Masquerade (Liam Payne)

Chapter 12 ~ Tammy

When he is with Zayn, he tends to look tougher, yet at the same time he takes this very father-like figure, taking care of him. When he is with Niall, it’s all laughter and cuteness –he looks more of a boy when he is with the blond bloke. When he is around Phebs –this blonde girly girl that has the same saint look that Liam–, he is even more of a goody person. It’s like his look of good boy reaches Jupiter. When he is with Kay around, he becomes playful and a bit sassy, too. When he is around Alex he is a geek, they talk about comics and stuff like that. I’ve noticed all this and I haven’t spent much time with all of them! But as I see all these sides of Liam I wonder, which one is the real one? Does he even know?

Due to the charity, I spend a lot of time with this Wolverhampton boy –yes, against my will, he shares a lot of his life with me so I know where he is from–, so I tend to notice things about him and I guess I’m developing a soft spot on him. It’s not like I like him now or anything, he is still a person, a legal adult, therefore I’ll always be cautious around him, but I’ve learnt to respect him secretly. For once, he is talented and although he is not a master, he plays decently and he is improving with the guitar. He has an amazing voice and he knows how to play with it, to reach very low and then very high notes. He has helped me with that a bit. Second, he is great with kids.

There’s a thing about kids with troubled families. Psychologically speaking, they are unpredictable because the have never had someone to trust, someone who would give them shelter. One day they can hug you and be the nicest person, the next they will not even look at you and the next they will attack you. You can never know how they will react. We’ve seen them changing like this, they have attacked us and in those situations of stress, Liam has known how to react while I tend to panic myself, my mind betraying me with memories that freeze my muscles. And for that reason, I respect him very much. In panic situations, Liam stays calm and can do something about it. He is stable in those cases.

“Where’s Liam?” Ray asks bringing me back from my land of thoughts. “Is he getting ready?”

“Yeah, I should be getting ready too but I wanted to say hi,” I answer with my own smile. Then I look at the rest of the group, all of them chatting excitedly, waiting for the show. “And you? Are you all okay? Do you need anything?” I ask louder so they can hear me clearly.

“We’re fine,” Roxy answers for all of them and I show my thumbs up.

“Great, then I should go to the dressing room to get ready. I’ll see you around,” I tell Ray again and ruffle his hair before turning on my heels and going back from where I came from.

On my way to the dressing room I run into Liam, as if my thoughts have summoned him. “Here you are! Kim was asking for you,” he said referring to Kim, our makeup artist.

“I was talking to the kids,” I reply shrugging as I try to walk past him but he stops me by grabbing my elbow.

“Hey Tammy, I need to ask you something,” he starts but I stop him.

“Is it important? Can it wait? I have to get ready. Maybe after the gig?” I suggest coldly, not showing any kind of interest.

“Uh… I guess it can wait.” I look at my elbow where his hand is still resting and he notices this, so he lets go and I can resume my walking again, leaving him behind. I don’t care about waiting for him, he looks ready while I haven’t even changed.

I just hope this gig goes great.

+ + + + +

The theatre where we’re playing is packed. And when I say packed I really mean it. It’s so full I wonder if they oversold tickets. Anyways, all those people are here to see us play, One Direction and Prodigy, all together for the same good cause. Kay and Peter –the cameraman who’s always with her– are always following us all to take some good shots. Outside on the stage, Radio BBC1 has a few cameras to broadcast the gig for free online. Grimmy is right now on stage, explaining what’s going to happen and presenting us.

I must confess, I’m nervous. I always get nervous and excited before a gig, but this time I’m even more nervous. What we’re doing today means a lot to me, more than anyone can imagine. I need this to be perfect, I really want to make all the kids of the charity happy. I want them to feel that this has been the best concert ever.

I know many people are sceptical about this collaboration, I was myself, but I want to show them all that we can do anything. Prodigy is a band that came here to change many things, to destroy many misconceptions. Playing with One Direction, a super mainstream boy band is one of the many things we will do to show what we’re capable of. I want all the fans that are here only for the boys to leave this theatre wanting to hear more of us. I want them to come here as Directioners but leave as Prodigers, as well.

“Ready?” Liam asks next to me and for a second I look at him and smile. This is important to him, too. I can feel it.

“I was born ready,” I answer cockily and he chuckles. “Let’s do this shit!” I exclaim loudly and I hear the screams of agreement.

“Okay, it’s ready, go!” Alex instructs us when Grimmy finally ends the introduction and she does her magic behind stage, playing with the lights to create a more dramatic effect.

And we run to the stage, screams filling our ears as we take our positions and the girls and I grab our instruments, getting ready to kick off the show.

Leanne makes the countdown and without saying a single thing, we start playing Tell Me A Lie, one of their songs from the first album. Liam told me that Kelly Clarkson wrote it and I like that, I like Kelly. The crowd goes crazy and they grow more euphoric as they start to take notice of the changes we made to the song and then when we join in the chorus.

It sounds so powerful, so full of life, so natural and as usual, I let myself go as I’m on stage. It’s the music and I, nothing else. My guitar and I, we’re one and although I still can hear the screams of the crowd over the song, they are background noise. I’m barely conscious of the mini crowd on stage, I just let the music move me.

Like that, we go song by song, entertaining the audience, amusing them. The guys are great at that, at making them laugh and coo like stupid. I find myself laughing, too.

After One Direction’s song, we start playing ours and there’s a bit more silent response, but soon we get them. I know that when they start screaming louder, when they try to sing along, when they start jumping and going crazy. I know in that moment when I look at them shouting Prodigy that we got them.

By when we play the last song, we can only hear complains. People demanding for more, begging for a few more songs and that means only one thing: this night was a success.

When we’re backstage again, the girls and I find ourselves trapped in a group hug and for the first time, we don’t mind. We’re so thrilled and hyper after the gig that we can’t do anything. We cheer and celebrate all together for the epic success of this show.

We did it! We actually did it!

“Congratulations, guys!” We hear and break the weird group hug to see Grimmy approaching us. “You did amazingly. The city got so many visits we almost collapsed. Thank goodness Alex was here,” he says and gives the geek girl a thumbs-up. “I’m very proud of all of you and before I start crying, I just wanna say, well done.”

“Aw, my sensitive Grimmy! Come to mama!” Leanne teases him, going to hug him making a few of us chuckle.

“We have to celebrate!” Niall exclaims and I look at the girls. Yes, we’re going to celebrate, but with them? Should we? I see them shrugging, even Sky, so I assume that none of them mind.

“Let’s do it!” I agree and I see surprise in the boy’s faces, but also joy that this time, we’re joining them for something that is not job related.

Yeah, we have to admit that they are not terrible. They may look like good, cute, little boys, but they are fun. We can bear with that.

-:-:-:-

Dedication to @KateWells7 for that amazing comment!

Bel, xx

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