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The European leg of the tour had reached its midway point, and finally the band had a run of 3 days without any shows. As a treat, Matt had arranged for an AirBNB, somewhere in the North of Italy for all the team to stay together. For 2 whole nights, everyone would have their own bed, fully operational showers and some privacy. As the only female on the crew you’d been gifted with the extra privacy of your own room, it was the smallest of the lot, but it still had an ensuite and the bed, though only a single, was the comfiest thing you’d laid on since leaving home. However, despite the stillness of the house and the fresh cotton sheets, you still found yourself stirring in your sleep just before 5am. It was your first good night’s sleep in weeks and the prospect of burying yourself back into the sheets and closing your eyes was almost too enticing. You knew you should roll over and try to make the most of the luxury while you had it, but ultimately, the comfort provided by your usual routine was hard to shake.
Your routine had been well crafted over a span of seven years working for various bands on tour, between prepping for the show, being on hand during the performance, and loading the van back up at the end of each night, it was hard to find any time for yourself. So, you sacrificed a portion of your sleep for some well needed alone time each morning. In truth, sleeping in a 6 by 2 bunk on a moving vehicle was something you had never been able to truly get to grips with, so pulling yourself from your bunk each morning was easy. Every morning of the tour, you were the first on the crew bus to wake. If you were too early, and the bus was still making its way to the next city, you’d make your way to the very back of the bus and watch the world go by through the windows with a coffee in one hand. But on the days you woke to find the bus parked up at the venue, you’d climb up onto the top of the bus and watch as the sun rose up over the horizon. You’d usually have just enough time to make your way back into the bus, grab a shower and make a coffee before the next person woke.
After changing into an oversized shirt and pair of sweats, you grabbed your scrapbook and the box containing your camera from your bag and padded down the stairs, flicked on the coffee machine and waited for it to brew before pouring yourself a cup. Scrapbooking was another one of your weird habits that you’d picked up on tour, you carried a polaroid camera around with you most of the day, everyday, slung in your tote bag and took sporadic pictures of the other crew, places you visited and anything you thought you might want to look back on. So far, on this tour, you’d completed six pages, and had managed to get just about everyone on the crew in at least one photograph. You had a stack of polaroids you needed to look through this morning that had been taken over the last few days and thrown loose into the box. So, with your scrapbook tucked under one arm, the coffee cup balancing atop the box containing the camera and loose polaroids, you pushed open the door to the patio.
“Good Morning.” A small squeak of surprise left your lips as your eyes adjusted to the darkness and settled on the tall figure sitting in front of you, occupying the very table you had been planning to use. Noah. His hair was getting long enough to be able to pull back into a small bun, and that’s how he had it, an oversized grey jumper covering all evidence of his tattoos except the ones on his neck and fingers. You decided he looked gorgeous like this, eyes still full of sleep, a lazy smile on his lips, face illuminated by the lights inside the house as they shone out through the now open doorway.
“Good Morning.” You mumbled the greeting back to him, turning to close the open door behind you, taking a second to pull yourself together while you had your back turned. A crush on what was essentially your boss was not ideal, but you’d gotten pretty good at acting like everything was normal, after all this was not your first rodeo, so to speak. You had had multiple crushes on members of various bands over the years, and you tended to find that once the tour was over your crush would pass. You were already at the midway point of this leg of the tour, so you only had to hold out for a few more weeks, then you’d have a month off to get over it, before the US leg of the tour began.
“Do you mind if I join you?” You motioned to the seat opposite him as you spoke and placed the box down on the table in front of where you intended to sit, pulling the scrapbook out from under your arm to place down next to it.
“I don’t mind,” there was a pause, just enough time for your fingers to grasp the back of the chair and pull it out from under the table. “What’s the book for?” You nudged it towards him as you sat, allowing him to take a look. Usually you handed it out at the end of the tour, just for everyone to sign their names on the back page, so you were a little embarrassed for him to see it. You rarely ever let anyone see it when it was just a work in progress. You watched, teeth sinking down into your lower lip as Noah’s fingers traced their way down the front cover, before opening onto the first page.
“I like to scrapbook every tour I’m part of.” You offered the explanation before he even had time to ask. “It’s not finished, obviously.” You added as he flipped through the pages you’d completed. He lifted his gaze from the book, holding eye contact with you for a number of seconds before glancing back down to the book again, flicking back through the pages you’d done.
“You haven’t included any pictures of yourself.”
“Well, I took all the pictures. So I’m always behind the camera.” You tapped the box with one hand as you spoke, his gaze following your hand and landing on it as if noticing it for the first time. His fingers reaching out to grab the edge of the box as he replied.
“The Camera’s in here?” You grabbed your cup of coffee from where you’d left it, on top of the box, as he pulled it over to himself. You took your first sip and grimaced, it had already started to go cold, you checked your watch. 5:14AM. Your eyes stayed on his hands as he unboxed the camera, fingers skimming through the loose Polaroids that you still needed to add to the scrapbook.
“I can take a picture of you now, if you’d like?” You looked up, eyes finally tearing away from his tattooed hands, a light blush spreading across your cheeks as he raised the camera in front of his face. You mirrored his actions, raising your coffee cup up to cover the lower half of your face, concealing the evidence of your shyness.
He snapped the picture, fingers clasping the edge of the new Polaroid as the machine spat it out, you couldn’t help but watch his hands again as he twisted his wrist back and forth to shake the Polaroid, the picture developing on the small piece of film.
“Let me see?” You’d lowered your coffee cup, pushing the half drank beverage off to the side as you reached out across the table for the picture. Noah lifted it up to his own face first, lips breaking into a grin as he admired the picture he’d taken, before flipping it round for you to see. Your fingers brushed his as you took it from his hand and brought it up to your own face. There you were, tired eyes staring back at you from the picture, over the top of the coffee cup hair unruly and sunlight just starting to peak into the corner of the frame behind you. You complimented Noah’s photo taking skills and then felt your cheeks heat up when he stated it was all down to having a good model. You couldn’t tell if he was flirting, or simply being polite, but it made your cheeks flush red regardless and you had to stop yourself from smiling too brightly.
You both sat in silence after that, him watching you as you arranged the photos how you wanted them in the scrapbook. Occasionally you looked up at him to see if he was still watching. He always was, and each time you blushed again and offered him a small smile. And then, as you taped down the photo he’d taken, you slid the scrapbook and pen across the table towards him.
“You should write something.” You saw the slight hesitation in his eyes as he took hold of the pen, eyes glancing down at the page.
“Are you sure? My handwriting is a little messy.”
“You took the picture. You should caption it.” You could practically see the cogs turning in his head as he tried to figure out what to write, until finally he brought the pen down onto the page and then slid the scrapbook back across to you once finished.
‘Capturing beauty at sunrise.’
Heat flooded your cheeks as you read his caption. Did this mean he thought you were the beauty? Or was he merely referring to the hints of pink and orange in the sky behind you in the image. You looked away from the page, to find him looking at you, the two of you maintaining eye contact for what seemed like an age, but in reality was merely seconds. If he was calling you beautiful, then that probably meant he had been flirting before. And your brain couldn’t process a scenario in which your incredibly hot boss would ever actually flirt with you.
“The sunrise really is beautiful isn’t it.” You shared a smile again, and turned your head away from him before he could respond, watching the sunrise over your shoulder. It was at its peak now, the sky a whirl of colours as the night faded away into the distance. You checked your watch again, 5:57AM. A few of the others started to wake not much later and the peace surrounding you and Noah was eventually broken and it became clear you probably wouldn’t get a chance to speak to him again for the rest of the day.
As you made your way down the stairs the next morning, you prayed silently that Noah would be awake and sat outside again. You’d brushed your hair and changed out of your sleepwear into something a little nicer than the day before, just in case. And as you approached the door to the patio, you could see that he was already sitting in the same place as yesterday. You didn’t have your scrapbook with you today, just a cup of coffee in one hand as you took the same spot, opposite Noah, as you had the day before.
You both mumbled out your greetings, voices still heavy with sleep, and settled into a comfortable silence. He had his hair down today, hair framing the edges of his face as he leant forward, hands wrapped around the cup of coffee in front of him. He was wearing a short sleeved t-shirt and you found yourself getting lost in the intricate patterns and ink that decorated both his arms. He looked good. You must have been staring for longer than you realised, because you almost jumped when he spoke. Eyes flashing up to meet his gaze with a sheepish grin, he was smiling at you, like he knew something you didn’t and you couldn’t help but feel embarrassed.
“Sorry?” You hadn’t a clue what he’d said and if anyone asked you’d blame being tired, but you knew he’d caught you staring.
“I said, you should come sit next to me. So we can watch the sunrise together. Unless you prefer your current view?” Noah grasped the back of the chair next to him as he spoke and pulled it out for you, never breaking eye contact. Your cheeks flushed even brighter at his question, rising from your chair to take the seat next to him, his arm stretching out to rest along the back of your seat, his skin lightly brushing your back.
“I wasn’t.” You cleared your throat and started again. “I didn’t mean to stare, I uh...” You trailed off again, not daring to look up at him as you tried to collect your thoughts, you weren’t a very good liar, and trying to make something up on the spot was causing you to panic. Noah had started brushing his fingers against the bare skin of your arm, and it really wasn’t helping the situation. Your brain struggling to even piece together a coherent sentence.
“I never really get to see you up close.” The words flew out of your mouth in a flurry and you weren’t sure they even made sense.
“Your tattoos- I mean your tattoos. I never get to see them.” You were beet red now and you could hear Noah chuckling above you. You were still refusing to look up at him, and until your face returned to its normal colour it was going to stay that way.
“I was only teasing, don’t worry. I didn’t mind. I’m flattered” Noah’s fingers kept tracing patterns on your skin as you both fell silent again, watching as the first hints of the sunrise started to appear. The whole situation was serene, but internally your mind was screaming. Two days ago you’d only ever spoken with Noah on work related matters and admired him from afar. And today, you were sitting, his arm slung around the back of your chair, fingers brushing over your upper arm, your body ever so slightly leaning into his, watching the sunrise together. It felt romantic, felt like the start of a rom-com movie. Maybe it was. You stopped that train of thought before it could progress and for the first time in almost 20 minutes you gazed up at Noah through your lashes. You were expecting to see him watching the sunrise, he wasn’t, his eyes were on you.
“Hi.” He whispered out the greeting, voice so soft you barely heard him, but you mumbled it back, tilting your head slightly to get a better look at him. You didn’t know if you should look away, you’d definitely been holding eye contact longer than most would find comfortable. But you couldn’t seem to draw yourself away from Noah’s gaze. There was something in his eyes you couldn’t read. His hand reached up and you felt two of his fingers hook under the front of your jaw, you definitely stopped breathing then and felt your eyes flutter closed as your head tilted up towards his.
“Dude, Matt’s booked the-“ You heard Noah audibly groan and pull his body away from yours, your eyes flying back open to see Nick stood in the doorway, a grin on his face, completely oblivious.
“Great timing Folio.” Nick seemed to take the hint as he stepped back inside, shutting the door. But the moment was gone, and whatever was going to happen before the disruption wasn’t about to happen now. You checked your watch 6:26AM. You weren’t sure where the time had gone. You weren’t sure of a lot of things right now, your brain still in a scramble but you think Noah had been wanting to kiss you.
“Seems like Matt has some big plans for us today, before we travel to the next show.” You slumped back into your chair as you spoke, desperately wishing you could have just had 5 more minutes with Noah before the interruption. “Yeah.” Noah threaded a hand through his hair and nodded. You looked at each other for the first time since Folio's appearance.
“We should go inside.”
“Yeah.” The word came out breathy, like all the air was leaving your lungs in one breath, and you supposed it must have because you suddenly felt lightheaded and the connection between your mouth and your brain stopped, just long enough for your next words to slip out before you could stop them. “I think you should kiss me first.” You took a breath then, ready to try and put together some lame excuse of a joke, but Noah didn’t need to be told twice. One of his hands reclaimed its place under your chin, the other weaving its way into the hair at the base of your skull and you swear you caught sight of a small smile on his lips before your eyes fluttered closed, your hands finding the front of his t-shirt, bringing your lips up to meet his. Finally.
“Guys, are you coming or- Oh.” You wanted to be annoyed, pulling back from Noah slightly with a soft groan, but as your eyes took in Folio’s flushed red face and open mouth you couldn’t help but laugh.
“We’ll be there in two minutes.” Noah spoke without even looking over, his voice low and his eyes still focused solely on your face. Nick mouthed the word ‘sorry’ over to you before shutting the door again. The noise of the door shutting was all it took for Noah to reconnect your lips. No more interruptions, just the best two minutes of your life.