The Lives of Two 19 Year Old S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents

Chapter 20 - SRM Day part 3

At 5:05pm, I stood backstage with Alex Sutton, another agent, getting ready to perform. He would be playing the piano while I sung.

"Are you nervous?" he asked.

"Yeah," I replied. "Are you?"

"Not really," he replied. "I've played these songs loads of times. It'll be like playing in my bedroom."

The stage director signalled for us to go onto the stage. I took a deep breath. Alex sat down at the piano and I walked up to the microphone. Everyone clapped to cheer us on and I looked straight at Chloe who smiled and nodded at me in encouragement.

Alex started to play the intro for Hello by Adele.

"Hello," I sang. "It's me. I was wondering if after all these years you'd like to meet. To go over everything, they say that time's supposed to heal you but I ain't done much healing."

When we finished the song everyone clapped and cheered again and I saw Abi Watts sitting right in front of the stage with her mum, cheering very loudly.

The next song Chloe had picked out for me to sing was Grenade by Bruno Mars. When I got to the last chorus, I realised Chloe was looking at me very intently and I finished the song stareing into her eyes. Little did she know that the next two songs I was going to sing were not on her playlist.

As Alex played the intro for All of Me by John Legend, she gasped.

"What would I do without your smart mouth, drawing me in and you kicking me out," I sang.

I sang the song to her, keeping eye contact the whole time. While I was singing the entire room was silent and I think everyone sensed the moment we were having. At the end there was a few seconds of silence before they started to clap and cheer, even louder than the last two times.

The next song I sang was Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars. After All of Me, I think Chloe knew what song I was going to sing. It was one of my favorites. This song wasn't as powerful as the other and Chloe and I were smiling at each other the whole time. She mouthed the words along with me and kept making faces during the verses which made me smile.

At the end of our performance, Alex and I stood at the front of the stage and bowed.

"Thank you everyone," I said.

When I went back to my seat, a few agents were performing a dance so I sat down next to Chloe quietly.

"I love you so much," Chloe said to me. I turned to her and she wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling me in for a kiss. It wasn't just a normal kiss, it was "I'm sorry" and "I know you forgive me" and "I love you" and "I need you" and "I know". It was everything I needed to hear wrapped into one act.

Later on at about 10:30pm, Chloe had just gone to get us drinks and when she came back I said to her:

"My feet hurt from all this dancing."

"Well you shouldn't have worn stilettos then should you," she replied. "My leg is hurting too, though. We could take off our shoes and leave them in a corner somewhere. I'm sure Natasha won't mind."

She stepped aside to reveal my best friend.

"Natasha!" I exclaimed. I pulled her onto a hug and she winched slightly.

"Oh sorry," I apologized. "I didn't think you were going to make it."

"The doctors said I could come yesterday, I wanted to surprise you," she replied. She was wearing a dark green, sparkly dress with a long sleeve on the right and no left sleeve. It had a split down the left side and she was wearing it with green flats and a green bangle on her left wrist.

"Carefully chosen dress," I said.

"Yeah," she replied. "Well, the scars are hideous."

We danced and partied until 4am the next morning. Natasha being there and Chloe being OK with it made my whole night so much better.