Free Eighteen Kisses by Laura Jane Cassidy

made our way towards the elevator.
    I took a bite out of my ham and cheese crêpe. The place was packed – the waiters were calling out order numbers as they walked past the tables, balancing plates expertly on their arms. I could feel the heat coming from the huge hot plates behind the counter, where a guy was flipping crêpes with a spatula. The sweet smells of cooking batter, melting chocolate and burning sugar filled the air. We sat at a small table in the corner. It was a bit crowded, but totally worth it because the crêpes were amazing.
    ‘Do you come up to Dublin much since you moved away?’ asked Dillon, who’d already eaten half of his chicken one.
    ‘Yeah, a good bit,’ I said. ‘I’ve played a few gigs up here.’
    ‘I remember seeing you upstairs in Whelan’s once,’ he said. ‘I was there with Mark.’
    ‘Oh yeah?’
    ‘You played a cover of “Pale Blue Eyes” … I remember cos it’s my favourite song.’
    ‘That was ages ago,’ I said. ‘Did you want to strangle me?’ I added with a laugh.
    ‘No!’ he said. ‘It was a really good cover.’
    That was nice of him to say
, I thought. I loved playing that song – it was one of my favourites too.
    ‘Most of the time people talk so loud you can hardly hear me, and sometimes there’s only, like, six people in the audience,’ I said with a sigh.
    ‘There were only six people at U2’s debut gig in London,’ he said with a smile. ‘So you’re in good company.’
    I smiled too. Maybe Dillon wasn’t
that
annoying after all.
    I wanted to turn the attention away from me. I love singing and love performing, but I don’t really like talking about myself all that much. ‘So, you want to be a music journalist?’ I said. ‘Who do you most want to interview –’
    ‘Hayley Williams,’ he answered before I’d even finished the sentence.
    ‘What would you ask her?’
    ‘To marry me,’ he said, trying to keep a serious face.
    I laughed. I had to admit that he was kind of funny too.
    ‘I can’t believe we get to meet Willis Middleton,’ he said. ‘That’s class.’
    ‘He’s meant to be crazy,’ I said. ‘Genius on bass though. Do you play anything?’
    ‘A bit of piano, but not very well,’ he said.
    ‘Me too. Gran made me learn, but I much prefer guitar.’ She still asks me to play to her occasionally; I think it’s just so she can make sure that I’m still practising.’
    ‘You should give your demo to
Electric
,’ said Dillon. ‘Your stuff is probably so much better than the crap I’ve been listening to all afternoon.’
    ‘I sent it in to them a while ago,’ I said. ‘Never heard anything though.’
    ‘I’ll try to find it,’ he said. ‘Move it to the top of the pile.’
    My phone beeped and I took it out of my bag. It was a text from Nick.
     
Hey babe, hope your first day’s going well x
     
    I felt a flood of relief. I was so glad Nick had contacted me. He didn’t mention my angry text from last night at all, but maybe that was a good thing. I’d thought that he might apologize for being cranky, but it was probably best to just forget about it. Every couple has fights; I didn’t have to turn it into a big deal. I was just so happy that everything was OK between us again.
    ‘Oh gosh, it’s nearly five to!’ I said, spotting the clock on my phone. Dillon and I had been chatting so much that I hadn’t noticed the time pass.
    ‘We better get goin’,’ said Dillon, gulping down the rest of his Coke.
    I rushed out after him, devouring the last bit of my crêpe as I ran.

Chapter 8
     
    After work I wandered around town for a while. I was due to meet up with Matt, but that wasn’t for another hour, so I had some time to kill. He’d called me earlier, during my afternoon coffee break, and said he wanted to introduce me to some of the other members of Operation Trail, and also to Kayla’s other half-sister, Hazel. We were going to meet in Rage Rock Bar, where Hazel worked, and where
Electric
were