Fixing Us || l.h

Chapter Ten**

Song 9 of the album is linked above^

My hair is touched up before I'm given the one-minute warning, and the stylist smiles at me through the mirror. "You are all set!" I return the smile, standing. "Thank you," I said before walking to the waiting area. I'm given the good-to-go and hear a snippet of my song Levitating playing as I walk out. I wave to the crowd, dancing over to Ellen. My brother was already sitting there, dancing in his seat.

"Hey, Dylan!" Ellen greets me, smiling. "Hey, Ellen!" I grin, glancing out at the crowd. "How have the first few months of your own fame been treating you?" She asks as the crowd quiets down. "It's been good, a little stressful, but that's to be expected. I took a short break in New York back home, but now I'm back and better than ever!" I explain, laughing a little. "Good! You have a tour starting soon, correct?"

I nod, "Yeah, the boys of One Direction were ever so gracious to adopt me and 5SOS to open for them for the next year or so, I'm very excited! It'll be a great time and I'm excited to perform live!" "Apart from performing, what are you most excited about?" "Always the food," I laugh, continuing, "but also just a whole new tour, I tagged along on my brother's last year which was a lot of fun but now I get to see my own fans, perform, and experience things as an artist myself rather than a sister tagging along. It'll be an adjustment for sure but it'll be a lot of fun." "Awesome! Blake, do you have any advice for your sister?"

We both turn to Blake who smiles. "Just take each day by day, call your family, I promise you'll miss us," we both laugh, while he continues, "but most of all, have fun. Not a lot of people get this opportunity but you've got the talent for it, there are always going to be haters but you also have amazing fans to keep you going and you have to turn to them when things get difficult. You are traveling with such a great group though, I know they are going to be looking out for you and I trust all the boys to take care of her during her first tour."

The crowd awes and I wrap an arm around my brother. That was exactly the advice I was looking for. "So, Dylan, you've traveled with 5SOS before, when they were here last, Luke dropped quite the bomb that you two had dated but broken up, how do you think the tour will be after that?" I was waiting for that question, I take a deep breath, readjusting in my seat. "When he got back from tour, there was definitely some tension but we decided to be adults and talk about it. We both still care about each other a lot and right now we're still focusing on ourselves but we also are working on our friendship. Obviously, the tour would have been awkward if we didn't talk about everything beforehand so we took a night and got it all out in the open to know where the other was at. We're going to keep working on everything and hopefully, the tour brings us back to being close friends." I explain as Blake and I had rehearsed. My heartbeat slows down once I finish, my brother nodding discretely.

"Would you ever see the two of you getting back together?" She asks. Another question I was ready for. "Right now we really want to focus on ourselves and our friendship. If we find ourselves falling back into the habits we had when we were dating, then we will sit down and talk about it and see if we are ready to get back together. We don't want to rush anything." I recite that back, glad Blake and I practiced the questions that may have been asked. "That sounds very mature of the two of you, some people in Hollywood could take a note or two from you." Ellen laughs. "When we get back from the break, Dylan performs one of her new songs and we talk about her upcoming album."

I stand once we were given the commercial break notice, Blake standing as well. "Good job." He says, giving me a hug. "Thanks." I take a deep breath, not letting go. "Nervous?" I feel him shift, his chin no longer on top of my head. I pull back to see him staring down at me. "A little, I haven't released this song yet so I hope it has a good reception." "I mean, I think it's great." Blake teases, nudging me with his elbow. "You wrote it with me, shush." I roll my eyes, following him over to where we were performing.

He pulls out his acoustic guitar and takes a seat on the stool next to me. We were performing Live Young Die Free acoustic together. We get the notice we were back, Ellen announces the song and Blake starts strumming. I take a deep breath, glad he forced me to practice more than I wanted to, I almost forgot how it started until he started strumming. I sang the slowed-down version we did, Blake singing the backing vocals. I was excited to release this version with the regular one. Once we completed the song, the crowd applauded and screamed. I smile, looking over at Blake. He smiles, nodding at me. We walk back over to Ellen taking a seat next to her.

"Incredible song and you two wrote it together?" She asks. We both nod, sharing a look. "What's the story behind it?" "Just living life without apologies, being yourself, feeling free, our mom was really controlling of a lot of aspects of our lives so we want to tell people that even if someone wants to try and control any part of your life, you can still live young and die free," I say, looking to Blake to see if he has anything to add.

"Exactly that, Dyl had a good start when she brought it to me but was a little stuck so we found parts of our lives that we didn't like and wrote about how you can still make a change to your life, at any time. You don't have to play it safe if it's for you." He adds. "It's such a great anthem, when will you be releasing it?" Ellen asks.

This song, with both the regular version and this version that we performed today, will be available at midnight tonight on all streaming services and it will be the last single until my album will come out." "Which will be when?" Ellen asks. "We are hoping for the start of the New Year right before the tour starts." "Ooo, that's coming up quickly, are you excited?" I run a hand through my hair, I was excited, but it was a lot to do in the next two months, on top of just getting ready for this tour. "I am, but I'm also stressed," I admit, "it's a lot happening, but with my great support team, I know I'll get the help I need to finish the album. We're aiming for 14 songs, so I'm halfway there, I have some I've previously written that I may choose to add to the album, we will see."

"Well just know that we are all very excited for it! That is all the time we have today, thank you!" Ellen says and we dance to Levitating as it plays on the overhead speakers. Once we get the good to go, we go back to our dressing room. I slump into my seat, exhausted. "Doin' okay?" Blake asks, looking down at me. I nod, ready to go home.