The Forum by Marie Reyes (short books for teens .txt) 📕

sat down. She cut a triangle section from her pancake and dipped the end in syrup. She liked to keep the two separate to avoid pancakes going soggy.

"So. You want to do anything today? We could watch a movie."

Kristen prepared herself for the conversation that was about to follow. "Listen. It's been nice, but it was just supposed to be a one-night thing. I'm sorry, I just... wanted to take my mind off stuff. I should have been more clear."

"Plans can change though."

"It's just not the right time. I've got a lot on my plate. I'm sorry."

"Is this about last night? I swear that's never happened to me before."

"It's not about that," she lied. "We were both drunk. It's just me, and the place I'm in right now. Please understand."

"We can still be friends though."

"I don't know if that would be a good idea. I'm so busy with work, plus personal stuff."

"I can help you with that. You know I was going to study psychology once, but stuff got in the way."

"I'm feeling rough today. I need some time to myself. I think you should go. I will message you at some point. Just, I need some me time."

"Fine." He backed up in his chair and shot up. "See you around." He turned towards the front door. Part of her wanted to say wait, and to say something to make him feel better, but she didn't have the energy.

"I'll see you out."

"Don't bother." He slammed the front door behind him like a petulant teen and a feeling of relief washed over her as she sat in silence at the kitchen table.

She went to remove him from her dating profile, so that he couldn't message her, but his profile had totally disappeared.

Chapter

Twenty

LONDON

His skin prickled with heat. There were too many bodies packed together in a small place. It was the busiest he'd ever seen this venue and almost felt as nervous as he had at his first performance ever. Nadia sat at a small table with her friend, perched on tiny stools and nursing their drinks. He gave them a brief wave.

The first gig with new material was always daunting, and he preferred it when Nadia wasn't present as she would always dissect his performance in minute detail when they got home, and she was never a fan of his more inappropriate jokes. Luckily the guy on stage now, the guy before him, was about as funny as cancer.

His palms were sweating now. Great, that would make holding the mic fun. Some people left it on the stand, but he couldn't do that. His body would twitch with nervous energy, and he would pace from one end of the stage to another.

It seemed like the other person was wrapping up, and Aadesh downed the remainder of his drink. Vodka and coke. He couldn't have anything gassy like beer or cider, not since the burping incident. That had actually got more laughs than his jokes.

Okay. It was time. He watched the guy walk offstage and Mike, the compère, was saying his piece. His nerves were in overdrive now as he became increasingly aware that he was sweating profusely by the damp patches on his T-shirt. Why the hell did he think white was a good idea? This wasn’t a wet T-shirt competition. No doubt it would be obvious to the audience as well. It was an awful feeling, yet he kept coming back for more. Okay. This was it. He glanced at his friend Steve and gave him a nervous smile before going up.

The light was blinding, so thankfully, he couldn't make out any of the audience's faces, just vague silhouettes shifting around like shadow puppets. He waited for the applause to die down before forcing words from his dry throat.

"Thank you. Thank you. So, let me tell you what I've been up to in the last few days—"

"You suck!" someone yelled from the audience. He could make out a flash of ginger hair on their head. Normally the hecklers didn't start until he actually told a few jokes, and hecklers were rare anyway. For some reason, his usual witty comeback wouldn't come to him, so he decided to just ignore it, pushing down the feeling that this was going to be a disaster.

Before he could even get another word out, Mike walked onto the stage. What the hell? He took the microphone from him.

"Ladies and gentlemen. I'm going to need everyone to leave right away," Mike said, his tone deadly serious.

"What's going on?" Aadesh asked, but Mike put his finger up to silence him.

"Please remain calm and evacuate the building immediately." He put the microphone back in its stand and turned to Aadesh. "Let's go now."

Aadesh’s legs wobbled as he walked down the steps from the stage. He felt like he was walking out of the gym after leg-day. He looked for Nadia, but she had gone. They had been seated close to the back, so they must have left already. There were still a lot of people and it was impossible to hear over the panicked voices. Everyone was supposed to get out as quickly as possible, but some people milled around curiously, while others seemed to get further away from the exit, looking for their friends and blocking the way for others.

There were no fire alarms and Mike wasn't saying anything. What the hell was going on? They joined the back of the crowd. "What is it Mike?"

"I didn't want to alarm anyone. It's harder for people to evacuate when they're panicking, but I got a call. A bomb threat," he said, just loud enough for Aadesh to hear, but not anybody else.

"Oh my god." They walked forward as the crowd started thinning and it wasn't long until they walked through the door and