only you //. reece bibby (stereo kicks)

Chapter 7 - Round 1

We both walk over to the cushioned chairs and sit for moment in silence, Charlie biting his lip nervously. Gently, I put my arm around him and he rests his head on my shoulder.

"Do you wanna go get some food or something?" I whisper softly in his ear.

He slumps down into his chair and doesn't reply so we just sit in silence. A few minutes later Charlie decides to stand up, turning back to look at me.

"Where are you going?"I ask curiously.

"I thought you wanted to get food?"

I sigh as I get up out of the chair. "So you were listening to me" he nods.

"...idiot" I say as I walk in front of him towards the canteen.

Charlie chuckles to himself smugly as he trails behind me. At least I managed to cheer him up a bit.

"What do you want??"
I take a £20 note out of my purse and join the queue with Charlie stood behind me. I turn to face Charlie as we wait patiently in the queue.

"Get me a bag of chips, I'm starving."

"Fine..."I roll my eyes.

I notice Charlie smiling and beckoning to a person behind me. Quickly, I turn around to see....him.

The guy I saw earlier.
The blonde one with the guitar.

He waltzes over to us, grinning at Charlie.

"You okay man?" Charlie asks.

"Sorta, I feel like I could've done better in my audition but hopefully I impressed the judges." The blonde boy replies before taking a deep nervous breath.

His accent was very strong, very different to mine and Charlie's. I could definitely tell he wasn't from Kent.

I look over at him and Charlie, brushing my brown hair to a side with my left hand.

"Just say something!!" I think to myself.

"Sorry, if you don't mind me asking. Where are you from?" I nervously fiddle with my hands as he smiles.

He smiled.
The cute boy frickin' smiled at me!

"I'm from Accrington."
"Ahh...." I reply. "Where's that!?"

Shit. Why did I just say that? Urgh.

He laughs to himself as my cheeks flush a crimson red.

"It's near Manchester....Don't worry, you're not the only person who's ever asked me that so I'll let you off the hook."

I smile sweetly at him. "My names Reece by the way..."

He holds out his hand to shake mine, grinning delightfully.
"Reece Bibby."

The way he says Bibby sends shivers down my spine.

"Nice to meet you Reece, my name's Ella Smith."

Just at that moment, a man with a clipboard walks out from the white doors.

"Charlie Jones?" He shouts.

"Have we got a Charlie Jones?"

"Sorry Reece, we have to go." Charlie apologises.

"N-nah, nah, no worries man. Good luck Charlie!"

Reece turns to me.

"I'll see you around Ella." He waves then walks over to his family.

The whole waiting room falls silent as Charlie raises his hand. He hugs me tightly before walking nervously over to the man with a clipboard. Julie and Rik run over to him, both of them kissing him on his cheek and forehead and hugging him as he walks through those doors.

I can't help but wish Charlie's name hadn't have been called so I could speak to Reece for longer but then again, I don't think I'd be able to go so much longer without embarrassing myself so maybe it's better that he went.

The atmosphere behind the doors was intense. Fear engulfed every single human being, whether they were or were not auditioning.

Charlie's family and I all sit backstage, holding onto one another as we wait at bottom of the steps in silence, desperately attempting to hear what had been said onstage. I'm so nervous I can't speak, my head just seems to shake and nod by itself when people speak to me.

After around 30 minutes, I hear footsteps coming from the steps. The three other boys Charlie had to sing with emerge through the doors, however, no Charlie. Rik looks at me and crosses his fingers.

At that moment, the white door opens and a person walks out. It's Charlie.

I immediately spring up and run towards him, wrapping my arms around him tightly.

"Ella-" He burrows his head into my neck and sobs on my shoulder.

I hug him tighter.

"It's okay, I'm so proud of you. No matter what."

"They said that I should audition again when I'm older." He says tearfully.

Julie runs over to us and kisses Charlie's forehead, engulfing him in a long hug.

"Charlie, I love you my baby. We all love you." She sees that he's crying, causing her to begin to cry too.

Many of his family members began to start filtering over to us, each and every one of them hugging him.

He exhales loudly, looking over to me as I stare helplessly at him.

I can't help but feel crushed. He's my best friend, we know eachother inside out. All that Charlie has ever wanted to do was sing, and honestly the fact that he didn't get through breaks my heart.

**

Back at the hotel, Charlie doesn't really speak much. He just mopes around the room, watching TV from various angles on the sofa. Rik ordered pizza for us both however, it was mainly eaten by Charlie. I just had the odd couple of slices.

I leave him for a bit to get ready for bed in the bathroom, slipping in to a football top and shorts.

When I get back into the room Charlie is sat at the foot of his bed with his phone plastered to his ear. By the sound of his voice, I can tell he's definitely talking to a girl.

I walk over to my bed and climb into it, smothering myself beneath the duvet. I try to be cautious with what I say because anything could set him off crying again and that's something I really don't want.

"Goodnight Ella!" Charlie smiles sweetly, as he ends his phone call.

"Night Mr Jones.." I reply, giggling to myself.

He pouts and rolls his eyes as he continues to scroll down his Twitter timeline.

I sit cross-legged on my double bed as I switch on my phone.

Just at that moment a notification comes up. I groan before scrolling to see what it is. It's a Twitter notification.

"@ReeceBibby is now following you!"

What!?
....

//

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