Bet on Me-- Chapter Three
Synopsis: When Freya’s band gets invited to be an opener on Bad Omen’s EU tour, she is both thrilled and extremely nervous. Meanwhile, the boys in Bad Omens decide to have some fun, specifically involving Freya and Folio. Some bets are involved and some group conspiring. What will come of Freya’s time with Folio and the boys?
Characters: OC [Freya] x Folio
Tag List: @foliosgirl , @dsireland86 , @lacy1986 , @dominuslunae , @veronikawrites , @sleepycactus-omens , @fear-its-beauty , @darknightstarryeyes [let me know if you’d like to be tagged in the next part!]
Trigger Warnings: Cursing, Touching, Mental Health Menion [let me know if I missed anything!]
Freya’s body was buzzing with nerves as she walked into the practice room backstage. There were T-minus two hours until the start of the first show, and she was freaking out, so much so, she was the first one there. She decided it might be best to get a bit of solo practice in before the others arrived. This was her band’s “home town” show, and for some reason, that made her more nervous than usual. When she would perform in other places, it was less likely she would ever see the audience members ever again, but performing in London felt too intimate.
Freya slowly began to unzip her guitar bag, pulling out her instrument, admiring the gleam of her guitar. She placed it against a chair as she pulled her hair up into an extremely messy bun. She made her way back to her guitar and began to strum some warm up notes. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, transitioning into the band’s new song that she had been struggling with. There was one riff that continued to give her issues. Freya began the song, strumming her way through the chords with ease. When she played the guitar, it felt natural to her, the strings found their way into the grooves of her fingers. Her guitar felt like an old friend. She was moving through the song, knowing the monster-riff was coming up. Freya got to the part of the song, feeling more confident than usual, but her fingers lost their way and she completely missed the notes.
“Fuck me!” Freya exclaimed as her hand slammed against the guitar strings, creating a banshee-style squeal reverberating off the walls. She cringed and yanked the guitar strap off her shoulder, placing the guitar down against the chair. Freya sat down in the chair adjacent to her guitar’s and placed her head in her hands, frustrated.
“Shouldn’t I buy you dinner first?” Freya’s head popped up as she heard a familiar male voice from across the room. When she looked up, she saw Nick Ruffilo walking towards her with a sincere smile. He sat down across from Freya, placing his guitar bag down.
“Well, you said ‘fuck me,’ so I responded with ‘shouldn’t I buy you dinner first?’” Nick gave another short smile as he waited for Freya’s response.
Freya couldn’t help but let out a chuckle, “Wow, rather presumptuous. Maybe I was talking to…” she looked around the room, “the fucking bin,” she finished, pointing to the garbage across the room.
Nick cocked an eyebrow, “I don’t know how well that would work out for you. Also, there must be something about us and ‘bins’ as you say.”
“Well, the last time we met, and if I remember correctly, you told me off, we were standing right by the trash.”
Freya ran her hand through her hair, causing half of her bun to come untangled, “Nick, I-I’m really sorry about that. You were offering to help, and I was being an asshole.”
“You know, I can’t argue too much with that.”
Freya let out another chuckle, “That is my usual demeanor.”
Nick smiled in response, leaning over in his seat to pick up Freya’s guitar. Freya felt as if a limb was being separated from her body. She began to reach out to grab the guitar back until Nick said, “So, what’s going on with that riff?”
“Don’t you have your own guitar?”
“There we go again with your demeanor,” Nick quickly rebutted, raising an eyebrow at Freya.
“Hey, you’re the one who just committed guitar-napping.”
“Well, I always think it’s better to see what is going on with the guitar at hand. Let me see if I can try the riff. Unlike some people, I have listened to your music.”
Freya didn’t know how to respond, so she just sat back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. Nick fully picked up the guitar, putting it into position and began to play the song. Freya wasn’t sure how many times he had listened to their song, but he made it seem natural. The time had almost come for the infamous riff, and when Nick had gotten to it, he completely Aced it, continuing to play the next few notes after it. He abruptly stopped, handing the guitar back to Freya, “Okay, now I want to see you play the riff.”
Freya took back her guitar, almost in a yank and got it into position. How was it possible this guy had nailed a riff they had come up with just weeks ago, but she couldn’t? She started playing the chords right before the riff, and once she got to it, she made the exact same mistake as before. “Goddamnit!”
Nick just smiled again and moved to the chair next to Freya, “Hey, look, can I show you something that might help? Unless that would make you want to hurt me, then I can back away.”
Freya rolled her eyes, “Just show me.”
Nick scooted his chair even closer to Freya and placed his arms around hers. Freya took a deep breath, feeling her stomach start to flutter. She didn’t think she actually had feelings for this guy, but she had not been touched in any way in a long time. She looked over to Nick, still smiling; it was like all he knew to do was smile. She looked back down at their fingers, collectively on the strings.
“Okay, so, play the riff like you have been.”
Freya scoffed, “You mean failed to play, but okay.” She began to play the notes for the riff and started well, but before she could get to the part of the riff she had continued botching, Nick adjusted her fingers with his against the strings. The riff came out way better than she had ever been able to play it before.
Freya let out an excited gasp. “Do you feel a difference,” Nick asked, arms still around hers.
“Oh my God, yea! How did you do that?”
Before Nick could answer, Freya heard someone clear their throat from across the room. Both her and Nick’s heads popped up to see the rest of Freya’s band standing in the doorway. Soph and G were giggling, as Luna said, “Freya was earlier than us?”
Nick and Freya detangled their arms and he moved back to the seat across from Freya. She could not wipe the blush from her face as her band made their way over to them. Sophia sat next to Freya with a gigantic grin on her face, “We will be talking about this later.”
Both of the bands were backstage, getting ready for the show to start. Freya’s band had just finished their warmups and peptalk, so she took a minute to be by herself. She could feel the excitement from the crowd. She was standing off to the side with her guitar around her shoulder, and she closed her eyes, taking several deep breaths. She knew the other band members were just mere feet from her, but she also knew she needed to calm her nerves somehow. Her pre-show ritual was quickly interrupted by a familiar voice, “Everything okay?”
Freya slowly opened her eyes to see Folio standing right in front of her, “What?”
“Uh, you just seemed kinda stressed. Are you okay?”
“Oh, yea I’m fine. Thanks.”
There was a long pause, in which the two just stared at one another, Folio twirling his drum stick between his fingers. “Oh, uh, since you’re right here, I did have a question for you.”
Freya could feel her heart rate going back up, which is the last thing she needed right now. Why did he think right before the blood show was a good time to ask her anything? She felt on the verge of a panic, but she could never let anyone know that, especially not Folio, so she responded with a short, “Sure.”
Folio gave a short smile, and stopped twirling his drumstick for a second, as he asked a question Freya wouldn’t have expected in a million years, “Would you want to go on a date with me tomorrow?”
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