FALLEN (NOW PUBLISHED ON AMAZON)

62.

"Are you sure this is OK?" I laugh and drunkenly stumble onto Ash's bunk bed.

I try to get up from it a little too quickly and knock my head on the upper bunk bed. Ouch!

"Better be careful now." He laughs at me and offers me his hand to help me stand.

I take it and pull myself up with a little difficulty. I really need to sober a little for Ash's sake or he'll spend the entire night holding me up.

"We need to get that shirt off, you stink beer." He says kindly with an amused smile on his face.

He looks at me hesitantly for a second, but my lack of response doesn't stop him from taking the hem of my stained shirt. He lifts it up over my head and throws it on his bed. He takes one of his shirts he had taken out minutes ago and unfolds it between us. I feel a wave of warmth spreading through my body as I notice his eyes staring at me from head to toe. I take a step closer to him and take the shirt from his hands to put it on myself.

I tug it down, but unbutton my jean to slide it elegantly in before buttoning my jean again. I look up at him and clap my hands on my thighs as to say I'm ready to go.

"Alright then. You ready?"

He smiles at me with such generous happiness, it is contagious. I smile back at him and make my way out to the front of the bus. I climb down the three steps and come face to face with Michael making his way in.

"Oh sorry." I immediately apologise to him.

He doesn't respond, he simply smirks and looks up at Ash following me, shaking his head.

"What does that mean?" Ash asks him with a single laugh and an amused smile, but Michael keeps on shaking his head.

He looks at us both one last time. "You know what it means." He cryptically responds and he continues his way in the bus, making us lose him of sight.

"What was that all about?" I ask Ash, my curiosity devouring me, wanting in on the secret.

"Nothing you don't already know. Now, come on."

He takes my hand and pulls me towards the back entrance of the venue. It takes a moment for me to realise what he is doing.

"Why are we going back in there?"

"The next thing better than a packed venue is an empty venue." He looks at me with a spark of amusement in his eyes.

"How so?"

"Come on and you'll see."

We make our way back to the stage and we see the whole crew taking it down. He says hi to a couple of people and leads me to the technicians at their station. Some of the technical stuff is already being packed, but Ash has the time to show me quickly how these boards control the sound and the lights. I get amazed to see that so much of a concert is going on here.

Unfortunately, since the crew is taking down the stage, he cannot show me how the spotlights work and all, but I'm so amazed. And I realise by looking at all these workers how setting up and taking down a stage and its lights is hard work. Fortunately for them, they don't have a show the next night and they don't have to hurry to get it undone and shipped to another venue.

I'm looking everywhere around me, trying to look at everyone working, but get dizzy and lose balance. Ashley wraps an arm around me in a hurry to keep me steady.

"Come on, you need to sit down." He says and guides me to the seats behind the technicians.

We get a beautiful view of this whole venue, filled with black wooden boxes instead of the chairs that were up on the floor during the show.