Hidden in Plain Sight

*Jaime's POV*

Carly finally emerges from the overcrowded bar with her drink. She walks over to our table and pulls a chair from another table. She takes a sip of her drink. Her eyes on ours as we all look at her in pure amazement. She raises an eyebrow at us, obviously confused as to why we are staring. Or we are just 4 creepy men, that works too.

"Okay, since you guys are being freaking creepy at the moment, What are you guys doing here?" Carly breaks our silence. Our eyes all finally blink and we relax.

"We came out for a night of celebration" I say.

"What the heck could you be celebrating?" She questions, sipping her spirit.

"Our album being nearly halfway done" Tony speaks up.

"Pfft" she scoffs, but not in a rude way. "You're not even close to halfway, more like a quarter"

"Well we're celebrating that then" Mike raises his drink. Instinctively, we all, including Carly, tap our glasses together and take a sip of our drinks.

"Anyways, I thought you said we were halfway done the other day?" Vic asks.

"Well I thought we were, until I made a few phone calls. I bought some new gear to help and my new laptop should be here soon, so we're gonna work with that for a while. Your album should sound so much better" Carly explains.

"Fuck yeah. I love new stuff" i raise my hand towards Carly. She high fives me saying that she does too.
After a while of talking we have again patched off into our own little groups, Mike, Tony and Vic are talking about something I lost track of a long time ago. I think they were talking about some memories of which I am not involved. Carly and I were talking, but our conversation about music and work was getting really boring and it shortly became a dead end conversation.

"So how long have you and Jess been together?" Carly asks politely. "If you don't mind me asking".

"A about a year and a month now," I smile.

"Aw that's cute. How'd you guys meet?"

"She used to work at this coffee shop I used to visit a lot of the time. Over time she learnt what I liked to order every time but one day I came in with a different request. Usually I would order a tall double espresso, but one day I walked in and got my coffee as normal, and when she says would you like anything else, I said 'for this pretty lady to see a movie with me one afternoon' and she then told me when she was free and we saw a movie together, and yeah. That's my story" I smile uncontrollably, recalling the vivid memory.

"Aw damn man! You're a smooth one!" She laughs. "But seriously, that is really adorable"

I give a little smirk and shrug as to say 'aw shucks'. "So what about you?"

"What about me?" Carly asks trying to seem confused.

"Suppose a pretty lady like you would have a special someone" I ask. My heart races as I realise I did just call her a pretty lady. But that's a compliment right?

"Well, if you're just that curious, I do not have a special someone" she smirks devilishly. She does that a lot, and it's actually kind of cute.

"No way, you'd have to be lying. There's gotta be someone" I say, definitely not believing her.

"Well I'm not" she keeps smirking.

"Okay then, since you seem so serious, last lover boy then" Carly almost spits her drink when I say 'lover boy'

"Well..." She giggles, "I may or may not have dated Jack Barakat...". Carly bows her head. For the dark lighting in here, I can't see but I know she is blushing.

"I knew it! I remember Alex was telling me about it about a year ago!" I blurt out a little too loud.

"What did you know?" Tony and the other guys turn around.

"Carly here dated Jack Barakat" I say proudly to the guys.

Carly jumps up and slaps my arm. "You're actually a dick"

"No fucking way. Is this true?" The guys all chirp in, amazed as I am at the news.

"Okay yes! It's true!" She cries. "But I don't see why it's such a big problem"

"It's Jack! And... You're you... As far as I know, you are neither alike" says Vic.

"Well we aren't, he likes to drink and party, and I not so much, but I don't know, we just clicked, I've had this conversation with Alex and he said the same thing you guys are saying"

"That's insane." Mike speaks up. "Are you guys still dating?"

"No we aren't. We broke up when I accepted the job down here. Me being down here and Jack being on tour, we just wouldn't see each other. So we decided to break up. But we still keep in touch" Carly says. "There are you happy with my little sap story"

"Wow. The fact that you guys dated is amazing, like in a surprising way, but it sucks that you had to break up" Tony says slightly calmer than the rest of us.

"Well yeah. And not to change the subject, but I need to get home. I think I done for tonight" Carly says beginning to stand.

"You're leaving already?" Mike questions.

"Yeah, I'm not really a big drinker and going out person." Carly responds. "I'll see you all on Monday" she stands.

"See ya Carly, you fucking owned tonight" Tony and Vic both say their goodbyes.

"Here, I'll walk you out" I say. Carly stops me so she can go get her jacket and guitar from the back room.
About ten minutes later after I've sat back down and finished my drink leaving me to think that she snuck out the back, she reappears through the crowd.

"I'm so sorry, I was talking to a friend. You still want to walk out with me"

"Sure. Let's go" I say taking in the last mouthful of my drink.

We leave the guys and we attempt to weave our way through the mass of people. As we stumble through, a tall skinny guy approaches Carly as I turn away distracted by something else. When I turn around, I can see that this guy is hitting on her. He is standing really close and he's trying to get a hand on her.

Carly is trying her best to avoid him but he just keeps persisting. She slaps his hand away from her guitar, and that's when I knew he wasn't a friend. I walk up behind her and place my hands on her shoulders in a protective way, and i stand close behind her.

"Hey babe, are you ready to leave?" I say, adding emphasis to babe.

Carly jumps in my presence, but soon realises what I am doing. "Yeah this man is in my way"

"Um excuse me, what are you doing with my lady?" The tall man speaks to me.

"Sir, she is not your lady, she is my girlfriend, now if you would kindly move out of the way" I nudge Carly to move forward but he still stands in the way.

"Bullshit you fucker, prove it then" he says in quite a rude manner. I can feel Carly tense beneath my hold.
Carly turns to me and I lean in to kiss her. Our lips stay joined for an appropriate time, but not too long.
"Now if you would be as to kind to move, we'll be on our way."

The tall creepy guy way defeated. He was convinced Carly was my girlfriend. As he steps aside, my hands fall beside her and she grabs mine instantly, intertwining our fingers. I understood why. She wanted to make sure to the guy that we weren't lying, and to be painfully honest, I didn't mind.

we reach the door and we got outside, instantly being attacked by a cold wind. Carly wraps her black leather jacket as tight around her as she can with one hand and I just hold my arms since I don't have a jacket. Carly leads me to the back of the club where her car is parked.

She unlocked her car and places her guitar in the backseat before turning to me. There is an awkward silence between us. This is the first moment we've both had to take in the situation before. "...so uh, thanks for helping me" Carly says shyly.

"Just being a good friend. And I'm uh, sorry I had to kiss you" I shy away to, rubbing the back of my neck. We both avoid eye contact.

"It's okay. I just feel bad that you had to go to that length, I know you have a girlfriend and all" she says.
"No don't feel bad." Was all I could press Out

"Anyway, I better go thanks again Jaime, I'll see you Monday morning" she waves.

"No problem, see you Monday" i wave as she gets into her car and drives out of the parking lot.

Notes

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