Not Warriors- Awsten Knight

Chapter 37

"Okay you have to tell me absolutely everything, how are you even here? When did you and Awsten make up? I can't even believe that you forgave him after he just left you like that, I didn't talk to him for like a month afterwards by the way I was so mad at him that's just so unfair like how could he do that? And-" Gracie rambles to Claire as they're waiting for the boys to take the stage but gets cut off by Claire. 

"Okay slow down here for a minute." Claire says with a soft laugh. 

"First of all you were 16 when we were together, I admire the commitment of ignoring him when he's one of your favorite people but in hind sight that probably wasn't necessary." she jokes playfully with Gracie. 

"Second off, no. I'm not on tour with Parx, my best friends have a band and I'm their photographer so that's why I'm here. I didn't even know that Awsten had a band still, or that he was going to be here." she tells Gracie honestly. 

"Ooh what band is it, are they cute?" Gracie asks curiously, and Claire scrunches her nose at the thought of anyone thinking her friends were cute. 

"The band name is Sonic Hero's and no they're all gross." Claire says, jumping a little when Gracie gasps dramatically. 

"Claire shut up, the lead singer Collin is so cute I've followed them since the beginning of tour on Instagram. Can you introduce me?" Gracie begs, batting her eyelashes and Claire shakes her head aggressively. 

"No absolutely the fuck not, he already dated my sister and I will not let him get tangled up in more family nonsense." she replies sternly. 

Claire sighs when she notices Gracies face soften, knowing that she was about to talk about Madison. 

"I heard about your sister Claire,  I'm-" she starts softly before Claire shakes her head cutting her off again. 

"I appreciate it Gracie but I really don't want to talk about it right now, genuinely thank you though." she tells her, wrapping her arm around her shoulder and resting her head on top of Gracies. 

"I'm just happy you're here, I'm sorry that I didn't reach out more after you and Awsten broke up. That was shitty of me." Gracie tells her softly, and Claire shakes her head. 

"You were a kid Gracie, I don't blame you or anyone for not reaching out after the break up. That's just a fact of life." she assures her, and Gracie sighs. 

"It's just you watched me grow up, I literally admired you in every way. I should of kept in contact, you were family. You still are family, that hasn't changed I hope you know that." Gracie tells her, and Claire smiles.

It's a weird feeling to see the kid that she used to drive to soccer practices, and take to the mall for back to school shopping was this grown adult standing next to her and having such an in depth conversation. 

She was proud of the way that Awsten and Gracie had grown over the years. 

"We can't dwell on the past Gracie it's okay, I'm here now." Claire tells her softly.

"So, you and Awsten really aren't dating?" she asks Claire playfully, nudging her. 

She laughs, shaking her head. "We really aren't dating." 

"Can y'all fix that so I can call you my sister again?" Gracie groans dramatically. 

Just as Claire was going to answer the boys took the stage, and she hears Gracie yell loudly next to her causing her to laugh. 

The energy in the crowd today was absolutely unmatched, it was a hometown show and it was obvious how loved they were by everyone around them.

She had listened to the albums on almost repeat at this point, meaning this was the first set that she had been able to watch where she would actually know the words.

It's crazy to her that just a few weeks prior it hurt her to know that songs like Lucky People and Not Warriors hurt her, and now she was standing in a crowd of hundreds of their fans yelling lyrics of love that were written about her back to the man that she was still madly in love with.

In this moment she felt like all of the worry and stress that she had surrounded being home had completely melted away and she was completely content with being home. 

"You know this one is about you right?" Gracie yells over the chorus of Lucky People and Claire nods with a smile on her face. 

"He mentioned that yeah." Claire shrugs, laughing at the end of the sentence.

"Happy birthday, Merry Christmas to the one I call my missus I'm leaving you love notes in the kitchen that say it all." Gracie and Claire yell in unison at each other, dancing around while holding hands and Claire looks up to see Awsten grinning at the both of them from ear to ear. 

"Okay so, we're going to play a song today that we haven't played since probably our first year as a band. But we're in our hometown and I'm feeling extra generous today." Awsten announces into the microphone proudly as he grabs his electric guitar from Jawn. 

"This ones called Bones of 92'" he says with a smirk looking directly at Claire. 

The cheering in the crowd was almost deafening once he said that, and she was too shocked to even move. 

She remembers the night that he wrote this, and him telling her that it was a song about the both of them named after the year they were both born. 

"I won't sell myself out I won't let you down. Just promise that you won't forget about me, I can't stop the future from settling. But I can change the way it feels, just promise that you won't forget about me." Awsten and the crowd sing loudly, and Claire sees Jawn push his way through the crowd to stand next to her and Gracie. 

"You've got this man wrapped around your finger Claire I haven't heard him play this song in years." he says leaning into her ear so that she could hear him over the crowd. 

"He wrote this one when we were still living in the apartment, I came home from work one day to see him scribbling in his notebook like a mad man. Told me it was about us, I had never heard the song until a week or two ago." Claire says proudly, nodding her head to the beat. 

"He's been really happy this tour, the happiest I've seen him in a long time. What the two of you have is special." Jawn tells her and earns a soft nod from Claire. 

"Happiest I've been in a long time too Jawn." she replies softly, turning her attention back to Awsten watching him in awe for the rest of the set.