"Absolutely, and background checks before they even came here. You can't be too careful these days."
They'd done a background check on me before letting me set up the fan club officially, no doubt to check I wasn't a batshit crazy stalker.
We approached the group of women and two dressed in navy blue trouser suits with lanyards stepped towards Vikki.
"This is Leigh and this is Harriet. Both are part of the tour team. Leigh is one of the PR team and Harriet security."
"Hi." I waved and got a wave back. It was clear they knew we were coming.
"Right, I'm going to take these two backstage." Vikki announced.
One of the tallest women in the group stepped out and looked me up and down. "They're going backstage? What competition did they win? I thought we got to go backstage too?"
"You do, tonight after the show. But Erica is staff. She runs The Paranormals' fan club."
All the other nineteen or so bodies spun around to see me. "Oh my god." One squealed. "It's Erica. Can I have your autograph?"
Around half of the group of women gathered around me like I was famous, taking out their phones and asking for a photo of us together while the other half looked like they wanted to gut me for having access to their men. Harriet had to get the snap happy ones to form an orderly line. One by one they had their photos taken with me.
"I am so, so jelly of you being able to see the band all the time. It must be amazing." One asked.
"Yes, yes, I'm very lucky to be able to do what I do." I lied.
Eventually, the photos were taken and Vikki told the crowd that we needed to leave, and they could catch up with me later. The bitchy ones had got bored with me long ago and had turned back to the front to watch the band.
Even though I knew it was Zak up there singing it still didn't seem real. It wasn't until we went through a door that led backstage and Vikki walked onto that stage and asked if the guys had five minutes to meet us that I realised this was all really happening.
"I can't believe you had to sign autographs for some of their fans." Freya giggled. "I'm gonna fangirl you later. I didn't realise I was in such esteemed company."
"Shut up." I elbowed her in the ribs.
And then the band were walking towards us. Noah was through the door first. He smiled at us both. "I'm not gonna hug you because I'm all sweaty, but it's good to see you again. Welcome to the tour."
"Thanks." I replied. I looked at the side of me for Freya, but she wasn't there. Then I saw her in the doorway hung around Rex's neck while he slowly extricated her from his body. He promptly carried her over and plonked her back down at my side. "Hi, Erica."
"Hey, Rex."
A bemused Roman had followed Rex through the door. One of the staff passed him a towel and a bottle of Jack Daniels which he took a huge glug of. How did it not burn his throat out?
And then he was there. Zak Jones swaggered in from the stage. He ran a hand through his blonde strands and those green eyes fixed on mine as he took the offered towel and wiped his face and neck on it. I made a note of where it landed because I was so stealing that towel.
He opened his mouth and I waited with baited breath for his first words to me.
"Well, hey, who do we have here then?" He asked.
Erica
My blood ran cold. What had he just said? This man had organised this. He'd invited me here. In my mind I'd told myself that he'd felt guilty from running off so quickly when we'd first met and he wanted to apologise.
But no, he had absolutely no idea who I was.
I heard Noah take a huge exhale.
"Zak, this is Erica and her friend Freya. You remember? The woman who runs our fan club who you've invited to spend the week with us?"
"Ohhhh. My apologies. Of course, I recognise you now." He looked from under his lashes, all coy and guilty. "I am so sorry. Rehearsing takes me out of reality, and I have a hard time coming back." He grabbed Freya's hand and raised a brow. "So, let me guess. You're Erica?"
I waited for Freya to snatch her hand back and correct him, but when I looked she was kind of staring back into his eyes. Now what was happening? Freya liked Rex, not Zak. Please don't tell me she was changing her mind?
Then Rex flicked Zak's ear, hard.
"That's Freya. This is Erica." He said, pointing to me. "It's good to see you again, Erica. Thanks for all you do. I know our fans love being the Subs, and you give us a way to address the crap the press comes out with on a daily basis."
"It's no problem at all." I said, a big cheesy grin breaking out across my face.
I felt a sharp pain in my right foot and when I looked Freya was crushing my toes with her shoe. Her interest in Zak seemed to have waned and now she appeared narked I was smiling at Rex. We'd be having words when we got out of here.
All was forgotten though when Zak reached for my hand. I was lost as he stared into my eyes. "Sorry, Erica. I seem to have had some kind of brain trauma today. It's so wonderful to see you again. Thank you for all you do running our fan club and I hope you enjoy spending a week here watching the band and how everything is put together."
There was something about this guy. He had a kind of aura that just drew you in. Like when they said people had charm, or the X-factor. Zak Jones had something about him that drew me in like a bluebottle to an open living room window.
But then it was as if someone had severed the connection between us as he spoke to the band about grabbing lunch. He left me standing there, remembering that at first he hadn't known who I was.
"We're going to grab a burger in the canteen. Want to come?" Noah asked.
I just nodded my head while Freya excitedly said yes.
The canteen was full with crew members and we walked over to get seats at a long table where Stacey and the rest of her band, The Seven, sat. Stacey told her band who we were and then a waitress came over to ask everyone what they wanted to eat and drink. No queuing for food for the bands.
Tobias, the drummer from The Seven was sitting to my left and he moved his chair to face me a little more.
"So what do I have to do to get you to run my fan club?" He winked, moving a piece of curly brown hair out of his eyes.
"I'm afraid I don't have time to take on any more bands." I told him. I felt guilty though because they'd joint won the competition.
"Well that's a shame. I think to make amends you should have dinner with me one night." He replied.
My eyes almost bugged out of my head. Tobias was a good-looking guy with a really nice pair of arms. I’d noticed watching him banging his drums. It was just… he wasn't Zak.
Tobias smiled. "Okay, I realise that was a little fast. Get to know us too, okay? And then later on in the week if you fancy that dinner, just let me know?"
"Okay." I nodded.
Donna, another one of The Seven, tapped the top of her glass once everything had arrived and called for order.
"Bands. Here's to an amazing first night and an amazing week in our home town."
Everyone banged their feet into the table and then yelled, "Amazing." It would seem there was a little good luck pre-show ritual for me to put down in my notes.