Second part for the night! Longest one yet, I think!! Enjoy!
“Damn it’s hot.” Ollie complained, folding his arms in annoyance.
“Don’t blame me, idiot.” I smirked. “I didn’t wear a hoodie.”
“But I don’t like the sun!”
“Then don’t be a baby!”
“But it’s so hot!”
“Then take it off!”
“Where will I put it?”
“Not my problem!”
“Children, please.” Laurie interrupted teasingly.
With a few incoherent grumbles, Ollie stripped off his dark grey hoodie to reveal a black shirt, which had obviously been a t-shirt once but now had the sleeves torn off, and a few small rips through the front and frayed edges. I had to avert my eyes so as not to stare at the muscles in his pale-skinned arms.
“Here!” Ollie made a beeline for the Starbucks, which had miraculously appeared to our left.
Laurie wrinkled her nose. “I meant a real coffee place.”
But it was no use; Ollie was already leaning against the counter and flirting with the barista.
“Please, Laurie?” I batted my eyelashes and smiled winningly.
“Come on then.” Laurie pushed me gently after him and we entered the blissfully air-conditioned café.
“Green tea please.” Laurie ordered.
“Iced chocolate please.” I ordered, after Laurie had paid and moved over.
“With whipped cream?” The barista asked, her eyes darting over to Ollie every few seconds.
“Sure.”
“$4.50, thanks.”
“Thanks.”
I paid and followed Laurie, collecting my drink in a matter of minutes.
“Hey!” The girl who handed me my drink gasped. “You’re Delilah Cook!”
“Yeah.” I smiled awkwardly. “Hey.”
“I love your music!” She gushed. “And I’m coming to the concert tonight with my sister! I’m so excited to hear you play live!”
“And see the 5SOS boys?” I teased.
She blushed. “Well, maybe. Say, can I have your autograph?”
“Sure.” I said, surprised. She handed me a napkin and I signed it with a flourish. “There you are.”
“Thank you so much! My sister will be so jealous I met you!”
I smiled, an idea coming to me suddenly. “Hey, why don’t you hang around after the show? I can give you a quick backstage tour, maybe you can meet the boys if they’re around.”
The redheaded girl’s mouth fell open in shock. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, why not?”
“Wow, that’d be…oh my gosh…thank you!”
I laughed. “No problem. What was your name?”
“Selena. And my sister’s name is Kiki.”
“Selena and Kiki. No problem. I’ll let them know and I’ll meet you backstage after the show. Make sure you give your names at the desk at the start.”
“I will! Oh, I’m so excited! Thank you, thank you!” Selena squealed.
“I’ll see you tonight.” I grinned and waved as I searched for Ollie and Laurie, locating them at a booth at the other end of the store and making my way over.
“Found a fan?” Ollie smirked.
“Yes.” I said, proudly. “She’ll be getting a tour tonight. Meeting the boys too.”
“That’s nice of you.” Laurie said, sipping her tea.
“Nice of me?” I said, astonished. “She’s my fan. If anything, it’s nice of her to be supporting me.”
Ollie snorted, shaking his head. “You’re ridiculous.”
“No one wanted to hear your opinion.” I turned my head to my iced chocolate and drank it hungrily.
The next few hours were full of fun I hadn’t had in a long time. I was glad of the time to get to know my band, because they were truly awesome people.
Finally, Laurie checked her sunflower watch. “We’d better get back for sound check.”
“Damn.” I pouted. “I was having fun!”
Ollie slung an arm around my shoulders. “Don’t worry, you’ll still be permitted in my company tonight.”
I rolled my eyes and pushed his arm off me. “Don’t touch me. You’re sweaty and gross.”
“Ow.” Ollie clutched his chest dramatically. “You’ve wounded me!”
I laughed and poked him in the side. “Get over it.”
“Not likely!”
Suddenly, Ollie had slung me over his shoulder, fireman style, and ran towards the theatre.
“No! Ollie! Stop!” I shrieked, bouncing against his back and laughing.
He ran into stage area and promptly deposited me on a front row seat.
I collapsed into tear-inducing giggles. “You’re an asshole!”
Wiping my eyes, I sat up and noticed that Ollie and I weren’t alone.
Michael, Ashton, Calum and Luke were standing on stage with their instruments and were staring at me.
Stella, Em and Jules were sitting at the other end of my row and looking at me like I was insane.
I cleared my throat and straightened my shirt, getting to my feet. “Hi, guys.”
“Delilah Cook, where have you been?” Jules demanded, getting to her feet and marching over to me, shooting Ollie a glare.
I held back a scowl, opting instead to shrug nonchalantly. “Out with Laurie and Ollie.”
“For three hours?” Luke asked from the stage.
I glanced up at him. “I suppose.”
Luke wasn’t looking at me, to my surprise. He was looking at Ollie with a look I had never seen on his face before. I brushed it off.
Jules stared at me in disbelief.
“Why didn’t you call?” Em cut in, making her way over to us. “Or at least answer our texts?”
I sighed. “I left my phone here by accident.”
“We had no idea where you were!” Jules snapped angrily. “We didn’t know if you were alive or dead or hurt or lost!”
“Jules.” I raised an eyebrow. “It’s the middle of the day in Adelaide. I was with Laurie and Ollie. I was fine!”
“We didn’t know that, Del.” Em said, calmly, shooting Jules a look.
Their questioning got my anger up. “If we’re talking about not knowing where people were, where were you guys this morning?”
Their expressions turned to something akin to guilt.
“That’s different.” Jules tried.
“How?”
“We thought you were asleep!” Em said.
“You needed to sleep, Del.” Luke said, softly.
I shot him a glare. “So you all thought you’d go bowling without me?”
“If it helps, the teams were uneven and it sucked.” Calum said, jokingly, trying to lighten the atmosphere.
“It doesn’t.” I said, flatly. I turned to Ollie, where he stood silently behind me with his arms folded. “Come on. I have to talk to the manager.”
“Why?” Jules asked, curiously.
“Just about something that happened today.” I said, being deliberately vague as I walked out.
“Maybe you should tell your friends that instead!” Jules yelled.
I bit my tongue to keep from yelling back.
“You ok?” Ollie asked as we walked towards Doreen, the manager of Thebarton Theatre.
“Swell.” I said, tightly. Then I forced a pleasant smile on my face as I walked up to Doreen.
“Hi, Miss Cook.” Doreen smiled at me. “How are you?”
“Call me Delilah, Doreen!” I said. “And I’m great, how are you?”
“Fantastic.” Doreen replied cheerfully, and I wasn’t sure if she was talking about my name, how I was feeling, how she was feeling or something totally and completely random.
“That’s…great!” I said. “I actually have a favour to ask…”
“Go on.”
I explained the situation, injecting as much pleading as possible into my words.
Doreen clapped me on the back enthusiastically. “What a superb idea! Well done, Delilah!”
“Thanks.” I smiled weakly at her one more time and retreated to sound check. I had lost Ollie sometime during my conversation with Doreen. I understood. She was very draining.
The boys, Jules, Em and Stella had cleared out for my sound check. They must really be mad, Jules and Em, I mean.
They always watched me play, even in practice or sound check. They were the only two I could really truly rely on for honesty.
These thoughts weighed heavily on my mind as I sang my way through sound check, deliberately choosing a melancholy song that matched my mood.
“Just don’t give up, I’m working it out
Please don’t give in I won’t let you down
It messed me up, need a second to breathe
Just keep coming around
Hey, what do you want from me?”
“That’s cool, Delilah.” Eddie said from the wings. “Sounds brilliant. Adam Lambert is my brother’s favourite artist.”
“Thanks, Eddie.” I smiled at the techie.
Minutes later, the whole theatre was deserted. The lights had been turned off on me and I wandered over to the piano, sitting myself down comfortably.
I ran my fingers over the keys, much as Laurie had been doing earlier, and hummed a melody to myself.
“Forgive us, Del?”
The voice caught me mid hum and press, and I froze, choking on my breath and hitting a dodgy note. I winced.
I got to my feet and turned to face the two guilty girls watching me uncomfortably. Jules had her arms crossed over her chest and Em’s hands were clasped together behind her back.
“Please?” Em whispered. “We didn’t mean to ignore you, honest!”
I bit my lip. Just because they hadn’t meant to didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.
But I needed my best friends; I couldn’t go on forever without them.
“Of course.” I relented, a whoosh of air escaping between my teeth in an inaudible sigh.
We rushed towards each other, catching each other in a massive group hug.
Then Em pulled away, chewing her nail ferociously.
“What happened?” I asked, anxiously.
To my surprise, Emilia James blushed a shade of red suitable to a firetruck.
“Tell her, girl.” Jules nudged her with a wink and I tried not to feel the sting of jealousy that my two best friends had molded a new friendship of their own.
“Calumaskedmeout!” Em garbled, running all her words together until I couldn’t make them out.
I raised an eyebrow playfully. “Come again?”
“Calum asked me out!” Em squealed.
And just like that, we were three best friends celebrating one’s newfound romance.
Like there were no other problems or worries or cares in the world.
And in that precise, everything felt absolutely perfect.