Crescendo | WILBUR SOOT

xiv. band practice

(irl!)

LOVEJOY STOOD TOGETHER IN A PRACTICE SPACE. With their respective instruments in hand, the band members waited for one more member to join their ranks. 

Gianna Camazzola was late and, as a policy, she was never late for anything. With each passing moment, it seemed more and more likely that she was ditching the band entirely.

"Should we start without her?" Ash asked. 

Will stopped strumming and let out a low sigh. 

"I don't think she's going to show," he said. 

"What? Why?" 

"She ditched me at a bar last night." 

Ash furrowed his brow. "I thought yesterday went well. Everyone seemed to get along and shit." 

"I thought so too. But then her ex-" 

"You met Maxen Bale?" Joe asked. "Man... They're genius." 

"If genius means arsehole, then yeah, I'd agree." Will down the guitar and stared at the ceiling. "I think she went home with him." 

He sat on a lush velvet couch and rested his face in the palms of his hands. "I don't know where I went wrong. You know, I was just about to ask her out? And then, bam, someone else swoops in and knocks me out of the ranks." 

A small knock at the door interrupted. Gianna stepped through the door holding bagels and coffee. 

"Sorry, I know I'm super late." 

In the same clothes as yesterday, she looked a mess. Makeup smeared under her eyes and lips made her look poorly. Her eyes darted around the room, awaiting the words of anyone other than the man she abandoned the night prior. 

"I'm going to go... Somewhere else," Joe said. "Gentlemen?" 

"Yup," they chorus before leaving the room. 

Gianna stood uncomfortably, awaiting the judgement of her peer as she set down her bag. Her eyes darted around the room, searching for an escape, only to come up blank.

"I hope Maxen is well," Will said evenly. 

"Will-" 

"It's fine," he said with a slight wave. "You don't owe me an explanation. We're both adults. Just... Text me or something so I don't have to sit alone at the pub like an idiot." 

"I'm sorry." 

"Yeah." 

Will paused. He knew not to press the issue. He knew better than to push. But the rage boiling inside of him was overwhelming. If he were a moment, a breath, faster to the punch, then maybe he would be the one Gianna went home with. Instead, he sat alone for hours, waiting for her to return with a beer going flat in his hands. 

"You know how I found out you'd left?" he said after a moment. 

Gianna remained silent, stewing in a mixture of embarrassment, shame, and rage. 

"A Twitter account called 'giaspotted' mentioned me and said you were off to some bar halfway across town. I shouldn't have felt as stupid as I did. I mean, we both think you're a moron for going home with that fucking arsehole. I don't need to be the one to tell you that." 

"Do not call me stupid." 

"Why not?" he asked, standing from the velvet couch and towering over her. "You're making stupid decisions." 

"Should I have chosen you? Would that make you happier, Will?" 

The blood vanished from his body, leaving his gut raw and cold. Like a little kid caught in a lie, his heart raced in his ears and deafened him from the thoughts pounding in his head. 

"What were you going to ask me?" she spat. "You don't actually care about my decisions. You just want me to pick you instead."

"You... You're-" 

"I'm what?" Gianna said, stepping to the taller man. Her short stature was nothing compared to how small Will felt. "You can't say I'm wrong."

"Do you want to be?" 

"What?" 

"Do you want to be wrong?" he asked, closing the distance between them. With a light touch, he moved a curl out of her face. "Do you want me to lie and tell you I don't fancy you?" 

"I..." 

Will traced the shape of her lip with his thumb, finally feeling the pillow softness of her lips for the first time. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her body into his. He paused, feeling the warmth of her breath on his lips.

"Tell me to stop and I will."

She hesitated, feeling her anxieties heighten in his arms. Gianna was not a good person. She didn't make good decisions or pick the right person to go home with. She wasn't the one to buy flowers or take long walks down the beach at sunset. She was flawed. She was imperfect. She would ruin a true man like Will Gold. 

 And yet, the feeling of his hands on her body was nearly enough to make the world's weight fall off her shoulders. 

"Fuck it," she breathed before pressing her lips into his.

Her hands wrapped around his neck and her legs around his waist as Will hoisted the smaller woman into his arms and pulled her close.  They worked as a team, pushing and pulling against each other's touch with enough time to breathe before recapturing the other's lips. 

She was a furnace in his arms, warming his cold heart to her touch. Her fingers wrecked his hair, destroying the semblance of style he tried to master. She tasted like chain-smoking sunshine, coffee, and mint toothpaste.

She was perfection. And for a moment, he got to hold her.

a/n: 

ah shit, here we go. it's relationship time!! the slow burn has burnt its way away and revealed a plot. 

hope you all enjoyed 

xoxo,
may the author :)