linley's pov
Zayn's laughter trickles above all as I do my best pulling the sticky cotton candy from my hair that he so kindly got stuck in there. I can't help but to laugh as well as the pink fluff hardens around my blonde hair, bumping Zayn lightly with my hip.
At least he helps guide me through the busy crowds of people as I concentrate on the task at hand. He places his hand on my shoulder to help weave me through people much taller.
"I hate you," I whine as the sugary sweet solidifies inside my hair, making it damn-near impossible to remove.
"I think the pink and blue looks lovely on you," Zayn teases as we head back into the heart of the festival, passing a stage loud and wild with performers.
Whoever's on stage at this moment is causing the entire crowd to go absolutely insane. The stage lights start to turn on as the sky darkens with each passing moment. Once the sky goes down and becomes a black-painted canvas, the energy throughout the entire small world here at Ragstock goes through the roof.
I can feel my heart pounding in my chest to the beat of the bass thumping through the speakers. I'm back into the concert atmosphere where I feel most at home.
But where I feel most at home also means where I feel most anxious.
"LINLEY!" A loud scream pulls my attention, causing me to nearly jump out of my boots once Zayn and I distance ourselves from the loud crowd as we trail around, heading into the madness that is backstage.
I look up to see Sable running towards me at full force. Her black hair whips through the air as she rushing in my direction. She wears a look of pure panic that I want to just run away from.
I can't handle this at this moment.
"I've been looking for you everywhere," Sable sighs as she approaches us, wrapping her arms around me in a comforting hug, less to calm me down, but more to calm herself down, "We're next for soundcheck," She tells me, her entire body shaking with nerves.
"I know," I nod, trying to keep that calm collectiveness that Zayn had forced me into two short hours ago. I don't want to let go of what that felt like.
Sable stares at me with wide eyes, obviously confused as to why I'm not having a panic attack with her. Usually the roles are reversed and it's me shouting panicked words in her face, worrying myself sick.
"Well what are we going to do?" She raises her voice, gesturing towards Zayn without even acknowledging him. I catch his scowl out of the corner of my eye.
Glancing at everyone else running around backstage with a tension of terror to themselves, I can't thank Zayn enough. I'm sure if he hadn't done what he did, I'd be lying dead from a heart attack.
Who would have thought I'd end up being grateful for Zayn?
"We're going to soundcheck," I shrug my shoulders, stepping past Sable to head further into the frenzied depths of the backstage area.
I can feel Sable's utterly confused eyes glued to me as she follows closely behind Zayn and I. I sneak a glance at Zayn, treating him to a small, grateful smile for a fraction of a second.
Just because he saved me from driving myself absolutely insane, doesn't mean that the two of us are going to become best friends forever and tell each other our secrets and enjoy being handcuffed to one another.
That's most definitely not going to happen; ever.
"Linley, there you are!" The same overly-friendly man that had approached me earlier greets me with a quick hug, not actually taking the time to give me a proper hug, "This band is finishing up their encore and then you guys are free to soundcheck," He tells me, ushering me closer to the stairs.
He continues to glance at Zayn with a peculiar look, obviously wondering what's going on, but he doesn't say a word about the matter. I'm surprised this man even has enough time to breathe properly.
Luckily for me, Zayn stays completely silent and obediently tags along. For some reason, having him simply next to me keeps my stress levels down. Though I can tell his presence is sending Sable's stress through the roof, which would have been me had Zayn not helped me out earlier.
I don't know how or why it happened, but it's as if a switch went off in both our brains, reminding us that the other is an actual human being. I'm finding myself acting less bitter towards him for some reason. When I find myself starting to snap at him once again, instantly I feel bad.
I don't know what the hell is happening to me.
The crowd goes wild as the band rushes off of stage, dripping with sweat. They high five each other and drain water bottle after water bottle as they walk past us. I can see Sable eyeing them up rather interested, the rocker vibe to them being right up her alley.
"Great job," She smiles at the lead singer as he pushes his long black hair out of his face.
Stopping momentarily to give us all a look, he grins at Sable, allowing her to take hold of his undivided attention. I roll my eyes and try my best to suppress my smirk.
"Hey, you guys are the two girls from Starry Eyes, aren't you?" He asks, pointing at Sable and I.
I've never been so nervous that Sable would explode than I am at this moment. Her face lights up, beams of sunlight shooting from her face. Gone is the stress and tension creating deep wrinkles on her forehead; now replaced with a cheeky grin and large, innocent eyes.
Zayn glances at me, giving me a knowing smile as he watches as Sable tries her hardest to coat on the charm.
"Yeah, we are," She tilts her head, letting her long brown hair to sway in the breeze, "Sable," She gestures to herself, "And Linley," She turns to momentarily bring me into the picture.
But the man isn't interested in me in the slightest; they never are. He gives me a sliver of a smile before returning it to Sable again.
"Good luck out there, I'm excited to watch you guys," He tells her, giving her a wink before hurrying off with the rest of his band.
Sable watches him strut away with his performer's-confidence with her jaw slightly ajar, a dazed look glazed over her eyes. My grin spreads across my face as I giggle to myself, finding this side of Sable just as hilarious as it always is.
She returns her attention back at us, pretending as if that little exchange hadn't happened. But as she catches Zayn and I both smirking at her, her cheeks flare up an embarrassed shade of red.
"C'mon, you're freaking out too, aren't you?" She objects in her defense, crossing her arms stubbornly.
"You're the only one," I smirk at her, giving her a shrug that I know will irritate her.
Sable lets out a dramatic gasp, looking at me as if I had just grew another head. Complete astonishment transforms her face.
"MGMT just told us that they were excited to watch us and you're not freaking out?" She raises her eyebrows at me, giving me a blank stare.
Instantly my stomach drops as my heart tries to leap out of my chest. My jaw nearly drops to the ground as my eyes widen in outrage and pure shock.
"That was MGMT?" I ask, raising my voice as my world crashes down around me.
MGMT just walked past me and I didn't even acknowledge them. I've never been so disappointed in myself before. I should have listened to the song that was playing on stage before. This place is crawling with famous talented bands and I'm not even keeping my eyes peeled.
Sable wears a triumphant smirk as she nods, rubbing it in my face. I can already tell this is going to be an event that she will never let me forget. I'm never going to live this down. Even on my death bed Sable is going to remind me about the time I completely ignored MGMT.
"Okay, you guys are free to go on for your soundcheck," A man with a headset quickly brushes past us, not even looking in our direction when he speaks.
Exchanging looks of pure excitement, Sable and I take a deep breath before taking a step onto the incredibly grand stage.
The minute we step out into the vision of the entire festival, the audience goes wild. We already have an incredible crowd formed and it's merely our soundcheck. I catch a glimpse of the teenagers we ran into when we first got here that were mega fans of us. I give them a quick wave with a friendly smile, causing them all to scream excitedly.
Standing there in the front row - VIP section, of course - is Andi, as she always is for most of our shows. She screams like the fangirl that she is and jumps around. But the thing that catches me off guard the most is that standing beside her, pressed against the iron barricade are Ed Sheeran and Tea, the boys of One Direction and their girlfriends.
They obviously catch Zayn off guard as well for he shoots them all an odd look as he tries his hardest to stay out of the limelight. But unfortunately that's practically impossible for a boy of his status.
I can hear people screaming his name in the crowds as everyone goes wild over the fact that he's up here with us. I'm sure everyone is confused as hell about it.
A tech guy hands Sable and I our ear pieces as they run around the stage, taking off equipment that MGMT had used that we won't need.
"What do you want me to do?" Zayn asks, chewing on his bottom lip nervously as I shove my ear pieces in.
Glancing around the stage, I try my hardest to come up with a solution. I can tell Zayn is trying his hardest not to stress me out, but he's just waiting for me to make the decision, since it is my performance after all.
As the crew moves the stage around, an idea hits me. A bulky man that carries my keyboard - the instrument I primarily stay behind for the performance - approaches me, waiting for me to direct him to the proper place.
Pointing to the front of the stage, I hurry backstage, disappearing momentarily. Zayn follows behind me obediently, not a single question leaves his lips.
I grab a metal fold-up chair quickly, causing realization hit Zayn in the face. He nods in agreement, taking the chair from me, even though I'm perfectly capable of carrying it myself. And of course he ignores the dirty looks I shoot in his direction as he leads the way back on stage.
"Hello everyone!" Sable says into her microphone as she strums her guitar, trying to get it in tune, "We weren't expecting such a crowd to be around for our soundcheck, so I suppose the least we could do it give you all a song," She says, taking me by surprise.
I had assumed we were just testing the microphones and getting off stage as soon as possible. I do my best to smile and go along with it as the entire crowd of people cheer excitedly.
Pressing a few keys to be sure my keyboard is properly plugged in and loud enough, I wait for Sable to announce the name of the song.
"We'll perform one that we won't be performing this evening, since you all are such dedicated fans," Sable shrugs, throwing another curve ball in my direction.
So not only are we singing a song for soundcheck, we're singing a song that we haven't been practicing as of lately.
Oh Jesus, I could kill her...
"The name of this song is 'How to be a Heartbreaker'," Sable announces, glancing over in my direction, knowing I'm going to sending her a death glare.
I mutter a few swear words under my breath, causing Zayn - who is seated in his fold-out chair beside me - to crack a smile as he looks up at me, waiting for me to start. Closing my eyes quickly, I take a deep breath before my fingers go wild across the keys.
This song is one of our most recent songs we've written. It's a song that I'm entirely vocals for - which is alot of our songs, to be honest. Sable is much better at every instrument than I am, and she's great at editing, always hanging around with our editing team.
Rule number one:
is that you gotta have fun.
But baby when you're done,
you gotta be the first to run.
I sing into the microphone, my fingers pounding on the keys as Sable begins the repetitive chords of the song. The tension leaves my body instantly as I return home, exactly where I belong; on stage.
Rule number two:
don't get attached to
somebody you could lose.
so le-let me tell you.
I can't help but to jump in place as the music gets louder, leading up to our chorus. A smile forms on my lips as I recall Sable and I writing this song after we had a long discussion vowing to one another that we'll never fall in love.
Love is messy and in this already chaotic industry we're living in, we don't need any more mess. But of course we agreed that didn't mean we couldn't have fun once in awhile.
This is how to be a heartbreaker.
Boys they like a little danger.
We'll get them falling for a stranger, a player
Singing I lo-lo-love you.
(at least I think I do)
I glance out at the crowd, my heart pounding as I watch them jumping along to the music; a few even sing along, which is incredibly impressive, seeing as we've only performed this song a few times yet.
As my hands move about the keyboard, Zayn's hand follows closely. Out of the corner of my eyes, I catch him watching me carefully. The corners of his lips are pulled up in a look of admiration. I try my hardest not to let it mess with me, but I find myself smiling back at him.
Rule number three:
wear your heart on your cheek,
but never on your sleeve,
unless you want to taste defeat.
I think this song is a good representation of my views on men and relationships in general. There's a reason I've never had a serious boyfriend. I've seen plenty of my friends - Sable, included - that have been absolutely destroyed by men.
I can distinctly recall a boy that had been smitten with me a few months back screaming at me that I was a 'tease' because I never called him beside late nights when I had nothing better to do. When I explained to him that I simply 'didn't do relationships' he tried to throw a chair at me.
Which only deepened my hatred for love in general.
Rule number four:
gotta be looking pure.
Kiss him goodbye at the door
and leave him wanting more, more.
With a wink in Sable's direction, I can hear Zayn laughing loudly from his seat beside me. Giving him a quick glance - which is odd considering I would ignore a hurricane while I'm in performance mode - I catch him shaking his head and smirking at me.
This is how to be a heartbreaker.
Boys they like the look of danger.
We'll get him falling for a stranger, a player.
Singing I lo-lo-love you.
(at least I think I do).
The techno-pop-grunge typical music blares from the speakers out into the crowd. Our sound reaches it's maximum capacity thanks to the sound crew. Those in the crowd that were struggling to hear us can most definitely hear us now, for now they're joining into the crowd, jumping around like mad.
My adrenaline pumps through my veins as I sing the chorus a second time, whipping my hair all over the place. Sable travels all over the stage, strutting with confidence as always as the crowd feeds into her energy.
Then the song hits the bridge, slowing down instantly. My fingers turn lyrical as they dance over the keys, pressing them with delicacy. Closing my eyes, I open my mouth to let the words trail off of my tongue.
Girls, we do whatever it will take
Cause girls don't want,
we don't want our hearts to break in two,
so it's better to be fake.
Can't risk losing in love again, babe.
My voice echoes throughout the crowd as I lose myself in the music. Strength and a sliver of bitterness heats the words, causing them to properly roll off of the tongue.
This is the part of the song that Andi loves the most, or so she says. We wrote it for her, specifically, because she's always claiming that Sable and I have this negative view towards love because we're too afraid to experience it ourselves.
We always laugh and shrug her words off, but the more this bridge sticks in my brain, the closer to home it hits.
Zayn's hand accidentally skims past mine, causing goosebumps to form on the surface of my flesh. My walls start to form back up as realization hits me that I've allowed Zayn to get much closer than any other boy has been to me, and I've known him for just a little over a day.
No boy has ever slept beside me without shedding our clothes. No boy has ever asked me genuine questions about my life. No boy has taken my anxiety and crushed it beneath his gentle comforting words.
It makes me want to push him down and run away more than I ever have felt the need to do so before.
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an;
hii wowowow. we finally get a little starry eyes action! i'm so glad! i didn't want to load you all with so many songs in the next chapter, so i added one in this chapter!
but you get even more a glimpse into linley's mind and her opinion towards boys. but it looks like zayn is starting to create waves, huh?
the song that is performed in this chapter is 'how to be a heartbreaker' by the ever-so-amazing marina and the diamonds. she's my absolute favorite, so of course i had to add a song and i thought this was perfect for linley!
this chapter is also dedicated to @Yesenniiaa bc she leaves lovely comments on a lot of my stories! thanks babe, i appreciate each and every one of them!
[keep commenting and i will dedicate a chapter to you! i'm doing my best to make sure you get your recognition bc you all are seriously so amazing.]
love always,
perksofbeingaweirdo