Walking in Dreams

Chapter 1 - The Meeting

There was an air of excitement over the line; Steph was absentmindedly twisting her jumper in her hands, a worried expression on her face. “We’re next” I exclaimed, which brought Steph back from her thoughts, to the bustling queue. Steph had been waiting months for the moment that was minutes away, she had wanted this ever since she heard him sing.

The door that everyone was anticipating going through opened, four girls came out; they were all chatting, madly discussing the experience that they had just had. A man with a clipboard came out of the room too, “Steph Cleaver and Lauren Radtke Please” he shouted over the loud babble that was coming from all around.

“That’s us” Steph squeaked “I can’t believe this is actually happening”.  Steph’s breathing started getting faster as she approached the door with me by her side. As we entered five warm smiling faces all turned to look at us. Steph looked from the first man to the last, her eyes steadily moving across each of the five boys, she stopped on the fifth boy, her breathing stuttered as her eyes met his shining blue eyes.

“So what is your name, beautiful” Tom said smiling.

“Steph” she said in a small voice, this was unusual for Steph. She had hardly taken her eyes off Jay to answer; they were still locked in each other’s eyes.

As I had liked them for a much shorter time than Steph I stood behind Steph in her shadow, but they had noticed me.

“And what’s yours honey”, Max had stepped forward and was looking directly at me, I came from out from behind Steph but I couldn’t answer him he was just how I had pictured he would be from the many pictures and videos. “Don’t you want to tell me” he said with a wink, Nathan laughed, he had obviously seen a lot of tongue tied fans before, but Max carried on staring at me with a broad smile still on his face.

“Lauren” I whispered.

Steph had approached Jay, I could tell that she was near to tears; she had so much emotion that was pent up inside of her. She couldn’t handle it, as Jay beckoned her closer, with a smile, she broke down, no one could do anything, Jay caught her as she collapsed with the pain as all her emotions gushed out in the form of tears.

“What’s the matter? Please tell me” Jay asked in a concerned pleading voice.

There was nothing that I could do, I just had to watch, max had moved closer to me, with a concerned look on his face that was directed at Steph, the other three boys all were looking between confused and concerned, they didn’t know what was going on.

Siva was starting to move to the exit “Should I call a medic” he said with slight panic in his voice.

“N-NO, I am so sorry I-I-I promised m-yself that I wouldn’t do this” Steph blurted out behind tears.

“Do what beautiful? Your crying, obviously something is upsetting you” Jay whispered close to her face.

“It’s not that, I have just been through a really tough year for several different reasons, and you have been the ones to save me, I would not be here now if it wasn’t for you” Steph broke down in tears again whilst she spoke. “You are all so amazing, especially you Jay, my life depends on your existence”

I just stood staring, I was wishing that I could love someone as much as Steph loved Jay, I glanced at Max, he caught me looking at him out of the corner of his eyes and smiled at me, It made me feel warm however I knew that it was only because he was such a nice person, it was nothing compared to how Jay was looking at Steph. Steph, tears still streaming down her cheeks, trembled at Jays touch. He had entwined his fingers with Steph’s and lifted her from the floor. He wiped away the tears from her damp face. ”you really are beautiful you know Steph”.

“Y-you probably get told this all the time” Steph stuttered “But”

“One minute left girls” the man with the clipboard came and said interrupting.

“I am sorry” Steph said.

“No, go on, please I want you to” Jay prompted.

Everyone was looking at Steph, I was so happy for her, this was her dream. I was also sad, I hadn’t even talked to Max, my heart was beating faster just thinking about his eyes staring back at mine. But what was I thinking I was never going to be up to any of The Wanted’s standards, no boys ever notice me, why did I even think that Max would...

Steph stared into Jays eyes and tears welled up again. We had thirty seconds left before we had to leave. “I love you Jay. You are my life, I love you.”

Jay hugged her so passionately, he was almost sharing her pain, tears twinkled in his eyes, the only words he uttered were “I know, I am here”.