Ghost Of You (AI)

13.

Opening act

Hannah's POV

With one song left in my set I realized how truly weird it was to be doing this without Jada. I mean although she's sitting in the back watching, in the back of my mind I still know she's supposed to be standing right beside me.

I had to sing most of her favorite songs and solos but a lot of it just went straight to the crowd.

I think they were expecting me to cry during them though and maybe even thought it was a little weird when I didn't.

But how could I? She's just standing right over there.

I looked over to the stage exit to verify my thoughts but only got rejected.

Ha, story of my life.

Wait a minute.

I whipped my head to the other side of the stage just in case she had wandered around knowing that no one would question it anyway (due to the lack of visibility she withheld.) But only felt a tap on my shoulder.

Motherfu-

Music started playing from my ear piece again notifying that I had no time to mentally curse myself for ever bringing up the song around her and that I still had people to entertain.

The final song in my set was a song that was very well known to be a tear jerker for the audience.

Jada and I wrote it about some celebrities we thought we'd never have a chance with and were utterly heartbroken by it but of course we never told people that.

We made the lyrics relatable to any modern day 'one sided love story' and never really addressed the matter after that.

I just still think it's kinda funny though.

I let the crowd sing the final chorus knowing that particular verse belonged to Jada.

The audience was full of crying faces that seemed to cheer me on and yell encouraging words.

Some of which included "You're so strong!" and "She's so proud of you!"

You have no idea how wrong you are.

Nonetheless I smiled in gratitude and took my final bow as the lights lowered and I made my way to the stage exit I had glanced to just minutes before.

The moment I walked through each boy congratulated and hugged me numerous amounts of times and gave me some of the same comments the crowd just had previously.

I smiled in return and pretended like I needed a moment to 'regain my strength' (or something like that) and go to the bathroom.

The boys all agreed that was for the best right now and all hurried to prepare to make their dramatic debut on stage. Michael however, continuously offered to skip the entire show just to make sure I was okay.

"Michael I'm gonna be fine." I said with a large smile hoping it would be enough for him to join his friends. "Go play your show and make sure you sing your solos extra loud for me, k?" I pleaded, patting his arm.

"Fine." He groaned. "But don't let me find out you went in there crying cause i'll run off stage immediately." He pointed, trying to sound stern.

Yeah I don't think I'll be the crying one.

"You got it dude." I said giving two thumbs up.

He hugged me in response as his band mates yelled for him to join them at the entryway I had just left out of. He reluctantly let go but eventually obliged to their calls and grabbed his guitar from a team member before running to his spot on the far right of the stage.

Thousands of screams and hollers were heard all through the arena as I stood and admired from afar.

A single guitar riff was heard signifying that the all time classic 'She Looks So Perfect' was first on the set list.

I took a moment to get lost in the way they all looked, living out their dreams before I felt a more aggressive tap on my shoulder this time.

"Jesus Christ Jada i'm coming." I growled.

——

"What?" I said shutting and locking the bathroom door, pretending I didn't already know what this was about.

"Don't give me that sh*t you know exactly what." She spat.

"Is this about the song?" I said, still acting slightly clueless.

"I don't know if you realize but I don't really have a social life anymore besides you and sometimes the old lady with Alzheimer's in the apartment beside us so I want you to take a moment and think if there's anything else possibly going on at the moment." She snapped.

She had every right to be mad, honestly. Maybe I shouldn't have hid it from her. I mean if the situation was flipped and Michael wrote a song for me i'd wanna hear it too.

"Okay, i'm sorry. I shouldn't have hid it from you. I just didn't want you to worry about him." I said still slightly trying to defend myself in any way I could.

"I worry about him every day, Hannah." She said desperately. "This might be the only thing that makes me calm down."

I highly doubt that.

"I mean if you really wanna hear it I can pull it up right now." I said retrieving my phone from my back pocket and unlocking it.

She started to fidget, seeming almost nervous now that her request was actually being fulfilled.

"It's not sh*t I promise. It's on the radio like all the time." I reassured, hoping that would calm her nerves.

"I'm not worried about that." She smiled.

I didn't reply, just pressed play. Knowing my words couldn't do what his were about to.

The moment the song started she sat and stared at the wall, taking every last word and chord change in. Analyzing them to the fullest extent.

You know, you never truly see a song's true full purpose and meaning until you're sitting with Delilah herself.

Although I had pictured her screaming and crying when she finally heard this song, she just remained on the floor with her legs tucked up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them with a sweet, content smile on her face.

The song finally ended as I looked to her face for a reaction. When she didn't really provide one I decided I would just go ahead and get the answers myself.

"What'd you think?" I asked, pursing my lips together, still slightly scared she might burst into tears at any moment.

"It was pretty." She simply stated with a soft tone. You almost would have never known she had just blown up at me moments before. "It's good to know he still cares." She mumbled, her smile faltering.

"Lots of people still care, Jada." I reasoned.

"Lots of people don't really mean anything when you look for one person in all their faces." She stared off, letting her head lean against the wall behind her.

I paused letting her fully grasp the song in her mind all over again until her content smile came back.

"Do you really talk to Ms. Jane?" I asked letting my question echo off the now quiet walls.

"Yeah she doesn't remember I died anyway." She shrugged.

I truly don't even think I can be mad about that. I'm more just... Impressed?

———————-

A/N i just wanna say that this is my first fan fiction so if it's literal a*s i'm sorry. butttttt we're like #46 in 5sos so that's cool i think. i know it's not much but hey i'll take what i can get.