Just like Air, Club Up was packed.

The show was minutes from starting and everyone was grabbing their drinks before heading to the stage. With the music pumping and lights flashing, Club Up vibrated with the intense base and music. Bartenders rushed from end to end with bottles and glasses in hand. Card machines were passed around and people pushed their way out of the queue to the dancefloor.

Thankfully, Fenne and Hanna had prepared before they arrived. They were four drinks in and buzzed. They had secured themselves a single drink each that would last them for a little while, meaning they could be at the stage for longer. They wouldn't need to push through the crowd to make it to the bar.

Fenne's dark blue mini dress had a Y2K style with one hem longer than the other, while Hanna was in an ankle-length tight dress. Both in Doc Martens, the two made their way towards the stage to get a good spot on the dancefloor.

'Did you listen to some of his stuff?!' Fenne held Hanna's shoulder to lean into her ear.

'Only a few songs! They're a bit silly for my taste!'

Silly? Fenne thought to herself. With dolphin noises and telling a bitch to 'suck his dick', some of Joost Klein's songs could be classed as satire. But there were songs that Fenne had heard that were far deeper in meaning. If they weren't in a club, Fenne would have pulled out her phone to show her friend some of his lesser known songs.

As the flashing lights paused, and the rush of people hit the dancefloor, Fenne was surprised to find herself nervous. All week, she had been thinking of the times where she had seen Joost Klein. She was able pull some of the instances at school from the corners of her brain, like when a basketball hit one of her friends in the back of the head, and one of Joost's friends rushed over with wide eyes.

'I'm so sorry, Angela-'

'It's fine, Apson.'

Fenne remembered looking past the commotion to see Stuntje and Joost on the basketball court. They had paused their game at the loss of a player, and in turn, looked in Fenne's direction with wide eyes.

But these memories weren't enough to explain her sudden interest in the boy. As she and Hanna were solidified to their spot in the crowd, Fenne put one hand to her chest to feel her pounding heart. She felt like she was going to burst from her nerves, and she hadn't felt like that in a long time. Not from a boy, anyway.

'His name is small!'

The familiar English lyrics sounded as the melody for Droom Groot played. Screams sounded and people threw their hands up in excitement. Phones were recording the dark stage and Fenne tried to peer to the curtains, where Joost would soon emerge.

'But his dreams are big!'

Just like last week, Joost Klein ran out from backstage and started singing to the high-pitched chorus. The lights flashed him in blue and white, lighting up his graphic sweatpants and polo shirt.

He leaned close to the crowd and held his hand out to give out highfives. He held the microphone close to his mouth, but Fenne could see that he was dawning his wide grin. With arms flying into the air and legs kicking to the beat, Joost gave another energetic and impressive performance.

'My drink is gone! Like, actually gone!'

Hanna's cry made Fenne turn to see her vodka raspberry all down the front of her dress. With her arms spread wide and her jaw hanging open, Hanna glared at the group of boys next to her that jumped around without a care.

Fenne didn't need the story and put one hand to her lips to cover her laugh. The sticky redness covered Hanna's legs, and Fenne wondered if she was about to witness a murder. But as Hanna turned to the group, and grabbed onto one of their shirt sleeves, Fenne watched as one of the boys disappeared to get her another drink.

'It's that easy, huh?!' Fenne said to Hanna, beginning to jump along to Joost Klein 2. Hanna rolled her eyes and looked back up to the stage, making Fenne do the same.

Like always, Joost scanned the crowd that sat below the flashing lights. Heads bopped to the music and drinks occassionally flew through the air. It was rivetting to watch from above and he never grew bored of the way people sang his own lyrics back to him.

He remembered the previous weekened. As soon as his eyes caught the small face and maroon hair, it was gone, and Joost convinced himself he was hallucinating. But while looking from the stage, Joost couldn't resist scanning the crowd with the hope of seeing the green eyes again.

Joost Klein 2 came to an end and Albino started. He started singing about liking sushi and he almost missed the familiar face. But with a plummet, his stomach didn't let him ignore what he had struggled to forget in the past week.

Once Joost registered the girl in the middle of the jumping crowd, he did a double take and blinked rapidly as a means to clear any uncertainty.

She was here. Just like last weekend, she stood in the middle of the dancefloor, almost like she was intentionally positioned for Joost to see her. When the lights flashed, he saw her tipsy grin and half-lidded eyes. Her hair fell over her shoulders and with a drink against her chest, Fenne Meer danced to Joost's music.

'What's he doing?! He's doing it again!'

Stuntje was heard from his right. Just out of the crowd's view, Joost's team watched as the young man stood rigid after running up and down the stage. The performer who would spend more than an hour screaming into his microphone and dancing was frozen.

Albino continued and Joost missed the beginning of the second verse. Most of the crowd assumed that he was out of breath, because who wouldn't be when performing like Joost Klein did?

'Joost! Joost, move, god damnit!'

It wasn't Teun's yells from offstage that woke him from his trance. Once it got to the third line and Joost still hadn't started singing, a pair of green eyes opened wide and met his blue ones. Fenne Meer's raised eyebrows and plump, parted lips took his breath away, but it woke him from his frozen state.

Slowly, Joost was able to pull his gaze away and immerse himself back into Albino. It felt like he was tearing his eyeballs from velcro. His chest ached with the impact and no matter how much Joost wanted to leap off the stage and weave through the dancefloor, he had a set to finish.

Luckily, the performer's ability to bounce back saved the moment. Joost was back to jumping around and singing and Club Up continued to dance and cheer. Stuntje and Apson waited for another out-of-character moment, but it never came, and they could breathe a sigh of relief when the set finished on a high note.

He said goodnight, and ran offstage where the hoots and screams followed long after he was gone. His team intercepted him, unaware that he was trying to run past them.

'Great show, Joo-'

'Yeah, yeah, I'm going for a smoke!'

Stuntje, Apson and Teun were stumped as their friend fist-bumped them in a hurry. Their half-formed congratulations hung in the air and they watched in disbelief as Joost ran to the stairs. The sounds of his sneakers clanking against the metal steps echoed, before the fire exit door slammed shut with his departure.

As the club's music resumed and the crowd quietened down, the team looked to each other with the same thought;

What had gotten into their friend?

---

'He's a good dancer, I'll give him that,' Hanna mumbled with a sway in her step.

After the performance, Fenne convinced Hanna to have two more drinks, before they would make their way home. They had consumed enough alcohol to warrant ending the night at 11pm. They had sang and danced, and Hanna had gotten over her spillage from the beginning of Joost Klein's set.

'I'm amazed he can go on for that long,' Fenne said, working hard to keep her balance and not stumble along the footpath.

'He had that moment, though. It was like he forgot the words.'

Fenne barely listened to Hanna's slurred response. She was busy putting one black boot in front of the other and avoiding the other drunkards that passed her.

The night was warm and the street was still humming with people. Despite the late hour, street lights illuminated the dark sky and Fenne reached into her bag to check the time on her phone. The trains ran until the early hours of the morning, but she didn't want them to be waiting at the station when they could have gotten some food beforehand.

As she wiggled her phone out of her shoulder bag, her train pass flew out with it. While Hanna walked ahead at a slow pace, Fenne cursed in a frustrated mumble. She groaned and went to crouch down, her intoxicated state making her see duplicates of the aqua card.

But before her fingers could skim the ground, a pair of AirForce 1s came into view. A hand with the numbers '1983' just below its knuckles scraped the card off the pavement. Fenne's dizziness cleared in a moment of panic and she yanked herself out of her drunkness.

Fenne straightened up. She blinked as the hand that held her card followed, making her look to its owner in surprise.

She smelt the cigarette smoke before she saw its cause. It's musk mixed with a fresh cologne, which piqued Fenne's nose with a desire for more. But it was nothing compared to the man who wore the scent and held out her train card for her to take.

'T-Thanks,' she let out in a stammer. 'U-Uh... you're Joost... I knew you at school.'

He let out a scoff, which formed a light chuckle. With the train card still in one hand, Joost took the last drag of his cigarette before rushing to stomp it out. Caught up in his nerves and in Fenne Meer's eyes, Joost went to speak with out exhaling.

'Yeah, I remember you,' he jerked his head to the side to exhale the smoke from his throat. 'Fenne. Fenne Meer, right?'

She was able to nod while taking her train card from Joost's hand. Her brief glance down to it let Joost cough, ridding his throat of the lingering smoke from his cigarette. He cringed at the gurgle that sounded and hoped that Fenne didn't notice it.

'Oh, give me a second, sorry- Hanna! Hanna, wait there!' Fenne stepped forward to call to her friend up ahead. The brunette had wandered a few yards down the street, but turned with a sway and an audible groan.

Fenne stepped back after realising how close she had put herself to Joost. He had watched her call over his shoulder, but made no move to give her extra space. Whether this was intentional or not, Fenne didn't want to seem so drunk that she wasn't aware of personal space.

'Hanna Kloppefield? From school?' Joost said with his thump jabbed behind him.

'Yeah. We live together now.'

With the flash of a smile, Joost nodded and tried to take a deep breath. He had been outside since the end of his set smoking and having a beer. An alleyway seperated the club from the neighbouring building, and made for the perfect place for him to stay unseen with a view of the street. Part of him had hoped that Fenne would walk past after the set, and the other needed time to unwind from the rush of old emotions.

When he heard the clatter of the train card, Joost watched as a tipsy Fenne Meer bent down to pick it up. Before he knew it, his legs had forced him out of the alley and make his presence known.

'Did you... ugh, did you enjoy the show?' he asked, motioning to the club beside them.

'It was amazing!'

'Thank you. That means a lot.'

'We went to the one at Air last weekend, too.'

'Yeah, I thought I saw you...'

Joost's lips couldn't resist their grin. His ribcage was working hard to contain his raging heart. Not only was Fenne complimenting his show that she had attended not once, but twice, she was also standing in a royal blue dress. Joost took small glances as he spoke, praying that they weren't noticable.

Fenne's sweet smile and vibrant eyes captured him, like how a flower called for a bee's eye. When she spoke, Joost hung onto every syllable and watched each word form on her dark lips.

They said everything erroded and changed with time, but time hadn't changed the effect Fenne Meer had on Joost Klein's stomach.

'I better go. Hanna's about to pass out,' the girl motioned to her friend. Joost turned to see Hanna Kloppefield leaning against a wall with her phone in hand. Her head hung forward and her neck rolled around from dizziness.

'I'll see you around, Joost. It was nice to run into you,' Fenne said with her eyes flickering between him and Hanna. She held a shy smile, all while trying to keep eye contact.

'Do you have Instagram?'

The question was abrupt and Joost regretted it as soon as it left his mouth. He cursed his nerves that rarely surfaced in recent years. Performing on stage had become second nature and when it came to his music, stage fright and the fear of embarrassment were at the back of his mind. But now, in front of his highschool crush, Joost Klein couldn't control his words or his actions.

'I do...' Fenne let out a laugh, mostly from the butterflies in her stomach. 'I'll find you on there.'

'Cool...'

With a lasting smile, Fenne passed Joost to help Hanna down the street. The young man watched her go while replaying the humiliating yet exciting conversation.