“No Competition: The Third Round”

[caljones]

The third round was about a month after the second round with the same rules; total of four and an encore if desired, one fast song, one slow. Olivia was putting a lot of her new songs into the competition from beginning to end, even in the preliminary round, which was what the organizers called the audition for it. She chuckled at the memory of when they played, unplugged, for the judges. They were one of the last ones called in and when she came into view, she saw the distinct look of surprise on the faces of every judge. There were a few other female lead signers going on after her band, so the surprise on the faces of the judges confused her. It was just too bad that the other girls didn't get chosen to continue.

She was little surprised at that. She was able to learn the names of some of the other bands, all of whom had web-sites with the music on it, and thought that they had good tunes as well. The girls all talked to her a little after the preliminary round finished and said that if any of them made it into the battle, they'd be there in support. All the males in each band flirted with all of the other females, though Olivia half joked that she was too clueless to flirt back. When it was learned that her band was going to be the only one of them accepted into it, they didn't seem particularly surprised. Not only that, each and every one of them was sure that the Lonewolves would win. After the first round, she talked to one of the other girls and assured them that there weren't any other girls in the other bands.  

This time, they were going on last. One girl told her that she'd be in the audience, though Olivia knew it was mainly because she had a crush on Jim and she didn't really blame the girl. Her band mates weren't exactly bad looking.

When it was time for them to go on, Tyler wrapped his arm around her while he carried some of his equipment and she, her guitar. Just before they got on stage, Tyler snuck a kiss. It was a little peck on the cheek and her skin suffused with a pretty blush. He leaned in close and said, 

"I need to do that more often." He walked to the back to set up while she just stood there, completely flummoxed not only by what he had done, but what he said. It took a few moments, but she regained composure and started to set herself up.

Olivia hoped that what just happened wouldn't end up being the band's downfall in the competition. She looked out at the crowd and noticed a few of the other girls that auditioned for the battle. It surprised her slightly, but she didn't feel much different right then then she usually did. She looked back so Tyler could count them off, and he gave her a mischievous grin. She reddened again as the first song started.  

It was a little difficult for her to get through their set because her mind kept going to what Tyler had done. She was aware that he might have had feelings for her, but that was the first time he had actually shown it. This was probably the only time that when the set was over, she was happy. As she took a bow, she breathed a heavy sigh of relief, glad that she no longer had to worry about screwing up the lyrics or notes for a song. At least, that's what she'd hoped, but the audience would confirm that for her.

The vote for the Lonewolves to stay was practically unanimous, and she sighed in relief again. She was glad that her preoccupation didn't mess up their chances of staying. There were two other bands in the competition and the judging didn't take very long. The other bands did very well and only needed a slight critique or two from them, and the two leads looked expectantly at Olivia. She took a deep breath, trying to steady her nerves, as she was sure that the judges would have noticed.

"All right, young lady. Very nice job as usual. However, your mind seemed a little elsewhere. It didn't really affect your performance, but you were constantly blushing. You might want to work on that." 

"It's also rather warm in here to me."

"Whatever you say, sweetheart." 

A quiet chuckle rolled trough the crowd and the next judge agreed.

"Do we want to know what caused you to blush so much?" 

"You can, but I won't say."

The rest agreed and the last one smiled at her. 

"I don't know how this competition will end, if your band wins or not, but regardless, I think we

can expect great things from you."

The judges murmured their agreement. As everyone filed out, and as the bands went to load up, Tyler wrapped an arm around Olivia's waist, kissing her cheek again.  

"Hey, save it for the ride home, so we don't have to see it." Jake hurried away so Olivia couldn't hit him, while Jim decided to go get the number from the girl that was in the prelim round with them, named Brianna.

 When everything was loaded, Jim climbed into the driver's seat with a large smile on his face. 

"We're going on a date in two days."

"Nice. If we don't see you then, have fun."

 "I think I will."

Tyler and Olivia were in the back, on their own, laughing at the tone of his voice, and he didn't even try to set them straight, which made them laugh even more.  

"So where do we want to celebrate making it to the final round?"

"It's past lunch time. Want to give Romeo's another try?" 

"Sure."

"I'm vaguely surprised you still like that place considering what happened with Bobby." Tyler ran his hand along her opposite shoulder. 

"I went there with my cousin right after it happened. Bobby does not, and will not, ever tarnish my views on that place. It's too damn good."

"Alrighty." Jim turned on the radio and pulled out of the parking lot.  

Olivia leaned into Tyler's arms and he kissed the top of her head and ran his fingers through her hair. She soon felt his lips against her ear.

"Sorry I embarrassed you." 

"No problem. Just don't do it right before we perform again."

"Okay." He placed his finger under her chin, having her face him, and gently kissed her. She was unprepared for it, but not as much as earlier. He pulled away before she could react, but only for a second. She started to get into the kiss a little bit, but she pulled away after a few seconds. It wasn't that she didn't find him attractive.  She just wasn't attracted to him. He smiled and she rested her head on his chest. He clearly wasn't hurt or put off at the rejection. In fact, he was understanding about it. His hands gently ran along her arms, just like they always had. "If I can't have you, I'll make sure you're happy for the one who does." 

She chuckled and closed her eyes. He always took good care of her when her mood was down, but so did the rest of the band, just none more than he did. He always made sure to make her smile, and it was so easy for him to do. But then, he was one of the weirdest people to have ever walked that planet.

After a short while, Jim pulled into the parking lot of Romeo's. Eric, was once again serving her table. He didn't really seem that surprised when Tyler took his seat next to her. He smiled at them and took their drink order.

"You two know each other?" 

"Yeah, he worked with me at Woody's. Since Woody's and Romero's are owned by the same person, it's not that unusual for the hard workers to switch between the two."

"I see. Were you close?" 

"Kinda. He was transferred here indefinitely not long after I arrived."

"I've only spoken to him a couple times. Once in the park and then here, with Danny that same day. He wasn't very nice at first. What's he really like?"

"He's a good guy, provided he's in a good mood. When he's not in that good a mood, he really doesn't get that mean, like verbally abusive or anything, but his biting sarcasm gets a little more intense. It doesn't really take much to turn it around though." 

"How much does it take to make his mood go down?"

"Quite a bit, actually. A lot of things just really have to be going wrong for him that day for his mood to go south."

"Oh. How sarcastic is he?" 

"From what I've seen, about as sarcastic as Greg."

"Oh, cool."  

Eric brought them a couple baskets of bread sticks and they ordered a pizza and bread sticks to take home after a taste of them. They managed to have some left overs when they were finished and since it wasn't very busy, he hung around behind Olivia for a little bit.

"The day you met me, was any of that true?" 

"Yes and no. Evidently, Mark, the guy my cousin was talking about, does have a crush on me."

"Why do you sound so surprised?" 

"Wouldn't you be?"

"Modest, huh?"

 "Nah, just clueless."

"So, does that mean you'd go for a guy like me?" 

"Yeah, in fact, you look a lot like a close friend of mine."

"Great to hear." He handed them their check, with his number attached to it, and walked away.

 When she was handed his number, she had to laugh.

"This has been happening a lot lately. A few times while I was in the park, I'd get a name and number wrapped around a bill." 

"Have you called any of them?"

"No. I don't know what number goes to whom." 

"That's a good point."

Darkness fell quickly as they walked out of the restaurant. Full and happy, they headed for home. Tyler was holding Olivia's hand the whole car ride and her house was up first. Psychologically, she felt the hand that Tyler had held tingle slightly. Was her subconscious trying to tell her something? She doubted it. Before then, Tyler had only wrapped his arm around her shoulders or her waist, which he did all the time. She flopped backwards on her bed and looked at her hand, rotating it in the air, slowly wriggling her fingers. What was wrong with her? She wasn't some thick-skulled broad in the early 1800s; she was a modern independent woman. She didn't need a man and she knew for a fact that she wasn't attracted to Tyler. Greg and Nick gave her enough confusion about whom she had feelings for and Tyler did not need to be added to the mix.

Exasperated with herself, Olivia got out her guitar and started to play. She didn't have a song to work on.  She just needed to clear her head. It took her a while, but she became aware that her cell phone had a voice message. It was from Greg, who had called when they were on stage. He wanted to know what had happened and how everything went. She gave him a call and told him everything, even what Tyler had done (but leaving out the part of her inner turmoil that dealt with him), mentioning that she was lucky it didn't screw her up. He had some wonderful news. Stereopath was having a show down where they were and they would have to hang out. Nick was very excited to see Kelly again and Greg was excited to see her. Olivia had to let Kelly know that Nick was going to be coming to visit and she screamed in delight. Kelly was not alone in her delight.