The Opening Act (H.S) {Completed - Editing}

London Show

@MissAvaMae: London babes - thank you for partying with me and being so welcoming tonight, I love you so so so much. I hope you had as much fun as I did and I also hope you enjoyed all of our new super cool outfits (and for me, new super colorful hair too). Winchester, you're up next!

/

It'd been about two weeks since Harry and I relocated to London. The rest of my tour crew had flown in this morning, and my first rehearsal is later today. The first show is in two days, which is crazy and makes me super nervous. Harry was doing all he could to take my mind off work, starting my morning off with breakfast in bed followed a spontaneous time of dancing around the living room to whatever came on shuffle. After that, we took a shower and then snuggled up in bed for a little, talking about whatever was on our minds.

Before I knew it, it was time to head to the venue for rehearsal. As soon as I walked in, I could feel my stomach erupt with butterflies. We hadn't changed much from the US leg of the tour, mainly just the set and outfit looks, but I was scared of how the show would go. I've never played more than a radio show overseas, so I wasn't really sure what would happen two days from now. The only thing I'm sure about is that I'm a mixture of terrified and excited.

My tour manager claps her hands as she stands center stage with the stage managers, smiling at the dancers, the band and I as we gather on the stage. Everybody quiets down, turning full attention to her. "Okay, let's get this rehearsal started!"

//

show day

"Harry babe, do you wanna come be a part of the huddle?"

He looks up from his phone and nods as he stands up from the couch. He takes my outreached hand and follows me out of the dressing room, into the hall where Victoria is waiting with a water bottle for me. We all head to the main backstage area, where everybody is wrapping up getting ready. Victoria calls for a huddle and the band, dancers, and some of the crew all huddle up with us.We all intertwine hands, forming a circle. With Harry on my right and Victoria on my left, I take a deep breath and look around at everybody.

"I don't know where to start," I admit with a sigh, a smile coming over my face as I glance at my incredible crew. "I guess I wanna just start out by expressing how thankful I am for each and every one of you. You guys have brought my wildest dreams to reality in the most amazing way. You take my visions and add your creativity to it to make it even better. This tour wouldn't even be close to as amazing as it is without each of you adding your piece to the puzzle. I've known some of you for all my life, and some of you for very little time - but I consider each and every one of you not only one of my team members, but my friend and a part of my family. The last part of this tour in the US was crazy fun and so amazing, and it wouldn't have been that way if it wasn't for this team. I'm so glad I get to have such an amazing tour family. Now... we don't really know what we're going out to when we walk on that stage tonight, but lets give it our all and have fun like always. Lets kick some ass for the first time ever overseas. But most importantly, let's have fun and make sure the crowd does too."

They're all smiling, some of them moving around with excitement. I look over at Victoria expectantly and she nods happily.

"Hands in," she says, sticking her own hand out in the center. Once everybodys hand is in, she smiles and tells everybody the chant. "We own the night on three! One... two... three!"

"We own the night!"

Once the group seperates, Harry tugs me over to the side and wraps his arms around my waist.

"Go kick some serious UK ass, babe," he smiled. "M'so proud of you."

I fall forward against him, lazily placing my lips on his as I ignore one of the stage managers telling me how much time I had. Harry rubs my sides gently, which makes me smile and break away a little.

"Love you," I mumble. I give him a few short kisses before pulling away completely. "Thank you for following me on this crazy journey. I'm so lucky to have you, H. It means the world to me that you come and support me so much."

"Of course, Ave," he smiles. "I'll always be your biggest fan. I love you so much."

"Ava, you need to head to the stage! Stop being all mushy and gross with Harry and get your ass in gear," Victoria says, her tone filled with sass despite the smile on her face.

"Go," Harry mumbles. "I'll be side stage cheering you on."

With one last kiss and mumble of "love you" I'm rushed away. I do some last minute vocal warm ups as I head to the stage entrance, shaking my arms around too to calm my anxiousness.

Trey meets me at the entrance, his camera already recording.

"Last minute pre-show thoughts?"

"Overwhelmed, anxious, nervous, but super excited. I can't wait to get out there. It's gonna be awesome," I smile.

The band starts up and I put my in-ears in. I take a few deep breaths as I wait for my cue, running out when it hits. When I get to center stage and finally see the crowd, I see that the venue is packed all the way up to the top. Bang Bang Bang wraps up pretty quick and transitions into Kiss & Tell. After that's wrapped up, I take out one of my in ears and walk up to the edge of the stage.

"Hello London," I smile, looking around the crowd as they all cheer. "For those of you who don't know me, my name is Ava Mae. Thank you all so much for coming out to my first ever overseas show, I'm so glad you could make it. I appreciate every single one of you and I want to take a minute to say I'm sorry that it took so long to get here. Thank you for supporting me and letting me do what I love. If it wasn't for your constant support, I wouldn't be able to do what makes me truly happy everyday - so I really am eternally grateful for every single person who has ever listened to my music and supported me in any way. Now, I'm gonna stop being all mushy and annoying and get back to singing. If you know the words, I want you to sing as loud as you can, dance around, and have as much fun as you possibly can. This song is called Round & Round."

The crowd cheers more and more, their energy and happy expressions making my own energy grow. I could start to feel more adrenaline pumping through my veins and it was nearly impossible to wipe the smile off my face as I sang to everybody. As I move across the stage, my eyes wander over to Harry who's standing side stage with some of the crew. He's smiling and sends a wink my way as he catches me looking at him. He cutely waves, which makes me have to hold back stupid giggles. Darn him, making me feel more giddy inside than I already am.

When Harry and I first started talking about tour over a year ago, before the On the Road Again tour, he would talk and talk about how much he loves being on stage - how it's kind of like his second home. How he's never found anything that feels like being on stage. There's an energy rush that you get that you can't find anywhere else. Your emotions run wild and can be overwhelming at times, not specifically happiness all the time either. The stage can be a place of vulnerability sometimes, but it's kind of like a really awesome therapy in those times.

As much as I hate being on the road - away from home and away from my loved ones - I couldn't help but agree with him.

And if the rest of this tour is anything like tonight has already been, then it's going to be really, really awesome. I can't wait to tour in more and more places as my career goes on. Which makes me as eager as ever to make more music.

Overall, I'm just really happy with everything right now; but I can't wait to see what the future holds for me... for Harry.

For us.