Faith In Me

11.

Nervously, Robert picked at his nails. He didn’t know how to act, he had never been in a situation quite like this….

Robert’s eyes darted over to Simon, who calmly sat. un-bothered and seemingly nonchalant to the tension in the air. Robert hoped it was just a fuzzy dream, because he couldn’t quite get the thought of Simon touching him out of his mind.

That night, Robert was very drunk and had smoked a decent amount of pot; but he didn’t get drunk enough to forget. How could he forget, it was like anything Robert had felt before. The feeling of simon's warm hands on his skin was still fresh in his memory, and he couldn’t bring himself to act normally.

Barry was scribbling away on some paper, Robert had already forgotten just what he was writing about. It must have been important though, with the way barry had his tongue poking out of his mouth. “Aaaand… paperwork done!” Barry grinned, slapping down his pencil before spinning around and facing the tree boys. 

“It won't be much longer now lads until you can say you’ve released a debut album?” Barry grinned, crossing his legs. Lol smiled, looking a bit down and out of it. Robert and Simon had already apologized for not going to the party, but understood since the storm was so bad.

“How much longer till we can start playing shows?” Robert suddenly spoke up, bringing all the attention to himself since he was rarely the one to ask questions. Barry hummed, tapping his chin before nodding his head, “soon. Very soon- in fact I've already been looking into a few pups and basement shows you can play at, ''Barry said, offering a reassuring smile to robert.

“And remember, the first few shows are always hard. Especially if you;ve never played a show before… Simon, lol you two have played shows before right?” Barry asked, to which both men nodded their heads. “So it’s just robert then..” Barry said, glancing to robert.

Robert set his jaw before glancing at his hands, feeling a bit uneasy at Barry's intense gaze. “You should probably start preparing rob. Don't want to make a fool of yourself on stage.'' Barry said, lifting a cigarette to his mouth and lighting it. 

Robert felt a lump form in his throat and he nodded his head, lowering his gaze once more. Robert didn’t like the idea of failing the band, making them all look bad because he couldn’t meet the requirements. “I’ll do my best..” Robert said quietly, taking in a long breath before sighing and keeping his eyes down.

“Good.”

~~~~~

“Alright robert- one last take!” Barry said through the speaker. Robert was finally the one in the sound booth, as nerve wracking as it was. Robert nodded his head, licking his lips briefly before stepping closer to the microphone and starting to sing the song.

Robert had been singing all bloody day, his throat was sore by now and he was ready for a drink. Robert kept stealing glances at Simon, who always seemed to catch him. Maybe Simon was watching him as well…

Robert felt his chest tighten with nerves and he closed his eyes, hoping that he wasn’t being too obvious. Robert tuned everything out and focused on the bloody song. 

Before Robert knew it, the track ended and he heard Barry screaming from the studio room. Robert opened his eyes and looked over in confusion, seeing Barry cheering and dancing around. Robert guessed he finally nailed the song…

“That was fucking phenomenal robert!!” Barry praised through the speaker, clapping his hands together. “Come on out, i have enough material to master the last few songs!” Barry grinned. Robert smiled and shuffled over to the door, stepping out of the muggy sound-booth only to be embraced tightly by barry.