PARADISE//mitchel cave

chapter one

"you're literally so embarrassing," Sierra was working her magic on some band member and I tried to act as casual as possible while she was embarrassing herself. She told me that one of them had followed her on instagram for a while and they had exchanged some DMs, which led to him guest listing us for the show.

"Shut up, I've got this." She whispered out of the side of her mouth. She waved over-excitedly at the boys. Apparently they didn't think she was as crazy as I did because one of them waved back and they started walking towards us.

One had gorgeous blonde hair that framed his face perfectly, he was wearing a white tshirt tucked into black jeans. The second one had dark braids that slightly hung over his face and was wearing an oversized t-shirt that hung loose on his body along with even tighter black jeans.

"Hey, Sierra!" The blonde one enthusiastically greeted my gushing best friend with a hug. She gave me a side look as to say 'i told you so'.

"Hey, we were just about to head in," Sierra spoke up, knowing how to get what she wanted. "And you are?" the dark haired boy finally spoke up, when I looked up I realized that he was staring right at me. It seemed almost rude that these were the first words he spoke. "Oh, I'm Kayla," I stepped out from my spot slightly behind Sierra. "Well I'm Christian, this is Mitchel. How would you ladies like to come backstage and hang out after the show?" The one I knew now to be Christian offered. Sierra's face lit up, "we'll be there."

They told us they'd give our names to the security guard so we'd be let backstage, and then we parted ways.

"You really do have a way with boys in a band, don't you?" I boosted her, she proudly looked back at me. "It's just pretty girl perks," she laughed and flipped her hair. Sierra had a very large following on Instagram and it's gotten us in a lot of places we probably shouldn't be.

It was around 7:00 so we made our way in, making our way to the bar and downing a few drinks before grabbing another and heading to the floor. There were a lot of people packed inside of the room, so we stood around the back.

When the band finally started, I recognized the guys we had met earlier. Their set was amazing and there was so much energy in the room. I found myself dancing along to every song they sang. Well, the amount of alcohol I had consumed may have played a roll in that.

When the set ended, after the room had emptied slightly, we made our ways to the backstage doors and told the bouncer our names. He moved to the side and let us in, we made our way through the halls and quickly laid our eyes on the boys from before.

"Hey, did you guys enjoy the set?" Mitchel seemed to have a lot more energy than earlier, and I had no doubt his adrenaline was racing from the show he just put on. "Yea, it was amazing." Sierra smiled, looking Christian up and down. "Well we'll take you guys to a room where you can hang out while we change." Christian informed us, but I barely heard him.

I was consumed with the appearance of Mitchel, to be honest, something about him drew me in. My eyes met his and my face instantly grew hot. I snapped my eyes back to Christian, "that sounds good."  They gestured for us to go first, Mitchel guiding us along. When we were in the room, Mitchel and Christian headed to the showers, saying they'd return shortly.

There were other guys and girls already in the room, but most of them hardly payed attention to the fact we had entered. One guy, who I recognized as the saxophone player, gave us a small nod that we returned with soft smiles. He seemed quieter than Christian and Mitchel, and I could see him talking to people he appeared to know well.

There was a small bar that we instantly spotted and headed to. We got drinks and made small talk while we waited for Mitchel and Christian.

"Mitchel seems interested in you," Sierra nudged me suggestively. "Shut up, we've spoken two words to eachother! You, on the other hand, Christian has been hitting you up for months!" She smiled bashfully.

I heard someone coming up behind me and I turned to see Mitchel.

I met his his eyes. "Hey," I looked up at him. He was wearing a sweatshirt, and another pair of black jeans. I was given this burst of confidence, and knew tonight would be good. He had a quite a few inches on me so he looked down and met my gaze replying with a casual, "hey." His smirk held way more words than he had said. We had literally said ten words to eachother but something about him captivated me. It was like instant chemistry between us.

I saw across the room that Sierra and Christian had already found a corner and were talking amongst each other. They seemed to have a lot to say but I knew Sierra was perfectly capable of filling any silence if Christian ran out of things to say.

"Hey, I was gonna go have a smoke with Clinton if you wanna join." His voice was soft but he was so close I could still hear him clearly. I had no clue who Clinton was but I was down for pretty much anything after how much alcohol I had consumed. I no longer had a conscience telling me if something was a red flag.

Mitchel made eye contact with someone and nodded towards the door, the man I realized was the saxophone player got up off the couch and followed us out the door. After standing up, I couldn't help but stumble, Mitchel grabbed my arm to try and stabilize me. "Woah woah woah," Mitchel slightly chuckled. I could feel my face getting red as my head spun and I knew it wouldn't be the first time I'd have trouble walking tonight. It was much colder outside since the sun had gone down and I found myself wishing I had worn a less revealing shirt.

Someone I recognized as the drummer joined us. "Jesse," the brown haired boy introduced himself with a nod of his head. "I'm Kayla," I smiled back, acting as sober as I possibly could.

When Clinton pulled a blunt out from
behind his ear I was slightly surprised, as I was expecting them to be taking a cigarette break, but I wasn't upset. I don't smoke weed as much as I used to but I still enjoy it every once in a while. Clinton placed it between his lips and covered the end while he flicked the lighter on and took a drag. He inhaled, and blew out the smoke before passing it to Mitchel. Mitchel took two hits before offering it my way, I took it between my thumb and pointer finger, taking a long drag before passing it off to Jesse. We continued around the circle until the blunt was mostly gone. I was honestly impressed by how well they executed the puff and pass circle.

The alcohol and the weed mixed in my system, making me anything but sober. I knew it was blatantly obvious, but I was incapable of being embarrassed at this point.

We headed back in to the room from before and I sat down on a couch, Mitchel by my side. We started having some light conversation that involved a lot of obvious flirting and high giggling.

My phone started buzzing and I reluctantly pulled it out of my pocket.

I saw the name on the screen, my racing heart skipped a beat. This was going to be a hard conversation and I knew it. "I have to take this," Mitchel looked a little disappointed. The last thing I wanted to do was leave but I really needed to take the call. "I'll be right back," I got up and went to the corner, as far away from people as possible, and swiped to answer the call.