Hi there to anyone left reading this story! I hope you're still enjoying it, I really do... It's exciting because this story is going to be on the wattpad Featured list on the 14th of February! So keep your eyes peeled!! This chapter is kind of important to me, because I love music, and, well, yeah... That's why it's dedicated to 'Little Comets' because I love their band I based 'The Lost Boys' on them...have a listen, they're wonderful xx
Lana, I’m sorry, there’s traffic on the M25 and if I could do something about it I really would. I nearly made it, if it’s any consolation. I wish you all of my luck, every little tiny bit I could muster, and I know you’re going to be brilliant. People are going to love you, Lana, I know it. I think partly why I love you so is because you don’t even realize how phenomenal you are; no one is as wonderful. I’m sorry, I’ll make it up to you. Kit xxx
I sighed, and ran my fingers through my messy, blonde hair. I was sad, because it would have meant the world to me to have him here, on such a momentous occasion. However, I wouldn’t let it ruin my evening, because I wanted to remember it as an incredible night, the first time performing to a crowd of strangers. I hoped people would enjoy it, would like our music.
“He didn’t make it?” Jimmy came and put an arm around me, taking a deep breath, his body a little shaky.
“No,” I frowned, sucking on my bottom lip perturbedly.
“I’m sure he tried, my sweet,” he kissed me on the cheek, “I’m going for a quick, stress cigarette.”
“Okay,” I giggled. “Hey, where’s Freddie and Seb?”
“In the dressing room, Seb’s going through some of the stuff with Freddie, last minute.”
“Alright,” I smiled, before he slipped off towards the backdoor. I started biting at the dead skin around my nails, hearing the crowd in the venue talking and laughing loudly. Then, someone gripped hold of my shoulders, squeezing tight.
“I nearly had you there, didn’t I?” He whispered, his warm breath misting against my skin. I couldn’t help but grin ecstatically, my cheeks tense, turning around and clasping my hands against his neck.
“You mean boy!” I laughed, beaming up at him.
“It was worth it for the look on your face right now,” Kit chuckled, leaning down and kissing me softly, gently pulling at my bottom lip. “Oh how I’ve missed you,” he said wryly, his fingers slowly roaming my face.
“I’m so happy you’re here,” I admitted.
“I couldn’t miss this, how could I?” He said helplessly.
“I don’t know,” I looked down modestly, “traffic.”
“Traffic cannot keep our love apart,” he whispered, making me laugh.
“Lana! Jimmy found me, told me to-” Dahlia bounded up the back steps and stopped when she saw me and Kit, entwined. I jumped back, squeezing Kit’s hand before letting go, regretfully. “I’m sorry, I didn’t, I, you made it!”
“I did,” Kit nodded, laughing, giving Dahlia a hug. “Nice to see you again.”
“You too,” she replied, “as always.”
“I’m glad you came,” I turned to Dahlia and held onto her arm, looking at her earnestly. “I’m so nervous.”
“Of course you are,” she just giggled, “I’d be more surprised if you weren’t!” We stood in awkward silence for a moment or two, looking at each other, sharing shy smiles. “Hey,” Dahlia started to speak again, taking a deep breath, “Sacha’s out there.”
“Oh?” I pouted, waiting to see what else she had to say.
“I think she wants to talk to you, she tried your phone but-”
“-It’s in the dressing room,” I explained, Dahlia nodded, rolling her lips together. “I should talk to her.”
“Maybe,” she nodded.
“Okay, okay,” I said, as if talking to myself. “I’ll be back in a minute,” I kissed Kit briefly before following Dahlia towards the door which led out into the main part of the venue, the pit, where crowds of teenagers would dance around manically.
“They were just over here before I left,” Dahlia held onto my hand and led me through the crowd. Little did anyone know I would be the one performing in just a few minutes time, this girl in the crowds, with nothing seemingly exceptional about her.
“Lana!” Mina saw me and exclaimed, wrapping her arms tight around me, beginning to laugh in my ear. “I can’t believe this is happening! I’m so excited!” She grinned, and I just nodded, shrugging.
“Things have been surreal for a little while now,” I twitched my lips.
“We can’t wait to hear your music, the band’s going to sound great,” Gracie gave me a hug, and I waved to the larger group behind them, of all my other school friends. From the looks of it, most of my form had turned up.
“Well, let’s hope,” I held up my fingers, the index and third crossed one over the other. “We had a bit of a debacle earlier.” I confessed, sighing wearily.
“What happened? Are you alright?” Sacha piped up then, and I could tell that everyone else was waiting to see what would happen next, how I would react.
“I’m fine,” I smiled weakly. “And look, I’m sorry about what happened-”
“-No, I’m sorry,” Sacha interrupted me.
“Seriously, I shouldn’t have called you a fucking Bolshevik,” I grimaced, “I really shouldn’t.”
“Maybe I deserved it,” she smiled, making me giggle. “Come here,” she gave me a hug, pressing her hands comfortingly against my back. “Oh I’ve missed you,” she admitted, which made me even happier, because I’d missed her too.
“Me too,” I grinned, uttering into her ear.
“What happened earlier? Do you want to talk about it?” Sacha pulled away and frowned.
“It was just Patrick being a dick, nothing new there,” I rolled my eyes.
“Yes,” someone behind me let out a low, husky chuckle, “I hear he does that rather a lot.” I turned around to see Patrick standing there, his hands stuffed in his pockets, looking rather shy and apologetic.
“I’ll come find you guys after the show, okay? Don’t leave until you’ve seen me,” I told my friends, before taking Patrick’s arm and leading him over to a quieter part of the room. “You came,” I smiled at him, but he just shrugged.
“I know it’s strange, but I kind of couldn’t bear to miss it, not after all the work we’d put into it,” he confessed. “Even if I’m not going to be in it, I’d like to see the end result.”
“I can understand that,” I nodded, licking my lips.
“Look, I know I was a real idiot earlier, saying all that stuff about wanting to fuck you.”
“Thanks for reminding me,” I said sarcastically, making him chuckle.
“You’re right, I didn’t love you, I don’t love you,” Pat continued.
“Oh, this just gets better and better,” I beamed, holding my head up so I was looking him in the eyes, craning because of his height.
“But just because I don’t love you, doesn’t mean I don’t care for you. I do, I really do. I realized, after Jimmy, or should I say The Incredible Sulk, kicked me out, just how much I’ve loved the past few weeks. I like seeing you, talking to you, the flirtatious banter, the humour.” I think it was the most sincere I had ever heard him, “I have never found another human being, let alone another girl whom I find I have such a connection with. It helps that you’re so bloody attractive.”
“Finally, a compliment,” I joked.
“I understand that nothing can ever happen between us, and I will give up now, but don’t let me lose you completely. I may never be your boyfriend again, your lover, but let me be your friend, let me be there for you, Lana,” his eyes were wide, compelling. I didn’t really know what to say, because it was rare he and I had such deep conversations.
“I would never want to lose you, Patrick,” I grinned hopelessly. “But, sometimes, you can just be such an arse.”
“I know, I know! I’m really going to try and hold it back, I swear,” he stopped abruptly, “but I can’t promise I’ll be a completely changed man, I can’t get rid of all my arrogance now, can I?”
“I wouldn’t like you if you did,” I agreed.
“How nostalgic we’re being,” he chuckled, and I thought I noticed a slight tear to his eye. “Come on now, you’ve got to go and be this incredible rockstar, win the world over with the same charm which totally enchanted me.”
“You know you can’t be in the band again,” I warned him, “despite that heartwarming apology.”
“I know, I know, I’ll always cause too much trouble, Freddie’s much better suited,” he snuffled.
“Freddie’s already in a band,” I reminded him.
“I know Fred, I’ve known him a longtime,” Pat shook his head, “he wants this, he just doesn’t know it yet.” I was engulfed in his arms then, the smell of his aftershave suffocating me with warmth and familiarity, like an old family friend.
“Patrick!” I heard my father’s voice, calling out.
“Hi there Mr O,” Pat gave him a high five, feeding his embarrassing habits.
“Hey dad,” I smiled, giving him and my mum a hug.
“I’ve got the film camera ready,” my dad brandished a camera and I rolled my eyes.
“Well, this is where I think I’ll leave,” I giggled, squeezing Pat’s arm gently.
“Good luck!” He shouted after me as I disappeared back into the crowd and went backstage once more, finding Jimmy, Seb and Freddie all pacing nervously, talking to Kit.
“There she is!” Kit saw me and I began to blush.
“Are you ready to rock this?” Jim held me by the shoulders and I just nodded, grinning at him.
“I’ve been waiting my whole life,” I said honestly.
“I’ve been in my band for three years and this is the biggest gig I’ve ever played,” Freddie let out a shiver, wiggling his fingers about, warming them up.
“It’s going to be incredible, I’m sure,” Kit reassured all three of us and we took a deep breath. “I’ll be taking pictures,” he held up his phone and Seb let out a nervous laugh.
“I think I’m going to vomit,” he confessed, holding his hands against his stomach.
“Let’s just do it,” I said suddenly, “come on,” I had been hit with adrenaline, and took Jimmy’s hand. The technicians turned down the lights and switched on the stage ones, bright blue and pink and green. The whole crowd began to cheer, wildly. I knew about ninety-five percent of that audience were friends and family of ours, but that didn’t matter, we were here, about to play our first gig.
“Guys,” I stopped and put my arms around all three of them. “I love all of you, let’s kick arse out there.”
“Nice words,” Jim said sarcastically, “not at all cliched,” I whacked him in the stomach and he began to chuckle.
We walked onto the stage and the room erupted, people’s screaming echoing in my ears. I looked over to Jimmy who was just making some final adjustments to his guitar, before his started playing the intro to the first song on our setlist.
“Hi guys,” I smiled, stepping up to the mic and speaking into it, my voice catching. “So, this is our first gig, we’re quite nervous so be nice,” I heard a few people giggling. Jim continued to play the riff in the background. It helped that the stage lights were positioned so, so that I could barely see anyone’s face in the crowd. “This is Jimmy,” I gestured to him and his eyes lifted as he waggled his eyebrows charmingly, “Seb back there on drums, and Freddie on bass.” I took a deep breath, lowering my eyes and trying to hold it all together. “I’m Lana, and we are The Lost Boys,” as the words left my lips, I didn’t believe that anything else could ever sound as sweet.
“You said, you never heard anyone say the things I said,” as I began to sing I heard some of my friends whooping loudly, spurring me on. “You cry, I’d ask but you’d never really want to tell me why.” I knew that the drums were about to kick in and I moved about in perfect rhythm, feeling the bass deep within my chest, replacing my heartbeat. “The world is crumbling now at such a startling rate. Cross my heart, it’s delicate, oh, wow, I never saw it coming, how you’d catch me out.”
The gig went on like this, song after song, lyrics pouring from my heart, the ones I had learnt off by heart. The crowd were loving it, although, as I said before, most of them were just our friends. Playing the music felt different to how it felt when we were rehearsing, it felt real now. This night had made me realize just how realistic it was that we could make a living from doing what we love. I could do this every night, and get paid for it.
It reached the second to last song and I was getting pretty worn out, clammy from where the stage lights burnt against my skin. I had slipped off my shoes, preferring to dance across the stage bare foot than in my clumpy creepers.
“Okay, so we’re coming to the end of our little soiree,” I giggled, my voice echoing around the room in waves. “This next song is called The Runaways,” I pursed my lips as the drums started and Jim did a guitar line. I was playing guitar in this one, giving it more punch, more strength, so Jimmy could play riffs over the top of my chords.
“And as morning light shatters, on these broken hearted dreams. You blink so slowly, sometimes I wonder if you’re living, but then you’re heart will flutter, feel so soft against mine. And then your lips will mutter, something sweet and oh so ironic. Hypnotic.” The way my voice caught, didn’t sound bad in a venue this size, it seemed almost as if I did it on purpose, because it made us sound more unique. “Let’s run away,” I closed my eyes, and cupped the microphone in my hands, biting my lip and letting the melody sink through my skin, “To a foreign land, where our awkward hearts can be. Where no one speaks and no one knows just who we want to be.”
People were dancing below us, as if one large organism, moving synchronously. Some had their arms up in the air, swaying to the beat, others were swaying their hips from side to side. It made me happy to know that what I was doing in that second, made other people happy, excited. Once the song had finished I tried to get my breath back, standing close to the mic, breathing into it heavily.
“So, this song is our last song, unfortunately,” I frowned and people in the audience booed, making me laugh. “It’s been such an amazing time, hasn’t it?” I turned to my boys and they all made concurring noises. “Thanks so much for having us, I hope you’ve enjoyed yourselves, we’ll see you on the other side.” I let out a hopeless smile and my eyes drifted to the area off stage, where Kit was standing. He winked at me and that made me bite my lip in delight. “Over to my good friend Jim.”
I kicked my leg out towards Jimmy before getting my keyboard out, standing it in front of me, adjusting the volume. The room fell silent and I started to play, a sequence me and Jimmy had composed together. It was one of those moments where everything seemed so still, as if the whole universe had stopped what it was doing to just listen to what we were doing in this one moment.
“It’s hard to hear, it’s hard to say, I’m drowning in words of such infinite haze,” Jimmy started to sing and I had to try and not get lost in his timbre. “I’m good with numbers, I can count to ten, but even I know this is the start of the end,” it was one of those melodies which made you want to cry, and I did, a single tear, which trickled onto the keys of my instrument. I glanced up at Jimmy and he smiled meekly at me, he understood. “End, end,” I was so transfixed I almost forgot to carry on playing, “We had a good run and now my hearts all torn, but I’m better off now, than I was before.” I carried on with the piano, the chords perfect in every way.
Once I’d finished, the whole room went still, and I looked up and saw the venue alight, with people’s cheap plastic lighters or phone screens set too bright. I locked eyes with Jim again and he leant forward towards the microphone, caressing it gently.
“Thank you,” he said softly, and that was enough. I went over to him and linked arms, going up on my tip toes and kissing him on the cheek before giving the crowd a quick salute and going off stage. Seb threw away his drumsticks and caused a riot of girly screams. I could not have imagined the night going so well. This was my perfection, this was where I wanted to be for the rest of my life.