The Roadie mf went back up, and everyone realized the show was over. All of the fans of The Cheezers, a ska/punk group out of Boston, scattered to various areas of the auditorium. A majority headed out the door to leave, sweat dripping off their bodies as they left the crowded auditorium. Some headed to buy Cheezers merchandise, and a few headed near the backstage door in hopes that they would be able to meet one of the 7 members of The Cheezers. The band's roadies, including Angela Page, headed over to take down the band's equipment. Angela did not look like a roadie. She was a petite redhead, only 5'3" and about 115 pounds, but she was very reliable. She carried the guitars, basses, and horns, set up the mics, and did other such jobs. Though one of the large men that made up the rest of The Cheezers' roadie population could have done such jobs, the band decided that they needed some women around, and the fact that Angela was extremely good-looking added to their need to have her around. She was 18 years old, just out of high school. She looked about 16, and this added to her charm. She had followed the band since the beginning, going to nearly all of their shows. School had stopped her from going to some shows, though all of last summer was spent driving around the United States going to all of the band's shows. Their lead singer approached her after a show in Florida, the last show of that particular tour, and asked if, since she went to every show anyway, would she like to help out the band? Angela was surprised, and honored in a twisted way, and now she was spending her summer before college with the band. She especially enjoyed the opportunity to admire their good-looking guitarist, Nate. Angela picked up Nate's guitar and smiled. It was black, covered with miscellaneous stickers. He had always used the same guitar, since The Cheezers' first show at the Orbit Club three years ago. Ever since she first saw The Cheezers, she had a crush on Nate. He hadn't changed much since that show. He had always worn his punk-bleached hair fairly short, contrasting with his dark brown eyes. He was somewhat tall and thin. On stage, the band always wore suits, as it was a Ska tradition in a way. Nate always looked especially nice in his, thought Angela, even though he looked just as good in the much more casual clothes he wore when he was not on stage. Angela woke up from her short daydream and carried the guitar backstage, where she put it in its case and placed it by the other equipment. Strolling back to the stage, somewhat lost in thought, to put away the mics, she accidentally walked right into Nate, who was going, his usual bottle of Mountain Dew in hand, to talk to some fans, as he always did. He did this to be nice, as he remembered when he was a fan and how bad he felt when band members didn't talk to him. Angela thought that his good-natured personality was incredibly sexy for some reason. "Excuse me." Nate mumbled with a smile, and scurried along to talk to the fans crowded outside the backstage door. "Hey, great show!" Angela yelled to him as he ran past, smiling somewhat flirtatiously He turned, smiled again, and gave her a thumbs-up sign as he ran past. Angela sighed, starry-eyed, like any teenager with a crush. She ran to the stage to put up the microphones. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Later, after all the equipment was loaded back onto the busses, the band members and roadies headed out to the Holiday Inn that they would be staying at during the two well-earned days off that they would be getting before their show in LA. The band decided that Dallas would be a good place to get their much needed rest.The busses were quiet, as everyone was tired from tonight's show. Nate sipped his Mountain Dew slowly. "The drink of guitarists everywhere!" he thought laughingly. Pretty soon he would probably be doing promotions like that. The band was getting more popular now. Their ska/punk style appeared to be catching on. Either that, or their funny name. It had come to Mikey, their lead singer, in a dream. He was a mouse, going through a maze, and random scientists were yelling at him to "get the cheezers!" Mikey told Nate about it, and Nate suggested that they call their band The Cheezers, as before that they didn't have a name. The others members thought it was neat. A bit cheesy, though, said their drummer, Jim. Nate chuckled to himself at Jim's pun. He took another sip of his drink as his gaze slowly drifted over to Angela. She was an absolute babe. He remembered that he couldn't believe his eyes (and his luck!) when Mikey showed him who the new addition to their crew would be. Nate had always been crazy about small women, as well as redheads. He watched as she pushed her long, beautiful dark red hair out of her face. She looked as if she was thinking about something. He wondered what. He hoped it was him that she was thinking about, though he knew that it probably wasn't. Nice guys like him always finish last. Nate sighed. She looked so good, even in her baggy jeans and Cheezers crew t-shirt. There was something a bit flirty about the smile she had flashed at him when they bumped into each other, wasn't there? No, he thought, that's just wishful thinking. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The brakes on the bus screeched as they stopped at the Holiday Inn. Angela stood up, a little bit unhappy that she had to leave the bus. She had been daydreaming about Nate, as she usually did, and didn't want to get back to reality. She picked up her purse and her suitcase, and turned to gaze a bit at Nate. He was picking up his Nike duffle bag, which he carried most of his things in. It was overflowing with stuff, and Angela wondered how he was able to close it. She smiled as she began to walk off the bus. Everyone gathered in front of the bus, wondering which rooms they were supposed to go to. Angela was assigned to room 122, along with Claire, the only other woman on tour with The Cheezers. She worked the soundboard along with a guy named Bill, who was her brother. Claire was somewhat overweight and very plain looking, as was Bill. The two looked very much alike, and Angela often wondered if they were twins. Angela went up to room 122 with Claire and dropped her things on the floor. She washed her face, took off her jeans, and got into bed. She decided to watch a little bit of television before she went to sleep while Claire was in the shower. Angela found it odd that Claire got so tired and hot just sitting by the soundboard. It was probably a lot harder than it looks, Angela thought. It was MTV that she turned on, and the show was 120 Minutes. She liked that show because they always showed the somewhat unknown bands that deserved credit. They often showed The Cheezers' video on that show. In fact, that was what was on when she turned it on. Angela grinned. Nate looked especially good in this video, in his favorite blue pinstriped suit. The song, "Didn't Mean To Go," was one of their best. Dave, the trombone player, wrote it to get his girl back after he dumped her. He dumped her then regretted it and it was this song that got them back together. Angela fell asleep, still grinning, after the video was over. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Nate turned the page in his book. It was his nightly habit to read a book before he went to sleep. He was reading one of those law-thriller books where a lawyer gets involved in a controversial case and has a bunch of gang members after him. They were sometimes a bit cheesy, but they were very interesting to him. He reached the end of the chapter and decided to put the book down here. He placed the book on his bedside table, and turned off the light. As he lay down with his eyes closed, waiting for sleep to come to him, he thought about Angela. He wondered if she was attracted to him at all. Maybe he would ask her to go do something on one of these days off. They never talked much, and he wanted to get to know her better. He was sure there was something good to do in Dallas. Nate realized he was thinking sort of like he was a teenager again. At 25, he wasn't far from it, though he still considered himself very much beyond his high school years. Oh well, he thought, as he fell asleep. The sunlight shined in through the horizontal blinds on the windows. Nate looked at the clock and saw that it was 12:00. The some of the band and crew, including Angela, were going out to lunch at 1, just to have something to do. He took a shower and threw on a 70's-retro buttondown shirt and a pair of jeans. Nate liked to buy his clothes at vintage stores. He got the shirt he was wearing, which had somewhat of a checkerboard print on it, just recently at a store in Austin. He quickly combed his hair and looked at the clock. 12:55. He went downstairs to the lobby, where Mikey, Jim, Rob, the bassist, and Dale, the trumpet player, as well as two crew members, were waiting. He greeted them all. Dale checked his watch, probably very eager to get something to eat. Just then, Angela ran down the stairs wearing a blue soccer-inspired shirt and a pair of plaid pants. Her hair was still wet and she was wearing minimal makeup, very obviously in a hurry. "Um, sorry I'm late." she said, a little out of breath from running. "Hey, at least you came!" Nate said with a smile. She still looked great, even in a hurry. "You're just being nice, aren't you?" she said. Nate wasn't sure if she truly was questioning his action, or just trying to flirt. He decided to take somewhat of a risk, so he laughed and winked at her, as he couldn't think of anything to say. If she was interested, as he hoped she was, perhaps she would catch on that he was too. She smiled back at him, and Nate took this as a good sign. "Are we going to go now? I found this great restaurant around here this morning." said Rob, rather impatiently. He looked like he knew his food, as he had very obviously had a lot of it. Rob had rented a minivan for the band, as they would look rather odd driving around in their tour busses. The group walked out to the minivan. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Angela almost skipped out to the minivan. She felt it was kind of silly, driving around in a minivan. Everyone would think they were some suburban family. Her thoughts then drifted back to Nate. He was very obviously flirting. He seemed interested, but she wasn't sure. They had never talked much, both were rather shy. But, if she could admire him from afar, perhaps he was doing the same. She could definitely find out during this lunch. She sat down next to Nate, who didn't seem to mind the fact that they were pressed against each other. It was a struggle to fit everyone in. The only people who really enjoyed the situation were Nate and Angela. Angela was leaning on Nate's shoulder, her hand absentmindedly resting in his lap. She looked and realized where she had placed her hand, but instead of being embarrassed and moving it as she normally would have, she looked down at her hand again, looked up at Nate, and smiled. She figured that he would understand what she meant if he wanted to. He smiled back at her, and she figured that to be the response she was looking for. Nate and Angela talked more over that lunch than they had spoken the entire tour. Both had, for some reason, overcome their shyness over one lunch. They talked about nearly everything, to the annoyance of everyone else eating with them. Angela was positive by now that Nate was interested, but wondered if he wanted to do anything about it. He very rarely took his eyes off her during the lunch. He smiled at her before they got into the car, maybe because he knew the seating arrangement or maybe just because she was there. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The minivan arrived at the hotel as Nate and Angela were engaged in a rather interesting conversation. Nate asked Angela if she might like to continue talking in his room. She accepted invitation, and the two went up to room 119. They were alone in the room, as Mikey, who he shared the room with, was with Jim, Rob, and Dale, finishing a song they had started writing on a napkin at a restaurant. The band thought of songs at the weirdest times, and Nate usually threw in some good ideas. This time, however, he had better things to do. They continued their conversation in the room. The conversation somewhat suddenly came to a stop. Nate and Angela stared into each other's eyes, sitting on Nate's bed, as if they shared some sort of special secret. Nate knew that this would be the perfect moment for him to make a move, so he leaned over, wrapped his arms around Angela, and kissed her deeply. She did not kiss him back, so he broke the kiss and moved his face slowly away from her. He looked at her apologetically, as he felt that she did not want him to do that. Just as he was about to ask her if she wanted to leave, she leaned over and kissed him just as deeply. He kissed her back, happy that he had not moved too quickly. He wondered if this would lead to more. He desperately hoped that it would, as the thought of making love to her was causing him to get hard. Nate ran his fingers through Angela's soft hair as they kissed. He slowly moved his hands down her back, then forward to her chest. He touched her breasts through her shirt, hoping she would not object. She did not, so he continued, gently running his fingertips over her breasts as she began to unbutton his shirt. She slowly moved her hands down his shirt, carefully undoing each button. He stopped fondling her breasts and kissing her to remove his shirt from his arms and throw it onto the floor. He slipped Angela's shirt over her head and put it somewhere near his own shirt. He placed his hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her down so she was laying down on the bed, her head on the pillow. He softly kissed her neck, then her shoulder, then her chest, right above her breasts. He then placed several kisses on her stomach before reaching behind her and removing her bra, throwing it near the other clothes. Nate slowly moved his hands down her chest. He then placed his thumbs on her erect nipples, moving his thumbs in circular motions. After a minute or two of this, Angela let out a soft moan. He lowered his mouth to one of her breasts, then moved his tongue gently over her nipples. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Angela wrapped her arms around Nate's back. As she moaned several more times, she pulled him closer to her, unconsciously symbolizing her hope that he would never go away. Nate began to gently nibble her nipples, as well as lick them. She moaned again, louder than before, holding him tightly as she moaned. After continuing with this for some time, Nate moved to Angela's other breast, nibbling and licking as before. Her moans got progressively louder as this went on. He finally stopped, looked at her, and smiled. Angela was somewhat disappointed. She almost pushed him back toward her, but decided that he probably had something better planned for her. She realized that she was right, as he reached down to unbutton her pants. He gently slipped them off of her legs and put them with the other clothes, leaving her in just her black bikini panties. She decided she would do the same, as she unbuttoned his jeans and slipped them off of him, leaving him in only his boxers. She was very wet by that time, and was growing wetter wondering what he would do next. He then reached down and gently stroked her pussy through her panties, as if looking for acknowledgement that what he was doing was okay with her. She shivered at his touch, and smiled, encouraging him to do more. He slipped her panties off of her, and placed his hand on top of her soaked pussy. She squirmed and moaned as he played with her, feeling as if he had total control over her. Her moans grew longer and louder, until they were almost screams of pleasure, and increased in number. Nate finally stopped. She wished he would continue, but knew what would happen next. She slipped his boxers off of him, leaving him completely naked. His cock had grown very hard by this time and he could not wait much longer. He placed his body on top of hers and inserted his cock into her dripping hole. He began thrusting, first slowly and lightly, but gradually getting faster and harder. Angela's moans became loud screams of ecstasy, then turned to orgasm. She came loud and hard. Nate came shortly after, squirting deep inside of her small body. Finally, it was all over, and left were two lust-filled, sweat covered bodies, intertwined. They looked at each other, knowing there would be more to come.