Permanent Vacation // 5SOS

21. Tess

Holy fuck. I can't believe this. We're standing in front of what feels like thirty million fans at least. I'm probably as white as a ghost and my hands are shaking a lot.

"Tess? Tess why don't you tell us a bit about yourself." Luke says, handing me a mic. I didn't even notice he'd gone to get them.

Every funny or sarcastic comment has vanished from my mind, and I find myself barely able to stay standing.

"Uh... Hi." I say. The fans scream, then go quiet again as they wait for me to continue. If I'm this nervous, I feel sorry for Cody. "I'm Tess, and I'll be um, playing the bass for tonight." I don't know what else to say.

"Thanks Tess. What about you, Cody?" Michael asks, looking at my sister.

"I-I'm Cody, Tessa's t-twin sister. I-I'm gonna be o-on drums." My sister stammers. Michael continues to rile up the crowd.

"It's okay to be nervous guys." Luke chuckles, not using his mic. "You'll be great. We have a piece of paper with the song order taped near where you'll be, so just look down at that."

"What if we don't know a song?" I ask. We really should've been told earlier so that we could practice and learn any songs we hadn't played before.

"Try to pick it up, but if you can't it's not the end of the world." Luke says in such a calm, chilled out voice that I nearly believe him. He takes Cody back to the drum kit and I just sorta stand there awkwardly until Michael finishes with the audience and takes me to where Calum would stand.

"You don't have to sing. Luke and I can cover their parts, so don't worry about that. There's just a mic here for when we talk." He pauses, one hand on my shoulder, looking right into my boring hazel eyes with those amazing green irises. "If you forget or your arm hurts too badly, come towards the middle and I'll do the same. Just nod at me and I'll cover for you so you can get offstage."

"Thanks Mike." I sigh nervously, looking down at Calum's bass.

"Hey," he waits for me to look back up at him. "This is just like a jam sesh on the bus. Have fun with it, then you'll be great." I smile gratefully and he runs to the other side of the stage where he normally stands. Luke's back at his spot in the middle, talking to the crowd again. They all laugh at something he said that I don't think was actually that funny.

"Okay, are we ready?" He shouts into the mic. The fans scream. We all look back at Cody to count us in. When I see what the first song is, I sigh quietly but smile at how ironic this all is; Permanent Vacation.

* * *

"You guys were so good!!" Calum congratulates as we all come offstage. He and Ashton had come onstage halfway through the concert to say hi and sing for everyone since Cody and I weren't singing.

"Yeah, we knew you could play, but not that well." Ashton says. His arm is around my shoulders so that he doesn't have to hobble around awkwardly by himself.

"Thanks guys. It was a pleasure playing for everyone." Cody's grinning like mad and I know for a fact that I have a similar expression on my face.

"Let's celebrate!!" Luke shouts childishly.

"The only celebrating I'll be doing is ordering a pizza and going to sleep." Cody yawns. I'm still pumped with adrenalin, but Cody looks like she could drop dead at any second.

"Pizza!!" Michael yells happily, running off down the hallway. I grin as the others all run after him, even Cody and Ashton the Cripple. As Luke passes me, I tug on his sleeve.

"Hey, lover boy." I say, speaking loud enough for only him to hear.

"Huh?" He asks in confusion.

"Go give my sister a piggy-back." I tell him. He frowns.

"Why?" He asks.

"C'mon guys!!" The others are all looking back at us expectantly. Luke sighs and jogs towards them, but not before I whack his tiny-ass ass.

"Go get her." I tell him pointedly. He rolls his eyes at me, but goes over to Cody anyway. She gives me a confused look, but then Luke scoops her up and she's gone with the wind.

"What was that about?" I didn't even notice Michael walking back towards me.

"What?" I ask, totally clueless.

"One of my best friends just got spanked by one of my other best friends." He explains.

"Aw, I'm your best friend?" I coo. He rolls his eyes.

"Of course that's all you got out of what I said." He scoffs. "Seriously Tess, we've all been living with each other on a bus for the past two and a half weeks. How could we not become friends?"

"You know, I almost don't hate your band anymore." I inform him.

"Good to hear." He grins. "You still haven't told me why you smacked Luke's ass."

"I told him to go give Cody a ride." I say, gesturing towards the rest of our friends. Cody is on Luke's back and Ashton is on Calum's.

"Uh, why?" Michael asks in total confusion. I raise an eyebrow at him.

"Are you serious right now?" I ask. He nods. "Luke likes her. Its sooooo obvious." He frowns.

"No he doesn't." Michael says. I sigh.

"Watch them over the next few days and you'll see what I mean. Trust me; I can tell when someone likes a certain person." I say. Michael just smiles to himself. "What?"

"Nothing. Let's go." He takes off running with a stupid cackle and I just roll my eyes at the idiot before following after him.

I can't believe I'm friends with these weirdos.