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Chapter 5- The big day

A week had passed and it was finally the day of the show. Fortunately, I recovered soon enough to be able to make it.

I was kind of late.

The show was about to start in about 30 minutes and I was still searching for the green room as I wanted to see the band before the show started to wish them good luck.

The place where the show was organized was huge, with so many different rooms that I thought I would never be able to find it. But somehow after a few minutes of walking and asking for directions, I finally did. I stood in front of a door that said "green room" under which was a paper stuck that read "reserved for Arctic Monkeys".

I knocked on the door and I heard Alex say "come in."

When I opened the door I saw Alex, sitting on the couch with his Gibson strapped to him. He seemed to be doing some last-minute tuning.

"Hey," I said and waved at him.

As soon as he saw me he put his guitar down, ran toward me and hugged me.

"I didn't think you were gonna make it on time," he said, squeezing me tightly.

I noticed that his voice sounded lower than usual. Like he was upset or deeply bothered by something. He sure seemed excited to see me as we hadn't seen each other in a while due to the show rehearsals but at the same time, he looked upset.

"Well, better late than never I guess. Where are the rest of the boys?" I asked eagerly, looking around as it was just Alex in the room.

"Oh yeah. They must be backstage" He replied and I nodded.

"Everything okay by the way?" I finally asked.

"Yeah. Yeah, everything is okay" He was quick to respond.

"You don't have to lie to me, Al," I said as I grabbed his shivering hand. He was cold as ice.

"Well, it's just me nerves again. It's stupid. It's nothing. Don't worry about it" He said glumly.

"Oh Al, it's not stupid at all," I said, rubbing my palms against his hand to comfort him.

"I mean, I dunno it's just the what ifs.
You know? Like, what if I mess up? I know I've been doing this for a decade now but I always feel this way before a show" He rubbed his forehead as he said.

"Everyone messes up sometimes and that's totally okay. Besides, you're Alex fucking Turner. You should be the last one to doubt yourself" I said and he gave me an unexpected side hug.

"You're gonna be great tonight, I'm telling you again," I said, placing my head on his shoulder.

"Thank you, love. I hope the same" He said, finally with a genuine smile.

"And if you feel nervous on stage. Just look at me. You'll find me in the crowd, always" I said, comforting him again.

"Always." He said as he smiled and grabbed the neck of his guitar.

***

Alex's POV

I walked out on the stage and waved at the crowd that was already cheering and applauding, as soon as they saw me.

If there was one thing I hated about open-stage shows, it was this. Being able to see the large crowd standing in front of me. Concerts felt a lot more comfortable but this certainly made me more anxious.

My nerves kicked in again, but I tried to play it cool. I greeted the crowd as always and picked up my guitar.

I tapped on the microphone a few times to check if it was working, then adjusted the stand to my height.