The atmosphere is very decontracted as Sophie, Ronnie, my brothers and I are eating at the Nando's I used to work at before we head to the venue for the show. It isn't really rock and roll, but I wanted to show a bit of my life to Sophie. I got to see George and say a true farewell to him as I never truly had the chance. I got us two bottles of red wine and we have just finished them. We are having lots of fun. It's nice to have both of my best friends getting along so good with my brothers.
"So these guys we are going to watch perform, what kind of music are they playing?"
"They are a kind of rock band." I let out, but Sophie quickly corrects me with a more precise answer.
"It's more pop-punk. Their influence are groups like Green Day, Bon Jovi and ACDC."
"Alright, that seems fun." Simon lets out as he wraps his arm around Ronnie's shoulders.
I stop my train of thought to watch them. They are so alike, I wouldn't even be surprised if they got casual with each other, being both such flirts.
"Did you resist your need to text Lucas?" I ask Sophie as we planned to text them the second we get to the venue to hopefully have backstage passes.
"I did. It was hard though. I can't wait to see him and hear all about the tour and how it has been." She lets out excitedly.
"I have heard so much about them. Grace always came back from London with lots of juicy stories." Ronnie smirks to her and winks my way.
"Yeah, well, she experienced tequila and that's how everything pretty much started." Sophie looks at me with a wide smirk as I blush and hide my face with a hand.
"What has happened to my innocent little sister?!" Simon theatrically lets out as if it was the most shocking thing he had ever heard.
"If you only knew what I know..." Ronnie lingers on every word as if she had the most precious informations in the world.
I look at them with the utmost admiration. I feel really good. My life has been shit for the last couple of days, so moments like these are very appreciated.
"Thank you for all being here with me. I am very happy to share this moment with all of you." I smile to each of them and William covers my shoulder with his arm.
"There she is, our cheesy little sister." He jokes as I lean against his chest being very comfortable.
Out of my two brothers, he is the one I feel the most at ease with. I can be who I truly am with him. It doesn't change all the love I have for Simon, but Will is different. He is the one that suggested to dye my hair, because I wasn't happy with the way I looked. He has always tried to be there for me since the moment he learned how rough going to school was for me. Simon kept mocking me, but that's who he is. He had my back the second someone else was doing the same, though. And that's what matters most.
We get ready to go, but I stop by the kitchen to say my final farewell to the employees that have been kind of my family for the last four years. I then join everyone back outside where they are waiting for me. I step out of the kitchen and notice William waiting for me by the door. I leave the building with him and we come face to face with Steeve, getting out of his car, heading our way, oblivious to our presence. I freeze and William looks down at me.
"Grace?" I hear my name, but it's called again. "Grace!"
"Don't look, don't look, don't look." I murmur quickly to my brother as he was already turning around to look at my ex boyfriend.
I turn around as William lets me go to head his way. He stands straighter and seems broader. He puts on his cop persona.
"Do you have something to say to her, Steeve?" He is being imposing and I see him back at school, doing that same exact thing to him before Steeve's sudden infatuation towards me.
"I think it's between me and her." My ex boyfriend responds, not nearly intimidated by him. Her and I, I correct mentally. His tone is unusually not angry. He sounds like the Steeve I loved, the one that made me smile. It's almost sad, or desperate.
"It isn't anymore. She broke up with you. Move on and don't ever speak to her again." William gets more arrogant which seems to fuel Steeve.
"It's not of your fucking business." He spits out and honestly just makes a fool of himself. He looks hideous and pathetic as William stands formally and beautifully in front of him. I've never realised how his accent sounded until now. I'm now so used to Marcel's great pronunciation and large vocabulary that hearing the way Steeve talks , in comparison, turns me off.
"It is my business. She is my sister." Will doesn't wait a second once he retorted to throw a punch on Steeve's nose, letting a cracking sound heard loudly. He takes a step towards his victim and looks to him right in the eyes. "Try to contact her again and I will track you down. I am in the police. I will make a case of the domestic violence, the emotional abuse and the harassment that you did to her."
On that, he steps away and walks to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders again. We are making our way to the car where Sophie, Ronnie and Simon were witness of the scene. I feel so, so bad.
"You don't understand. I'm the victim in all of this. She's a slut. That's what she is. I bet you didn't know that, hum!?" He continues down the pathetic road, making a scene in the parking lot, which isn't like him at all. He cares too much about what people think of him. It gets Simon pumped as he makes his way to him. "London changed her. She cheated on me with two lads. Did she tell you that?" Steeve stands proudly, having Simon's attention. I should feel bad, but I don't and I don't have the time to, because my brother charges another punch at the same place his twin did.
"We've never liked you. We don't care what she did. We are and always will be proud of her for dumping your stupid arse!" Simon shouts at him and walks our way.
That time, Steeve doesn't move or say anything else. We leave and everybody in the car starts freaking out once we drive away. Simon and William are on the front seats and listen with pride to the three ladies, me included, on the backseat praising them for how they acted. It was amazing to be defended like that. They literally crushed it. It sets the mood to be very bright and very festive when we get to the venue.
Sophie texts Lucas as soon as we get there. We get ourselves a beer at the bar as we wait and get to our seats without any news of them. It's half an hour before show time and I start to freak out that we won't get news in time.
As if she was reading my mind, she calls him and he thankfully picks up.
"Babe? I'm here. Yeah, stupid fool, in Manchester. Can you get one of your guys to bring us backstage? We are row J seats 1-3-5-7-9. I'm here with Grace and her brothers. Alright, can't wait to see you." She wears the happiest smile on her face and she looks at me. "Thank you so much for this, Grace."
"Thank you for sharing this experience with me. I have been only a source of drama in your life. I really want you to know how I appreciate your friendship." I smile back to her, but her smile gets lost on Lucas himself walking to us with a bodyguard.
The two are wearing black and if I hadn't seen Sophie's excitement and literally seen her jump into his arms, I wouldn't have known it was him. They are so cute together. It might be the first time I see them as affectionate as that. It makes me proud I had this idea of asking her to join.
I greet Lucas as well and he gives me a brief hug before he leads all five of us with him backstage. Just hearing their voice from afar brings me joy. I hear Ash laugh at a joke Mikey just did. We get in and it's a genuine surprise from everyone. I get very surprised with how happy I am to see Ashley again. It gets me weirdly passionate and I make my way to him in a hurry. He is my drama-free source of happiness. He is so kind and always in a good mood. I hug him impatiently.
"Is it weird that I have missed you?" I tell him as I hold him tight to my chest, a genuine smile plastered on my face.
"Maybe, but that makes us two." His voice chuckles next to my ear.
I step away from him and quickly hug my way through the band. We have little time with them before they need to go to the stage. I cross Eddy as he makes his way to his dressing room. I smile brightly to him and he stops to talk so I do the same, letting the rest of my group go on without me.
"Hey ginger brother!" I greet him and it makes him laugh a little.
"How are you, Grace? I should have known you would be here... It's fun to see you tonight." He warmly says as he puts his hand on my arm a second.
"I'm good. I got all of the most important people in my life gathered together and we are about to enjoy the show. I promise I will stay until the last second of your performance this time."
"Good. I look forward to hear what you think of my music."
"I will see you later, OK? We might head out after, it would be awesome for you to join."
"Yeah, sure. Here is my phone number in case we lose each other before the end of the show." I offer him my phone and he enters his contact informations and texts himself a little wink to have my informations in his phone as well.
"Alright. I'll see you later."
"Grace? Quickly." He tries to get my attention back and takes a hold of my arm again. "How many times did he text?" He asks me as he surely knows what has been going on between Marcel and I, but it surprises me. I get angry a bit, but sigh and roll my eyes.
"I have ignored four of his calls and three texts."
"He called me after you went to his office last week." He tells me and it confuses me. What!?
"He did? Why?"
"Yeah. I don't know what happened between you two, but he doesn't seem like himself. I didn't know what to do." He says to try to justify his friend, but he needs to understand my point of view.
"He hurt me, Eddy. I know he is your friend and I liked him a lot, but he treated me with such disrespect. I am done trying to make him open up." I tell him firmly and I look down at my arm to make him let go of me.
"You know like me he isn't fundamentally bad, he just doesn't know how to act properly."
"It doesn't excuse what he did." I exclaim with a heavy heart. I feel so sorry that Eddy is in the middle of this drama.
"Just try to be understanding the next time you will see him." Eddy pleads me with a very soft tone and sorry eyes and it is hard to refuse him that.
"Alright. You are lucky I like you." I sigh and oblige as I just want to go back to my friends and change my mind. I won't see Marcel in a long time anyway.
"I'll stop bothering you now. Enjoy yourself tonight." He waves at me slightly as he starts walking the way he was heading.
I thank him quickly and join back the band, but they are already backstage, technicians setting their instruments on them. Ashley nervously runs his drumsticks between his fingers as he looks at the stage. Mike plays some chords on his guitar as we can hear softly the unplugged instrument. Lucas nervously sings some vocal warm ups and Caleb jumps on place before he takes his bass.
My brothers and Ronnie stand behind as Sophie is with the boys. I join them and put my hands on Ash's shoulders, massaging them a bit. He is really tensed so I don't try to joke, I really try to make him relax.
"You are going to rock that stage like you always do." I tell him to reassure his nerves.
He lets his head fall back as my hands now massage their way down the lower part of his back. I really get a good feel of his body as he so easily lets go between my hands. I can't help but to draw a comparison to Marcel. Never would he have let go of himself that way. I almost succeeded. He started to surrender himself to me, but he shut me out for good. It broke my heart before we were even something. I don't have a clue about what Eddy admitted to me earlier. Why would he even want to talk to me? He made it pretty clear that he didn't want anything to do with me.
"I am happy you are here. It gives me someone to sing my songs to tonight." Ash had turned his head my way and it must be the most beautiful thing I have heard in weeks.
"I'll be here, singing along. Maybe not always the right lyrics, but I must admit I have been listening to your music a lot recently. I love it." I tell him and he turns around to smile gloriously at me. He is so gorgeous, in a messy but hot way.
"I am glad to hear that." He says softly as Mike's guitar is getting plugged and the technician announces it's two minutes until showtime. "You changed your hair. You look good."
He is so sweet and kind. His compliment warms my heart and makes me even more excited to be here. A smile slowly grows on his lips as he starts to turn around to face me more appropriately. The undeniable joy I read on his face makes me melt on the inside. Is he flirting or is he just being friendly?
I bite my lip and smile back at him just as brightly.
"You make it hard for me to behave good when my brothers are here watching me..." I try to seduce him a bit as he makes my heart race with sudden desire. He is being so sweet.
"You are not dating your publisher anymore?" He frowns heavily and gives me a serious look.
"Not anymore. Some people just can't be helped, you know..." I try not to seem as affected as I have been in the last two weeks. Ash deserves better than always being my rebound, but he just always gives me such a good time.
He doesn't say anything at all, but the smirk he wears on his lips is enough to bring all the happiness back in my body. I can't believe how life isn't complicated with him. I am feeling hot as he winks at me before heading on stage the first, followed by the three other boys.
A thunder of cheers are being heard and I feel thrilled to be somewhat part of that. I can't believe how they do it. I would be dying with anxiety to perform in front of a couple of thousands of people every night.
Ashley sits at his drums, his hands high in the air, and bangs the beat to the rhythm of their first song. I join Sophie's side closer of the side curtains and so do my brothers and Ronnie.
After the first song, Sophie and I start to dance and sing along. Ronnie seems to like them a lot as she moves with Simon. William joins my side and shouts over the music a couple of time how good he finds them.
The band ends with my three favourites songs, so I get totally taken by the music and sing my heart out with Sophie. I get fuelled with desire and pure infatuation at every of Ash irresistible solos where he looks at me or points his drumstick at me. I feel incredibly lucky that he seems to like me like that. He is my source of fun and I really want to head out and let loose after the show. Their music gives me such a thrill. I can feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins.
William removes the stick up his arse and dances to the last song. I amuse myself and take his hands to move him along with me. It makes me laugh and I can't measure the happiness I am feeling at that very moment, never have I been this happy in my life. It feels so good.
We all start to applause the band once their set is over. Ash joins the lads at the front of the stage and bows to the crowd. He throws both of his sticks in the crowd and makes his way back to us, joining his mates. They can't hide how pumped and full of energy they all are.
Caleb and Mikey walk past us to head to their dressing room to dry up their sweat covered bodies before Eddy's show, but Lucas stops at Sophie to kiss her hungrily. I look at them a second, surprisingly envious to this act of passion. Ash joins me, jumping at every step he takes, to smile wider than I have ever seen him before.
"You look like a kid on Christmas Day." I chuckle, clearly amused by Ash's behaviour. He is so cute.
"I am. You are like the gift under my tree."
"Am I?"
"You are." He smirks and leans in with confidence to kiss my lips.
His contact feels good. He is gluing a bit of the heart that has been broken and it feels great to feel good for once. I just want to enjoy this moment. I forgot what it was to be kissed by him. He has both of his palms on my cheeks, holding me to him. It is great to be touched again and not having to ask for it. It makes it easier to kiss him right back, but only briefly as I remember my brothers' presence by our side.
"Hey, hey, hey. It's my sister you are choking there with your tongue. You better back off before I pull my police card on you." Simon makes his way to Ash and it only makes me laugh and roll my eyes.
Simon cracks a smile and pats friendly on Ash's back as they both start to move along to head to the dressing room. Ronnie follows them and so do Sophie and Lucas as William stays behind with me a little. I take him by the waist, pulling his body close to mine as we walk behind the band and let myself feel giddy under the charm Ash has on me.
"So that's the man I told you about. Ashley." I smile up at my brother, hoping he remembers who he is from the story I had told him when I got home more than a week ago about my experiences in London.
"Grace?" I hear. Are you kidding me?! I gaze down to find my good mood totally over.
Why the fuck does he have to be here?
My brother instantly sees that something is wrong with me and eyes the man walking to us from next to a case in a dark corner behind where we were standing.
"Who is this, Gracy?"
He frowns back and worries because of how bad his presence affects me right now. I can't hide my feelings and he walks to us just enough to hear the arrogance in my tone.
"The publisher."
.