Constant Repeat

Part 15.5

Make sure to read 15.4 first

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It had been all hot and pathetic tears that just wouldn't stop when Ella had to say goodbye to them that night. And it was so unfair that it was that night that they had to leave as soon as possible, because she would've been able to actually stay for as long as she could.

There also was the fact that Bre was going with them so it was hitting her how she was spending the holidays on her own whilst the lads and their missus would be all spending it together.

The only consolation prize she had was that Florence would be coming to Los Angeles with the 1975 as they had a few gigs in town the following week so the prospect of seeing her and the band after so long brought a bit of familiarity she'd be missing until she got to see everyone again.

Which, now, she wasn't sure when it would be.

Just that had made her cry a bit more when she'd gotten home and when Alex had made it a mission to be on the phone with her almost the entirety of the day after, up until he had to go on stage.

The following days had been hard because her mind was plagued with the thought of Alex to the point that she was struggling to focus even at work. It was embarrassing the amount of times she'd gotten aggressively honked out of her thoughts when she was driving, and the amount of times Lydia had to snap her back into reality with waves of her hand in front of her face.

She needed a distraction, desperately, and when The 1975 and Florence arrived in LA, it was perfect timing.

They'd gotten into town on the morning of a Thursday so Ella couldn't go see them as soon as they got there, but Flo had gone to visit her at the office just a few hours before she was leaving and it had been such a lovely surprise, Ella had almost tumbled the both of them to the floor from how hard she'd hugged her.

Instead of going home and changing like she'd planned, Ella just drove the both of them to the venue where the lads would be playing and she got the warmest welcome when she walked into their greenroom.

She'd laugh so much from the moment she got there, and she couldn't help but find herself comparing the energy to when she was with the Monkeys in their greenroom. The 1975 guys were so much more chaotic, Matty and George together in a room was the funniest chaos and Ross added a spoonful to it that made her lose it altogether even more. Flo's cousin, Adam, was the more grounded one, but after a spliff or two that they'd all shared, he found himself giggling and throwing jokes that made Ella gasp in surprise at the lewdness of some of them.

It had been slightly refreshing that George had resumed his flirting with her and the affection he was showing her as they waited for the show to start, reminded her just how long it had been since she'd properly gotten any relief from someone else.

George had cheekily managed to get a kiss from Ella, claiming it was for good luck and that he would really need it. Ella had shaken her head but given in, and the feeling that washed over her made her want to beg for him to take her somewhere else when the gig was over.

Ella and Flo had joined the crowd and managed to wiggle their ways into the sea of people until they stood on the left side of the stage a few people away from the barricade. The venue was smaller than the ones the Monkeys had played when they came to LA but there was a good one thousand people inside the venue and the anticipation was even more palpable somehow.

When the lights went down and the big rectangle box flashed behind George's drum kit, the walls shook with the loud screams from the crowd and when the album intro boomed through the speakers just as the band walked out on stage, the people got impossibly louder. Ella and Flo joined in, the adrenaline coursing through their veins as the intro built up and peaked into their first song.