Winny’s POV:

“Is there anything I can help with?” I asked as I walked into the room where the band was preparing for their show. Everybody around me was doing something, getting something ready, being useful. And I was just there.

“Not really no,” Alex said from the old black faux-leather couch. He was leaning back, very casually. It was quite strange to see him back in ‘normal’ clothes. Skinny jeans weren’t a bad look on him though.

Jack quickly jumped in and suggested, “you can be my personal assistant!”

“And what would that consist of?” I raised my eyebrows at him with a small smirk grazing my lips.

He stretched out. “Well, for starters, I’ve got an itch on my–”

“Don’t say your dick,” Rian intercepted, holding out a hand to stop him despite being on the other side of the room. “Just don’t.”

“I was going to say my back, thank you very much.” Jack sneered back before giving me a very big smile. “If you’d like to help me scratch it.”

I shrugged and walked up to him. Why not? I knew that he was totally messing with me, that he wasn’t expecting me to actually do anything. But I decided to have a little fun as well. I liked Jack. He was an… intriguing person. His humour was the absolute worst, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t attracted to him. There was something ever since that first look that made we want to take this opportunity of not being in my role even further.

I placed my fingertips against the fabric right between his shoulder blades. “Where?”

“Further down,” he instructed and rolled his shoulders.

I lightly bit the inside of my bottom lip as I did so. He had nowhere near the same amount of muscle tone as Alex’s other friends, Rian and Zack, but damn it still did something. I continued to trail my fingers down, scratching carefully and in controlled motions.

“Oh, fuck, yes, right there.” He moaned when I reached the middle of his back. “That’s the spot!”

Alex gave us a disgusted look, but I couldn’t help but giggle.

“I give a mean massage as well.” I took it even further, slowly halting my scratching. “As your personal assistant I am now obliged to give you one whenever you ask for it.”

“I am definitely going to keep that in mind.” Jack turned around, giving me a lopsided smirk.

“So… do you guys drink before you play a show, or do you take the mellow approach?” I mainly asked Jack, wanting to get a better feel for his personality. I barely knew anything about him, I needed to scope out what I wanted to get myself into.

Unfortunately for me, Alex was the first to respond. “I’m insulted you’d even ask that. We live off of alcohol.”

“Then where the fuck is the alcohol?” I complained, getting a surprised look from him.

Jack walked past me, his arm brushing my side. He opened the small fridge that had a glass door and announced, “found it!”

“What have they so graciously provided us with?” Alex craned his neck as if that would let him get a look of the bottom shelves. Which it didn’t. There was a couch and a Jack standing in the way.

Jack shrugged and bent over to get a better look. “Some beers… they’ve got a couple of small bottles of stronger stuff… the usual really.”

“Beer me,” I requested.

“What?” He chuckled

“Beer me.”

“What kind of phrase is that?!”

“Beer. Me,” I repeated again in a challenging and almost scolding tone, making direct eye contact with him.

He maintained the eye contact before throwing a can in my direction. I didn’t wait to pull on the tab to open it. Of course, it started foaming over, but I quickly brought it to my mouth, making sure none of the liquid spilled over. I didn’t need it to spill on me so early in the evening.

I let myself fall down onto the couch and sat in the corner, bringing my legs up to my chest. “I forgot how shit American beer tastes.”

“Beer in Europe is so much better,” Jack agreed, making himself a mixed drink instead.

“But this is much easier to chug,” I countered, downing some of it, but not the entire drink just yet.

I looked at Alex to see him staring at me with wide eyes. There was a mixture of shock, concern, amazement, and also a hint of revulsion spread across his face. Yes, I was Aerowyn, Princess of Dalewin, but Matilde was a whole different person.

“What?” I tried snapping out of it.

“Nothing,” he quickly looked away and shook his head, “nothing. I’ve just never seen you drink like that.”

“There are no rules holding me back here.” I smiled in satisfaction and drank another big gulp.

“Don’t they let you drink back at the castle you work at?” Jack inquired, taking a seat on the same couch as me, holding a red solo cup.

“Not exactly, no.” I took the last sip and crunched the metal can. “At least not like this.”

“What are they like?” He added as I got up to get myself another drink. “The royal family.”

I hunched down and pulled out another beer despite how horrible they tasted. “A bunch of pretentious assholes. Don’t give a shit about anything or anybody but themselves. Super spoilt. Fucking asswipes.”

Alex started coughing loudly as if he was choking on something. He was gasping for air, pounding his fist against his chest a few times to help him out. I knew what caused him to choke, but not what he had choked on. Either way, he was fine in no time.

“Nah, they’re fine.” I corrected myself casually while I also didn’t backtrack on everything I said. I really wasn’t the person to ask. How was I supposed to judge my own personality? I could say I was amazing, just to really be a shitty person.

We stayed in that room, drinking and talking, until they were called out to start their show. I got to know Jack a little bit more. He had one bizarre personality, but I still found him strangely attractive. Maybe it was just the way he carried himself. There was just one thing I couldn’t seem to figure out about him. I could not seem to figure out if he already was in a relationship or not. There was no mention of anybody, but there also was no mention of there being nobody. I just needed to know if I was misinterpreting this flirting between us or not. Was it a friendly teasing thing, or something more?

I watched their show from the side. With my status, you’d think I couldn’t have any new experiences anymore, that everything would have just been available to me. But that wasn’t the case. I had never seen a concert from behind the scenes before. I had never even been to a concert like this before I moved to New York. Everything else was always a private event, usually classical music.

At the concerts I went to in New York, I often didn’t know the band. My friends would just drag me along. Still, it was so easy to start dancing and screaming along. I wouldn’t even know the lyrics, and I’d be yelling words at the top of my lungs. It was the energy that always did it, all the people around me having the time of their lives.

I had never seen All Time Low play either. Honestly, I had never heard of them before I met Alex. But they were pretty good. The only thing was, I didn’t feel like I was getting a full experience standing there at the side. I was sure other people would have given their life to stand where I was standing, but I wanted nothing more than to join the crowd. It was difficult dancing by myself. I was sure to ask Alex to be let out next time, even if it meant really trying to convince him.

Speaking of which. Alex was still very surveilling. He’d occasionally look back at me. There was nothing for him to worry about. I wasn’t going to run away. I wasn’t going to make a fool of myself. And I had no duties to uphold. I actually wanted to be there. So far, this had been the most fun I had had in a while. All I could do was give him a thumbs up to show him that I was indeed enjoying myself.

When they came off stage just over an hour later, all four of them were drenched in sweat. It was worse than Gus-Gus playing tennis on a hot summer’s day. I thought he always looked disgusting, but this was a whole new level. There was literally sweat dripping down Jack’s nose.

It was as if he could sense how appalled I was. He came right up to me and wrapped a drenched arm around my shoulders.

“Gross!” I yelped, trying to get away from him, but failing. “You really need to take a shower.”

“Only if you join me,” he whispered back lowely.

“Maybe next time,” I laughed and pushed him off me.

Alex took his opportunity to butt in as he bounced up. “What d’ya think?”

“As good as the royal family,” I teased.

Notes