Parker Avenue

Chapter 2

I woke up to damn early. We were leaving for Leeds today, catching our flight at 3 in the morning. My bags sat by the door ready for me to just roll out of bed and head out. I woke up at 2 with enough time to brush my teeth and head out. Grace, on the other hand had stayed up all night still ready as if she would be out and about instead of on a plane. One main difference between us is the way we travel.

"Are you really going to go looking like that," she said eyeing at my brown hair in a messy bun, leggings and Real Friends sweatshirt. Fashionable as always, she wore black leggings, high-tops and a sweater with her purple silver hair curled.

We walked out the car that was waiting for outside of our apartment to shuttle us to the airport. Emma and I placed our luggage in the trunk and slid into the backseat. As the driver took off, I stared out the window thinking about all the scenarios that could unfold at the festival. To say the least I'm scared out of my damn mind. What if I fall? What if they don't like us? What if no one turns up to see us perform?

As if she was reading my mind, Emma put her hand on my knee to get my attention. "You guys are going to be absolutely amazing, quit worrying." She smiled at me reassuringly.

I chewed on my bottom lip and wrapped my arm around her shoulder and pulled her in for a side hug. "I'm just worried we won't be good enough."

Finally we arrived. Thankfully our early flight meant the airport wouldn't be as bad. The boys were waiting for us along side out manager, Charlie. Everyone looked like shit and way too exhausted to be here. 

After about 30 minutes of checking our bags and going through security, we were finally at your gate waiting for another twenty minutes for he plane to arrive. There was nothing for us to do but stare at walls or try to get a quick nap in because none of us wanted to waste battery power before the flight. Sure there were places to charge our phones and such but if we could avoid it we would.

People watching is something Todd and I had become experts at. We would sit and watch people passing by and give them names and a back story depending on what they were doing or how they looked. It was something we started about a year ago at an airport waiting just like this.

"See that woman over there," he pointed at a lady in a pale grey pantsuit, her neck decorated with pearls and her hair in a tight formal bun. She was talking on her cell phone in some sort of heated argument. "Honey I know the yacht isn't as big as Harry Styles but I'll buy you a pony ranch to make up for it," he said in a high pitched lady voice.

Both of us were laughing and everyone was staring at us.

______

The plane ride was average. Nothing crazy had happened but nothing terrible either. I slept half of the way and the other half of the time I spent going over what our set list would be and what I would wear. Our hotel was nice, Grace and I shared a room and they boys were split among themselves.

The only good thing about hotels is there room service, most times. In my mind is only two o'clock but in reality is nine in the evening and I am starving. Grace passed out on one of the beds while I sat on the other flicking through the hotel's menu. After five minutes of deciding between chicken strips or a hamburger, I went for the chicken strips. Out of everywhere I've eaten at, I discovered you can never go wrong with chicken strips.

After eating, I flicked through various channels that were unfamiliar to me. I settled for Nevermind the Buzzcocks, a music trivia show. Three episodes later I finally fell asleep.

The next morning, I woke up to Charlie knocking on my door telling me to get ready. Today is the day we either fall on our asses or rise up. I rolled out of bed and threw a pillow at Grace, who was snoring lazily.

"Time to get up and get ready," I said stretching my arms up.

I walked into the bathroom and began my pre-gig process. First I showered, trying not to take too long considering Grace needed one as well. Leeds is extremely hot in august so I put my long brown hair into a ponytail. For an outfit I went for my jean jacket, a big white shirt, high-waisted black shorts and my green Docs.

When we arrived at the festival it was for a sound check. The stage was massive. My brain couldn't comprehend the amount of people that were expected to be here. We sang a song just to get our monitors and microphones balanced.

Right after that, Charlie pulled me and Sam for an interview about our album. The girl was dressed for the weather but reasonable enough for her job.

She stood up from where she had been sitting on the couch and shook our hands, "Hey I'm Beth, huge fan. So were just going to talk a bit about the new album, your influences and the festival."

Both of us nodded, there wasn't much we hid from the media considering everything was already out there in our music.

"Alright, so you guys are finally releasing a full length album called Burning Cigarette, expected in December, what is vision for this album?"

"Well over the last year we have had a lot of change happen in our lives so it has a lot to do with that as well as what were going through and what people around us are going through," Sam answered.

"Are there any groups or artist that have become an influence to you guys especially on this album?"

I repositioned myself, "Yeah! Um, for me with lyrics I was really into The 1975, Arctic Monkeys, and Bob Dylan"

The interview continued and we talked about upcoming tours and playing our first festival. We headed back to the rest of the band to see them talking to none other than George Daniels and Matty Healy.

As we approached the group, Matty looked at me, "Hey, good to see you again." He wrapped his arm around my shoulder, keeping his cigarette in the other hand.

"You two, are you guys gonna watch us later?" I asked, praying he would say yes. As a band we decided to do an impromptu to cover of Settle Down.  

He put his cig in between his lips and took a long drag, letting out before replying that he would. The group continued to talk until it was time for us to get ready. We headed to the stage and got wired up. I did my vocal exercises as I peeked at the crowd. There were so many people waiting for us.

"Alright lads get ready," called the stage manager. I took a deep breath and shook my hands out.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, "Good luck out there," the person whispered. It was Matty. I smiled and watched everyone else walk out on the stage. When it was my turn, I stepped out and the crowd grew even louder.