cigarettes [Leighton Murray]

it's not living (if it's not with you)

A/N: just a heads up this is a very long chapter compared to the others

"so are we all set?" aiden tapped his foot anxiously 

the four were huddled up backstage, the party had begun an hour ago and people were still arriving. 

"yes, aiden" rue put her hand on the man's knee in an attempt to calm him down 

"i think it's time we get on the stage" flynn picked up his bass, the rest agreed letting aiden take charge and walked onto the stage 

"how are we feeling tonight?" his whole demeanor changed once he spoke into the mic. the crowd erupt in cheers "not many people knew about us and i see many new faces" he narrowed his eyes to the crowd 

meanwhile flynn plugged his bass in, quinn sat on the drums and rue plugged into the amplifier. followed by the three plugging their earplugs in. she looked around for someone, disappointment washed over her. it's not like she was expecting leighton, but maybe she was. 

"so, this is our first song and it's called 'why'd you only call me when you're high' let's go" aiden looked at rue to begin and she did followed by flynn and quinn. 

"so" aiden began a couple songs later "as many of you might still now know, this place is called 'the extacy' and we don't have an exact timeline on when it started because of how notorously private it has been all along" he took the mic off the stand and put his other hand over the stand, as he always does 

"do you think she's gonna show?" flynn whispered to rue about leighton 

"i don't know and i don't really care" she scoffed quietly 

"yeah, flynn" quinn agreed "it's not like she made a song for her and wanted her to hear it fir the first time here" she said making rue glare at her. 

the songs continued and it only made rue lose more and more hope of leighton showing up. it was nearing the end of their set and close to the song that she was gonna sing, 'hated to admit but', for leighton.

she was so focused on getting the perfect riff that she missed flynn trying to say something with his eyes. 

when she finally looked up though, she saw the blonde in the crowd. their eyes met for just a moment but it was enough for rue to mess up her part. she tried backtracking and looked back. leighton was with, tatum, of fuckin course she thought to herself 

aiden suddenly turned around 

"rue, you gotta sing the next one, it's 'snap out of it' i'll take your guitar" he told her and she was surprised but did not thing twice before holding the mic and giving aiden the guitar 

"so" she looked around "things switched up a bit, huh?" she panicked and spoke in a british accent. 

leighton who was listening intently laughed a bit at that. she knew rue's habit and it reminded her of some good times when rue used her accent. 

"this next one's called uh" her heart skipped a beat when leighton laughed "snap out of it" she did snap out of it 

quinn started the drums and rue tapped her leg to the beat before getting close to the mic and singing 

What's been happenin' in your world?
What have you been up to?
I heard that you fell in love or near enough
I gotta tell you the truth, yeah 

she looked at leighton, clearly communicating what she means. even when leighton was in a conversation with tatum, the latter clearly distressed about something but leighton seemed like she couldn't care less about anything else other than the singer on stage