If I'm There - Noah Sebastian

Chapter 9 - I'll move heaven and hell.

I wake up to the sound of someone vomiting in the bathroom. It's definitely May. The number of times I've held her hair and taken her makeup off after a night out, I could pick it out of a thousand vomit noises. Gross but true.

I look over and see Noah fast asleep with his earphones in, clearly not a fan of having to listen to it.

Fuck. My head. I feel like my brain has swollen and can no longer fit inside my skull. Is that from those tequila shots or just because I stood up too fast?
I make my way to the bathroom and gently knock before heading in to deal with May.

"Thanks for taking my makeup off last night, Lou. I don't think I could even see last night after how much I drank.”
"Yeah, well, how many times do I have to tell you how -"
"Bad it is for my skin, yeah yeah," she groans, cutting me off.

I help tidy her up, keep her company in the shower, making sure she doesn't accidentally drown herself, and clean up the bathroom. We head out and are met with a lot of groans and mumbles of "good morning".
Noah has arisen from his bed and is lay cuddling Folio on the sofa. Their bromance is endearing.

"Who's having a brew?"

"What the fuck is a brew?" Folio spits.

May shoots him a disgusted look before breaking into laughter at the sight of the lip liner art Noah and I created on his face.

"What's funny?" He scoffs

May shrugged her shoulders smiling and dropped her head back on the sofa closing her eyes.

"Tea and coffee?"

All the lads synchronously mumble for coffee.

I know May will want a tea so I do the round of handing out the mugs of brew to everyone before finally sitting down next to Jolly on the floor and placing my head on his shoulder.

"GOOD MORNING BITCHES," Jesse sings as he walks into the front room.

I swear that guy's body evaporates all the alcohol in his system during sleep because he wakes up fresh as a daisy. Every. Damn. Time.

Everyone frowns and shoots him a death stare.

"Alright tough crowd, I'll go get us all McDonald’s breakfast. Lou, text me everyone's orders."
I flinch with disgust at the thought of food, but I follow his instructions and text him everyone's orders.

***

It's a very calm day today. May and Jesse head back to their hotel for a nap while Noah and I head back to his bunk for some time to ourselves.

"I really enjoyed last night, even if I did drink way too much," I muffled while cuddling into him.
"Ha, yeah, me too. You can really put it away."
"Well, that's what years of going on nights out in Manchester’s gay village does to you."
I can feel his eyes burning into my soul and I look up to be met with a hint of worry.
"Hey, what's up?" I softly say while placing my hand on his face.
"Nothing, I just really... like you. You're warming my heart that's been cold for a very long time."
"Shall we go for a walk?"
He looks at me clearly very confused that I ignored his last statement.
"Erm?"
"Come on, I need out of this van. It smells like alcohol and drunken sweat so let's go."
I throw on my leggings and Noahs BO t-shirt as well as the hoodie he gave me on our first night together.

The stagnant humid air hits us and I have to admit, it's making this hangover worse but I know a walk is what we need. I've known this once stranger for all of 3 days, I think? But he feels like home.

"Sorry, I needed to get out of there. It was making me claustrophobic and hot. A walk will help burn any alcohol out your system before we head to Nottingham tonight anyway," I joked.

"Try being on there for weeks at a time," he laughs.

We walk in silence for a bit, neither of us knowing where we're going, swirving different streets and corners before coming to a field.

I sit down and take my hoodie off to lie it under our heads and gesture for him to lie with me.

"Does it ever get too much for you?" I break the silence.
"In what way? The touring or the fans?"
"All of it. I saw the way you were on Saturday with those fans, which is why I decided to save you even though I know nothing about nail polish. "

He started with a big sigh.

"Well, yeah, definitely. You know, we've worked on this band for 6/7 years to reach this point, so it's something I was expecting, obviously. I think sometimes people forget we’re actually people; normal guys who fuck about and play video games but also just play music because we love it. It's difficult because it's what comes with the territory, and that's why I keep all my socials bare. I'm not actively on anything so they don't get that insight into my private life. I look through the band's Instagram to look at Fan Art and the talent the fan base has because it's incredible to see, but I know when to stop myself because I see so much sexulising of the band and that's not why we created this. People don't have a right to do that and it pisses me off."

Wow. He is so fragile and it's made me fall for him even harder. This hard 6'3 giant, covered in tattoos who Screams on stage has the insides that resemble that of Lava and I think he's so precious for that.

"Yeah I totally get you. No matter how hard you've worked to put your music out there into the world and to share your talents, no one has a right to the other side of you guys that I've been so appreciative to see. It must get hard to find the genuinity in people and separate it from who's looking for a picture and 15 seconds."

"Exactly! That's why I was so glad that you didn't know who I was. I literally just wanted to get some nail polish and get back to the van but I'm so glad you came over."

"It made me pissed you know? Those girls. I don't know why but I could hear them whispering behind me talking about you and just invading your time and space. I get you said that it's part of the terriory, taking pictures and meeting fans and you're happy to do that... but to not even stand and ask how you're doing, or just have a conversation? I don't know, rubbed me the wrong way and I didn't even know you then."

I get him. I don't know how or why, but I get him. He really is a normal guy and I want to make sure he knows he never has to hide his true self around me.

"Thanks, it means a lot. That’s all I ever want from someone. To see both sides of my life and understand each one and I feel like you do. You'd make a great girlfriend," he winked.

I give him a shove and chuckle "easy now Noah, you have to take me on a proper date first!"

If he asked me to be his girlfriend now, I would. I'm not ready to let my walls down just yet so I'll have to keep him on his toes and hope it doesn't push him away.

He leans in for a kiss, a gentle but loving kiss. Almost as if I'm already his and he's already mine. We both know it, but it's not time yet.

What happens when his tour finishes and he's back in Richmond, Virginia? That's over 16 hours away, 3618 miles apart and 5 hours time difference.

I don’t know how it'll work, but I'll move heaven and hell to make sure it does.