Nino's POV:
I woke up from the sunlight peering down on my face. I grimaced as I saw Bert wrapped in a blanket next to me, drool dripping out of the corner of his mouth as he snored softly. His Nintendo Switch was tossed carelessly a bit away from him. I glanced at the small alarm clock we had set next to the mattress and it portrayed that it was only seven in the morning. I groaned softly as I rubbed my forehead, my hangover was intense. I tried to ignore it as I dragged myself out of bed and into the bathroom where I brushed my teeth, used the restroom, etc. I snatched my jacket off the coat hanger and shrugged it on, stuffing my hands into the pockets to check if I had left my cigarettes and lighter there. I sighed in satisfaction as I felt the plastic of the box rub against my fingers. I chuckled slightly as I saw Gabi already stood out on the balcony, her own cigarette attached to her lips. I opened the door quietly as I stepped out into the cold winter morning. Gabi turned and smiled at me softly as she took another drag of her cigarette, her hand shaking slightly from the cold. I waved back as I stepped next to her, inhaling the crisp morning air deeply. I lit my cigarette as I observed our small neighborhood working. I watched as children walked hand-in-hand to school, as cars flew down the street, and as adults headed to their work.
I found myself thinking about the sudden change to our band. I mean, we had a clear vision of what the album was going to sound like but with replacements for almost every instrument/member in the band, we had no clue how it would turn out. With Bert and I as guitar, Mads as lead vocals, and Jesse as drums; how would that sound?
I noticed Gabi grinning as I set my cigarette box on the railing. I had decided to buy more expensive cigarettes this time as I had extra cash and decided why the fuck not?
"Nino smoking out of budget shit, I see," Gabi teased as she cheekily snuck one out of my box and into her lips.
"If I'm failing, I might as well do it with style," I chuckled sadly as I dared to not make eye contact, instead staring glumly at the leave-less trees planted in front of our apartment.
I heard Gabi take a deep breath as I took a long drag of my cigarette, hoping that it would take away at least a bit of my worries. A few moments of silence passed.
"What's on your mind?" she asked softly, tugging her jacket closer to her body as the wind picked up slightly.
"Gabi, please I have no idea how this is gonna work. The band is gonna sound completely different. God knows if we'll like Jesse or if she will even understand our music views," I rambled out to her, my voice raised slightly in frustration.
"Yeah, I understand. I'm honestly scared shitless for today," Gabi laughed sourly, shaking her head after.
"Broken Clocks was supposed to be our thing, including Taylor and Nina. It all came crashing because they thought badly of my intentions," I shrugged as I finally looked at Gabi.
"You have to remember this could be for the better. Maybe it'll work out better that way," she ashed her cigarette as she tried to uplift me, "Keep calm, we can do it. We've been through so much shit, this'll blow over, trust."
"Fine," I said as I tried to ignore both her and the roaring thoughts flowing through my head.
I looked at my phone to try to distract myself. I scrolled past the few instagram notifications I had, my finger stopping immediately once I caught sight of a text from Tony.
1 new message
tony: g'morning beautiful, im waiting to board my flight, touring is so tiring.
2 new messages
tony: i'll have a two day gap soon.
tony: i'll try coming down to sheffield when i can.
I responded to him with a quick and short text telling him good morning and that we would be heading down to the studio today. My blistering headache made me not want to look at my screen for any longer.
