A Band Is Not A Sin #Wattys2016

Chapter 6 To Practice with the Band

"So when is the first gig?" Elizabeth asked before taking a few gulps of water from her water bottle. Diane was the first to answer, as she walked by Elizabeth.

"Either this weekend or the upcoming Monday," she responded wiping the sweat off of her forehead and going over to her own bottled water. King nodded waiting for them to play a song he could actually participate in. Not that it really bothered him either way.

"It's this Friday," Ban confirmed leaning against the wall waiting for the rest of his band mates to play the next song. Meliodas however was deep in thought and did not respond at all.

"Wow, that close?" She asked gulping, luckily Elizabeth had memorized most of the songs by now. Even though she hasn't practiced them all with the band she had a feeling that it would sound great.

"Yes, we had this one booked a week after we started the band," King said swinging his legs waiting for the girls to start the next song. Which they did a few minutes later.

He got up and took his place behind his keyboard and started the first few keys as Ban started strumming gently. Diane lightly dinged on a triangle hanging precariously from its stand.

Elizabeth took the mic mentally counting the measures until she came in. Meliodas took an extra microphone phone stand and microphone, setting it up so he could sing and play at the same time.

Bold - Elizabeth; italicized - Meliodas bold italicized - both

We met ten months ago and you seemed to crack the code
The code that lead to me

It seemed so long ago I can't seem to let go of this cracked lock that lead me to you

But I couldn't have wished for a better locksmith that lead you to me
They preplanned our hearts so you could always restart if you ever lost track of my key.

And the words that we sing are so pure, with meaning
That every time I look at your I feel the lock turn inside of me

The emotion in their two shared voices could be felt by all the band members. Each of them could feel the love that the song painted for them.

Diane looked at Meliodas hoping he would be looking at her, but he wasn't. This hurt her but she turned to King and saw he was paying full attention to her. He blushed when he realized he had been caught and looked down at his keyboard.

The song's emotion continued through the chorus until it was at the last verse. Meliodas turned to Elizabeth to watch how she would sing it. He felt a painful sting as she sang the last emotion filled words.

But I know that if you ever lost my key
You would still come looking for me
With all the love in your heart you could just give your heart as the key

Elizabeth and Meliodas finished out the song smoothly, everyone was silent for a moment before Elizabeth spoke up. "That song is beautiful guys!" Her excitement seemed to spread to each member, somehow skipping Ban as he stayed with his usual bored look.

"Your voice is what makes it sound that beautiful," Meliodas replied smiling wide, Elizabeth blushed and felt her heart speed up more than it already was. What is this feeling? She asked herself staring off a little bit.

"Hey! Elizabeth!" Diane yelled in her ear as King waved his hand in front of her face. She jumped a bit as the others laughed. "Do you want to come with us to a karaoke place we all love?" She asked again and this time Elizabeth managed to nod her head yes.

"But I have to be home before 12 or else my dad will totally freak out and not let me perform at our first gig," she explained trying to convey the importance of her getting home on time. They all nodded and guaranteed that she would be there on time.

It was 15 minutes later when they pulled up in the band's old van. Everyone quickly filed out as the van started to smell of ham as it usually did. Ban complained "You should really turn old Hawk in for a brand new van," Meliodas shook his head saying that he could just give up on Hawk not now. Besides Ban hadn't given up on his old guitar yet either.

Diane and Elizabeth stayed out of this conversation by inspecting the outside of the karaoke place. King stayed close to Diane while really keeping out of all conversations. The group finally headed in and after paying went to their usual room.

For the next couple of hours they sang and danced and ate food. Diane and King sang a duet, Ban sang multiple songs by Lady Gaga. This definitely surprised Elizabeth a bit.

"Aren't you going to sing?" She asked Meliodas. He shook his head and redirected the conversation towards her. She tried her best to get it back on him but he always turned it back. Eventually she gave up and talked about herself but the feeling kept bugging her that something was off.