Overwhelming Introductions

It’s Camp NaNo! And while I don’t think I’m actually going to work on anything, Liv had to make some commentary and here I am, once again capturing the Clan in all of their nonsense.

Start with this line: “I see the way you look at him.”

“I see the way you look at him.”

Ciara’s head jerked toward her bandmate. “What?!” It was Monday night and they were just finishing up a set. Olivia Carlyle was the daughter of the owners of the Cerulean Jasper, their bassist, Ciara’s work friend, and was watching her with a wicked grin.

There were work friends and there were friend friends. Work friends were those that Ciara saw only pertaining to work. They were her university co-workers and her band mates both at the Jasper and those of the Philharmonia she was a part of. She liked them well enough, but they weren’t the people she’d call up and ask for a coffee or a chat. If she were to do so, Liv would be one of the more likely candidates.

“Our table. You couldn’t keep your eyes off of it tonight.”

As her words sank in, a flush rose. “I don’t know what you mean.” She absolutely did know what Liv meant though. Tonight, the table had been reserved by Ed Cromwell – Liv’s boyfriend – and a bunch of really good-looking people. It was clearly a boy’s night, and quite a few of them had some resemblances. From what she’d overheard, the Cromwells were a large family, so brothers? Cousins? Or just six extremely hot men out for a night of music and drinks.

“I’ll introduce you.”

“Oh, no, that’s really not necessary, I teach in the morning, I shoul-” She might as well not have spoken, for Liv had already made her way through the side door and undoubtedly was heading to the table right now. Ciara had two choices: either she could make a run for it, or she could just take a deep breath and face the men. It wasn’t as if she didn’t see men – and boys – all the time. Maybe it was something in the air. Maybe it was just that time of the month (okay, that one wasn’t true, she tracked her cycles very carefully and had another fifteen days to go). Whatever the reason, every time she’d looked over toward the table, with the flickering tabletop oil lamps and the soft mood lighting above, her heart did a somersault.

She stood up, extending her arms back to straighten out her back. She could do this. Liv would be right there with her, it wasn’t as if she was approaching them by herself. With a fortifying breath, she headed for the door. A small corridor with a heavy curtain separated it from the main room, with a variety of hooks and storage cubbies for coats and other assorted items that the staff didn’t want to keep close on hand. She could faintly hear the murmur of conversations on the other side, and with another two deep, slow breaths, Ciara stepped out. A quick glance told her that Liv had already perched on the edge of the booth, a drink in hand, her keen blue eyes looking pointedly in her direction.

“We got this,” Ciara muttered under her breath, fixing a smile upon her face as she rounded the corner and came into full view. “Hi.”

The conversation came to a halt as the men looked up at her approach. They were really quite handsome, especially up close. She could feel her heart thundering in her throat. Any higher and she would lose all hearing and she really shouldn’t come off as inattentive. She cleared her throat in an attempt to mask the sound of her heartbeat.

“Guys, this is Ciara. Wasn’t she amazing tonight?” Liv gushed. “Ciara, I’d like you to meet the Cromwell boys. You know Ed, of course.” Ed sat next to her, an arm wrapped loosely around her waist. “Then we have his brother Teddy, who you might have seen around?”

He did kind of look familiar, but Ciara was terrible with faces. She could have random people sit in on her classes and wouldn’t give it much thought until they played their instruments and it didn’t sound right. Music was what she was good at, not so much people or faces. She gave him a nod, and he smiled back, a wide, easy smile.

“And I’m Alfie,” the one beside Teddy reached out a hand. “Kurt’s to my other side.”

“Sup?” Kurt greeted with a bob of his chin. “You sounded really great up there.”

“Thanks for coming.” She stared hard at them, willing their faces to commit to her memory. Or, at the very least, hit some sort of recognition if they were to cross paths again in the future. There was a soft kind of crease that lined the corners of their eyes when they smiled that transformed their faces. Maybe that was what she had to look for.

“And rounding out our merry group we have Toby and Max. Max is only in town for a few days, so I thought we ought to have a nice night out.” Ed took up the introductions, pointing at each in turn.

Ciara turned to the last of the two and tried her absolute hardest not to stare at them in earnest, nor to let the creep of a blush rise to her cheeks. Luckily, she’d gone heavy on the makeup knowing she would be under stage lights tonight, but still. Now that she was introduced to them in turn and could look at all of them up close, it was easy to see the progression of the family line between Alfie and Max and all the ages in between. The last four definitely had to be siblings, and if they weren’t, she’d eat her saxophone. “Hi.” She managed again, wetting her lips. It was Max her eyes had caught on. He seemed the most serious of the bunch, his face a bit haggard and wary as if he was unaccustomed to this situation in some way. He gave a nod and a faint smile.

“A pleasure to meet you.” Toby filled the silence. He sat at the end of the booth, closing the others in. It was a large booth with the intent of fitting six comfortably, but with Liv sitting right next to Ed, and with some of the men having broad shoulders, there really wasn’t room to fit Ciara. Not that they were offering for her to slide in. “Ed said you guys are one of the best jazz spots in town and having now experienced it for myself, I would have to agree. I’ll have to bring Ellie along, this is definitely her vibe.”

“If you let me know ahead of time, I could have the table reserved.”

“That’s a nice offer, Liv, but it’ll just be two of us, I wouldn’t want to waste this space.” Toby gave a shake of his head.

“But could be secluded.” One of them teased, wagging his brows. The one beside him gave a roll of his eyes. Teddy, she was almost certain, as he didn’t match the others. So the joking one must have been Alfie. “They’re newlyweds,” Teddy explained. “Nearly two whole months now. We practically had to drag him out of the house.”

“Ellie’s not even home tonight,” Toby protested with a shake of his head. “Don’t believe these kids.”

“Yeah, sure grandpa.” Alfie shot back.

Ciara looked over at Liv, who was watching the table with a fond expression. It was clear she was used to their antics by now. The only one who looked slightly pained was Max, but he was valiantly trying to hide it by reaching out for his beer glass, which still sat mostly full. “It was nice to meet you all. I’m glad you had a great night.” She hoped that she didn’t come across as trying to run away, even if that was her very intention.

“You just met us!”

“And she’d like to un-meet us now.” Kurt laughed, a hand reaching up to rub at the back of his neck. “You guys always overdo it.”

“Do not.” Teddy turned to Ciara. “Hopefully we didn’t scare you away, come say “hi” if you ever see us around. We’re totally normal and not weird.”

“Oh yeah, that’ll totally convince her,” Alfie elbowed him. “Definitely not weird at all.”

They absolutely reminded her of her students. And Teddy and Alfie seemed around that age for all she knew. She was terrible with ages too. Maybe there was a reason the seating arrangement was this way, with the two troublemakers of the bunch sat together. “It’s not you at all, I was telling Liv that I have class to prep for in the morning, and a pleasurable acquaintance sadly does not stop the dawn from coming.” She smiled as they said their goodbyes and turned on her heel to head back. Whatever it was she expected, it sure wasn’t that. The one good thing out of the encounter was that she had a name for him. Max. And that his time in town was limited. Where did he live then? With those questions on her mind, she stepped back into the safety of the backroom.