Chapter Text
Whoever allowed Liverpool to drop below 10°C in May, deserved to rot in hell, decided Salena as she exited the pub alongside Alessandra and Teya.
It was the night before the second semi-finals and with everyone being nervous and stressed, some of the contestants agreed to spend a night out. British beer and fish and chips helped miraculously with their grating nerves.
Luke, Alika and the Slovenian boys, without their leadsinger, accompanied them as Bojan had ditched his bandmates in order to definetely go not on a dinner date with a certain Finnish rapper. Christ, did he really think he was being smooth? Everyone, (everyone!) knew that there were sparks flying between the two contestants.
Alessandra pulled her scarf closer as their friends slowly followed them out of the pub. Luke and Jure were deep in conversation about the Serbians obsession with lobster and Kris and Alika talked about the other contestants acts and who they liked the most. At last, Jan left the building with Nace's arm around his waist.
The group huddled closer together, trying to keep the warmth within their circle and the cold wind outside as discussions commenced about whether to continue the evening or get back to their hotels.
As Alessandra and Luke already had qualified and thus survived the pending doom and stress which was caused by the Semifinals, they suggested their fellow contestants to take it easy and turn in for the night.
"Personally, I couldn't sleep at all yesterday beause I was so terrified and we all know how that turned out today. Unbelievable that I still qualified with that butchered note at the end" Alessandra laughed depressingly.
"Shush, you were great Alessandra! You obviously qualified and all you can do now is do it better in the finals!" Alika exclaimed, being one of the few who knew the pressure of singing such high keys. Teya and Selena agreed, as did the Slovenes. Luke, who stood next to the Norwegian, slung his arm around her and hugged her. Alessandra smiled, appreciating her friends cheering her up.
In her periphery, she noticed how two of the Slovenian boys whispered in their native language animately to each other, huddled closely. The darker haired one with the beard, Jan, suddenly tried to step away as the one with glasses and the adorable tooth gap took his jacket off.
The groups conversation moved on and Alessandra was pulled right back, being asked about her opinion on how to continue their evening.
At the same time, Salena too noticed the Slovenes interaction. Even though she couldn't understand the words they exchanged, it wasn't hard to get the gist of it.
Jan wore a guilty expression on his face as Nace put his jacket around the other man's shoulders. While he guitarist had been shivering from the cold in his thin cardigan, Nace seemed unbothered in his hoodie by the biting wind as he was apparently one of the few in their group who was smart enough to wear one layer extra.
The bassist then pulled the younger man into his side and Salena easily would've missed it if she had looked away. Jan grabbed Nace's hand and tucked them into the jacket's pocket. A smile graced the older man's face and Salena swore she saw Jan's face getting red in the dark. The blonde catched Teya's gaze across the circle, as if asking "You saw that too, right?"
Apparently the group had decided to go back to their designated hotels as the next day would be very exciting for some of them and the weather was uninviting anyway.
As the Austrian girls and Alessandra stayed at a different hotel than Luke, Alika and the Slovenes, they said their goodbyes at the next intersection. Once their fellow contestants were out of earshot, the young women suddenly came to a stop and just looked at each other.
Alessandra broke the silence and asked "You two saw that right? Wasn't that weirdly intimate or am I seeing things?"
"Maybe that's just how they are? Could've been just a friendly gesture, no?" Teya countered.
"The jacket sharing? Yes, friendly but the hand holding? More than friendly." Salena said.
"Definitely more than friendly. Now that I think of it, they sat really close back in the pub? What if they were holding hands all along under the table?" Alessandra asked thoughtfully.
"Come on, that's just speculation at this point, we shouldn't assume things" Teya sighed exasperated.
"Of course not, no. They're still our friends and Jure and Kris didn't seem to disturbed by their behavior either. Maybe it's just how they normally are?" Alessandra wondered out loud, thinking how the other two Slovenes seemed I bothered by the closeness of their bandmates.
"Sure but I bet there's more to it but we really should get going, I don't want to catch a cold" Salena concluded. The nasty wind picked up again and the three women started walking again to their hotel.