The Loud Crowd

6. I Can't Help Falling in Love With You

Hey guys! I have a feeling that most of you will rather like this one... I only really finished figuring ou the plot for it the other day. 

And yes, you should read a lot into the Chapter Title      ;)

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Two days before we were due to set off in the bus and rock out thirty arenas, it was my birthday. It was also a week before Christmas. I had always hated how close my birthday was to Christmas, because it meant that people were so busy rushed off their feet for the holidays that my special was kinda hasty and always felt unfinished. 

Besides, I was turning nineteen, and yet had already had a few hit songs and a best-selling EP. My birthday reminded me that I was not anywhere close to being done yet. In fact, it made me feel younger than ever, which is so not the way birthdays are supposed to work.

I woke up at the 8:00 alarm, and just lay in bed for a while, staring at the poster-sized album cover from our EP on the opposite wall. Elliot was throwing me a party later that night and apparently, it was a black-tie event. I had thought that since it was my birthday, the dress code should have been a bit more... well, me. But I didn't want to give Elliot any kind of resentment - out loud, anyway.

Dad burst into my room. "Get out of bed. Its your birthday - and this year, we are doing it properly." He said without so much as a good morning. 

I scowled from underneath the covers. "I'm tired. We were rehearsing until one in the morning! At least give me another hour, please." I groaned. 

I heard him snort. "Not likely. We are doing your birthday right this year - no Christmas stress, and no Kick the Crown. Get. Up."

The door slammed and I rolled over. There was no Christmas stress for me - it was all Tour Stress. Seeing as we would be playing on Christmas Eve, there was a huge chance I'd sleep through Christmas Day anyway. It'd be spent in the bus. 

I slid out of bed and attempted to flatten my hair down. Sliding on some black cotton shorts and the red t-shirt of Nate's I'd stolen, I picked up a piece of paper from the dressing table. It was Nate's lyric - once tightly folded, now smoothed out since I'd carried it almost everywhere with me since getting it. 

I knew it when I met you, I'm not gonna let you run away

I wondered if he'd read mine. This lyric had spent hours clutched in my hand or slid into a pocket. It had become to feel like a good luck charm. Maybe I'd need one today.

Sighing and sliding the lyric into the front of my song book, I padded out to the living room.

There was a tray set up on the coffee table, holding a plate of scrambled eggs and a glass of orange juice. Dad was pacing by the CD stand, speaking on the phone. 

I grinned when he looked my way, before settling onto my sofa and tucking into the birthday breakfast. I was surprised at all this, seeing as I hadn't even realised Dad remembered that scrambled eggs were my favourite breakfast food.

Snapping his phone shut, Dad said, "That was Elliot. Apparently, I'm invited to this birthday bash they're throwing for you tonight."

I smiled. "Of course you are," I mumbled, around a mouthful of egg. "Do you even own a suit? I mean, we're supposed to treat it as a very formal occasion."

He rolled his eyes. "That's riduculous. Even I know you'd rather spend you're birthday in that smelly studio singing some song from fifty years ago."

Another shocker. I was still getting used to having my Dad remember things about me, and seeming like he actually cared. 

I shrugged. "I don't mind. It's nice that Aware has put some thought into it, I suppose. I'm going to Springbreak for the day though, I can get ready later on."