“Well the beach is empty,” Ryan sung. I didn’t know how I was going to match my voice to his level, but I was going to try as hard as I could.
“And the skies are grey,” I sung, to him more than the audience as we were facing each other and walking backwards a little.
“It’s getting cold out of the pier.” I was shocked to grasp the fact that our voices completely matched together. The tones were perfect and they just… went together flawlessly.
I could barely hear myself singing the next part, as the crowd was so loud, but I persevered as best I could and sung the duet with Ryan. “Ever since you left me.”
“There hasn’t been a sunny day.”
“I gotta say it’s getting weird.” Ryan shrugged cutely as we sung this part. “I’m tired of waiting. Come back to California, it sucks without you here. It’s like the sun stopped shining, the palm trees disappeared.” We sang the song, moving about the stage like we’d been doing it together for years. It was almost at my solo -- my favourite part of the entire song -- which meant that Nash was on his guitar solo. I had to admit, he was amazing! The way he moved his fingers on the guitar was incredible. Almost all of the instruments stopped, and I stepped forward to sing.
“Come back to California,” I began; Ryan clapped his hands next to me, causing the crowd to as well. I felt a sudden rush come over me. This I what I’ve been wanting to do for all of my life, and it was finally my time. I didn’t need America’s got talent or any other audition show; I had my ticket to stardom right here. And I was completely and utterly in love with him. “It sucks without you here. It’s like the sun stop shining. The palm trees disappeared.”
The music kicked in again, and I stepped back to jump around and get into the song. We both started to sing again, moving in from where we were spread out on the stage. Ryan stopped clapping and sung with me, letting the melody envelop us both. After another chorus, Ryan reached over and grabbed my hand, linking his fingers through mine.
“I’m just tryna’ say I miss you.” My part.
“And I’m just, tryna’ say I miss you.” Ryan's part.
“I miss you.” Our voices worked really well together in this part, and as the song ended we both took a bow, our hands still intertwined. After waiting for the crowd to settle and stop screaming, Ryan showed me off to them.
“Give it up for Blair!”
I gave him a kiss on the cheek and climbed offstage, running through so many people towards a very excited looking Cass.
“That was amazing!” She yelled over the boys saying their goodbyes to Melbourne. We screeched and grabbed each other’s hands, jumping around and dancing.
“Really?!” I yelled back.
“Yes! I have never heard you sing that well before! I had no idea, Blair… it’s incredible,” Cass said, her face filling with pride and tears welling in her eyes.
“Cass! Don’t go all mushy on me! Let’s go backstage.” As I was talking I saw the curtains close in my peripherals. I grabbed Cass’ hand and headed over to the door that was heavily guarded by security guards. A hand slipped out and gave one a piece of paper. The guard read it out, his voice rough and loud.
“Blair and Cass? I need Blair and Cass!”
“Here!” Cass yelled, raising her hand up and pushing through teenage girls. We arrived at the front and I could now see what was on the piece of paper. Two names with photos underneath the scrawly writing. Huh, so that’s how you get backstage. Pretty smart, I thought to myself, giving a nod of approval. We both scooted to the door and were let inside. After walking through a long hallway that seemed to stretch on and on, I finally saw Ryan. He was leaning against a doorway, to their dressing room I would suppose, and when he saw me a smile lit up on his face.
“Ryan!” I squealed, fastening my pace and leaping onto him when we were close enough. He caught me and spun me around a few times, burying his face into my shoulder.
“Was it good? You had fun?”
“Ryan! What you did was so stupid, crazy, nerve-wracking, wreck less…” The list could go on, but I stopped as his face fell. “… and the best experience to ever happen to me.”
His face brightened up again. “Really?” he exclaimed.
I giggled. “Yes! It was amazing. Truly.” I pressed a kiss to his lips, causing him to push me up against the narrow hall-way wall, his lips still warmly on mine. He kissed almost everywhere on my face, he even trailed them down my neck before I pushed him away playfully, my hands spread across his chest. I looked around to see if Cass was still there, but she was gone and we were completely alone. I could feel the laughter rumble through him, I could even feel his heart beat. It was fast and strong. I pulled him in closer and made sure my breath was against his neck as I thanked him.
“Thank you so much Ryan, it was amazing to do something I’ve only ever dreamed of,” I whispered pleasantly.
“Anytime, gorgeous,” he murmured huskily back in my ear. “I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
I kept looking at Ryan's lips as he pulled away from my neck and his face was close to mine, and he took the hint. He kissed me fiercely, moving his arms up so his hand rested on my chest, the other around the back of my neck, scrunching up my hair. I melted in the kiss, resting my hands on his waist so I could keep our bodies touching. He ran his tongue along my upper lip, which left me breathless and caused both of us to let out a small moan, his warm breath tickling my skin. I let my mouth move slowly, moving with his -- it was nothing like our previous kisses. It felt so right, so perfect. I didn’t want the moment to end.
But, of course, we were interrupted.
“Hey, great show!” A voice cut through the beautiful silence. Nash’s. Ryan pulled away, turning to look at Nash while resting his forehead on mine. I could feel his eyebrows raise, and as he did so Nash raised his hands somewhat in defeat. “Okay, sorry, continue. I’ll be… somewhere. Not here though. Definitely not here.”
I laughed briskly, turning back to Ryan.
“So where were we?” he asked softly.
“Well…” I traced his lips gently. “I do recall it went something like this…”
I pressed my lips to his again, reliving the moment that passed by just before. As we were in our own little world again, the door opened behind us.
“Ryan? There you are-“
“Oh my god,” Ryan exclaimed, turning around to see Ian standing against the doorway. Unlike Nash, Ian didn’t walk away and leave us in peace.
“Come on you two, join the party!” He dragged us in to the room. I saw Cass on the couch with Jamie, they were talking confidently and it looked like she was finally comfortable with the tour. Nash was with Ian now, as he’d walked over to him as soon as we’d shut the door behind us. There were a few other girls and guys in here. Obviously friends of the guys, I thought. One of the faces I distinctly recognised.
“Nate!” I screamed, running over to him and giving him a giant hug. “What are you doing here?”
“Heya, sis,” he greeted, waving his hand a little. “What do you mean? Ryan’s my mate! And you’re here too, which gave me two reasons to come along.”
“Is Laura here?”
“Nah, she’s back in Lockeland Springs planning with your mother. What you did Blair…”
“I know,” I finished his sentence almost robotically. “It was wrong, childish and stupid. I’ve heard it all before.”
“No, it was great. Your mum’s changed completely! She’s helping a lot, and she’s not a…”
“A what?”
“A bitch, really.”
Wait, my mum wasn’t being a bitch? Did this mean… was I holding her back from this? Was I the reason she was angry and rude all the time? I couldn’t believe it.
“Oh, and while I’m here. You’ll be on this tour for a couple of weeks… you’ll miss the wedding.” His face fell, as did mine. I was really looking forward to seeing Nate and Laura get married.
“I know,” I said sadly. “But I had to make some sacrifices, right?”
“Right. I’m glad to see you happy Blair… it’s been a long time.” He pulled me in for another hug. This time, Ryan joined in with a very manly ‘aw!’
Cass and Jamie joined the hug, as did the rest of the people in the room. I laughed with the others. It was nice to finally enjoy myself; I just had to find the right people.
The rest of the night went really well. We danced around the room and had so much fun. About halfway through, the boys went out to sign some autographs and meet some fans, so Cass and I held up conversations with the other people in the room. We made a few more friends that night, including Jacky, who was a friend of Nash’s that came to Melbourne from Adelaide to see them. Another was Tyson, a friend of Jamie’s from school, and Louis, who was Ian’s mate. No family members were there, apart from the two brothers in Hot Chelle Rae, and it got me thinking a little. I guess that with all the shows these boys were doing, that their families couldn’t attend every single one. I really wanted to meet Anna, and hopefully become good friends with her.
The boys came back in hours after. I noticed a lot of lipstick marks on their faces, and I laughed to myself. Jamie had the most, with half of his face covered in red and pink smudges.
“We should go back to the hotel, all the fans are gone and this is our window,” Nash said, running his fingers through his curly hair.
“What time is it?” I asked tiredly.
“Three in the morning,” Nash replied. I frowned. Was it really that late?
I shrugged and stood up from sitting on the floor and leaning against the lime-green couch placed in the middle of the room. I turned to help Cass up, as she was sitting right next to me, and she grabbed my outstretched hands and let me hoist her up. We said our goodbyes and left, getting in another hired SUV and headed back to the hotel. The car ride was quite amazing. It was really the first time I’d been out at night. The last few nights in Melbourne were spent rehearsing with the boys, although they already knew the songs, we still had to run through it. The lights of the city fascinated me, and I looked out the window wide-eyed. We passed a lot of buildings, one being near the lake and it was the Melbourne Aquarium. I hoped that before we left, we’d be able to go there. We drove down a main street, where many restaurants were. They lit up the street, some having lanterns outside and some having beautiful fairy lights. We saw many 7-elevens, which excited me that they had them here. My birthday was on the 7th of November.
I was a little disappointed when we arrived at the hotel, but I hopped out of the car and into our building. We had to scan our little key card to get in the elevator, and the security system was very strict. It would take us directly to our floor, so we couldn’t snoop around to see what was going on on the other floors. The building was all rooms, the reception was across the street in an old-style building. It looked a bit like a spa, with cute wooden doors and a big palm tree directly in the middle. Once we reached our floor and got inside the room, Ryan went straight to the bedroom and flopped down on the bed. I laughed and sat next to him.
“Exhausted?” I asked, crossing my legs and stroking his hair as he lay there. He lifted his head up to rest it in my lap.
“You have no idea,” he groaned. There was a loud growl and I held back a laugh as Ryan clutched his stomach. “I am so hungry, but I can’t move.”
I leaned down and kissed his forehead. “What do you want to eat?” I asked.
“There’s a Snickers bar in the cupboard above the sink.”
“Okay, I’ll be right back.” I lifted his head up and replaced me with a pillow. Walking out into the kitchen area, I saw that Nash and Ian were already passed out on the couches. I opened the cupboard to get a Snickers bar from a big pile of bars, when a voice startled me, causing me to jump a little.
“Could you chuck me two of those?” Jamie asked politely. I grabbed two, as ordered, and threw them over to him. “Thanks,” he murmured.
I was about to turn around to grab one for Ryan, but I noticed that Jamie wasn’t going anywhere. He just looked down at his feet and shuffled around awkwardly.
“Anything else you want before I go?” He looked up as I spoke, then closed the door to his and Cass’ room.
“I-I was just wondering…” He said embarrassingly. “Is Cass… is she maybe dating anyone?”
My eyes widened and a smile spread across my face. I tried to contain my excitement and shifted into a different position.
“Um.” I stretched the word out for a few seconds, pretending to think about it. “No, she isn’t dating anyone.”
He smiled and began to walk into their room. “Hey,” he said, and I turned back to him after closing the cupboards, Snickers bar in hand. “Thanks for being so cool about it. I thought you would’ve screamed and hugged me or something.”
I let out a small chuckle. “No, no. Unless you want me to scream and hug you?”
This time he laughed. “That’s quite alright. Night Blair.”
I walked back into mine and Ryan’s bedroom, to find him now sitting up and rubbing at his eyes. He looked up at my entrance, and I threw the chocolate bar to him.
“Thanks babe. Aren’t you having anything?”
“I’m not hungry. I’ll wait for breakfast.”
“You sure? You want a bite?” He said teasingly, waving the chocolate bar around in front of him.
I giggled. “I’m sure. I’m going to get changed, don’t look, alright?”
“Blair,” He said seriously. “If you tell me not to look, I’m going to look. It’s like, the rules of… manism.”
I burst into hysterics at his failed attempt at a Mean Girls quote. “Fine,” I retorted when I was finished laughing. “ I will go in the bathroom then.”
I walked out with my plaid pyjama shorts and my white crop top in hand, and went straight to the bathroom. After getting changed and giving my teeth a quick clean and my hair a brush, I walked back into the room to see Ryan shirtless -- besides a grey, zip-up hoodie he was wearing -- and still in his black jeans, laying on the bed and his phone in his hands. I had to admit, if I didn’t have my level of self control I would have drooled right then and there. His tattoo was showing, and it never failed to interest me. I closed the door, dumped my clothes from tonight on my suitcase and began to peel down the covers to get in. Ryan looked over at me and let out a whistle, seeing my stomach for the first time. My belly piercing was showing, at the moment it was a blue stone with a dolphin dangling below. I rolled my eyes and slid into the bed, shuffling around to get comfortable on the fresh, white sheets. Ryan put his phone down and snuggled in next to me, putting the covers up to his chin as he lay on his side facing me. He’d turned the light off while putting his phone on the bedside table, but I could still see him perfectly in the darkness. I began to close my eyes, but opened them when I thought about something.
“Shit,” I whispered, rubbing my hands up and down my arms.
“What?” Ryan asked, suddenly alert as if something was wrong.
“It’s freezing.” I didn’t really think about the weather here in Australia when I was packing. These mini shorts were the only pyjamas I had, and I wasn’t going to sleep in jeans. I did have trackies but getting up to get them seemed like too much work.
“Well, come here then,” Ryan said flirtatiously, holding his arms out. I snuggled into him, my arms pressed up in between us both and my chin resting on my fists , my head on his chest. We were both on our sides, and his arm lay across my waist while his other hand curled around my fist and his chin was resting on my head. I tangled my legs with his, feeling the warmth of them and instantly needing to get closer.
“Your legs are freezing,” he laughed. I let a breath out of my nose, as a half-ass attempt of a laugh.
“Goodnight Ryan.” I leaned up to kiss him softly, and our lips brushed ever so slightly.
“You have no idea how tempted I am to do many things to you right now,” He whined. I laughed and rested my head back down on the pillow.
“One day,” I teased, feeling myself fall asleep in his relaxed embrace.