Pieces of Us| h.s.

Chapter Fifteen.

Sydney Archer

We have the night off tonight, a rare thing for us. We tend to do a lot of shows constantly then take a few days off, but tonight we have just one day and night free to do what we please.

These past few shows in mainland Europe have been incredible, the best welcome back to touring we could've ever asked for. Harry has also come out of his shell with the singing, it's great because the crowd goes crazy for Harry's voice. It adds something different, and I like singing with Harry.

We managed to persuade Harry too at least a verse on the new album. We said we'd write a song together, something different with two perspectives sung by Harry and I. It was Jamie's idea, a good one too and I'm excited to get in the studio to begin the next album.

Right now we're sitting outside in the sun, it's a beautiful day and none of us know what to do now that we don't have a bus to catch right this second. It's crazy how lost we are when we don't have live shows to play. We're so in the habit of doing shows and running off to the next city that when that's not the case, nobody knows what to do with themselves.

'We could like...go out?' Jamie suggested, putting his cigarette out in the ashtray.

'Mate, I am not doing another night on the piss.' Myles said, 'I still feel hungover from 5 days ago.'

'What? When you met a new lady friend?' Harry winked teasingly. 'What was her name again?'

'Fuck you. Jealous you can't get any women or something?' Myles asked.

'I can get women buddy,' Harry laughed, 'don't want-'

'Alright, can we not? You guys sound like pigs.' I interrupted.

'Why don't we just hang out here? Chill night on the bus or something. Swear we leave at like 5AM anyway.' Jamie suggested again. 'Although that does mean Myles can't take any ladies home...'

'You guys make me look bad. I havent sex in so long, stop slut shaming me you freaks. I'm a man with needs.' Myles argued back in response to Jamie's sarcastic remark.

'Let the man be,' I added. 'Let's get pizza or something? We should make a fire outside!'

It was settled, we'd have a chill night together. Somebody placed an order into the nearest pizza shop and with it being such a nice day, we all sat outside in the summer heat, not a cloud in the sky and the air still thick with humidity. Nights like these remind me of when we were younger, when we were just kids and nights like these were the highlights of our weeks.

We'd always hang out at Myles's place. His parents ended up soundproofing their garage and put an old sofa in there for us to hangout in and play music without disrupting the neighbours. We'd all sit there having the most fun, for me it was a distraction from everything going on at home, Jasmine too. Sometimes we'd have a beer, or they all would, Jas wouldn't always let me because I was two years younger.

Tonight feels like one of those nights. We're just a group of four friends tonight, not  a rock band putting on a show for thousands of people, we're just us. There's nothing I love more than performing, but I love these people with all my heart so spending time with them like this also means the world to me. I'm lucky to have them, I don't know if I'd have made it through life so far without them.

'When's Kyla next coming?' Harry asked Jamie, kicking his feet up on my lap to which I just shoved them back down.

'Dunno actually, soon. I should call her.' Jamie shrugged.

'Are you gonna marry her?' Myles asked, taking us all by surprise because the question of marriage is a big one, when you throw it into conversations it really does catch people off guard. 'What? You've been together for like...forever.'