The Piano Player

Chapter Fifteen: Mailey

-Chapter 15-

The first thing I noticed when I walked through the backstage door was the silence.

Three girls were there already. They were sitting in three of the five chairs to my left, which were lined up against the wall.

The room was small, only a bit larger than a bathroom would be in a mansion. The carpet looked soft and blue, and the walls a dull shade of aqua. The foldout chairs the girls were sitting on in a row were a rusty tan color.

The girl closest to the door was probably 13 or 14. She had a mass of black curls on her head (reminded me of Harry a little) and was staring at her shoes. I could tell she was smiling.

To her left was an empty seat. To the left of that seat was a girl I recognized. It took me a minute to remember she was the one who had been sitting right next to me during the concert. She seemed to be around 13-14 herself. Her bright blue eyes were staring intently at the wall across from her. She was sitting on her hands and couldn't seem to sit still.

To her left, an eager-looking girl around was leaning on her arm and snapping gum obnoxiously.

Oh gosh, what am I going to have to go through to get Niall's attention?? This girl was gorgeous! She had pin-straight blonde hair that fell halfway down her back. She had dark green eyes that matched her outfit perfectly. She was clearly wearing a lot of makeup.

If she's going for Niall too, me and my mismatched socks are screwed.

To this girl's left was another empty seat.

I took the seat next to the Harry-haired girl and the one who had sat next to me before. It was so quiet other than the smacking of the cute girl's gum, I was almost afraid to breathe too loud.

I decided to start a conversation with the girl next to me.

"So," I said to Harry-haired girl. My voice sounded twice as loud as it probably was since it was so quiet. I felt everyone's eyes turn to me but didn't dare look at them. I may be outgoing with my friends, but NOT with strangers. "Which boy are you most excited to see?"

Harry-haired girl looked up at me. Her eyes were SO much like Samantha's. Exactly the same shade of chocolate brown.

It was only for an instant that she looked at me. She looked back down at her hands as she fiddled with her fingers. "I- I kinda wanna see the drummer... Josh?" she said quietly. Her voice was so sweet and soft. It was adorable.

"Really? That's cool! Do you play the drums?" I asked.

"Y-yeah..." she answered, almost sheepishly.

"Neat! I play piano," I told her.

I could see her smile slightly. It almost looked like she was smirking for an instant. But only for an instant, and it was a sweet smile again. I blinked.

"Cool," she said.

"So, um, how old are you?" I asked, desperate to keep the conversation going.

"Thirteen,"

"Awesome! I'm eighteen. We're only a few years apart!" I added.

I was able to start a pretty good conversation with her, and I think she enjoyed it. Well, maybe it was that she felt grown-up talking to a senior.

About 10 minutes later, another girl walked into the room with Paul, her eyes crazed and her hair slightly frizzed.

Aaahhh.

Though she was probably about ten, she scared me. She was large for her age, and her brown hair that was probably usually waist-length frizzed out to be much larger than it should be. Paul guided her to the chair on the end and turned to face us. He clapped his hands together and sighed. We could tell this was a speech coming.

"Oh, I forgot," I turned to Harry-haired girl. "What's your name?"

"Mailey. And you're Cynthia?" she said.

"Y-... Wait, I don't remember telling you my name..." I stuttered, looking at her weird.

She looked at me. "Y-yes you did. Um, when you were telling me about your brother! Remember?"

"Oh yeah..." I turned to face Paul again.

To be honest, I didn't remember ever telling her my name. But I must have. How else would she know it? I shrugged it off, ready to meet Niall and the others.

I felt jittery. I couldn't wait another moment!!

Paul began to speak.