"Which is why.." Liam said, then stalled. He opened his mouth, about to tell us our fate. My heart beat wildly in my chest. "We've decided that..."
I almost didn't want to hear.
"You're both through." Liam told us. People started cheering, but I was vaguely aware. I just stared at Liam, shocked beyond belief since I thought it was over. I felt a squeeze on my hand, bringing me back to reality.
I turned to Megan, expecting her to be crying under the bright lights of this stage, but her face held the same expression as mine. Shocked; almost no emotion at all. We both stared at each other, her huge blue eyes looking into mine. It took us a few seconds before we were hugging each other, so thankful. Everyone in the audience was cheering profoundly, super happy to have made it, whereas I was the exact opposite. I was completely terrified.
"We're going to get through this." Megan whispered in my ear. I realized that she, like me, understood now. They didn't, yet. The other contestants had no idea what they had gotten themselves into. This competition is serious and scary. All day we had sat there waiting for what was to come. Everyone here looks as this as their big break. But what happens if it isn't. Everyone goes home.
Today I had tasted the reality that this contest is: I win, or I go home a loser without a father or a second chance.
When we both finally pulled away, both with our same serious faces, everyone but the One Direction family were gone. They had been watching us.
"Scary? Isn't it?" Simon asked from the audience. "We'll see you girls here tomorrow." Megan nodded her head.
"Come on, I wanna go." Megan started pulling my hand towards the side of the stage as everyone who once meant something to my mother, left.
"Go ahead, I'll meet up with you." I told her. She shrugged and headed off. I took the biggest breath of my life and started walking towards the biggest moment of it. I kept my eyes completely fixed on Liam, thinking that I had to do this now. I wasn't sure what I would do or say, but something needed to be said.
Finally I was right in front of him, eyes wide. Everyone else noticed me now and watched me with curiosity. Even Liam's face was tilted questioningly. I opened my mouth to inhale again and speak, but I looked around me at all the curious faces. I looked at all of the adults, too scared to set eyes on their kids. Niall, my mom's best friend's husband. Erika, who had shared so many memories with my mom. Kiani, my mom's partner in crime. Zayn. Harry. Louis. Eleanor. Getting close to them, you can see that they're actual human beings, that they feel every emotion that we do. All of a sudden, my situation seemed so much more real with the thought that I could potentially hurt one of these people. The last adult next to Liam that I looked at was Danielle. The second I looked at her, I turned to Louis.
"There's an odd number. Who am I supposed to sing with tomorrow?" I asked him. He chuckled a little and I smiled, easing the tention.
"You'll see. Don't worry about that, love." He smiled at me. I nodded my head and walked off, my head hung. I couldn't say what I wanted to, I'd be ruining lives.
I guess I always just saw the X Factor as a way to get my dad back, instead of a chance to make my dreams come true. But not anymore. My mom was right, this needs to stay a secret. This needs to be purely about my dreams. I never completely understood why my mom did what she did. But now, as I walk away from the same people she did, tears running down my face, I get it. The reason we both gave up, is because sometimes, you just have to because somebody else is more important.
-------------------------The Next Day-----------------------
I set my bag down on the floor, opposite the mirror that took up most of the left wall. There's a huge dance floor in front of the mirror, I'm assuming this room is used for choreography. Two microphone stands with microphones stood in front of the mirror and to my right was a man at a piano, with sheet music that I didn't pick out.
"You're partner's going to be a tiny bit late." Said the man at the piano, he looked old, probably in his 70's.
"Awesome." I said, a little irritated. Everyone was already practicing their songs. They have been since last night when they selected them with their partners, but I couldn't because no one will tell me who my partner is or what song we're doing! I sighed and grabbed one of the turned off microphones.
"Know any good songs?" I asked the pianist. He gave me a toothy smile and a nod and started playing. I recognized the song instantely, it was one of my favorites. I started singing along, and like always, got a little lost in my singing and performance.
It wasn't until the door slammed that I dropped the non-working microphone, by accident and stared at the door.
"Hey, sorry I'm late. That was good." He smiled. Yes, obviously it then clicked for me. They gave me Roman as a partner.
"Thanks. But what song am I singing." I skipped right to the chase. Roman lifted one of his perfect eyebrows and walked over to the piano. I eyed him. Thousands of girls on this planet worship the ground this guy walks on and I'm a teenage girl, I get why. Roman's gorgeous, I've obviously seen pictures and videos of him everywhere but they don't even compare to seeing him in real life. He's a hotter verison of his dad. Yeah, I said it, hotter than Zayn Malik. But I needed to win this, and his attractiveness wasn't going to stop me. I laughed at myself in my head and pushe the gorgeous guy out of my brain. He grabbed two copies of the sheet music and passed one to me, with a smirk on his face. I looked at the title.
"I love this song." I told him with a smile, "But don't you think it's a little old."
"They love the older songs. Plus, I think your voice sounds pretty with them."
"Thanks, we should get started." I blushed at his comment and started reading through the lyrics.
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"And last," I heard Simon from where I was backstage, "Roman and Delilah." I looked across the stage at Roman who gave me a nod and very confidentally walked out on stage in his dark jeans and leather jacket and began.
"We broke up. Yeah, it's tough. Most guys would've been crushed.."
I had been trying to calm my nerves all day but watching Roman perform for two seconds cleared my stomach of butterflies. He sang on that stage like how well he did actually mattered, even though he didn't. He had this gleam in his eye. Maybe, like me, he forgets the world when he sings. As he sang the last couple lines of the chorus, I straightened out my pink jacket and looked down at my white and black stripped pants a last time.
"The way a single guy does. But what she, what she don't know. Is how hard it is to make it look so, easy."
I walked into the lights.
"The truth is, I missed, lyin' in those arms of his. But I don't ever let it show." I sang, on the opposite side of the stage pretending he wasn't there. The judges looked satisified and I knew more people were watching but that's all who I was focused on, the only people I needed to impress. When I was done with my verse, I turned towards Roman, and we sang to each other. Belted all our lyrics at each other, and I lost myself. I lost myself in the stage lights, the incredible music, Roman's deep brown eyes. That was all I focused on.
Roman and I were in another planet. Singing with him felt like I was under water. I was barely breathing but felt completely weightless. His brown eyes sparkled, revealing the emotion that was coming out through his voice, He loved this, just as much as me, I could tell. You can't fake passion. It didn't feel like a competition and I couldn't remember the risks. All I could think of was each perfect second and each perfect moment I spent with him yesterday.
"Easy..."
"Looks so easy.."
I hadn't realized how close we had gotten. We were literally touching each other, both of us breathing deeply from the high notes we had hit. When I heard clapping, I pulled away and brought myself back to reality, where I belonged.
"Absoluetely incredible." Simon praised us. I thanked him, still taking deep breaths.
"You're umm.. chemistry is amazing." Louis smirked, stealing a glance at Kiani who was shaking her head at him. Beside her, Zayn was laughing. I felt my cheeks heat up and I snuck a glance at Roman who was smirking, like Louis. I turned back to the judges table to see what the final and most important judge, to me, would say.
"I think you've got a lot of talent. You're going to go far." Liam smiled at me, not knowing how much it meant. "And Roman, I've got my eye on you." Everyone laughed, and I found myself cracking a smile.
"Okay, dad." Roman mocked. I caught his eye and he smiled at me. As we walked off stage, he whispered in my ear, "You made it. I promise you did." That made me smile, but so did his hand on my back, leading me to the door.
------------------Author's Note---------------
I know I haven't been updateing as frequently as I used to and I'm going to try so hard to start updating more! So sorry for that. I hope you guys liked this chapter, I liked writing it <3 also.... Erika's birthday is tomorrow so it would mean the absolute world to me if you guys could spam her with reads, likes, comments, messages, or just say happy birthday. That's good enough :) I hope you guys liked this chapter. Let me know what you think in the comments and please vote if you liked it! Love you!!
xx, Ashley