe had slept here."

Stijn raised and eyebrow and grinned. "Oh gosh, no, that came out wrong... It's not like that. It was just a friendly sleepover, nothing more." "Suuuuure," Stijn said and I rolled my eyes at him. "How about that pizza?" I changed the subject. "Right, I'll call them, what do you want?" He asked as he took out his phone. "I'll have one with tuna." He nodded and called the pizza place.

About 20 minutes later the doorbell rang. "I'll get it!" Stijn got up and ran downstairs. He came back with 2 pizza boxes. He handed me one and sat down again next to me. "Dinner is served," he joked.

"This is such good pizza!" I said. "I know right, I always get my pizza from there, it's the best around." Stijn had almost finished his while I had just gotten to my second half. "From now on I won't get my pizza anywhere else," I laughed.

"Have you been to a lot of Douwe's shows?" I asked Stijn. "Yeah, I go whenever I can. I'm his best friend, so I kind of feel obligated to do so. Plus, it's always fun with those guys." "So what do you normally do when you go there?" I took another bite of my pizza. "I just hang out backstage and when it's time for them to go on, I most of the times just stand with the crowd, at the back or on the side. If it's really crowded I'll just watch from backstage." I nodded, "sounds fun."

When I finally finished my pizza I walked to my bedroom to change into something else. I took out a flared red dress, black knee-high socks and my black chelsea boots. I grabbed the jacket I got from Douwe and walked back into the living room, "I'm ready to go." I said. Stijn stood up and walked to me. He pointed at the jacket, "isn't that Douwe's?" I nodded, "I borrowed it on the night we met and he let me keep it." Stijn grinned, "aah okay, and still you're positive that you're just friends." I shoved him lightly and walked to the door, "come on, let's go."