DreamOutLoud13
Blue Crack Addict
Glad you're all enjoying the fic 
In chapter two, we continue with Heather and Adam's date:
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Not a half hour later, they were stepping back out of the bar and into the fading sunlight. They stopped on the sidewalk for a moment, and an awkward moment followed. This little adventure was beginning to feel more and more like the beginnings of a date, and while Adam was pleased with that, he was also all too aware that it could open the door to a lot of difficulties down the line. “So, now what?” He asked, wondering about more than just what they were going to do next.
“We have to live in the moment, right? I quit my job, and tomorrow I have to start looking for a new one. And you’re only here for what, a week?”
Adam quickly ran through the tour schedule in his mind. It was Thursday now, they were leaving Monday morning. “Less than that, now.”
“So we have to make the most of it.” The street was empty for the moment, and Heather backed into it, smiling at him. “Come on, we’re going across the street.” She said and then turned her back on him to trot the rest of the way across, leaving him no choice but to follow.
Once across the street, Heather waited for Adam to join her before slipping between the glass doors of the music store. Shelves of neatly arranged albums stood before them. Adam was beginning to have an inkling of what Heather had in mind, and was both proud and embarrassed by it.
“So I’m looking for the letter U? What section, rock?”
“Rock, yes.” He said quietly. Walking into a record store and finding your album is cute upon the release of your first one, but after that it’s just silly and a little sad. Real musicians didn’t do that kind of thing. But there was always the chance that this store wouldn’t have either of U2's albums.
No such luck, several copies of each were arranged in a neat little stack near the end of one shelf. “Yay! I found your albums!” Heather said with genuine delight as she scooped up a copy of each one. She only looked briefly at the stretched American cover of Boy before flipping it over and looking at the song titles. After a moment she looked up at him, confused, and pointed to one of the titles. “What’s this third one here? An Cat.. Dubh?” She spoke the title slowly, unsurely.
“An Cat Dubh. That’s Irish, well Gaelic, for ‘The Black Cat’.”
“Irish?”
“We’re an Irish band, Bono and Larry anyway. Edge is Welsh, and I’m English, but we’re all from Dublin.”
“Ooooh, I guess I just assumed you were one of those punk bands out of London.”
Adam gave a small laugh at that. “Nope, but I think we tried to pass ourselves off as one at some point. It didn’t really pan out.”
“Nope, I guess not.” She said, and moved Boy out of the way so that she could get a look at October. “Ah, there you are, handsome as ever. And who’s who for the rest of you?”
Adam leaned over to point them out. “This is Bono, Edge, and Larry’s in the back.”
“You’re all so young, and already such a success.” Heather remarked, flipping the album over to look at the back. “Unlike me.”
“Oh don’t say that.” Adam said, placing a tentative hand on her shoulder.
“I’ll be twenty-five this year, and now I don’t even have a job.” Heather sighed, then shook her head. “But tonight I’m not going to dwell on that.” She turned away, heading toward the counter with both U2 albums clutched to her chest.
Adam took a step after her. “What are you doing?”
She whirled back around. “I’m going to buy these.”
“You don’t have to do that, I can get you a copy of each.”
Heather put one hand on her hip. “Adam, if you keep giving away copies of your albums, you’ll never make any money. I’ll let you make it up to me some other way.”
“Like?”
“Like I’ll let you buy me dinner.” She said with a smile, before turning away to go pay for the records.
Adam followed her, smiling. This was definitely a date now.
At the counter, the cashier had been idly leaning on the counter, chewing gum. Now she rang up the two albums, and just as she was slipping them into a paper bag, October on top, she paused. She looked at the album sleeve, then at Adam, back down to it, and at Adam again. “Is this you?” Her voice was marked with quiet awe.
Heather turned to Adam and saw that a slight embarrassed flush had risen in his cheeks. Heather supposed he was somewhat being put on the spot. But she was proud and excited. She’d never really met an even mildly recognizable famous person, let alone gone on a date with one. If you could call this a date anyway.
“It is him, indeed.” Heather said, turning back to the cashier.
The girl’s eyes grew wide with thrill. “Woooow! This has never happened to me before. I mean, I wanted this job because I love music, but I never expected to see real musicians coming in here to buy their albums. I can’t wait to tell my boss about this!”
“Actually, he’s not buying them, I am.” Heather said, pulling some crisp bills from her wallet. Deep down she knew that she really couldn’t afford to be spending her money like this, but dammit, she was having a good time, and she wasn’t ready to focus on the misery of unemployment just yet. Heather paid for the records, received her change, and soon enough, they were back on the street.
Heather walked beside Adam, with no real sense of where she was going, her newly purchased U2 albums clutched to her chest in a paper bag. As she walked, she turned to look at Adam. His face bore a look of mixed amusement and relief. “Now Adam, that wasn’t so bad, was it?”
He gave a small smile. “I suppose some part of me enjoyed it.”
Heather stopped in her tracks and turned to him, amusement spreading across her face. “Which part of you?”
Adam closed his eyes and laughed. “Walked into it, I suppose?”
“That seems to be becoming a bit of a theme tonight.” Heather said, smiling and moving down the sidewalk again. She was pleased, things were going remarkably well with Adam.
Adam quietly followed Heather nearly to the end of the block before it occurred to him to ask her where they were headed. “So, where are we going now.”
“You’re buying me dinner, remember?”
“Ah.” Adam said quietly, worry suddenly slipping through his mind. He didn’t know what sort of dinner she had in mind, and he hadn’t brought much cash with him.
“How do you feel about pizza?”
“It’s one of the things I like best about this city.” He said, relieved. Pizza was definitely within his budget.
“Great, there’s a place just a few blocks up.” She paused for a moment, as if in thought. “I have to make a stop first, though.”
Now Adam was curious. “Oh?”
Heather looked over her shoulder and winked at him. “Now what did I tell you about revealing my secrets?”
“I think it was something about waiting to see what you reveal.”
“Exactly.” She said with a smile and turned away.
Adam followed Heather for a block or so, before she veered away without a word and stepped into a liquor store. She bypassed the shelves loaded with angular bottles in varying shades of amber and headed straight for the counter, where she purchased a single, airline-sized bottle of whiskey. Back out on the street, Heather slipped the bottle safely into her purse.
“Now are you going to tell me what that was all about?” Adam asked in amused, mock-annoyance.
“Fine, fine. See, the pizza place we’re going to is my favourite. My best friend Jenny and I have this tradition when we go there, we stop here first, and buy one of these little bottles. Then when we get to the restaurant, we pour them into our Pepsi.”
Adam raised his eyebrows at her. “You’re wild ones, aren’t you?”
“Just a little bit. Are you up for it?”
“Am I up for it?!” Adam asked, trying to stifle laughter.
Heather brought one hand up to her forehead and turned away, blushing, but laughing. “Forget I even asked!”
The pizzeria had a basketball theme, and while Heather had never been very into sports, and in fact, barely understood them at all, the pizza was incredible, and worth the atmosphere, which often included rowdy college boys and families with young children. Heather led Adam into the brightly lit, crowded front section of the restaurant, and immediately requested that the hostess seat them in the back corner of the dining room, farthest away from the hubbub of the basketball game on the large television, and the caged-in basketball hoop set into a corner, beneath a sign boasting “A free slice with every basket!”
Heather slid into the near side of the booth, so that her back was to the rest of the restaurant while Adam sat down across from her. After the hostess had gone, she turned to look over her shoulder at the noise and glare behind her, then turned back to Adam. “I don’t suppose basketball is very big in Ireland.”
“No, everyone’s much too short over there.”
Heather smiled. “I don’t much care for all of that back there. I prefer quieter restaurants, but the pizza here is unbelievable.” Heather paused and lowered her eyes. “A lot of things are unbelievable.”
“Are you okay?” Adam reached across and placed one hand gently atop hers.
Heather blushed slightly and looked back up at him. “I’m fine, it’s just that nothing about this day has turned out the way I expected it to when I woke up.” She smiled and entwined her fingers with his. “But I’m pleased with how things are turning out.”
And as if on cue, the waitress showed up at their table and the moment was ruined. They ordered their Pepsi and pizza, and the waitress was back out in a flash with their drinks. Heather waited until the waitress was gone, and then pulled both cups to her side of the table.
“Keep an eye out for her, will you? I don’t want to get thrown out of here.” She said, digging the tiny bottle of booze out of her purse. While Adam kept watch, she poured the entire bottle into their cups, gave them both a little stir with a straw, and pushed his back across the table to him. She took a sip and watched as he did the same. “Well, what do you think?”
“I think you’re definitely a wild one.”
“But you like that about me.”
“I do indeed.” He said, nodding, and taking another sip of his spiked Pepsi.
Their pizza arrived, and Adam was quick to confirm that it was indeed the best pizza he’d ever tasted. They ate heartily, and when they were both full as well as buzzed, they lingered in the cozy booth and talked. Heather let Adam do most of the talking. His life was much more interesting than hers, as was his voice. She leaned her head on her arm and closed her eyes, letting his smooth voice flow over her like water. He was just telling her about how U2's record deal was signed in the ladies room of the venue they were performing at, when he stopped abruptly.
“Heather?”
She opened her eyes and sat up. “Hmm?”
“I’m sorry, you looked like you were about to fall asleep.”
“Oh no, I wasn’t, I swear. I just really like listening to you talk.” She smiled.
“If you say so.”
“I do. And that reminds me.” Heather pushed the remains of their meal aside with one arm and brought her purse, and her paper bag containing U2's albums up onto the table. She unzipped her purse and began pawing through it. “I know I have a pen in here somewhere.”
“Oh no.” Adam said, knowing exactly what was coming.
“Oh yes. And don’t even bother trying to get out of it. I’m not going to leave you alone until I get these signed.”
“Well maybe I shouldn’t sign them then. The last thing I’d want is for you to leave me alone.”
Heather finally located a pen, which she tossed to him. “Hush you, and sign these.” She said, laughter creeping into her voice.
“Hush? But I thought you liked my voice.”
“Yeah, I do until you start saying things that make me blush.”
“But you’re so cute when you blush!”
Heather brought both hands up to cover her face. “Stop that!”
“Fine, fine.” Adam said, pulling the albums out and laying them side by side. Heather watched intently as he brought the pen down against the first one and began to write, but he’d gotten no more than a single word written, when he looked up and caught her watching. Then, with an exaggerated gesture, he used his arm to hide what he was writing, like a schoolboy hiding his work from his classmates.
When he’d finished his message on the first one, he handed it to Heather and began on the second. Heather picked up Boy and read what he had written there: “To the wild one, because she won’t leave me alone, and because she looks cute when she blushes, Adam.”
Heather could feel her face going red. She brought the album up and leaned her forehead against it, hiding her face. “I shudder to think about what you’re writing on the second one.”
“Well here, have a look then.” He said, sliding October across the table to her.
She looked down at the album without picking it up and read what he had written there. “And now she’s going to kill me for what I wrote on the other one, Adam.”
Heather shook her head, laughing. “You’re terrible!”
“You like it.”
“I like a lot of things.” She said, looking him in the eye as she tucked the albums back into their paper bag. “So come on, let’s get out of here.” Heather eased her way out of the booth, a feat always much more difficult with a bellyful of pizza.
They paid their tab, and exited the noisy restaurant. While they had eaten, the city around them had reached its full darkness, a darkness which was nowhere near total, due to the bright, coloured lights everywhere you looked. They stopped just outside of the restaurant to have a cigarette, before moving on.
They walked aimlessly, talking, but not paying attention to where they were going.
Heather wanted to hold his hand, but hated to be the one to initiate it. First dates were always awkward because of all of the firsts. From the first hand hold, to the first kiss. Once those significant firsts had been passed, you gained a sort of freedom. Once you’d kissed somebody for the first time, you owned a small piece of them, and it became an unspoken agreement that all future kisses would be welcomed. But you had to get past the firsts before you could reach that agreement.
Heather was agitating over this notion, and not paying a bit of attention to what she was doing, when she felt Adam grab her roughly by the upper arm and yank her back. It was only then that she realized she’d nearly walked right out into traffic.
She whirled around toward him, stumbling over the curb as he pulled her back, and her upper body slammed into his chest. Both of his arms wrapped protectively around her, steadying her, and she was able to look up into his concerned face for a brief moment, before their lips met.
Heather didn’t know if he had initiated it, or if she had, or if it was just one of those rare, but wonderful instances when a first kiss just happens. She was voting on the latter, because it was spectacularly wonderful. His lips were warm and soft, and the world seemed to melt away as they kissed. She was dimly aware that people were probably watching them, but she didn’t care. They were as steady as a stone in a stream, while the waves of the world rushed past.
The kiss chased any lingering feelings of regret from Adam’s mind. He’d kissed many women, but he’d never had a kiss like this one. This kiss felt full and real. He didn’t want it to end, but they couldn’t just stand there on the street corner kissing forever, and so, finally, their lips broke apart.
Heather was looking into his eyes from mere inches away, her face full of pleasure, awe, and joy. “Wow.” She whispered, the corners of her mouth turning upward into a grin. “We’ll have to do that again sometime.” She said, stepping backward, increasing the space between their bodies from almost none, to several inches. Adam kept his arms wrapped loosely around her, not letting her go far.
“I’m counting on it.” He said, watching her. Her grin grew wider, into a full smile, but then fell as she looked around, tentatively. For the first time since they’d kissed, she seemed to be becoming aware of their surroundings.
“We’re gonna draw a crowd of tourists at this rate.” She said, gently extracting herself from his embrace, and taking his hand instead. “Let’s move.”
Adam let himself be led by her firm grip out into the street, safely this time. They crossed quickly, and made their way down the next block, both too amazed with one another to say much.
Adam had no idea where they were going, but Heather did, and so he followed. At the end of the block Heather paused and looked around, before murmuring something about turning, and doing so. Once around the corner, they continued for about twenty feet or so, before Heather stopped in her tracks.
“Are we far enough away yet?” She asked, turning toward him.
“Far enough away for what?”
“For this.” She said, and in an instant, she’d grabbed his face gently, but firmly with both hands and was kissing him. The kiss was briefer than the first one had been, and nowhere near as magical, but enjoyable all the same. When it was over, Adam took a step back from Heather.
“We have got to stop doing that.”
“Why? You like it.” Heather said, with a flirtatious grin.
“Maybe a little bit too much.”
“Alright.” She said, nodding, and once again took his hand. Soon enough they were on the move again.
Heather was still transfixed by the mere idea of Adam, but she was not so lost in her infatuation that she failed to realize how late it was getting. Without a word, she began steering their path in the direction of her apartment. It wasn’t terribly far, and when they’d arrived in front of her stoop, she stopped, smiled awkwardly, and waved her free hand toward the building. “This is my place.”
Adam let go of her hand to take a step backward and look up at the expanse of the building. “It’s nice.”
“I like it.” That was what Heather said, but what she wanted to say was, Do you want to come up? But she was not that kind of girl, no matter how much she might want to be right now, and she had a distinct feeling that, despite their playful banter all evening, Adam was not that kind of guy. If he were, she wouldn’t feel for him the way that she did. Pushing aside those tempting thoughts of taking Adam upstairs, Heather dropped her new albums on the bottom step of her stoop, so that she could take both of Adam’s hands. She leaned close to him. “I don’t want to say goodnight.”
Adam leaned in too, and kissed her quickly on the cheek before speaking. “Neither do I, but there’s always tomorrow. You’ll come tomorrow, won’t you?”
“Ha! The chance to see you in action? I wouldn’t miss that for the world!”
“I can have a ticket waiting for you at the box office, just give your name.” He told her, and made sure she knew the location of the concert.
“What about you? Are you going to be able to find your way back to your hotel?”
Adam twisted around to look back in the direction they’d come. “I’m not sure. You’ve got me all turned around.”
“In more ways than one, I hope.” She said smiling, then asked him where he was staying, and gave him easy instructions for getting back there. When they’d gotten that behind them, they once more stood together, not saying goodnight. Heather was just about to twist away from him, due to the sheer agony of being so close, but so apart, when his lips came down against hers.
She surrendered to the kiss, closing her eyes and letting her body go partially limp in the safe circle of his strong arms. Their bodies were pressed together, in what could only be described as a full body embrace. Despite the intimacy of it all, in Heather’s heart the passion of it was more spiritual than sexual. Still, she was enjoying herself on the most basic of levels. Heather twisted the fingers of one hand into the lambswool-soft coils of his hair, while his fingers pressed firmly against her backbone.
Suddenly Heather broke away from him, drawing in a sharp breath of night air. “I think maybe I’d better go inside before I do something we’d probably both regret.”
Adam nodded slowly, but resolutely. “That’s probably a good idea.”
Heather stepped up onto the steps and plucked up her paper bag. “Good night.” She took another step up, knowing she had to go inside now, but not wanting to. “I look forward to seeing you play tomorrow.”
Adam too, took a step backward. “I look forward to seeing you, fullstop. Good night.”
Heather nodded slightly, and then smiling and waving, forced herself through the front door of her building. She climbed the stairs briskly, carried by the memory of that last, incredible kiss. When she reached her apartment, she rushed through the door, shut it quickly behind her, then sank down to the floor against it. She brought her fingertips tentatively up to her lips, which still seemed to tingle. Heather stayed like that on the floor, breathing softly and reliving every wonderful moment in her head for at least twenty minutes, before finally hoisting herself onto her feet, walking over to the record player, and putting on the first album.
Adam stepped into the hotel room, tired but happy, to find The Edge sitting up in bed, his ankles neatly crossed beneath the blanket, and a thick book open, but lying facedown on his lap. Adam walked over to the other bed and flopped onto his back. From here, he couldn’t see Edge, but he could still feel him watching him. The Edge had much more tact than Bono, but he was still human, and not immune to curiosity. The questions would come, it was only a manner of waiting for them.
“How was your...” Edge paused. “Your evening?”
Adam smiled. “You were going to say ‘your date.’”
“Was it a date?”
Adam rolled over onto his side, so that he was facing Edge. “It turned out to be.” He paused, smiling. “I like her. I really like her. She’s just amazing. She’s smart, and funny, and beautiful.”
Edge smiled. “I’d like to meet her.”
“You will. I invited her to the show tomorrow night.”
“Good. Let’s just hope Bono doesn’t scare her off.”
“Oh, I think she can handle Bono.”
“Are you going to tell him that she’s coming?”
“Oh god, no. He’ll decide on the spot that we need to play She Loves You and dedicate it to her, and I hate that song, Edge.”
“You do have a point there.” Edge said, laughing.
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That's it for now And I just previewed the post... it looks miles long 
Hopefully not too long to hold your interest though.
Also, feel free to let me know what you liked, or even quote your favourite bits back to me
In chapter two, we continue with Heather and Adam's date:---------
Not a half hour later, they were stepping back out of the bar and into the fading sunlight. They stopped on the sidewalk for a moment, and an awkward moment followed. This little adventure was beginning to feel more and more like the beginnings of a date, and while Adam was pleased with that, he was also all too aware that it could open the door to a lot of difficulties down the line. “So, now what?” He asked, wondering about more than just what they were going to do next.
“We have to live in the moment, right? I quit my job, and tomorrow I have to start looking for a new one. And you’re only here for what, a week?”
Adam quickly ran through the tour schedule in his mind. It was Thursday now, they were leaving Monday morning. “Less than that, now.”
“So we have to make the most of it.” The street was empty for the moment, and Heather backed into it, smiling at him. “Come on, we’re going across the street.” She said and then turned her back on him to trot the rest of the way across, leaving him no choice but to follow.
Once across the street, Heather waited for Adam to join her before slipping between the glass doors of the music store. Shelves of neatly arranged albums stood before them. Adam was beginning to have an inkling of what Heather had in mind, and was both proud and embarrassed by it.
“So I’m looking for the letter U? What section, rock?”
“Rock, yes.” He said quietly. Walking into a record store and finding your album is cute upon the release of your first one, but after that it’s just silly and a little sad. Real musicians didn’t do that kind of thing. But there was always the chance that this store wouldn’t have either of U2's albums.
No such luck, several copies of each were arranged in a neat little stack near the end of one shelf. “Yay! I found your albums!” Heather said with genuine delight as she scooped up a copy of each one. She only looked briefly at the stretched American cover of Boy before flipping it over and looking at the song titles. After a moment she looked up at him, confused, and pointed to one of the titles. “What’s this third one here? An Cat.. Dubh?” She spoke the title slowly, unsurely.
“An Cat Dubh. That’s Irish, well Gaelic, for ‘The Black Cat’.”
“Irish?”
“We’re an Irish band, Bono and Larry anyway. Edge is Welsh, and I’m English, but we’re all from Dublin.”
“Ooooh, I guess I just assumed you were one of those punk bands out of London.”
Adam gave a small laugh at that. “Nope, but I think we tried to pass ourselves off as one at some point. It didn’t really pan out.”
“Nope, I guess not.” She said, and moved Boy out of the way so that she could get a look at October. “Ah, there you are, handsome as ever. And who’s who for the rest of you?”
Adam leaned over to point them out. “This is Bono, Edge, and Larry’s in the back.”
“You’re all so young, and already such a success.” Heather remarked, flipping the album over to look at the back. “Unlike me.”
“Oh don’t say that.” Adam said, placing a tentative hand on her shoulder.
“I’ll be twenty-five this year, and now I don’t even have a job.” Heather sighed, then shook her head. “But tonight I’m not going to dwell on that.” She turned away, heading toward the counter with both U2 albums clutched to her chest.
Adam took a step after her. “What are you doing?”
She whirled back around. “I’m going to buy these.”
“You don’t have to do that, I can get you a copy of each.”
Heather put one hand on her hip. “Adam, if you keep giving away copies of your albums, you’ll never make any money. I’ll let you make it up to me some other way.”
“Like?”
“Like I’ll let you buy me dinner.” She said with a smile, before turning away to go pay for the records.
Adam followed her, smiling. This was definitely a date now.
At the counter, the cashier had been idly leaning on the counter, chewing gum. Now she rang up the two albums, and just as she was slipping them into a paper bag, October on top, she paused. She looked at the album sleeve, then at Adam, back down to it, and at Adam again. “Is this you?” Her voice was marked with quiet awe.
Heather turned to Adam and saw that a slight embarrassed flush had risen in his cheeks. Heather supposed he was somewhat being put on the spot. But she was proud and excited. She’d never really met an even mildly recognizable famous person, let alone gone on a date with one. If you could call this a date anyway.
“It is him, indeed.” Heather said, turning back to the cashier.
The girl’s eyes grew wide with thrill. “Woooow! This has never happened to me before. I mean, I wanted this job because I love music, but I never expected to see real musicians coming in here to buy their albums. I can’t wait to tell my boss about this!”
“Actually, he’s not buying them, I am.” Heather said, pulling some crisp bills from her wallet. Deep down she knew that she really couldn’t afford to be spending her money like this, but dammit, she was having a good time, and she wasn’t ready to focus on the misery of unemployment just yet. Heather paid for the records, received her change, and soon enough, they were back on the street.
Heather walked beside Adam, with no real sense of where she was going, her newly purchased U2 albums clutched to her chest in a paper bag. As she walked, she turned to look at Adam. His face bore a look of mixed amusement and relief. “Now Adam, that wasn’t so bad, was it?”
He gave a small smile. “I suppose some part of me enjoyed it.”
Heather stopped in her tracks and turned to him, amusement spreading across her face. “Which part of you?”
Adam closed his eyes and laughed. “Walked into it, I suppose?”
“That seems to be becoming a bit of a theme tonight.” Heather said, smiling and moving down the sidewalk again. She was pleased, things were going remarkably well with Adam.
Adam quietly followed Heather nearly to the end of the block before it occurred to him to ask her where they were headed. “So, where are we going now.”
“You’re buying me dinner, remember?”
“Ah.” Adam said quietly, worry suddenly slipping through his mind. He didn’t know what sort of dinner she had in mind, and he hadn’t brought much cash with him.
“How do you feel about pizza?”
“It’s one of the things I like best about this city.” He said, relieved. Pizza was definitely within his budget.
“Great, there’s a place just a few blocks up.” She paused for a moment, as if in thought. “I have to make a stop first, though.”
Now Adam was curious. “Oh?”
Heather looked over her shoulder and winked at him. “Now what did I tell you about revealing my secrets?”
“I think it was something about waiting to see what you reveal.”
“Exactly.” She said with a smile and turned away.
Adam followed Heather for a block or so, before she veered away without a word and stepped into a liquor store. She bypassed the shelves loaded with angular bottles in varying shades of amber and headed straight for the counter, where she purchased a single, airline-sized bottle of whiskey. Back out on the street, Heather slipped the bottle safely into her purse.
“Now are you going to tell me what that was all about?” Adam asked in amused, mock-annoyance.
“Fine, fine. See, the pizza place we’re going to is my favourite. My best friend Jenny and I have this tradition when we go there, we stop here first, and buy one of these little bottles. Then when we get to the restaurant, we pour them into our Pepsi.”
Adam raised his eyebrows at her. “You’re wild ones, aren’t you?”
“Just a little bit. Are you up for it?”
“Am I up for it?!” Adam asked, trying to stifle laughter.
Heather brought one hand up to her forehead and turned away, blushing, but laughing. “Forget I even asked!”
The pizzeria had a basketball theme, and while Heather had never been very into sports, and in fact, barely understood them at all, the pizza was incredible, and worth the atmosphere, which often included rowdy college boys and families with young children. Heather led Adam into the brightly lit, crowded front section of the restaurant, and immediately requested that the hostess seat them in the back corner of the dining room, farthest away from the hubbub of the basketball game on the large television, and the caged-in basketball hoop set into a corner, beneath a sign boasting “A free slice with every basket!”
Heather slid into the near side of the booth, so that her back was to the rest of the restaurant while Adam sat down across from her. After the hostess had gone, she turned to look over her shoulder at the noise and glare behind her, then turned back to Adam. “I don’t suppose basketball is very big in Ireland.”
“No, everyone’s much too short over there.”
Heather smiled. “I don’t much care for all of that back there. I prefer quieter restaurants, but the pizza here is unbelievable.” Heather paused and lowered her eyes. “A lot of things are unbelievable.”
“Are you okay?” Adam reached across and placed one hand gently atop hers.
Heather blushed slightly and looked back up at him. “I’m fine, it’s just that nothing about this day has turned out the way I expected it to when I woke up.” She smiled and entwined her fingers with his. “But I’m pleased with how things are turning out.”
And as if on cue, the waitress showed up at their table and the moment was ruined. They ordered their Pepsi and pizza, and the waitress was back out in a flash with their drinks. Heather waited until the waitress was gone, and then pulled both cups to her side of the table.
“Keep an eye out for her, will you? I don’t want to get thrown out of here.” She said, digging the tiny bottle of booze out of her purse. While Adam kept watch, she poured the entire bottle into their cups, gave them both a little stir with a straw, and pushed his back across the table to him. She took a sip and watched as he did the same. “Well, what do you think?”
“I think you’re definitely a wild one.”
“But you like that about me.”
“I do indeed.” He said, nodding, and taking another sip of his spiked Pepsi.
Their pizza arrived, and Adam was quick to confirm that it was indeed the best pizza he’d ever tasted. They ate heartily, and when they were both full as well as buzzed, they lingered in the cozy booth and talked. Heather let Adam do most of the talking. His life was much more interesting than hers, as was his voice. She leaned her head on her arm and closed her eyes, letting his smooth voice flow over her like water. He was just telling her about how U2's record deal was signed in the ladies room of the venue they were performing at, when he stopped abruptly.
“Heather?”
She opened her eyes and sat up. “Hmm?”
“I’m sorry, you looked like you were about to fall asleep.”
“Oh no, I wasn’t, I swear. I just really like listening to you talk.” She smiled.
“If you say so.”
“I do. And that reminds me.” Heather pushed the remains of their meal aside with one arm and brought her purse, and her paper bag containing U2's albums up onto the table. She unzipped her purse and began pawing through it. “I know I have a pen in here somewhere.”
“Oh no.” Adam said, knowing exactly what was coming.
“Oh yes. And don’t even bother trying to get out of it. I’m not going to leave you alone until I get these signed.”
“Well maybe I shouldn’t sign them then. The last thing I’d want is for you to leave me alone.”
Heather finally located a pen, which she tossed to him. “Hush you, and sign these.” She said, laughter creeping into her voice.
“Hush? But I thought you liked my voice.”
“Yeah, I do until you start saying things that make me blush.”
“But you’re so cute when you blush!”
Heather brought both hands up to cover her face. “Stop that!”
“Fine, fine.” Adam said, pulling the albums out and laying them side by side. Heather watched intently as he brought the pen down against the first one and began to write, but he’d gotten no more than a single word written, when he looked up and caught her watching. Then, with an exaggerated gesture, he used his arm to hide what he was writing, like a schoolboy hiding his work from his classmates.
When he’d finished his message on the first one, he handed it to Heather and began on the second. Heather picked up Boy and read what he had written there: “To the wild one, because she won’t leave me alone, and because she looks cute when she blushes, Adam.”
Heather could feel her face going red. She brought the album up and leaned her forehead against it, hiding her face. “I shudder to think about what you’re writing on the second one.”
“Well here, have a look then.” He said, sliding October across the table to her.
She looked down at the album without picking it up and read what he had written there. “And now she’s going to kill me for what I wrote on the other one, Adam.”
Heather shook her head, laughing. “You’re terrible!”
“You like it.”
“I like a lot of things.” She said, looking him in the eye as she tucked the albums back into their paper bag. “So come on, let’s get out of here.” Heather eased her way out of the booth, a feat always much more difficult with a bellyful of pizza.
They paid their tab, and exited the noisy restaurant. While they had eaten, the city around them had reached its full darkness, a darkness which was nowhere near total, due to the bright, coloured lights everywhere you looked. They stopped just outside of the restaurant to have a cigarette, before moving on.
They walked aimlessly, talking, but not paying attention to where they were going.
Heather wanted to hold his hand, but hated to be the one to initiate it. First dates were always awkward because of all of the firsts. From the first hand hold, to the first kiss. Once those significant firsts had been passed, you gained a sort of freedom. Once you’d kissed somebody for the first time, you owned a small piece of them, and it became an unspoken agreement that all future kisses would be welcomed. But you had to get past the firsts before you could reach that agreement.
Heather was agitating over this notion, and not paying a bit of attention to what she was doing, when she felt Adam grab her roughly by the upper arm and yank her back. It was only then that she realized she’d nearly walked right out into traffic.
She whirled around toward him, stumbling over the curb as he pulled her back, and her upper body slammed into his chest. Both of his arms wrapped protectively around her, steadying her, and she was able to look up into his concerned face for a brief moment, before their lips met.
Heather didn’t know if he had initiated it, or if she had, or if it was just one of those rare, but wonderful instances when a first kiss just happens. She was voting on the latter, because it was spectacularly wonderful. His lips were warm and soft, and the world seemed to melt away as they kissed. She was dimly aware that people were probably watching them, but she didn’t care. They were as steady as a stone in a stream, while the waves of the world rushed past.
The kiss chased any lingering feelings of regret from Adam’s mind. He’d kissed many women, but he’d never had a kiss like this one. This kiss felt full and real. He didn’t want it to end, but they couldn’t just stand there on the street corner kissing forever, and so, finally, their lips broke apart.
Heather was looking into his eyes from mere inches away, her face full of pleasure, awe, and joy. “Wow.” She whispered, the corners of her mouth turning upward into a grin. “We’ll have to do that again sometime.” She said, stepping backward, increasing the space between their bodies from almost none, to several inches. Adam kept his arms wrapped loosely around her, not letting her go far.
“I’m counting on it.” He said, watching her. Her grin grew wider, into a full smile, but then fell as she looked around, tentatively. For the first time since they’d kissed, she seemed to be becoming aware of their surroundings.
“We’re gonna draw a crowd of tourists at this rate.” She said, gently extracting herself from his embrace, and taking his hand instead. “Let’s move.”
Adam let himself be led by her firm grip out into the street, safely this time. They crossed quickly, and made their way down the next block, both too amazed with one another to say much.
Adam had no idea where they were going, but Heather did, and so he followed. At the end of the block Heather paused and looked around, before murmuring something about turning, and doing so. Once around the corner, they continued for about twenty feet or so, before Heather stopped in her tracks.
“Are we far enough away yet?” She asked, turning toward him.
“Far enough away for what?”
“For this.” She said, and in an instant, she’d grabbed his face gently, but firmly with both hands and was kissing him. The kiss was briefer than the first one had been, and nowhere near as magical, but enjoyable all the same. When it was over, Adam took a step back from Heather.
“We have got to stop doing that.”
“Why? You like it.” Heather said, with a flirtatious grin.
“Maybe a little bit too much.”
“Alright.” She said, nodding, and once again took his hand. Soon enough they were on the move again.
Heather was still transfixed by the mere idea of Adam, but she was not so lost in her infatuation that she failed to realize how late it was getting. Without a word, she began steering their path in the direction of her apartment. It wasn’t terribly far, and when they’d arrived in front of her stoop, she stopped, smiled awkwardly, and waved her free hand toward the building. “This is my place.”
Adam let go of her hand to take a step backward and look up at the expanse of the building. “It’s nice.”
“I like it.” That was what Heather said, but what she wanted to say was, Do you want to come up? But she was not that kind of girl, no matter how much she might want to be right now, and she had a distinct feeling that, despite their playful banter all evening, Adam was not that kind of guy. If he were, she wouldn’t feel for him the way that she did. Pushing aside those tempting thoughts of taking Adam upstairs, Heather dropped her new albums on the bottom step of her stoop, so that she could take both of Adam’s hands. She leaned close to him. “I don’t want to say goodnight.”
Adam leaned in too, and kissed her quickly on the cheek before speaking. “Neither do I, but there’s always tomorrow. You’ll come tomorrow, won’t you?”
“Ha! The chance to see you in action? I wouldn’t miss that for the world!”
“I can have a ticket waiting for you at the box office, just give your name.” He told her, and made sure she knew the location of the concert.
“What about you? Are you going to be able to find your way back to your hotel?”
Adam twisted around to look back in the direction they’d come. “I’m not sure. You’ve got me all turned around.”
“In more ways than one, I hope.” She said smiling, then asked him where he was staying, and gave him easy instructions for getting back there. When they’d gotten that behind them, they once more stood together, not saying goodnight. Heather was just about to twist away from him, due to the sheer agony of being so close, but so apart, when his lips came down against hers.
She surrendered to the kiss, closing her eyes and letting her body go partially limp in the safe circle of his strong arms. Their bodies were pressed together, in what could only be described as a full body embrace. Despite the intimacy of it all, in Heather’s heart the passion of it was more spiritual than sexual. Still, she was enjoying herself on the most basic of levels. Heather twisted the fingers of one hand into the lambswool-soft coils of his hair, while his fingers pressed firmly against her backbone.
Suddenly Heather broke away from him, drawing in a sharp breath of night air. “I think maybe I’d better go inside before I do something we’d probably both regret.”
Adam nodded slowly, but resolutely. “That’s probably a good idea.”
Heather stepped up onto the steps and plucked up her paper bag. “Good night.” She took another step up, knowing she had to go inside now, but not wanting to. “I look forward to seeing you play tomorrow.”
Adam too, took a step backward. “I look forward to seeing you, fullstop. Good night.”
Heather nodded slightly, and then smiling and waving, forced herself through the front door of her building. She climbed the stairs briskly, carried by the memory of that last, incredible kiss. When she reached her apartment, she rushed through the door, shut it quickly behind her, then sank down to the floor against it. She brought her fingertips tentatively up to her lips, which still seemed to tingle. Heather stayed like that on the floor, breathing softly and reliving every wonderful moment in her head for at least twenty minutes, before finally hoisting herself onto her feet, walking over to the record player, and putting on the first album.
Adam stepped into the hotel room, tired but happy, to find The Edge sitting up in bed, his ankles neatly crossed beneath the blanket, and a thick book open, but lying facedown on his lap. Adam walked over to the other bed and flopped onto his back. From here, he couldn’t see Edge, but he could still feel him watching him. The Edge had much more tact than Bono, but he was still human, and not immune to curiosity. The questions would come, it was only a manner of waiting for them.
“How was your...” Edge paused. “Your evening?”
Adam smiled. “You were going to say ‘your date.’”
“Was it a date?”
Adam rolled over onto his side, so that he was facing Edge. “It turned out to be.” He paused, smiling. “I like her. I really like her. She’s just amazing. She’s smart, and funny, and beautiful.”
Edge smiled. “I’d like to meet her.”
“You will. I invited her to the show tomorrow night.”
“Good. Let’s just hope Bono doesn’t scare her off.”
“Oh, I think she can handle Bono.”
“Are you going to tell him that she’s coming?”
“Oh god, no. He’ll decide on the spot that we need to play She Loves You and dedicate it to her, and I hate that song, Edge.”
“You do have a point there.” Edge said, laughing.
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That's it for now
And I just previewed the post... it looks miles long Hopefully not too long to hold your interest though. Also, feel free to let me know what you liked, or even quote your favourite bits back to me
+ 
= this story
I LOVE all the innuendos! 
I wonder where you get them all from...
