ROYALS

-8-

Excerpt from, "Whoever You Are Holding Me Now In Hand"

-: Or if you will,
thrusting me beneath your clothing,
Where I may feel the throbs of your heart nor rest upon your hip,
Carry me when you go forth over land or sea; For thus nearly touching you is enough,
is best,
And thus touching you would I silently sleep and be carried eternally :-

-Walt Whitman

—

After getting into Battle of the Bands, Peters's been having us practice like crazy.

I understand he's excited, but singing the same note 10 times doesn't make us sound anything more than exhausted. We haven't decided on a song yet, and this was making everyone stressed.

No one knew that to do, hell, I didn't even know what to do. My mind was running a blank, I didn't have anything.

What would they want? Who they do they want us to be? A band isn't made by the people, it's made by how the audience reacts.

It was a late rehearsal today, and we started getting down to our finish decisions. The final three were laid out in front of us, written on rectangular index cards. We were all sat on the couch, with Simon of course to my right hand side.

"Maybe we should just pick it at random, make it less painful?" Felle says, looking to Peter who's head was buried in his hands.

"I guess." Peter says, looking to us. "Sound okay?" He asked.

"Fine by me." Simon said looking to me.

"Course." I answer.

"We'll, Peter, since your the one who got us here how about you pick?" Antony says, shrugging his shoulders.

"Okay, yeah." Peter said, picking the three cards up and blindly shuffling them. I tried to close my eyes wanting to be surprised, and I saw Felle, Antony, and Simon doing the same.

"Ready..." Says Peter, closing his eyes and choosing the middle card. He pulls it out slowly, then flips it to us."

—

The next day we all decided to take a break before having another practice. Peter had us in the band room practically twice a day and it was getting to be a lot.

Simon and I decided to spend the day together, and just relax. We went to breakfast at a coffee joint, and enjoyed the feeling of an open day, no schedule needed.

While visiting downtown, we went to the bookstore. I enjoyed going down each aisle, and brushing my fingers along the spines of each book. I loved the feeling of being so far from reality and so close to the stars.

I saw Simon from across the aisle, holding a copy of "O Captain! My Captain!"

"Going all Walt Whitman on me aren't you?" I say, leaning against a bookcase facing him.

"I'm a sucker for Robin Williams." He says, laughing while putting the book back on the shelf. He turns to look at me, and brings his hand to my coat and begins zipping it. "You know It's cold out there right?" He says, now just feeling the fabric of his jacket with his fingertips.

This is the effect he always had on me, he was able to make me come undone with his touch. His eyes saw right through me, and all I can think of is how soft his lips are.

"Staring much?" Simon says, breaking me out of my trance. I see him looking at me

I was silent for a few moments, slowly reaching my hand to his.

"It's not my fault your so pretty."

I see Simons face blush.

"Pretty, huh?" He says, giving me a grin.