. encore

[stassi siminski]

This was a bad idea. Stassi lacquers her lips with a peachy toned satin lipstick, the finishing touch to a full face. How dressed up she was often had a direct correlation to how out of sorts her head was and tonight was no exception, her head scrambled by recent events, blue-green eyes scanning her phone for the five hundredth time that day. No dice. Sighing, she slips into her favorite black lace bustier, pairing it with Mugler jeans and heels. After a quick tease of her hair she's good to go, leaving her apartment in a haze of Tom Ford Cherry Smoke. Before long she's sat at the hotel rooftop bar, the bartender presenting her with a flawless negroni. A man turns to talk to her and unfortunately it's not the one she was hoping for, making her pout into her drink. "Sorry, I'm a lesbian. Happy Pride month."

[niko blackwood]

The high was still there following his first massive performance with Cat’s Cradle. Ending the show and continuing the adrenaline that coursed through his veins, buried between the thighs of Stassi. Their Tik Tok live spurring all sorts of rumors about the new drummer. He hadn’t mentioned the day of their internet-breaking- moment that he was staying in New York a little while longer. Making his next move with a simple text of his intention to repay the girl he had some bubbling chemistry with. He’s dressed in a simple black tee, leaving his tattooed arms exposed and running a hand throw his damp hair. He’s always worn a simple gold chained necklace and he pulls out of the black tee as he steps onto the elevator leading to the rooftop bar. She’s easy to spot, as she’s the most gorgeous woman in the place. He hears a bit of the conversation she’s having with the man beside her, he chuckles at the attempt to make the strange man disappear. “So I heard the news,” he whispers into her ear, occupying the vacant seat on the other side of Stassi.

[stassi siminski]

Despite the churn in her stomach from recent events, doubt and guilt and confusion swirling together into an unholy melancholy, Stassi still feels her heartbeat increase as Niko sits opposite her. Though he had only recently had a big step up in his rise to fame, he had the charisma of someone truly famous, a natural ability to turn heads and make hearts flutter. He gets close and she can smell his body wash, his hair ever so slightly damp from a recent shower. For just a second she bites her lip, releasing it as she takes another sip of her drink, feigning indifference. "Do I know you?" she plays into the rouse she suggested, though it's hard to keep the corners of her lips from twitching into a smirk. She considers him for a moment, pretending to be wracking her brain, turning her back fully to the man who tried to speak to her moments ago. Finally she widens her eyes as if in recognition. "Are you in Arctic Monkeys? I loved AM, big fan."

[niko blackwood]

Her appearance had distracted him from the little game she’d suggested. Pretending they were strangers, meeting for the first time in a bar. As if he was under some enchantment upon seeing her, Niko snaps back into reality. A sweet satisfying perfume permeates the air around him, it was a dangerous combination especially when blue-green eyes flash towards him. She bites her lip, Niko fights back to the urge to run his thumb across those full lips. “Nope, you just seemed like you needed to talk to someone interesting,” he grins, chuckling almost darkly into her ear, nodding his head in the direction of the man sitting on the opposite side of her. Stassi turns her back towards Niko, looking to who he’d just spoken of and sucking on the damn straw again. She whips back around questioning if he was a member of Arctic Monkeys. “What a compliment. But no. Just Niko. I can be whoever you’d like, though.” He leans forward, elbows briefly kissing the bar top, making himself comfortable and maintaining quick eye contact with the bartender. “What’s your name?”