[2] Unfamiliar Territory

Nori thought that the view from the stage was scarily intoxicating and wondered exactly what people saw when they looked at her. The lights were warm on her skin making her feel like she was in a soft cocoon even though there were about two hundred eyes looking at her. She could see their criticism. ‘Who are you?’ They asked. Good question, she thought to herself as she bent the microphone to match up with her mouth. She was at least 3 inches shorter than Jessica and certainly didn’t have the presence she did. Or the long legs. Or the generous bust. What the hell was Nori thinking? She didn’t have a chance next to glamour puss. The bitter taste of copper tainted her mouth as a scorned woman looked back at the crowd. She hated Jessica. She hated the way she was perfect and just plain sickeningly sweet and oh-so-very unhateable. Nori knew that she could make Simon happy…if he hadn’t been already.

There were a few shouts erupting from the crowd, but most of them were looking skeptically at the girl in front of them. The one that looked eerily like an Irish pixie in the lights with long natural red hair and Elizabeth Taylor eyes. Whose already white skin looked translucent and glittering as she braced herself near the microphone trying to keep deep breaths going so she didn’t pass out. Simon took notice of all of this and when he had his Fender strapped on he went to Nori’s side.

"I think I’m going to be sick," She admitted a little flush peeking through her perfect skin and staining that look of perfection.

"No you aren’t," Simon reassured. He was close, Nori noted inhaling the scent of his man-ly cologne. Hell, Nori thought that Simon could wear some kind of lavender spray and he’d still put her heart on fire along with numerous other things. "You know that mixed CD I gave you a couple of months ago?" He questioned as he tuned his guitar in the Key of D.

Nori swallowed hard and nodded. How could she not forget that CD? She had cherished it, reading over the titles scrawled in Simon’s messy handwriting over and over again while singing to the lyrics. Too bad it had been Jessica singing, but the evilness was overcome by them being Simon’s words. Sometimes Simon would come over to Nori’s house and ask her about a lyric. They had even co-wrote a song together, but she had never seen Simon’s band perform it, which was fine with her. She didn’t want Simon’s love slave singing the words that she had thought of anyway.

"We’ll go in that order," Simon stated and suddenly out of the blue his hand came up and touched Nori’s cold arm. Nori jumped from the touch as she looked to Simon. His dark blue eyes were focused on her face and she suddenly felt as though her soul was being grabbed from her body and shaken into a whirlpool. She felt like she was drowning, but it was a nice sort of drowning. Nori also made a mental note to herself to find better ways of describing things as she basked in the moment. Her violet eyes sought his blue ones out as they exchanged a look of comfort, and for a second, Nori thought that Simon was going to kiss her. It was such a disappointment when he didn’t.

"Simon," Nori hissed grabbing the microphone for dear life. "Has it occurred to you that I can’t sing like Jessica?"

Simon looked at Nori with what she thought was confusion. Negative five points for proving the male stereotype wrong, she frowned. "No one can sing like Jessica, Nori," Simon stated plainly.

Thanks genius, she told him silently. That was a real confidence booster. She looked back out at the restless crowd that had suddenly flocked to the bar. Good God, she thought shaking her head, they had to be drunk to actually listen to her. Drink, she encouraged silently hoping that she wouldn’t shame Simon by getting their band "boo-ed" off stage.

"But you have your own unique sound," Simon smiled at her giving her a small wink.

Nori’s brow furrowed, "What like a Goose?"

Simon shook his head, "No, I’d say more like a mockingbird or a cricket." Great, Nori laughed inside; he’s comparing me to a bug that spends his day jumping around like some little twit. "I like your sound."

That made Nori smile on the inside as her confidence points went up about a million points. If Simon liked her sound then she couldn’t be half-bad; but then again he could be deaf from spending his time around the speakers too often. Nori’s eyes strayed away from Simon to look at the other two people who were congregating onstage with caution and a little look of disbelief. "Did you even clear this with the rest of your band?" Nori questioned.

Simon followed Nori’s gaze to the two people who were heading towards them. The girl who was taller than Nori with long blonde hair and dark blue eyes was Marah, and the guy with dreadlocks, coffee colored skin, and light green eyes was Mikai. Again Simon shrugged and gave her a little smile, "Other than now?" Nori gave Simon a look and shook off the thought of just giving him a wallop upside his head.

"Hey," Simon greeted towards the two as they surveyed Nori. Nori wasn’t a complete stranger to them. They had met on numerous occasions due to mutual friends, or rather just Simon, but Nori supposed that she would look at her strange too if, you know.

"Hey," Marah replied shooting Simon that killer smile all painted in "Cherries in snow" lipstick. Nori’s eyes narrowed. It was quite obvious that Marah had the hots for Simon, in fact, Nori would have to wonder if Marah didn’t. Simon was the makings of one of those icons. He was gorgeous and had talent. Mikai threw his head back in greeting as he made it quite obvious that he wasn’t sure why Nori was onstage.

"Nori’s filling for Jess," Simon explained.

Nori frowned as Marah’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. Anymore and they wouldn’t be on her forehead anymore, in fact, Nori had the urge to smack them off her. Mikai just nodded like he always did which made Nori even more nervous. At least Marah made it clear that she didn’t approve of this sub while Mikai just kept it under wraps, and what Nori didn’t know annoyed her.

"I don’t have to do this. I’m sure its not too late to tell them we can’t do it," Nori suggested.

Marah’s mouth unhinged and Nori was waiting for something to come out of it, but Simon beat her to the punch, "No. Nori, I know you can do this. You have a great voice. Its not Jess, but Jess isn’t Tori Amos or Shirley Manson, and we don’t complain about that."

Nori looked at Simon as if to say that he really needed to work on his confidence pep talks. He just made it seem like beggars couldn’t be choosers, and they were getting the lowest of pickins’.

"No arguments," Simon stated shushing anything that could be said. "We’ve got a minute and here’s the playlist. Let’s try not to mess up?" Simon replied looking not at Nori, but at Marah and Mikai. Better said then done.