Mina looked at the floor and walls. “But it’s not green.”
Nan’s neck snapped back and forth like a metronome as she took in the surroundings. “It’s just called that. It’s the hangout room for special guests and the rock stars before and after they perform. I can’t believe it.” She squeezed Mina’s hand in excitement and pointed when she caught sight of one of the band members.
Naga was Japanese and wore head to toe black leather with matching boots. He even had a spiked Mohawk tipped with white. He was clearly upset about something and was visibly arguing with his hairstylist. Mina could only guess that it had something to do with the very skunk-like turn his hair was taking.
Brody was talking to a young man with white blonde hair pulled into a ponytail, who was the epitome of a punked-out version of Lord of the Rings’ Legolas. Nan whispered Constantine’s name in awe to Mina. “After Valdemar, he is the second hottest Prince in the band. You do remember what I told you, right? That each of them chose their stage name after an actual dead prince?”
The third band member was the largest and sat stuffing his face from the vast array of sandwiches, snacks and fruit on a table. It was interesting that all of the healthy food sat untouched while the floor was littered with bags of the opened candy. Mina wished she had spent more time learning the names of the band members, or at least their stage names. For some reason she kept thinking his name was Magpie—no Martin—ah wait…Magnus. Too nervous to stare at the fiercely intimidating guy for any length of time, she kept glancing to the others in the room, trying to guess who the other member was.
“Oh, I can’t believe this is happening! No one on earth is going to believe this. Here take my phone. Get a picture of me next to Valdemar,” Nan hissed.
A solemn young man with golden hair down to his chin, wearing skin tight jeans and a black vest, sat on a red vinyl couch re-stringing his guitar. He appeared to be trying to ignore an over exuberant female fan with bright pink hair.
“Which one is that again?” Mina asked, already forgetting the names Nan had pointed out earlier.
Nan tossed her the phone and went over to delicately sit on the edge of the red vinyl couch, feet away from the Dead Prince Society’s lead singer. Nan nervously pasted a smile on her face and posed.
Unsure of what to do, it took her a few moments to figure out what Nan wanted. She got the phone to the right screen but she couldn’t get Nan and the rocker in the same shot. Mina motioned with her hands for Nan to scoot closer.
Nan’s confidence faltered. Her smile slipped a little as she carefully slid inches closer to the rocker. It wasn’t close enough. Mina mouthed the words ‘closer’ and Nan scooted even closer to Valdemar, who seemed oblivious to Nan’s inching. The girl with bubblegum pink hair started to shoot them both nasty glances, but they ignored her.
Just when Nan had inched as close as she dared, Valdemar reached his arm out and quickly pulled her into his lap. She screeched in surprise, but was quieted as Valdemar’s hands reached around her possessively, but was even more surprised when he leaned in and kissed her.
Mina snapped the picture.
Chapter 4
Nan was too stunned to fight or pull away from the kiss and she let Valdemar continue. The girl with pink hair looked furious and screamed something incoherent at the kissing couple. When she didn’t get the immediate reaction she desired, she stormed out of the room, knocking over chairs and lamps in the process. When the exit door slammed with finality, Valdemar gently pulled away from the kiss. He looked momentarily surprised by his own reaction to the intensity of the shared kiss. It took him a minute to recover before he slid Nan onto the cushion next to him, closer than what was necessary.
“Sorry about that. I was at my wit’s end trying to make her go away. Thank you for playing along.” He glanced at the door and smirked and turned back to Nan. “It worked at least.” His eyes still held a hint of desire, and he swallowed nervously.
Nan perched awkwardly on the cushion next to him, her hand gently brushing her lips where they were seconds ago pressed to his. Her cheeks turned bright red and she looked like she was at a loss for words. Hastily she jumped up from the couch, knocking her knee into the coffee table, trying to run away.
Valdemar’s hand shot out and caught Nan’s wrist. “Ah, I’m sorry. Please don’t run away, I’d like…” He never got to finish his sentence as a short fiery red haired woman in a business suit entered the room and started ushering people out for the concert that should have started five minutes ago.