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𝚃 𝚆 𝙾

𝙻 𝙰 𝚃 𝙴 𝚁    𝚃 𝙷 𝙰 𝚃    𝙴 𝚅 𝙴 𝙽 𝙸 𝙽 𝙶

𝟼 : 𝟹  𝟿   𝙿 𝙼

I had just finished the small talk with fans and day three was finally complete. I found myself forcing my eyes to stay open, "I'm overdue for a fucking nap." I thought to myself as I wrapped my hands around the door knob to the fitting rooms — changing into my nightly attire. I stood in front of the mirror — studying my reflection, perhaps I was experiencing dissociation from the world or I was sleep walking. Either way I pondered to myself how I managed to become so lucky. Meeting all these people, traveling the country with my best friends, and making new memories was almost too good to be true. I adjusted the hood of my jacket and my eyes met with my own. I exhaled a deep breath and ran my fingers through my hair, doing my very best to keep my composure, but it was like someone had injected melatonin into my veins. strangely enough, her voice reigned throughout my mind as the obnoxious music played through the rooms speakers. I started to hum to myself some of the same melodies she performed. I heard faint foot-steps coming from the hall on the other side of the door

I opened the door to be met with Chris in my face, "Fucking took you long enough! Lets go, we are waiting on you — "Ya' ready?"

"Sure." I say.

I am not. Another twelve hours on this bus wasn't something exactly something I looked forward to.

"Come on." says Chris. He leads me through the hall and I am faced with an unfamiliar door. Through its window, I can see the Nick putting his luggage in the bus storage and the intricate sun setting through the tall buildings I was surrounded by. Chris yanks my luggage from my hands as he opened the door with his other, chucking me outside as I lunged forward — falling to the ground. I stop against the concrete floor and straighten up, glaring up towards Chris as he bursted into laughter with Nick joining him from the distance. "Are you okay?" Says an unfamiliar voice, I turn my head facing the man who performed earlier — Joshua. He is seated on the medal chair beside the door, plucking strings between his fingers, holding a guitar. I placed my hands flat on the ground, gaining some sort of balance to stand up straight. "Just fine, thanks." I say to him, looking directly back at Chris how was muffling his laughs within his hand. I shove Chris, putting him off balance as he turned to walk toward Nick — handing him my bag. As I was about to put one foot in front of the other, I halted at the voice behind me speaking, "I don't believe we have properly met." He stands up, wrapping his guitar strap around his shoulders — walking the short distance to face me. "You're Matt, right? I'm Joshua. I performed earlier, just before you went on stage."

I nod my head and speak, "Nice to meet you, you both did amazing. My favorite by far — is that all original work of yours? I mean, the lyrics were unbelievable — spectacular, honestly." I question, pulling details out of the air and Joshua lazily smiles at me, resting his hands on the top of his guitar that hung just above his waist. "Likewise and thank you very much — " Joshua was cut off by his drummer walking behind him, patting him on the back, "Ya hear that, Joshy? the boy likes your y / n." the drummer walks past us and my eyes trail back to Joshua rolling his eyes at the pestering nickname.

There is a small moment of stillness, broken by Joshua speaking again, "Some of it is mine, but the real show is, y / n — in fact she is the reason I am here in the first place, never would have booked a show if it wasn't for her talent." He states smirking, clearly amused by my validation.

"Is this your first show?"

"No, it's actually my third now." I say, watching Joshuas eyes lurk from behind me, resulting in me following his gaze in the direction he looked, seeing Malcom wave to get on the bus. Joshua and I start to walk, "The fans went crazy for you and your brothers. You three seem to be the sole purpose of their travel." Joshua, audibly laughing. I sensed a sort of mockery within the sentence. "They are my sole purpose."

We approach the bus door and halt, his mien changes instantly, utterly. "Must be pretty nice to have such a loyal fanbase and a job you love." The door opens and I walk up the small steps first with my head still in the direction of the man behind me, "Not exactly." I say, swiftly in a mumble and his eyes softened. "What do you mean, 'not exactly.' You guys are hilarious, no wonder they go crazy." I let a gentle chuckle emit from my lips, "thank you, the fans are great and I'm grateful but it can be overwhelming at times, I'm sure you can understand as well, performing all the time — especially singing, must grow tiring" My feet are level with the floor of the bus and I sit down near the television with Joshua quickly following along, sitting on the opposite side. "You've got that right, but in another sense — it only makes it so much more worth it when you can bring happiness to people, y'know." Joshua states.

I knew he wasn't no stranger to music — with his performance tonight, I assumed he had years of experience, bringing me to my next question. "How long have you been doing music?"

"Well, I am nineteen now, and I started around twelve-ish, so I'd say — six or seven years, but I've been performing with my y / n, for about two." My brows lifted at the "my," of his sentence, referring to y / n as his.

Joshua assumed I was amazed at his duration and time of work by my current expression, yet I was just questioning myself if asking further about y / n would be strange enough for him to notice, "You and y / n are together?" My intrusive thoughts fell from out of my mouth before I could register anything, his eyes loom toward another. y / n.

She walked into the room, "Oh, there she is now! Come here, love!" Joshua calls brightly. "I want you to meet, Matt. He is a new fan of yours." I can already feel a blush creep across my face. She comes to a stop in front of him, smiling toward me as josh stands up next to her, wrapping his arm around her. "It's a pleasure to meet you," she says, extending her hand, up close. She looks remarkable — delicate features, perfect skin, slight freckles across the bridge of her nose, shimmering eyes and hair that plays upon the lights of the room.

"Pleasure is mine," I say, painfully aware that I was exhausted just 25 minutes prior, yet I'm more than wide awake now.

She cocks her head slightly. "Wait — you're the one I saw earlier, aren't you? On the stage before the show?"

"I believe so," I say, instinctively. I glance towards Joshua due to his sudden movements, he is now facing the other way, walking toward the very back of the bus. She follows my gaze and furrows her brows and looks back at me, "he's going to see the others, I suppose. Here — Matt, sit." Her voice lowered and continues brightly, "So, Josh says you're a new fan of my work, huh?" She smiles and I broke myself out of my daydream, nodding my head, "who wouldn't be? You're voice is beautiful — literally angelic."

She blushes at my compliment, "Oh please, you're just being modest, but thank you very much, Matt. You and your brothers on stage — are quite the show. You guys are seriously, so — so funny."

"Now thats modest — " I was cut off by Chris emerging from the door frame, "Yeah right, that's all me."

He says and y / n grins knitting her brows together, looming between my brother in the door frame and I.

I roll my eyes at his jocular remark, "C'mon we are gonna watch the video about that haunted hotel." y / n eyes falter open, widening at the word haunted, "we are actually staying there?" Chris chuckles at her outburst, "we may, but it won't be that bad — shit ain't real." Smug, yet still not enough to convince y / n as Chris turns around and walks toward the back, I look in her direction to see her lips curl into a smile as her gaze meets mine.

"Fuck that." I say and she softly giggles and yet again, I feel another blush plaster on my cheeks.

Even when she wasn't singing, she could still bring music to my ears by her laugh and the sound of her voice — like liquid, weightless, and soothing. Definitely worth the twelve hours.