Alex thought himself to be a good listener, even when it came to English, but once the guy started talking, it didn't look like he was going to stop. At the rate at which he was speaking, some of the words were coming too fast for him to understand, but he didn't really leave him any room to stop. So, he got comfortable with a placid smile sliding onto his face and just listened to the guy let out whatever he needed to let out. He seemed... excitable. Probably still riding that high after a performance. He understood that completely.
He kept his eyes on him, nodding occasionally, but couldn't help to listen on the pianist that took to the stage. When the singer stole a glance up to the guy on stage, Alex looked over as well and enjoyed his playing. This guy had a good vibe about him. Like he could just kick back and listen to him for a long time. The question brought him back to the singer. He shrugged. "Maybe. It's busy tonight."
The start up of a drummer caught both of their attention this time. Her hair was red- that was the first thing he noticed and he rather liked the color on her. But she was tense to begin with. After a while, she seemed to relax and he found himself itching to go up and play something. The singer said something else, but in his distraction, it took a second to process what he said.
"Yeah, sure," He said, realizing too late that the singer didn't even seem to realize what he said. He brushed off the comment. Now was his time to finally get out what he wanted to say in the first place. "Hey, it gets easier," He told him with an assuring nod, "Playing in front of people can be scary at first, but you just have to be confident in yourself. And you clearly have a talent, so you have a lot to be proud of."
Satisfied with that, he caught the eye of the MC who waved him over. "I'm next," He told the singer across from him, "But I will see you around." He made that a promise with a flash of a grin and a wink before departing. He passed the drummer on his way back and, undeterred by the presence of her family, stopped and briefly touched the redhead on the shoulder to get her attention. "Hey," He said, "Well done." He punctuated the compliment with a quick smile and continued on to the booth where he left his guitar.
Moments later, he was set up on a stool with Iskra in his lap and a guitar pointed at his face. The MC introduced him while Alex adjusted the sound off the amp to his liking.
"Hello everybody," He greeted, his accent coming thicker as his nerves started working on him, "I'm going to play one of the first English songs I ever learned to play. It's called 'More Than Words'." He never talked a lot before playing, mostly because he knew people were eager for him to get to the music. He took a steadying breath and began to play.
The first few bars of guitar made any tension he was feeling melt off of his body. That made it easier once he began to sing to communicate with the audience. He kept it light, peaceful even as opposed to bearing his soul. He didn't feel like it was the right time to dig that deep, but that didn't make the music any less sweeter. Even when he sang, his accent was present, but less so and he wasn't afraid to look out and make eye contact with the listeners. He tried not to look at any one person for too long, lest they get the wrong impression. That's what happened with him and the waitress, but he managed to work that in his favor.
He started to smile while he sang. The song brought back the memories of his struggle with English. A lot of tourists came to his family's bar and he spoke with them to get better at the language, which included singing this song on numerous occasions. And playing guitar was just so much fun for him. He couldn't help but smile.
He waited until the last chord rang out from Iskra before he dampened the strings. "
Spasibo," He said into the mic, "Thank you." He wasted no time coming off the stage so the next person could go up and made a beeline for the booth he claimed for himself.