Now or Never (An Austin Mahone and Crew Love Story)

Stage Fright

I took a huge step back and plowed into Zach. No. Absolutely not. The kid was crazy. Off his rocker. Ridiculous. Stupid. Insane. Austin was onstage, grinning from ear to ear. “We‘ll be up in a second, but for now, I believe my friends Tyler and Robert are going to treat you guys to a dance off.”

He ran off stage and passed his mic off to Tyler. “Austin! What are you thinking?” I exclaimed.

He shrugged. “Surprise!”

I fell back into Zach. “I hate you. I hate you so much words can‘t even explain. You‘re a horrible person. I refuse! I can‘t! I can‘t even sing for you half the time. I‘m not ready!”

Austin stood there for a second, taken back by my angry words. “I wouldn‘t do this if I thought you couldn‘t.”

I shook my head. “I‘m too scared. Way too scared.” I examined the size of the crowd in front of me. “No,” I emphasized. 

Austin sighed and ran his hand through his hair. An obvious sign of stress. “Where‘s Alex?”

“Last I saw?” I asked. “The girl‘s bathroom over there.”

Austin’s eyes grew huge. “May I ask why?”

A strange feeling of guilt washed over me as the reality of what I actually did crashed over my shoulders and threatened to drown me. What had I done exactly? How mad did I make him? Better yet, was this where our relationship ended? Tears threatened my eyes again, but I fought them back. There was no way I was crying in front of Austin again. “I…”

The words got caught in my throat and I didn’t know what I planned to say anyway. What could I say? That I told him off? How bad would that sound.

“Liv? You guys had your first fight didn‘t you? I‘m sorry. Why did he get you so upset.”

“He doesn‘t trust me around his brother! I hugged Drew and someone took a picture. I swear he thinks I‘m cheating on him. I wouldn‘t do that Austin. I couldn‘t.”

The tears started to spill over and Zach practically had to hold me up. Austin reached out and took me from him. “Aww Livi.” My legs felt weak as he stood and held me from falling down. “You guys are going to be okay. Deep down I know he knows you‘d never cheat on him. I know he knows Drew wouldn‘t steal you from him either. He‘s simply blaming himself for the fact that you got lost outside.”

I shook my head. Maybe I’m naïve, but it felt like so much more was riding on our fight. I felt like I ruined everything. He lifted my head. “No matter what‘s running through his head there are two things him and all of us want for you. We want you to be happy and show everyone there‘s more to you than what they think. You‘ll regret not getting up there on stage.” I looked up at the stage again and half considered it. “Zach can run you back to the little store and warm up your voice like I did. He knows how.”

I turned around to face Zach and wiped my eyes. He nodded. “I will. There‘s a keyboard back at the skate shop. Scott brought it.” I looked back to Austin who smiled in encouragement and started walking back to the skate shop with Zach. Alex was still nowhere to be seen, and for a moment I was okay with that. 

The keyboard Scott brought was in an office behind the skate shop. Zach handed me a bottle of water from the mini fridge. “You okay now?”

I swallowed a huge gulp. “Yeah. I think so.”

His look was doubtful, but he described the vocal exercise he wanted and started playing so I could match the pitch. I let go of my horrible shyness and sang for him, but it didn’t feel right. My throat was still thick from crying and my voice kept cracking and breaking. He stopped with the keyboard. “Alright. You‘re still too upset. I‘m going to go grab Scott. I think he knows how to calm down your voice. Drink some water and take some deep breaths while I‘m gone.”