From My Little Corner

LilionTheUrbanFairy – Thank you for the review. : ) It made me smile. Hehe.

Enjoy!

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Chapter 3
Celestial Haven

He opened the passenger seat for his date, shutting it closed after she entered the car, and then he made his way into the driver’s side. Danny smiled, sticking the keys into the engine, and started up his GS Lexus Hybrid. It was a nice car, better than the one that Rochelle’s mother had. The seats were just about wrinkled free, with that new car smell still in there. There was a crucifix necklace hanging from his rearview mirror, along with a small chain of a stuff dog toy, its tail wagging every time the car would pull to a stop.

“So,” He glanced over at Rochelle who was staring out of the car. The two of them were already out of the neighborhood as he spoke up. “I’m glad you didn’t dress all that fancy.”

Turning around, she raised a brow, “Why’s that?”

Danny smiled, giving her a wink. “You’ll see in a couple hours.” He turned his attention towards driving once more as the traffic light turned to a green, and he made his way down Kerkendhal Road, then made a left onto Radley Road. For awhile, everything was dark around them, no street lights, no traffic lights, and hardly any cars.

It was about fifteen minutes later, they met another traffic light, and more cars seemed to have appeared. They were on the Philippine Road once Danny made the left turn and made another turn into a restaurant parking lot. “Here we are.” He smiled as he pulled his car to a stop, taking out his keys. He turned around to Rochelle, finally looking at her after those fifteen minutes of concentrating on the road. “I really do hope you like it here. It took quite a bribe to get a seat.” He joked, quickly making his way out of the car and went over towards Rochelle’s side. “Here you go, m’lady.” Danny held his hands out.

Rochelle took a step out of the Lexus, gracefully taking his offering hands. “Thank you.” She whispered. Looking around, she glanced up at the restaurant’s name. Cohound Restaurant. She blinked a couple times as the two of them made their way, arms locked with each other’s, towards the front door.

Danny opened the door, and they stepped in. A young waitress greeted them with a broad smile. “Good evening. My name is Johanna, and I will be your waitress tonight. Do you have a reservation in the special seating ariea?” Her words came out in a smooth motion, as if she rehearsed it many, many times before.

“Ah, yes.” Smiling, Danny nodded. “Pryce.” He spoke simply, as the waitress glanced through the waiting list for a moment then flipped to the next. “Ah. I see your name on here. Mister Danny Pryce, am I right?” Danny nodded as the waitress smiled once more, looking at Danny for a moment longer “Alright. Follow me please.”

The waitress turned away from the couple, and took two menus along with her and led the pair towards one of the separate rooms. “This will be your room…” She opened the door, sliding it towards the side, and with her free hand, she showed the room to the couple. Rochelle gasped, her mouth dropped open. Surely, it must have cost quite a bit.

The room that Danny and Rochelle was to dine it was just about the size of her own room. She didn’t understand what the use of all that room was. She shrugged it off though, enjoying it while she could. “Thank you.” Danny smiled as he took the menu away from the waitress. She left the room, sliding the door back to the way it was.

“I’ll come back in a few minutes.” She told them before the door closed all the way, and then she was gone.

Danny had Rochelle sit down first then made his way towards the seat across from her. “It’s a beautiful restaurant, isn’t it?” He spoke up as he flipped open the menu, his eyes scanning the words on there.

“It is.” She whispered, continuing to look around the room, mesmerized. The room was beautiful. It was painted a baby yellow, with a small chandelier hanging over the center of the table. Paintings of famous artists were hung in various places around the room, of course, chances are they weren’t real. She still enjoyed them though. There was a small table towards the corner of the room, with a beautiful China vase. Honestly, beautiful would have been overrated in this case. “Why? Why such a fancy place?”

Peeking from the menu, his eyes seemed to have grinned. “You’re worth the fanciness.” It made Rochelle blush, as she gently picked up the menu afraid that it would have shattered to pieces if she was too rough with it. “Don’t worry about the prices too. It’s all on me.” She glanced up, not sure what to say. Surely enough, Rochelle enjoyed the fact that Danny would spend so much money on her, but it just seemed out of place.

She’d pay him back one way or the other. She glanced through the menu, looking at the prices for a moment, and both her eyebrows shot up in horror of the prices. “Hamburger for twenty dollars?” Rochelle looked over at Danny, amazed that he didn’t care. But then again, why would he? “I’ve…” She shrugged a little, “Wow.” She laughed, before she turned her attention back towards the menu.

Johanna walked in once more, with a pad in her hand. “Are you two ready to order?”

Danny glanced up, “Yeah.” He smiled, setting down the menu. “I’ll have the Smoked Chicken Breast.” The waitress wrote down what he wanted then glanced over towards Rochelle, tilting her head towards the side somewhat, waiting for her order.

“I think I’ll have the Smoked Salmon.”

“Would you like the dressing on top or towards the side, ma’am?”

“Uhm, just put it on top, please.”

Johanna smiled, “No problem. Drinks?”

Danny pursed his lips for a moment, “Give me an iced tea.”

“Water will be fine.”

“Great. I’ll be back with your drinks then your orders.” She nodded to them, before she left the room once more.

The blonde ran his hand through his hand and leaned back in his chair, smiling at Rochelle. The girl smiled back, glancing down at the plates and silverware. “So, are you going to tell me where we’re going next?” He shook his head, smirking now. “I think you’ll enjoy it, though.” Danny nodded, now leaning in towards the table, his hands clasped together before him.“What’s your favorite genre of music?”

He suddenly changed the subject. Rochelle’s brows furrowed a little, “Music? My favorite?” She glanced up at the chandeliers for a moment, not sure what to say. “I think, I like sort of a rock slash pop sort of genre. Why?”

“Oh. No reason. I like rock.” He grinned, “The loud music and the heavy guitar playing kinda drowns out the worries in me sometimes. Singing along to the songs help, too.” He nodded, his blonde hair falling over his blue eyes.

“Okay…” She gave him a skeptical look, before she turned towards the closed door. “This place is really beautiful and big too.” Rochelle laughed, covering her mouth with her hands. “Sorry. I just thought of something.” Danny gave her the what-is-it look, but Rochelle shook her head, “Not telling you.”

Her boyfriend frowned a little, “Well, that sucks.” He glared at her.

“Well, if you’d tell me where –”

“No.” He grinned, “But I have another idea.” He leaned forward, standing up slightly and leaned across the table. He took her hands into his, their fingers entwining, her nails scratching against his skin slightly.

Rochelle’s eyelids lowered slightly, naturally leaning in forward towards Danny, her lips parted as his lips pressed against hers gently, his lips parted as well. The two of them lip locked. Turning her head towards the side just a little, Danny’s tongue slipped into Rochelle’s mouth a little, investigating the inside of her mouth. Her tongue came up to meet his, embracing in a small battle.

Finally, giving up, Rochelle pulled away, breathing heavily. Danny’s forehead pressed against hers gently. He smiled, whispering to her. “I love the way your lips taste… you always taste like strawberries… I like strawberries.” Danny leaned back, attacking her lips again, cupping her jaws; he placed more pressure onto the kiss, getting a moan out of Rochelle. “What is it that you were thinking?”

Biting her lower lip, her eyes fluttered open, staring into his blue eyes. “Your kisses are wonderful… but I’m not telling you a thing.” She grinned, regaining her breath, and pushed him back onto his seat. He sat back down just as Johanna walked in with the drinks and their dinner. Rochelle thanked their waitress as she set down the smoked salmon, then over to Danny.

“Thank you.” He echoed Rochelle.

“No problem. Please enjoy your dinner.” The waitress left again, sliding the door closed.

Picking up the knife and fork, Danny began to cut the chicken into smaller pieces, as well as Rochelle. He placed a piece of chicken into his mouth, grinning at his girlfriend. “Is it good?” He asked, after swallowing that piece. Rochelle nodded, popping another piece into her mouth.


Their dinner went through without much talking. Danny finished his smoked chicken while Rochelle still had a few left over until she couldn’t eat anymore. She sighed, closing her eyes for a moment, her hands hovering over her stomach. “That was good.” She laughed a little.

“It is.” He smiled widely, standing up and went over towards the door, sliding it open. “Ready?” He turned towards her just as Rochelle was standing up, pushing the chair into the table, and made her way out of the room. He took her hands, standing closely next to her. The two of them made their way towards the register, paying for the bill.

“That’ll be seventy dollars.” Their waitress handed them the bill, letting them have the chance to look through it. Danny handed back the bill, and took out his wallet, easily handing the young woman the money. “Thank you. Have a good evening.” She smiled, placing the money into the cash register.

“I can’t wait to see where we’ll be going.” She squeezed his hands lightly, giving him a silly smile. Rochelle made her way towards her side of the car, slipping into the seat, adjusting her jacket, and pulled the seat belt over her chest. Danny gave a ‘heh,’ before he pulled out of the restaurant, driving faster than usual.

“We’re a little bit late, so I’m going to drive as fast as possible. There’s no cops around here most of the time…” He glanced over at his girlfriend for a moment, a smirk crossing his lips, as he slowly pushed his foot onto the gas paddle, gradually speeding up. “So, hold on tight.” The speed-o-meter reached eighty miles per hour, and it took the two of them only ten minutes to reach where they had to go.

“Catalyst?” Her brows furrowed as Rochelle glanced over at Danny, “What is this place?” She unbuckled herself as she made her way out of the car, looking around, seeing people their age walk into the place.

“It’s a coffee house, only opened on the weekends.”

“A coffee house?”

“Totally.” He laughed to himself, taking her hands and walked inside. The man standing outside took one glance at Danny, smiling, automatically letting them in. A few people waved to Danny and he gave them a nod – it’s his way of saying, hey. “C’mon, I gotta get backstage.” He led Rochelle towards the back of the coffee house.

The backstage was rather large, as big as it was up in the front. It had variety of instruments, like, drums, bass, guitars, electric guitars, keyboards, pianos and so on. There were a few people scattered about, setting up the instruments, tuning the instruments.

“What’s this?” Rochelle asked Danny as he released his hands from hers, calling out some peoples’ name.

“Hey.” He jerked his head towards the side, waving his hands in the air. “I’m here.”

“Dude, took you long enough.” One of the guys, around Danny’s age, perhaps a little older, wandered slowly over towards Danny and Rochelle, an electric guitar strapped around his chest. “We’re kind of late. Everyone’s outside waiting.” He glanced over at Rochelle for a moment, then took a double take. “Hey, whos’ the cutie?” He jutted his chin out towards Danny’s date.

“She’s my girlfriend.” The blue eyed boy grinned widely, his hands on his hips, “Rochelle.” Danny turned over towards her, winking at her for a moment, then wrapped his hand around her waist, pulling her close to him. “We just went out for dinner, just got here.” He looked at Rochelle, seeing that she was confused at what was going on.

“Oh. Uhm, Rochelle, this is Mike.” He pointed to the one that had the electric guitar around him. “This is John.” His index finger then trailed over towards the one over by the keyboards then to the drum set, “Russell and last but not least, Scott.” He pointed over at the bass guitarist. “They’re all my friends.” He kissed her on the cheek, “I’ll be back in a moment guys.” He led Rochelle back outside, seating her down in a chair.

“Why are we here?”

“You’ll see.” He leaned in, pecking her lips gently then left her, returning to the backstage.

Rochelle remained outside, not sure what to do. She sat there though, waited a few minutes, until one of the workers at the café came up towards the microphone that was set out at the front stage. “Good evening guys.” He announced, “I hope that your Sunday went by well, ‘cause we have a wonderful performance by Celestial Haven.” There were a few murmurs around the room, when the worker announced that they had a band performing. Of course, Rochelle wasn’t sure what was going on. “First song, Once upon a time. Enjoy!” He held out a finger, indicating the curtains to be pulled back – at least, that was what it seemed, since the curtains did pull back.

The room grew dark, as well as the front stage. People stopped talking as they stared intently at the stage before them. There was only silence and nothing more. Rochelle wasn’t sure what was going on, until a quiet strumming of the bass guitar with the same note over and over again. One of the headlights shined onto the player. Rochelle met him a moment ago.

He was tall. He was taller than Danny, with black shaggy hair, covering over one of his eyes, and his brown eyes stared down intently at his fingers for a moment until they focused onto the silent audience. His lip curved into a small smile, his lip ring glittering against the light that was shining upon him. His head moved to the beat of the drums that were now going along with the rhythm, never losing a single beat.

The drummer was on a higher part of the stage, so he was able to be seen by the audience. His tongue was stuck out with a small metal ball at the center of his tongue, his blue and green eyes moving about, staring at the drums before him. It was another one of the guys that Rochelle was introduced to.

Soon enough, the electric guitar and the keyboard joined into the rhythm. The bass from the drums, pounded loudly to where Rochelle was able to feel the vibrations under her feet. She blinked a few times, completely forgetting about her boyfriend being gone.

The electric guitarist, Mike, stepped up to one of the three microphones, whispering in their lyrics, “Once upon a time.” That was the one phrase he whispered over and over again, until another headlight shone upon a new face. Danny. Rochelle’s mouth dropped into an ‘O’ seeing him on the stage. So that is the surprise! She stared at her boyfriend as he smiled at her, then closed his eyes, licking his lips and took in a deep breath.

“Give me a moment.” He sang into the microphone, with another electric guitar, strumming at a higher pitch than what Mike was playing. “Give me a minute.” Danny’s voice was a low, with a mysterious tone to it. “Give me a second.” His blue eyes opened again, as he stared at Rochelle, “To think about the things, that I have left behind.” He turned away from Rochelle to look at the rest of the audience.

Mike and Scott, the shaggy black-haired boy, leaned into their microphones, and sang along with Danny. “Once upon a time.” The women audience cheered, with ‘whoo’s and screams. Danny went solo once more, “You know, remembering the past, it hurts.” He stopped playing, his hands trailing over towards his chest, gripping onto his shirt with the look of a hurt expression upon his face. “An ache in my heart, sorrow in my eyes.” He closed his eyes, turning his face away from the crowd.

“But being me, I can’t help, but dwell upon the events.” His beautiful eyes snapped opened, staring at the crowd, his hands with a pick in his hands, strummed on his electric guitar in union with the other guitarists. “That’s right.” He grinned, taking a few steps back and allowed the other two singers to take their lead.

“Sometimes I’ll laugh. Sometimes I’ll cry. Sometimes I’ll frown. Sometimes I’ll smile. Once upon a time.” The drums suddenly went solo, drumming loud and hard on the sets and symbols. The drummers head banged along with his beats, his arms moving all over the places, never closing concentration.

“What was once there is now forgotten and forgiven. What once existed, Heaven knows where it’s gone off to. So, give me a moment. Give me a minute. Give me a second, to tell you a story, of my life.” Danny grabbed the microphone singing into it, his brows furrowing. Some of the girls stood up, singing along with Danny. “Take it to another level, I’ll tell you about my loves. I’ll tell you about my hates. I’ll tell you of my life.”

Danny turned around to Mike, grinning widely, letting him take a solo then Scott had his with the bass guitar.

“Once upon a time.” And abruptly the song stopped, never fading out. Everyone stood up as well as Rochelle, clapping for the band. “Thank you.” Danny smiled widely, panting just a little. “We’re going to take a short break and we’ll be back with another song!” He held out two fingers, indicating a ‘peace’ sign. He slipped off the strap that held the guitar across his chest, and made his way towards Rochelle. “Hey.” He panted a bit, but he continued to smile.

“You were great.” She squealed, wrapping her arms around him. “Oh, ew. You’re sweaty.” She grimaced a little, wiping her hands on her pants. “How come you never told me?” She sat back down in her seat, as Danny pulled on up to the table.

“Just wanted to surprise you.” He smiled, tilting his head towards the side. He gently took her hand, his finger stroking gently across her petite hand. “Sorry if you’re mad. I just wanted you to see you know, my band and me on the stage and whatever.”

Rochelle nodded a few times, “Are you guys famous?”

Danny shrugged, “I dunno. We’re like, somewhere in between. We have CDs out, but not everyone knows about us. We’re still considered like, underground music, sorta.” He grinned. “My sister’s gonna some a sing in a moment with us.” He glanced over towards the girl standing by one of the band members chatting quietly.

“That’s cool.” She smirked. “Anyways—”

“Hey.” A male voice came up behind Rochelle, causing her to jump slightly. It was the drummer, the boy with the blue hair. He glanced down at Rochelle for a moment, raising an eyebrow at her before he turned his attention towards Danny. “So, we have like, two minutes until our next song.”

Rochelle had got a closer look at the drummer boy. He was rather cute. She couldn’t help it though. He had the same blue eyes as Danny. His eyebrows were slightly thicker and his eyes were a bit narrower. He, too, had a lip ring like the bass guitarist. His hair was somewhere in between being long and being short, but lengthy enough to be tied back into a small ponytail. His face was long and narrow and a clef at the end of his chin. “Who’s this?” He motioned at Rochelle, taking a seat next to her.

“My girlfriend.” Danny replied just as easily, “Her name’s Rochelle. I didn’t get the chance to properly introduce all of the band members. I just gave away you names, and whatever.” He scratched his left cheek a little, “This is Russell, just in case you forgot.”

Rochelle turned towards Russell, smiling shyly, “Hi. You play the drums very well.” She took out her hand, and he accepted it, squeezing it gently before letting her hand go uncomfortably.

“Thanks.” He muttered, turning away from Rochelle and Danny.

“You know, Russell was born here too. He lived here for a little bit before he moved over to California.” Her boyfriend leaned back in his seat, his arms wrapping around her shoulders. “My band and I are all childhood friends; our parents are best friends with each other too. Crazy, huh? Then, my mom moved here ‘cause of her job, so, all her friends said that they’d move here with her.”

“Aren’t you lucky?” Rochelle turned her head towards the side, smiling shyly.

From afar, Mike yelled out at Danny. “Yo! Hurry. We got like, an hour more of songs to go.” Danny gave his guitarist a thumbs up and Russell got up and made his way towards the stage.

“I’m gonna make you come up to the stage and sing for us later.” He leaned in, planting kiss on her forehead and skipped his way towards the stage. He turned around towards his girlfriend, grinning from ear to ear. When he made his way towards the center of the stage, he cleared his throat into the microphone and caught everyone’s attention. “Hey guys. So, I just want to thank you guys for coming here and listening to us. We’re selling some of our CDs later after the show, so, feel free to come up to us and ask us for one!” He made another peace sign, before he started up again, “So, this song is called, ‘Cause I love you’, featuring my sister and my best friend, Mike.” Danny bowed, taking a few steps back, taking the place of Mike as the guitarist.

Denise came up to the stage, just a beautiful as ever. She had the long hazel hair, braided into hundreds of braids. She had the large looped earrings with one at the cartilage of her ear. She had green eyes instead of the blue ones like Danny. She was dressed casually, a cutie t-shirt and a pair of tight jeans with holes in them.

Before the music started, she leaned in, grabbing the microphone, and whispered quietly like a child, “Friends forever?” Denise turned over towards Mike, “Until the end.” He replied, with another shot coming from Denise, “Promise?” Mike nodded, his red hair falling over his eyes, “I promise.”

The music began with the drum beat, then the intro of the bass guitar. And the singing began.

“Can promises be kept until the end?
I see you, every day, walking next to me.
Have we changed?
Have we gone our own separate ways?”

Denise’s voice was beautiful, it was soft and heavenly, like a voice that came from the lullabies. Her eyes were half closed as she sang. Mike came in as the chorus. The two of them would switch the places every now and then. It was a creative song, partially sang and the other part was spoken in words. The song that Denise and Mike sang wasn’t much like a rock song in particular, but it was like one of those love songs that people loved listening to on the local radio stations.

“We shake our hands
And we parted our ways
I turn around and you’re not there,
And tears run down my face.”

Denise sighed, hanging her head just a little, before the instruments came to a fading stop, and with her last words, “What about our promise?” the audience stood up, cheering just like they did before. Denise smiled, bowing to the audience before she disappeared backstage.

Before the audience had the chance to quiet down, their next song started once more. “This one is called, Ohio is for Lovers. We changed it up a little from Hawthorne Heights.” Danny came back to the center of the stage, with the bass guitar strumming quietly at the beginning of the song, then with Russell the drums. “Hey there…”

So, they remained on the stage for a couple more songs created by the other artists and bands. Rochelle sat there, watching with envy at Danny and the rest of his friends. They all look so much along with all the same personalities and styles. Celestial Haven played many songs that Rochelle knew, and she quietly sang lyrics to herself. She sat there quietly, as the other girls and boys crowded at the front, moving their bodies along with the beat of the song.

“Thank you!” Danny grinned, beads of sweat rolling down his face. “And, we have one more performance, from my girlfriend, Rochelle. Now, I don’t know how she sings, ‘cause I’ve never heard her sing before, but earlier, she told me that she was in choir. So I pretty much figured that she knew how to sing. Anyone want to hear her sing?” Everyone cheered, as Rochelle’s green eyes widened, and her heart began to beat quickly.

Jumping off the stage, Danny made his way towards the back, taking Rochelle’s unwilling hands, and dragged her up the stage. “Danny! I don’t want to!” She blushed as she was pushed towards the spotlight. “Uhm…” She glanced over at her boyfriend, begging him to take back the words that he said. “Er…”

Danny grinned, “What song, hun?” He stuck at tongue out at her as she turned towards the crowd. “Go, Rochelle!” They cheered at her, and slowly that cheer began to turn into a chant. She laughed a little, not sure what she wanted to sing.

“Do you know Fefe Dobson?” She turned to Danny, as he frowned. He shook his head, “Go along with me then.” She sighed, turning towards the crowd.

Being the shy girl that she is, her voice quivered slightly, “Ayo ladadayo… Ayo ladadayo ladeeda…” Her voice was quiet, “Sometimes I give in to sadness… sometimes I don’t. Doo doo doo doo…” Growing slightly more confident, the quiver in Rochelle’s voice lessened and her voice grew louder. “At times I’m part of the madness, sometimes I won’t. Give in to you, you see in a way I have been drifting down a river.” Danny and the rest of his band slowly began mold their songs to the style she was singing in, with a soft guitar play and a steady beat of the drums. “…But if you’re ready to see it through this time, and you’re ready to love then, this I will bring.”

Rochelle smiled as she continued to sing the song of a famous pop artist, but it soon came to an end. She had lost all her fear of being on the stage. Perhaps it was a good thing, and she needed it at the same time. Rochelle placed the microphone back where it was on the stand, and laughed at the applause of the audience. “Thank you.” She waved to them and went over towards Danny as he took her hand.

“Thank you guys for coming!” He yelled out without using the microphone, “I hope that you guys enjoyed our songs and our special guests! We’ll be staying after for a while so don’t be afraid to come up to us!” The curtains closed on them as the lights outside turned back on. “You’re great, hon.” He leaned in, pressing his lips gently against Rochelle’s.

“Gracias,” Rochelle whispered in between the kisses.

“So, do you want me to wait outside, while you – Well, I can help you guys if you’d want to,” Rochelle pointed at the instrument, but Danny shook his head.

“That’s fine. You just go outside and chill.” He planted his lips upon hers a couple more times, nipping at her lower lip. Danny smiled, and pushed out of the backstage.

It took the band quite a bit for them to pack up their things. Guitars and keyboard was easy, but the drums had to be placed in a particular position. Scott strayed away from the group, and made his way over towards the lonely girl that sat at the back of the café, waiting for her boyfriend. “Hey.” He smiled, seating himself down. “You’re a very good singer. You can compare to Denise. She’s had years of practice.”

Scott had grey eyes that gave the impression of a cold and distant type along with that black, ‘emo-style’ hair that he had, but the teenager was pretty open. He rested his elbows on the table, leaning in forward at Rochelle. “How long have you been studying music?”

Rochelle raised an eyebrow, “Oh, me? Not too long, at least with singing. Perhaps, four years?” She shrugged, “Music however, I’ve been playing the piano ever since I entered second grade.” Scott smiled, his lip ring reflecting off the light above them. He nodded to everything that she said.

“That’s very interesting. We could use a female singer like you.”

“Oh no. You have Danny’s sister for that.” She smiled, shaking her head. “For me, it’s just school for now.’

“Oh, well so are we.” He grinned, showing off his white teeth. “It’s cool though. I haven’t been paying much attention to school anymore. Too busy practicing with the band.”

Suddenly, Scott stood up, shaking his head just towards the left, shifting his long bangs out of his eyes. “Well, Rochelle.” The teenager grinned, taking out his hand, taking hers. “It’s a pleasure of meeting you.” Rochelle had stood up after he did, and the black-haired boy stood inches above her. Scott leaned in, lifting his hands higher, planting his lips gently upon her pale hands. It felt weird. Well, it wasn’t like she had her hands kissed before, but with that lip ring that he had on there. Hm…Haha. Weird. The brunette smiled as Scott stood straight once more. “Hope to see more of you at our concerts.”

Scott turned away, just as Danny came out of the backstage. They did their own little hand-shake, and parted with a quick hug and a pat on the back. “Hey there.” He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulled her into him. “Do you wanna go home now? Or… if you’re willing to, we can go to my friends. What I was planning to do was that I would have dropped you home, and went over to Russell’s and practiced there for a little bit.”

Rochelle lifted her arms, linking her hands behind his neck, gazing lovingly into his eyes. “I dunno. I’m afraid that my mom’s going to get all worried and whatever.”

“Can’t you call?”

“I can, but I didn’t bring my mother’s phone with me.” Danny rolled his eyes, slipping his hands into his pocket and took his out. “Thaank you.” She smiled, dialing her home number. “’Ey, Ma? I was wondering if I could stay out a bit longer. Uh-huh… Seriously? Awesome! ‘Kay, thanks. Bye!” She pressed the end button. She lifted up her head, seeing a group of teens before her. Celestial Haven. She smiled for a moment, seeing girls wrapped about in their arms, hugging them tightly. Cute. Rochelle turned away and made her way back into the coffeehouse. “Hey, Danny. My mom says until one.”

“Really?” His brows went up.

“Yeah. I don’t think she really realizes what she’s saying. I think that she’s really happy that I have a social life.” She lifted up her fingers making a quote at the ‘social life’.

Danny smiled, kissing her on the lips. “Well, you’re glad I happened huh?” Rochelle rolled her eyes, and merely smiled. He leaned in once more for another kiss until an ‘ahem’ stopped him. Danny turned his head towards the side.

His blue eyes trailed over to two girls standing not too far away from him. “Yes?” His eyes wondered over their bodies for a moment before their reached their faces.

The two girls were, truthfully said, far more beautiful than Rochelle, but then it might have been a completely different reason. They wore heavy eyeliners with thick mascara and blue, green, and gold eye shadows. Their lips were glistening red under the light, earrings hung noisily from both of their ears, dangling helplessly as one of the girls answered him. “Yeah. So, like, you played, like, really awesome today. Really talented. I was wondering I could get like, a CD?” The girl, who spoke, placed her hands on her hips, her chest, thrusting out.

“Oh yeah. We have ‘em.” Danny smiled slightly, taking Rochelle’s hands and made their way back outside. He glanced down at his girlfriend, smiling faintly, and pulled her closely to his sides. “I like you so much more.” He whispered into her ear, nipping at them gently.

Rochelle giggled, pulling away from him just a little. “Hey, Russell.” Danny called out to the blue haired boy.

He turned around blinking a few times, a cigarette in between his lips. “What?”

“Is he old enough to smoke?” Rochelle glanced at the drummer, trying to hide the look of disgust on her face.

“He’s close enough.”

Rochelle’s forehead creased slightly at Danny’s reply. Honestly, she didn’t like smokers. Her father died from smoking three packs a day. He died when she was eleven years old, and ever since then she hated seeing cigarettes.

Russell looked over – more like glared – at Rochelle for a moment before making his way over towards the two girls, flicking away the cigarette. “Hey…”

“Don’t mind Russell.” The familiar voice that spoke to her earlier, appeared from the right of her. Rochelle turned around quickly, “Russell is just weird like that. Almost bipolar, you can say.” Scott smiled. He was sitting on the roof of his truck, his legs dangling over the opened window and Mike sat in there, his head banging to the music inside. “Russell doesn’t do well around newcomers also.”

“Rochelle! Would you mind hitching a ride with one of my friends? Denise and I have something to discuss.” Danny called out to Rochelle, who had separated himself from the others.

“She can come with me.” Scott replied for her, then purposely kicking Mike at the side of this head, telling him to get out of the car.

“Thanks. I’ll be a bit late. I’ll have to drive home real quick.” Danny took out his keys and made his way to the car with Denise following behind him.

Russell handed the CDs to the girls that wanted them, with a few extra bucks and an additional phone number. He slipped the paper into his pockets and handed the money over to John.

John was a different character. He was awfully quiet. Knowing that Rochelle was wondering about his silent friend, Scott told her, “He’s mute. He can’t talk.” Rochelle glanced over at him once more, finding it amusing to meet someone that was mute. “He’s really nice.” Scott continued, “The youngest of all of us. Maybe younger than you, John is really smart though. I mean really smart.”

Rochelle blinked a few times. “Really now?” she grinned folding her arms across her chest. A good challenge. The girl went up to him, holding her hand out to him, “Hi there.” Trying her best to make herself sound as normal to a handicapped person (or something along that line), Rochelle introduced herself to John.

The strawberry red-head gratefully took her hand letting her know he was happy to meet her.

“Do you know sign language?” Russell came up behind Rochelle, his hands on his hips. “That’s how John communicates. Sign language.” Russell nudged John before he made his way to his blue BMW, driving off. Before he left the area, he shouted out to his friends, “Meet you back at my place. Later!”

John waved to Russell before he turned his attention back towards Rochelle, smiling shyly. “Oh! So, go ahead! Teach me.”

I didn’t need to do much adjustment in here. ( : So yeah, chapter three up. Yay!