“Sorry,” Rob said, escorting Nick to the stage.

“For what?” Nick asked, looking over his shoulder at the body guard before starting up the steps on the side of the stage.

“It wasn’t the cheetah print girl…” Rob said, following after Nick.

Nick just shrugged and spoke to the dj for a few minutes, getting a feel for his system and hearing where he needed to be careful and all. He asked the DJ his name, simply so he could hype the audience at the end, thank him, and all that… One thing AJ’s mom instilled in all them when she toured was the need to be gracious, no matter what, and that usually meant learning people’s names and remembering them.

“How’s DJ Stubbie treating all you fine ladies tonight?” Nick asked into the mic, looking into the crowd. His eyes were trying to scan for either the cheetah girl or her friend, but he didn’t see either of them in the mob surrounding the stage. He scanned the rest of the room while he spoke about a special treat for the crowd tonight before he started to spin to the Ting Ting’s “Great DJ” “Who’s ready to party?” he asked, his eyes scanning the crowd again.

There she was, back at the bar.

Of course.

Why did that even surprise him? He couldn’t figure out why he was even still thinking about this girl, considering he couldn’t even remember the girls from today’s sound check, but he remembered this one girl from the concert.

He laughed to himself, remembering one fanfic he’d read years ago about a girl who supposedly caught his eye in a show and he remembered not being able to read the rest of the story. He could barely remember a girl in the audience five minutes later, let alone long enough to think about her the rest of the night and obsess about her for a year until they returned back to the town. The likelihood of that was so incredibly tiny, it was laughable that a girl would think she made that much of an impact.

But Cheetah Girl… She actually DID have that effect on him.

It was probably the fact that she was the first person in months that he had seen that could not have been more bored at the concert.

However, that wasn’t the reason. He’d seen bored girls before at shows, and they’d never fazed him before… He really needed to get to know her to figure out why she had such a hold on him. And in order for that to happen, he would have to get to know her friend, Lauren, and hope she could lead him to Cheetah…

Wait, was it Lauren? He knew it started with an L… When he got back to the bus, he would text the girl and figure out the girls name again.

Was it terrible that he was simply using her to get to know someone else?

He had to admit, he did feel a little guilty, but not enough to stop him from asking Rob to make sure they stuck around to hang out with him after he was done on stage.

“Tell me what they say, please,” he said, looking at the man who was more than just his security guard. “And say whatever you need to get both of them back there and to stay…”

“Anything?” Rob asked, perking an eyebrow.

“Well, within reason, of course…” Nick said, chuckling at the other man.

Rob nodded and headed back to the bar to the two girls, raising his hand to the bartender, signaling more drinks for the ladies before smiling at the red head, “Have any plans for the rest of the night?”

Lore looked between Rob to Cat then back, “Not really… just have to get to the hotel to sleep at some point.”

Cat nodded, “Yeah, have to sleep before checkout time…” she said, shrugging.

“Well do you ladies want to hang out with Nick after he’s done?” Rob asked, handing the drinks to them when they were placed on the counter. “I know he would really like it…”

Lore nodded, without looking at Cat, “Yeah, we can for a little bit…”

“We can?” Cat asked, perking an eyebrow.

“Yes, we can,” Lore said with a look that said shut up and don’t ruin this like you did the concert.

Cat shrugged, “I guess we can…” she said, sipping her drink, “Thanks for the drink.”

Rob nodded, “Anytime… Feel free to go hang out back there unless you’d rather be closer to the stage…”

Lore looked at Cat and nodded towards the stage which rewarded her with a shrug.

Rob headed back to Nick to tell him the report while both girls found a spot near the stage to watch the rest of his performance.

Nick grinned, waving at Lauren- or whatever her name was- as he continued to perform on the stage, eventually taking the mic and singing his latest single. He leaned over and smiled, shaking girls hands, blowing kisses to a few of them before pointing to Lore- THAT was her name!- and winking before finishing his song. Howie came up behind him and made sure to thank the club and reminded everyone to tip their bartenders.

Nick climbed off the stage and headed back to the VIP area, figuring he probably had about 30 minutes with Lore and the mystery girl to try and get the mystery girl to warm up to him

As he walked to the bar to get everyone some drinks, he saw the girl shooting daggers his way and realized it would take longer than 30 minutes. He sighed and carried the tray of drinks over, plastering on a smile, “Anyone thirsty?” he asked.

Lore smiled softly, “Thank you,” she said, reaching for the drink Nick was handing her.

Cat didn’t say a word, just held up her glass that was almost full before taking a sip.

The message was loud and clear to Nick. He set the drink tray down and sat next to Lore, making small chat with her, trying to ignore her friend since she wanted nothing to do with him, but his eyes were always drawn to her.

Finally, his eyes caught hers and he offered a small smile.

He was rewarded with a perk of the girl’s eyebrow. Hey, at least she didn’t roll her eyes or look away.

“I’m sorry; I just realized I’m being rude. I’m Nick,” he said, extending his hand to the other girl.

When Cat didn’t say anything, Lore introduced her to Nick, “Her name’s Catherine, but we all call her Cat.”

Nick dropped his hand. “Pleasure,” he said, hoping it sounded sincere. “What type of music do you like?” he asked, trying to make small talk.

“Anything but this shit,” Cat said, looking everywhere but at him.

“Well, tell me what you want to hear, and I’ll make it happen,” he said to Lore’s friend.

“Don’t bother, she just wants to have a bad time. I’m sorry, Nick, but nothing you can do will help her to have a good time tonight.” Lore looked at Cat and scowled, wondering why her friend was being difficult.

Nick nodded softly and looked around, “You ladies want to go someplace quieter?”

“Yes,” Lore said, the same time Cat said no.

Lore huffed and looked at her friend, “Fine, enjoy your time here listening to music you hate, and I will see you at the hotel.” With that, Lore stood up and looked down at Nick, “Where did you have in mind?”