The street was quiet as he walked across it, careful to avoid the drain as rain pooled around it, ready to disappear beneath the surface; the street was still glistening and wet from the shower they�d gotten an hour ago and the streetlights cast an eerie glow against every surface. Everything was dark, but tinted with yellow. In his opinion, it was a beautiful night.

As he pushed open the heavy door, loud music drifted out into the night; it was an old rock �n roll song, one he vaguely remembered from years ago, and his mind was suddenly filled with images of his childhood. Music always jolted his memories.

The pub was filled with people smashed against each other, pouring random drinks down their throats and moving with the beat. The people on the dance floor were moving in sync which caused him to step back and stare. It was like something out of a movie from the 1980s; definitely something directed by John Hughes.

He stepped further inside, allowing the door to shut behind him; it did and blocked out the light from the street, making it even darker inside the dimly lit pub.

Making his way to the bar, he got sidetracked when someone barreled into him; he moved over, massaging his hip bone where the person had struck.

�Shit. Sorry, mate.�

A British voice. Belonging to a British man. Upon closer inspection, it was quite obvious this man was both a.) pretty drunk and b.) extremely attractive.

�That�s okay,� was the response he managed to utter; he swallowed, and was about to say something more when the man wandered off. He disappeared into the crowd seconds later, followed by several groupies all dressed in tight-fitted clothing.

Elijah continued on to the bar. It was obvious by the parched feeling in his throat and the jumpiness of his stomach that he needed a drink. And fast.

He ordered some beer type he�d never heard of (probably a locally made one, which normally would put Elijah off as he was in a not-so-great part of the city, but his feeling was �When in Rome�� so he went for it.) and went to find a table toward the back of the small structure, bumping into people as he did so. It was apparently a very popular place. Either that, or cheap. Elijah couldn�t tell which, but maybe later he�d figure it out.

He wrapped his hands wrapped around the bottle, feeling the coolness against his warm hands and surveyed the room. He�d only been sitting for about two minutes when someone plonked themselves in the chair across from him.

�Hey,� said the British man from earlier.

Elijah blinked, thinking he was perhaps daydreaming or maybe there was something in the beer that was making him have hallucinations.

The man waved a hand in front of Elijah�s face and Elijah caught a glimpse of a silver ring on the man�s finger; it was relatively large, with two letters: one D and one S. Elijah found his eyes drawn to it immediately as it shimmered in the dim light. �Hi,� Elijah said after a moment, not recognizing his own voice.

A smirk appeared on his lips. �Want a drink?�

Elijah�s eyebrows knitted in confusion. He was already holding a drink, wasn�t he? And wasn�t this guy being followed around the place by scantily clad women? What would he want with him?

He held up his bottle, feeling like a complete idiot.

The man leaned back, still smiling; he ran a hand through his hair, spiking it up slightly in the front. Elijah thought it desperately needed a cut, but of course wouldn�t say something so crass aloud.

�I�m Charlie,� he said suddenly, holding the ringed hand out. �Charlie Pace.�

�Elijah.� He swallowed and put the bottle against his mouth, glad to have something to do with his hands. �Wood,� he added, as an afterthought. He felt it would be best if he was polite.

�Wood?� Charlie echoed, an eyebrow raised; he grinned mischievously and leaned his body against the table. �Is that your real name or is it for porn?�

Elijah laughed in spite of himself; he had, of course, heard that one before. But never put so�well, he didn�t know the word to describe it, but he didn�t mind this Charlie bloke making fun of his name.

�It�s my real name,� he stated, taking a swig of his beer and then wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

�OY! Charlie!� Elijah and Charlie both looked up quickly, only to see a tall guy with a weird smirk on his face approaching them. He held up a hand in a wave and Elijah noticed that he, too, had the same ring on his finger.

�That�s Liam,� Charlie said, rolling his eyes at Elijah. �My brother.�

Elijah�s eyes widened; this Liam person seemed quite a lot different from Charlie. Of course, Elijah had only known him about five minutes. From what he could tell, the only similarities between them were their accents.

�Those birds over there are asking for a private concert,� Liam announced, spinning an empty chair around and straddling it. �You up for it, baby brother?�

Elijah looked away from Liam, feeling out of place and strange. Charlie took a drink from a glass Liam held out to him. �Always,� he replied, setting the drink down and grinning at Elijah. �You coming?�

Surprised at this, Elijah nodded without even thinking. Liam jumped up, rubbing at his eyes, and led the way to the door of the pub. Elijah and Charlie followed closely behind, Elijah wondering what he�d gotten himself into, going off with these two strange, and yet oddly friendly, people.

The night air was cool against Elijah�s skin as he walked along the sidewalk beside Liam and Charlie. It was getting steadily darker out as they passed run-down buildings and the occasional stray dog. It wasn�t getting darker out because of the time of night, but because they seemed to be entering a part of the city that didn�t regard streetlamps as being a necessity.

�Where the hell are we?� Elijah asked after they�d passed a very dreary looking establishment that seemed to house some eccentric and foul characters.

�Hell,� Liam replied in a bored tone, and then proceeded to laugh at his own little joke. He pointed to the only building on this new street that had a light on inside. �There it is. You waiting here?�

Charlie nodded and he and Elijah watched as Liam jogged across the street and ducked inside the shack (to put it nicely) that was being held up by the buildings on either side of it.

Elijah stuck his hands in his pockets and leaned against the cold brick wall behind them. �What�s he doing?� He asked, motioning with his chin to where Liam had gone.

Charlie rolled his eyes and laughed hollowly. �Who knows.� He leaned back beside Elijah. �My brother�s not what you�d call�an upstanding citizen.�

He nodded, even though he wasn�t completely sure what this meant. After several moments of silence (punctuated only randomly by howling in the distance) Charlie cleared his throat. �We�re in a band,� he stated evenly, like he was commenting on the weather.

�Oh yeah? What do you play?�

�Bass,� Charlie replied, his features lighting up; Elijah could tell that this was his real passion. �Liam�s the lead singer. Maybe you�ve heard of us. Driveshaft?�

�Yeah!� Elijah replied, perking up considerably. �I heard you on the radio the other day. Really fantastic stuff, man.�

�Thanks,� Charlie responded, clearly pleased. �You should come to a gig sometime.�

Elijah nodded enthusiastically. �That�d be brilliant.�

It was pretty clear, half an hour later, that the �birds who wanted a private concert� idea had flown out the window. Elijah was okay with this. He�d been sitting on the street (which was still damp, but neither of them cared) with Charlie talking about anything and everything while Liam did God knows what across the street. Elijah didn�t like to think about it, but from what he gathered, Liam had gotten himself quite seriously into a drug problem.

�Things have been pretty mad lately,� Charlie said, leaning his head against the brick and exhaling slowly. �Everything�s kind of spiraling out of control.�

Elijah nodded in understanding, watching as Charlie fingered the Driveshaft ring on his finger. After only knowing this guy for a couple of hours, tops, he could already tell that this was a nervous tick of sorts.

�This band is my life, but I don�t think Liam gets it, you know?� Charlie was fingering the bit of hair that curled against his neck; this was also, from what Elijah could tell, a nervous habit. �We made a promise that if it got too crazy, we�d walk away.� His voice was quiet, and Elijah didn�t want to breathe too loudly in case Charlie stopped talking. �I think he�s too far gone now.�

Elijah opened his mouth to say something, but Charlie turned to him and laughed in a dejected sort of way. �Sorry, mate, I�m treating you like a confessional.�

He smiled. �I don�t mind.�

Charlie sighed. �Yeah, well, I�m heading to the confession tomorrow morning. I have some things to get off my chest. Stuff I need to say out loud, so it sinks in.�

Elijah wasn�t quite sure what this meant, but he didn�t say anything.

�I think I might have to quit the band.� Charlie said this so quietly that Elijah wasn�t sure he�d heard right.

Charlie turned to look at him, and Elijah noticed the blue of his eyes even though they looked gray in the dimness of the pub; his mouth was one of those perfectly kissable ones that romantic-crazy girls were always going on about and Elijah felt his fingertips tingle with the thought of running his hand through Charlie�s hair. Surely this was not normal to be feeling in the middle of the night on a very scary street in the middle of London.

Elijah blinked rapidly, trying to get all thoughts of kissing Charlie out of his mind.

�You okay?� Charlie asked, his voice low and gravelly.

�Mmmhmm,� Elijah responded, not letting himself open his mouth in case he blurted something crazy out like �I love you, will you marry me.� Oh, God, he was becoming a groupie.

�Elijah,� Charlie said, his voice holding a bit of a humorous tone; when Elijah looked closely at him, he could see a mischievous glint in those blue gray eyes. �I like that name,� he said, tipping his head to the side in thought.

Elijah laughed nervously, flicking some hair out of his face and concentrating on his shoes; his shoelaces were untied, so he bent down and deftly fixed the problem.

There was a loud pounding sound and both Elijah and Charlie�s heads snapped up to look for the source of the noise. Liam was running toward them.

�Come on, Charlie. We gotta get out of here.�

Without wasting any time, Liam started running quickly down the dark street. He was almost a dot on the horizon when Charlie managed to get to his feet.

�Shit,� Charlie muttered, waiting while Elijah stood up beside him. �I should take off.� He leaned forward and quickly pressed his lips to Elijah�s. When he pulled away, he was smiling. �See you later, mate.�

Elijah stood there, frozen to the spot and having no idea what happened. He wasn�t sure if this was a friendship sort of kiss or something more. But he had a feeling he�d never find out.

He was okay with that, though. The most important thing was that it had happened.