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Description
Chapter 14

As Ville had arrived in plenty of time for a change he took the opportunity to talk to Cassie. He made his way along the corridor lined with posters to the dressing room reserved for the band. He drew up in front of the door and stopped, his hand hovering over the door knob. He took a deep breath and gathered his thoughts. He knew that his friends, waiting inside the room before him, were highly likely to be just as pissed at him as Bam had been, after all Cassie was their friend too. He told himself that it was time to stop being a coward and wrapped his long fingers around the door knob, finally summoning the courage to turn it and face the barrage of angry people waiting for him.

As he entered the room everyone stopped what they were doing and turned their faces to look at him. Bam still looked very pissed off as he held what looked to Ville like ice wrapped in a towel against his knuckles, obviously a leftover injury from punching him. Instinctively Bam wrapped his arm protectively around Cassie’s shoulder as the rest of the men moved closer, each one giving Ville a look that said ‘if you say one more horrible thing to her, we’re all going to follow Bam’s lead’.

Ville coughed slightly, clearing his throat and attempting to psych himself up enough to speak.
“So…I, uh…well, um I…I want to apologise. I’ve acted like an arse hole, I know I have. And truly I am sorry, especially to you Cassie. You didn’t deserve any of what I said to you. And if you’ll let me I’d like to talk to you for a bit, alone?” Ville said, finding his voice and waiting for the other guys to leave the room, no of them moved however.
“It’s alright guys. You heard him, he’s sorry. If I need you I’ll call” She said as she watched her friends reluctantly stand and leave the room. Ville immediately came over and sat next to Cassie on the sofa, in the seat previously occupied by Bam.
“Ok, Cass, what I want to say is that well, obviously I’m sorry. I didn’t mean any of those horrible things I said to you. I don’t think you’re a slut, really I don’t. What happened with us, that was all me. I initiated it; I’m the one who should have stopped it. And for that I’m sorry, I never thought about you when I did it. I didn’t think how much that could hurt you, all I cared about was getting back at Danni” He said, sighing as the lie slipped so easily from his lips. He figured it was better than saying ‘I did it because I wanted to get you out of my head, I didn’t want to be in love with you anymore’ He thought that little revelation mixed in with an apology might be just a bit too much for Cassie to take in one day.
“It’s alright Ville. I should have stopped you. But I didn’t, and I don’t even know why I didn’t I guess I saw you were hurt and that was what you thought would help so I went along with it. I shouldn’t have, I knew you were in love with Danni. Oh god, I forgot about her. Is she going to forgive you?” Cassie asked suddenly remembering Danni storming off.
“I think so. She didn’t break up with me anyway” He laughed slightly, relieved that it seemed Cassie had forgiven him already, but he still had things to say to her before he would be happy with the situation. “About Danni, Cassie I know she probably deserved to have that drink thrown over her. I just…well I guess being alone with her for those days afterwards and not talking to any of you guys well I guess I just believed her. I realised when I was thinking of how to apologise to you, that you would never say those things to her. I know you care too much about me to do something like that.”
“Thanks Ville. That was honestly what hurt me the most. Especially coming from you. You’re my best friend Ville, you should know that however much I dislike her I’ll always do what’s best for you. I love you, you fool” She said laughing and punching him softly on the arm, glad beyond belief that she and Ville had had a chance to talk properly and clear up all the mess left over from their night together. She knew she could deal with Danni, she’d been doing it for two years already, and she knew she could deal with Ville marrying her as long as he stayed Ville, and stayed her friend and not that version of Ville who had torn into her earlier, the one who was wrapped around Danni’s little finger,
“I love you too sweetheart.” He said smiling back as he pulled her body into his in a warm hug. He breathed the smell of her hair. Suddenly it his him, just as if Bam had punched him again. There was no getting over Cassie. He couldn’t do it. The best any other girl could ever do was to come second to Cassie. No one would ever be kinder, more beautiful or more special in his eyes than her.

Cassie was everything to him. He hadn’t realised before, but when he thought he was angry at her he was really taking his anger at himself and venting it on Cassie. He knew he would hurt her by doing it, and by hurting her he was punishing himself for not being good enough for her. If only he had the courage to tell her how he felt, or she the courage to tell him both of their problems would be solved and Ville could finally shut up the little nagging voice in his head telling his that what he was doing with Danni was wrong. But he told himself that while Cassie may be first, she was just a dream, and sure he hoped on day that his dream would come true but for now Danni would just have to suffice. As long as he and Cassie had sorted their relationship out he could go back to being as normal as he ever was.

*****

Ville and Cassie stayed together in the dressing room just talking together and making fun of each other until there was a knock on the door. Cassie went over and pulled it open, expecting Bam or one of the guys.
“Mr. Valo they need you to come to the stage now” Said a man, about twenty, as he pushed passed Cassie to talk to Ville. Cassie just gave the guy a dirty look as he stood impatiently in front of Ville who was taking a final long drag on his half smoked cigarette
“Come on rock star” she said walking over to Ville and offering him her hand. He took it and she pulled him to his feet. They followed the stage hand as he led them to the rest of the band. Suddenly Ville realised something was missing. Danni wasn’t here yet. She should only have been a few minutes after him and it had been almost forty five minutes since he left her. Quickly he pulled his phone from the pocket of his jeans and dialled her number. He listened impatiently to the harsh dial tone. Eventually the phone picked up.
“Hello?” Danni said breathlessly.
“Where are you? The show’s about to start” Ville said sounding vaguely hurt as he spoke to her and listened as she crashed around her apartment obviously trying to do something in a hurry.
“I’m so sorry Babe. I’ll be there in ten minutes. I took my passport out of my bag and I can’t find it. I’ll be there soon I promise” She said so quickly that Ville had trouble picking her up over the noise of the crowd waiting outside.
“Alright, bye” He said closing the phone. He believed Danni, why wouldn’t he? He quickly worked himself up, preparing to take the stage as he watched his friends on by one head out to face the crowd. Finally it was his turn. He checked he had his cigarettes and lighter. Cassie kissed him on the cheek and wished him good luck then he walked out onto the stage, the crowd cheering as they spotted him and the music began to flow out of the speakers.

*****

A little while earlier Danni was still lying on her sofa with Marco. They were still making love as she heard a shrill ringing come from the table next to her. With Marco on top of her she lifted the phone and looked at the caller id. It was Ville. She flipped open the phone and out of breath, she said ‘Hello?’ As she spoke to Ville, with Marco continuing as if the phone didn’t exist she felt several pangs of intense guilt as she lied point blank to her fiancé and held a hand over her lovers mouth to stop him giving her away. The guilt was too much for her, she pushed Marco off of her and hurriedly stumbled round the room pulling on her clothes and fixing her hair as she finished her conversation with Ville. She hung up the phone and turned back to look at Marco.

He sat on her sofa, still naked and looking highly annoyed.
“What did you want me to do?” Danni said to him “Keep fucking you while I tried to lie to Ville about why I’m so late?”
”Well, quite frankly, yes, yes I did. You could’ve at least let me finish” He said to her.
“Look, I’m sorry alright. But I feel guilty enough without doing it while I’m talking to him.” She said, going over to Marco and kissing him.
“I know. It’s alright. I’m just pissed cause you’re going for so long.” He answered a sad look on his face.
“I can’t help that. If it wasn’t so risky I would tell you to meet me somewhere…but it’s far too risky.” She kissed him again and stood from the sofa. He dressed and together they left her apartment and piled her cases into the back off a cab. Danni climbed in the back seat and Marco turned and walked the short distance back to his own flat.

Before too long Danni had arrived at the venue. She pulled out her backstage pass and headed round to the stage door. She showed it to a large, bald man who stood by the door and then headed inside, trailing her luggage behind her. She deposited her cases in the dressing room then hurried towards the stage. As she arrived the figures of Cassie and Bam became clear in the lights flashing on them from the stage. They stood together, talking and singing along and it was then Danni realised that she was stuck with them until the show was over.

She didn’t want to risk another blow out with Ville so she decided to be civil. She walked towards them and stopped next to Bam.
“Cassie. Bam.” She said, nodding her head to each in turn.
“Danni” Cassie replied in the same fashion as Bam answered with “Skank”.
“Charming.” Danni muttered. “Look we’re all stuck together until the end of this tour, so I suggest we try and at least be civil to each other” She said, looking from Cassie to Bam and watching as the turned away and talked between themselves. They were shocked it was Danni making the first move at peace between them. Cassie had planned on saying basically the same thing to Danni at some point. Cassie and Bam finished whispering and then turned back to Danni.
“Alright. We’ll be nice to you, if you’re nice to us. It seems the best way to keep everyone happy” Cassie said as Bam nodded along in agreement at her side.

They didn’t speak to Danni again for a while. They talked amongst themselves as she stood silent next to them. Finally Cassie decided to be nice and engaged Danni in some meaningless small talk until the show ended. When it did the five members of him came to their friends, Ville noticing Danni for the fist time. He hugged her, and kissed her on her fore head.
“Sorry, I must stink” He said to her as they walked back to the dressing room, each of the guys intending on a quick shower before they had to leave. I reality they had about an hour before they all had to be in cabs and headed towards the airport. As they guys showered quickly in turns the rest of the group sat around, Cassie, Bam and even Danni congratulating them on an awesome show while Ville, Linde, Mige, Burton and Gas relaxed.

Cassie and Bam were getting excited and excited meant hyper so many things where being thrown around the room and there was a lot of laughter echoing in the small, dingy room. Soon though, the time was at hand as Ville got a phone call from someone to tell them the cabs were outside. They packed up anything that had been scattered around the dressing room and each grabbed their luggage and made their way out to the waiting cabs. The plan was that the tour bus would be waiting for them when the plane landed in Heathrow several hours from then. All excited but at the same time exhausted, they arrived at the airport and began to check in.

Description
Chapter 14

As Ville had arrived in plenty of time for a change he took the opportunity to talk to Cassie. He made his way along the corridor lined with posters to the dressing room reserved for the band. He drew up in front of the door and stopped, his hand hovering over the door knob. He took a deep breath and gathered his thoughts. He knew that his friends, waiting inside the room before him, were highly likely to be just as pissed at him as Bam had been, after all Cassie was their friend too. He told himself that it was time to stop being a coward and wrapped his long fingers around the door knob, finally summoning the courage to turn it and face the barrage of angry people waiting for him.

As he entered the room everyone stopped what they were doing and turned their faces to look at him. Bam still looked very pissed off as he held what looked to Ville like ice wrapped in a towel against his knuckles, obviously a leftover injury from punching him. Instinctively Bam wrapped his arm protectively around Cassie’s shoulder as the rest of the men moved closer, each one giving Ville a look that said ‘if you say one more horrible thing to her, we’re all going to follow Bam’s lead’.

Ville coughed slightly, clearing his throat and attempting to psych himself up enough to speak.
“So…I, uh…well, um I…I want to apologise. I’ve acted like an arse hole, I know I have. And truly I am sorry, especially to you Cassie. You didn’t deserve any of what I said to you. And if you’ll let me I’d like to talk to you for a bit, alone?” Ville said, finding his voice and waiting for the other guys to leave the room, no of them moved however.
“It’s alright guys. You heard him, he’s sorry. If I need you I’ll call” She said as she watched her friends reluctantly stand and leave the room. Ville immediately came over and sat next to Cassie on the sofa, in the seat previously occupied by Bam.
“Ok, Cass, what I want to say is that well, obviously I’m sorry. I didn’t mean any of those horrible things I said to you. I don’t think you’re a slut, really I don’t. What happened with us, that was all me. I initiated it; I’m the one who should have stopped it. And for that I’m sorry, I never thought about you when I did it. I didn’t think how much that could hurt you, all I cared about was getting back at Danni” He said, sighing as the lie slipped so easily from his lips. He figured it was better than saying ‘I did it because I wanted to get you out of my head, I didn’t want to be in love with you anymore’ He thought that little revelation mixed in with an apology might be just a bit too much for Cassie to take in one day.
“It’s alright Ville. I should have stopped you. But I didn’t, and I don’t even know why I didn’t I guess I saw you were hurt and that was what you thought would help so I went along with it. I shouldn’t have, I knew you were in love with Danni. Oh god, I forgot about her. Is she going to forgive you?” Cassie asked suddenly remembering Danni storming off.
“I think so. She didn’t break up with me anyway” He laughed slightly, relieved that it seemed Cassie had forgiven him already, but he still had things to say to her before he would be happy with the situation. “About Danni, Cassie I know she probably deserved to have that drink thrown over her. I just…well I guess being alone with her for those days afterwards and not talking to any of you guys well I guess I just believed her. I realised when I was thinking of how to apologise to you, that you would never say those things to her. I know you care too much about me to do something like that.”
“Thanks Ville. That was honestly what hurt me the most. Especially coming from you. You’re my best friend Ville, you should know that however much I dislike her I’ll always do what’s best for you. I love you, you fool” She said laughing and punching him softly on the arm, glad beyond belief that she and Ville had had a chance to talk properly and clear up all the mess left over from their night together. She knew she could deal with Danni, she’d been doing it for two years already, and she knew she could deal with Ville marrying her as long as he stayed Ville, and stayed her friend and not that version of Ville who had torn into her earlier, the one who was wrapped around Danni’s little finger,
“I love you too sweetheart.” He said smiling back as he pulled her body into his in a warm hug. He breathed the smell of her hair. Suddenly it his him, just as if Bam had punched him again. There was no getting over Cassie. He couldn’t do it. The best any other girl could ever do was to come second to Cassie. No one would ever be kinder, more beautiful or more special in his eyes than her.

Cassie was everything to him. He hadn’t realised before, but when he thought he was angry at her he was really taking his anger at himself and venting it on Cassie. He knew he would hurt her by doing it, and by hurting her he was punishing himself for not being good enough for her. If only he had the courage to tell her how he felt, or she the courage to tell him both of their problems would be solved and Ville could finally shut up the little nagging voice in his head telling his that what he was doing with Danni was wrong. But he told himself that while Cassie may be first, she was just a dream, and sure he hoped on day that his dream would come true but for now Danni would just have to suffice. As long as he and Cassie had sorted their relationship out he could go back to being as normal as he ever was.

*****

Ville and Cassie stayed together in the dressing room just talking together and making fun of each other until there was a knock on the door. Cassie went over and pulled it open, expecting Bam or one of the guys.
“Mr. Valo they need you to come to the stage now” Said a man, about twenty, as he pushed passed Cassie to talk to Ville. Cassie just gave the guy a dirty look as he stood impatiently in front of Ville who was taking a final long drag on his half smoked cigarette
“Come on rock star” she said walking over to Ville and offering him her hand. He took it and she pulled him to his feet. They followed the stage hand as he led them to the rest of the band. Suddenly Ville realised something was missing. Danni wasn’t here yet. She should only have been a few minutes after him and it had been almost forty five minutes since he left her. Quickly he pulled his phone from the pocket of his jeans and dialled her number. He listened impatiently to the harsh dial tone. Eventually the phone picked up.
“Hello?” Danni said breathlessly.
“Where are you? The show’s about to start” Ville said sounding vaguely hurt as he spoke to her and listened as she crashed around her apartment obviously trying to do something in a hurry.
“I’m so sorry Babe. I’ll be there in ten minutes. I took my passport out of my bag and I can’t find it. I’ll be there soon I promise” She said so quickly that Ville had trouble picking her up over the noise of the crowd waiting outside.
“Alright, bye” He said closing the phone. He believed Danni, why wouldn’t he? He quickly worked himself up, preparing to take the stage as he watched his friends on by one head out to face the crowd. Finally it was his turn. He checked he had his cigarettes and lighter. Cassie kissed him on the cheek and wished him good luck then he walked out onto the stage, the crowd cheering as they spotted him and the music began to flow out of the speakers.

*****

A little while earlier Danni was still lying on her sofa with Marco. They were still making love as she heard a shrill ringing come from the table next to her. With Marco on top of her she lifted the phone and looked at the caller id. It was Ville. She flipped open the phone and out of breath, she said ‘Hello?’ As she spoke to Ville, with Marco continuing as if the phone didn’t exist she felt several pangs of intense guilt as she lied point blank to her fiancé and held a hand over her lovers mouth to stop him giving her away. The guilt was too much for her, she pushed Marco off of her and hurriedly stumbled round the room pulling on her clothes and fixing her hair as she finished her conversation with Ville. She hung up the phone and turned back to look at Marco.

He sat on her sofa, still naked and looking highly annoyed.
“What did you want me to do?” Danni said to him “Keep fucking you while I tried to lie to Ville about why I’m so late?”
”Well, quite frankly, yes, yes I did. You could’ve at least let me finish” He said to her.
“Look, I’m sorry alright. But I feel guilty enough without doing it while I’m talking to him.” She said, going over to Marco and kissing him.
“I know. It’s alright. I’m just pissed cause you’re going for so long.” He answered a sad look on his face.
“I can’t help that. If it wasn’t so risky I would tell you to meet me somewhere…but it’s far too risky.” She kissed him again and stood from the sofa. He dressed and together they left her apartment and piled her cases into the back off a cab. Danni climbed in the back seat and Marco turned and walked the short distance back to his own flat.

Before too long Danni had arrived at the venue. She pulled out her backstage pass and headed round to the stage door. She showed it to a large, bald man who stood by the door and then headed inside, trailing her luggage behind her. She deposited her cases in the dressing room then hurried towards the stage. As she arrived the figures of Cassie and Bam became clear in the lights flashing on them from the stage. They stood together, talking and singing along and it was then Danni realised that she was stuck with them until the show was over.

She didn’t want to risk another blow out with Ville so she decided to be civil. She walked towards them and stopped next to Bam.
“Cassie. Bam.” She said, nodding her head to each in turn.
“Danni” Cassie replied in the same fashion as Bam answered with “Skank”.
“Charming.” Danni muttered. “Look we’re all stuck together until the end of this tour, so I suggest we try and at least be civil to each other” She said, looking from Cassie to Bam and watching as the turned away and talked between themselves. They were shocked it was Danni making the first move at peace between them. Cassie had planned on saying basically the same thing to Danni at some point. Cassie and Bam finished whispering and then turned back to Danni.
“Alright. We’ll be nice to you, if you’re nice to us. It seems the best way to keep everyone happy” Cassie said as Bam nodded along in agreement at her side.

They didn’t speak to Danni again for a while. They talked amongst themselves as she stood silent next to them. Finally Cassie decided to be nice and engaged Danni in some meaningless small talk until the show ended. When it did the five members of him came to their friends, Ville noticing Danni for the fist time. He hugged her, and kissed her on her fore head.
“Sorry, I must stink” He said to her as they walked back to the dressing room, each of the guys intending on a quick shower before they had to leave. I reality they had about an hour before they all had to be in cabs and headed towards the airport. As they guys showered quickly in turns the rest of the group sat around, Cassie, Bam and even Danni congratulating them on an awesome show while Ville, Linde, Mige, Burton and Gas relaxed.

Cassie and Bam were getting excited and excited meant hyper so many things where being thrown around the room and there was a lot of laughter echoing in the small, dingy room. Soon though, the time was at hand as Ville got a phone call from someone to tell them the cabs were outside. They packed up anything that had been scattered around the dressing room and each grabbed their luggage and made their way out to the waiting cabs. The plan was that the tour bus would be waiting for them when the plane landed in Heathrow several hours from then. All excited but at the same time exhausted, they arrived at the airport and began to check in.