~ BRAD ~
"That was brilliant!" Brad exclaimed after playing the last chord of their song. Brad lifted the guitar strap out of his body, put the guitar on the floor and went to Connor, who, to his surprise, looked really stressed.
"Why're you stressed out?" Brad asked his partner, and he just shrugged his shoulders.
"I d-don't know. I just feel like I'm going to m-mess up tomorrow. I haven't played piano, or any other instrument, for that matter, in front of a lot of p-people."
"Don't say that. You're a natural." Brad tried encouraging him.
"That's what you think, but I'm not, Brad."
"Of course you are! You just let your evils lie to you."
"It's not my evils." Connor told him with a sad sigh.
"It's your dad, isn't it?" Brad asked him.
"Not really. I mean, yeah, he thinks that I suck at music and that I should focus on other stuff instead, but I don't consider him as an evil."
"Why?"
"He's my dad. I love him. Despite my stupid decisions, he's always there to make the right ones for me."
Brad nodded as a reply. Connor's dad doesn't deserve Connor as his son, he thought to himself.
"What about you?" Connor asked him, and Brad raised an eyebrow as a reply.
"What about me?"
"Everyone's basically scared of Tristan. Despite that, you chose to be with him. Why is that?"
"Well, it's because--"
"You love him." "I love him." They both said at the same time. Connor shrugged his shoulders and giggled.
"See? But honestly, I kind of feel like I'm breaking you guys up." Connor told him with a slightly panicked face. Brad laughed at this.
"Don't be silly, Con."
"But I'm not really romantic! All I think whenever we kiss is how gross it is."
"Think that he's your crush, then. I mean, that will make it easier."
"But then if I do that, you could get jealous."
"True..." Brad couldn't deny it - he was sort of jealous of Connor and Tristan.
"I know! Maybe you can convince yourself that you're dreaming, so that when you see Tristan and I together, you'll just think that it's how you see yourself." Connor suggested.
"You think that will work?" He asked Connor, then he nodded his head.
"I should give it a try then." Brad smiled at him, and Connor smiled back.
"We should rehearse for one last time. We have to get that confidence out of you." Brad told Connor, and they did another round of their song. The whole thing sounded perfect, and Brad had absolutely no idea why Connor was so nervous.
After their last rehearsal, it was time for Brad to come home. When they got out of the house, Connor gave Brad his car keys.
"Why're you giving them to me?"
"Thought you might want to drive yourself home."
"You coming with me?"
"Of course." Connor told him with a big smile on his face, then they both went to Kath's house. They stopped in front of her house and got out of the car.
"Isn't Kath supposed to be here?" Brad asked Connor.
"She's on her way down." Connor told him. Brad can't help but feel that Connor was still nervous about tomorrow, so he stood next to him and decided to calm his nerves.
"You're going to be great tomorrow, okay?" Brad told Connor while patting his shoulder.
"You too." Connor told him. To their surprise, Brad pulled Connor closer and gave him a hug. Connor hugged him back as well, hiding his face on his shoulder. Weirdly, Brad didn't want it to end. He wanted to stay in their hug forever.
But, eventually, they heard a loud cough. They pulled apart and saw a girl looking at them with a smirk on her face.
"As much as I think that the hug you're sharing is really cute, it's time for the both of you to get home." Kath smiled at them, and they both chuckled awkwardly.
"Sorry, mum." Connor told Kath, then Brad laughed at them. She just returned a small chuckle before she walked Brad to Connor's house, telling Connor's parents that he was helping her with homework, hence he was late.
...the next day...
"Next up, we have Brad Simpson and Connor Ball!" Their teacher told the whole class, and they were given a warm round of applause. They both went towards the instruments that they were going to play, then they made sure that the instruments were in tune.
Brad can't help but look at Connor. Even though he was, physically, Brad, he could see that Connor was nervous. His hands were on top of the piano, but he could see that they were shaking. Brad knew at that moment that the pressure was getting too much for him, so he decided to give him a pep talk before performing.
"Connor, you can do this, okay? I'm nervous, too, but I know that everything will be alright. Trust me." He said quietly, then Connor nodded back at him. He took deep breaths before he started talking.
"Hi! I'm Brad, he is Connor, and we're going to play you an original song that we composed ourselves. This song is called 'Written Off'." He said, and Brad was proud that Connor was able to speak up.
I will stand here with my friends and I'll get written off... Connor started.
We will laugh and learn to rest when we're older... Brad continued.
Like a film without an end, will we just play pretend? Connor looked at Brad. Brad was smiling at him with a really huge grin. He was proud that Connor was slowly gaining confidence.
Whatever time we've all got left, let's get written off again. Brad sang, then they both looked at their instruments in concentration. To their surprise, their whole class was clapping back at their beat.
When they finished the song, everyone started erupting in cheers. To their surprise, even their music teacher was impressed. They both stood up and gave a bow, then out of surprise, Connor hugged him tightly.
Brad couldn't help but notice that his and Connor's heart were beating in sync. For some reason, he couldn't stop the beating of his heart. Why was he feeling this way? There's no way that he could fall for Connor. How could he? Connor was in his body, which meant that it would be completely awkward and weird. But, like what they say, some people really do love by personality, and he loved Connor the way he was - strong, independent, caring and positive - not by how he looked.
When they pulled apart from the hug, they looked at their own eyes. Brad noticed that his eyes were dilated, and he used the wide dark space to look at Connor's eyes. To his surprise, Connor's eyes were dilated, too.
Every performance was then over, and the music teacher even said that she personally loved Brad and Connor's composition the most. Their classmates seemed to agree with her, and because of that, they were given a perfect score and an intermission number on one school day.
People were congratulating them while they went out of the music room. When they got there, they saw Tristan waiting by the door.
"Hey, babe." Tristan said with a smile. Brad remembered what Connor told him last night, and he calmed down.
"Hey, babe." Connor replied, and they both went hand in hand. Brad decided to lowkey follow them. As if his prayers were answered, Kath pulled him away.
"What on Earth do you think you're doing?" Kath asked him, and, boy, did she have a strong grip.
"I-- I don't know." He told her, and she just laughed at him.
"It's okay. Come on, Connor's waiting for us."
"But I thought he was with Tristan? I mean, you just saw them a while ago."
"I know. I'll tell him to meet us at the diner that's really close by, you know, to celebrate." She said while she typed on her phone.
"Celebrate? For what?"
"The both of you composing a really good song, duh."
"How'd you know?"
"Everyone's been talking about it. Well, my other best friend texted me about it. She didn't know that 'Connor' could play piano." She said while she punched his arm.
"Connor really does get hit a lot, eh?" Brad asked her, then her expression changed from playful to serious.
"Oh my god, I didn't mean to sound like tha--"
"It's fine. Just don't bring it up when he's with us, okay?"
"Okay." Brad told her. They were already out of the school building when her phone buzzed.
"He said that he'll wait for us." Kath told him while she put her phone back in her skirt pocket.
"Can I ask you something?" He asked her, then she nodded her head.
"Why do you care so much for Connor?"
"He's my best friend." She told him simply, and Brad gave her a sarcastic look.
"Aside from that reason."
"Well, assuming that you've lived his life for him, you must know that he doesn't deserve the pain that he's getting. I'm here to take care of him in any way possible."
"Yeah, but aren't you magic? Why can't you just 'poof' him a happier life?"
"It's not that easy, Brad. 'Poofing' something that changes a person's life has major consequences."
"Such as?"
"I can't really tell you. It's a secret that only we should know."
"Then how are we supposed to know how you'll turn us back to normal?"
"I'll tell you both at the perfect time."
"Okay." Brad said, obviously contented but unsatisfied with her vague response. They continued talking about anything under the sun when they arrived at the diner. Connor was already inside, sitting at a table for four. Brad and Kath went closer to him, but then Kath's phone rang. She answered it then groaned.
"I'm sorry, boys. My mum's calling me home because of an emergency. I have to go."
"You can't go now, this was your idea." Brad told her.
"I know, and I'm really sorry." She said as she grabbed her wallet, and pulled out a £10 note out of it.
"Here's my sorry gift. Just order anything you like." She said then ran out.
"That leaves you and me, then." Brad told Connor as he smiled and took a seat at the chair across him. Suddenly, a waitress went to them and asked for their orders.
"I'll have some fish and chips and a Vanilla milkshake, please." Connor told her.
"I'll have some bangers and mash and a Chocolate milkshake, please." Brad told her.
"Would you like to have any toppings on your milkshakes?" She asked them.
"I'll have some chocolate syrup, marshmallows and sprinkles, please." Brad told her, then she wrote it down on her little notebook.
"I'll have the same toppings, please. Just make sure that there are no nuts in it, please?" Connor told her, then she was about to write it down when Brad decided to start speaking.
"Actually, I'm the one who has the nut allergies. You can put nuts on his milkshake." Brad told her, then she stared at him in confusion before she wrote it down. She went away just when Connor was about to protest.
"Brad!" Connor whisper-shouted. "You know I don't like nuts."
"Have you tried one?" Brad asked him, then Connor shook his head no.
"Look, my body's not allergic to peanuts. You can eat nuts and find out how they taste like with no problem."
"Yeah, but what about you? You could get close to one and start swelling."
"I won't, trust me." Brad told him with a wink, and Connor laughed at him. The waitress came back with their milkshakes, then Brad took a sip of his.
"It's really good! You should try it."
"But, Brad..."
"Do it. It's like you're getting over your nut fear."
"Nut allergy, which is permanent, thank you very much." Connor told him, then he took a sip of his milkshake, too.
"I was right." Connor said when he took his first sip. "I don't like nuts at all." He said, then Brad laughed at him.
"I'm glad you got over your fear." Brad told him with a smile. Their food arrived, which they started eating, until Brad's phone started playing a song.
Tristan's favourite, to be exact.
🌟🌟🌟
I hate cliffhangers.
But I actually do like nuts.
And this band.
If you guys know what I mean?
Here's the early update! Hope you enjoyed it 😊 see you all on Thursday!
~ Kat :) (and Dani, who, I know, did awesome, even though I didn't watch it, on her singing competition yesterday💕)
Published: 27/11/16 (AKA ONE YEAR OF WAKE UP 💕)
Updated: 22/02/17