All I Ever Wanted (Larry Stylinson)

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The second we walked onto the stage, the crowd erupted in applause and loud cheers. We all acknowledged them with a raise of a hand before sitting down in our seats at the judges' table. We each had a glass of water placed in front of us along with a notebook and pen so that we could write down stuff if we wanted to.

The best part about the audition was that it wasn't live. It was always prerecorded. So, if we were to mess things up sometime during this journey, it would have to be now. I was pretty sure Patrick would be more than happy if we didn't mess things up anytime, though.

"Hello, and welcome to this year's edition of the X Factor!" Dermot called out through the arena. He was now standing on the stage, wearing a navy blue suit with a microphone in front of his mouth. "If you didn't already know, this year's judges are Nick Grimshaw, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Perrie Edwards."

We all took turns to look up and smile towards the camera at the mention of our names.

"Alright, let's kick this off with our first contestant." With that said, he walked off the stage and behind the scenes where the first contestant was most likely waiting with their family to go on stage.

The first person who showed up was a teenage guy - most likely not older than eighteen - with long brown locks and brown eyes. The sight made my heart twist in my chest because it reminded me so much of myself. Not that our features were particularly alike, but I was the same age as him when I auditioned for the X Factor back in 2010, and I was definitely just as nervous as he seemed to be.

Feeling a lot of empathy for the boy, I decided to speak up, "Hi there, what's your name?" I asked gently, smiling at the boy.

He met my gaze, the corners of his lips twitching. "I'm Frankie," he replied, and you could see how much his hand was shaking due to the hard grip he had on the microphone.

"What a lovely name. Where are you from?" I continued, trying my best to make him ease up.

He inhaled a large breath before opening his mouth. "I'm from Oxford."

I tilted my head to the side. "That's not very far from here. So, what are you going to sing for us today?" I questioned, supporting my head with a hand under my chin while my elbow was on the table.

"Uhm, I'm going to sing Grenade by Bruno Mars."

The muscles in my body instantly tensed. That was one of the first songs we had sung together in the band, during the X Factor live tour, and I remembered how Harry and I hadn't been able to look away from each other whenever we sang it.

Swallowing, I plastered a smile on my lips. "Alright, good luck."

The second Frankie started singing, I tried focusing on his voice and singing capability, but I couldn't. All I could think about was memories of myself standing on that same stage eight years ago and when the band was formed. I thought of the way I hadn't even hesitated to throw myself into Harry's arms without barely knowing him when they told us we had gone through to the judges' houses. We had only talked twice before that, but I felt a connection between us when I first laid eyes on him. Therefore, it only felt right to jump into his arms because if we were going to be in the same band, it meant that I would be spending more time with him.

These were memories that would live with me forever no matter what, and I wondered if they were crossing Harry's mind now too and if they meant something to him. Probably not.

Even though I hadn't been following him over the years, I knew that he had been in at least one relationship after we were together, so I was pretty sure I didn't matter to him anymore. He had been with other people after me that were probably more important to him. This fact probably shouldn't hurt, but it did.