Adeline|New Hope Club|Blake Richardson|

11: Benefits

The boys were buzzing for the benefit concert. There was nothing in the world they could've done to appease their nerves. It'd been a few weeks since they'd been able to perform for a mass of people and it made them nervous. Adeline had gone to the hospital early that morning, seeing as her shift started at nine. Blake was disappointed he didn't get to see her before sound check and the concert but there was nothing either of them could do. She was helping the sick; what more could he ask for?

As the boys were getting ready on stage, Adeline made her way outside after she'd changed into more comfortable clothes. Although she loved the little volunteer uniform the hospital gave her, there just wasn't enough in her to wear it out in public. Once she'd gotten past the front doors of the hospital, Adeline was partially shocked at the sheer amount of people gathered outside. It was peculiar to her how many people came when there was something interesting happening, like the boys performing, but not just out of the kindness of their hearts. 

It irritated Adeline that in a town of roughly fifty-two thousand people, only a couple hundred would show up at their annual carnival. Adeline quite liked the carnival and all of it's games and rides but there were few in the population who agreed with her. Everyone thought it got old so it was sworn off by the younger people of the town. Adeline loved it though, even if other's didn't. But when they have a benefit concert, loads more people came. She rolled her eyes and made her way through the crowd.

Eventually, she found a group of volunteers, like herself, who had just gotten off of their shifts and they struck up a conversation. She didn't have many friends in town anymore so she'd been getting close to a few of the volunteers. It was nice to have people to talk to that understood the craziness that was being in the hospital for hours on end. It was physically draining on most days but Adeline, like much everyone else, had been buzzing for the benefit so the work didn't seem as bad throughout the day as it usually did.

Adeline didn't try to go find the New Hope Club boys because she knew they'd be too busy to deal with her. She didn't want to distract Blake from his work and she figured if she was there, all he'd do was talk to her. She was excited to finally be able to see the three piece perform live. It'd been something she wanted to do since she found out about Blake's band but she could never really get herself to click on their Youtube videos or other videos fans had posted. Adeline thought it would hurt so she never did.

While she was absentmindedly talking to a boy named Andrew, the sharp sound of a guitar grabbed everyone's attention. Adeline smiled when she met eyes with the brunette headed boy. They made intense eye contact and Adeline knew he'd been searching the crowd for her. There was a little spark in his eyes and it made Adeline smile. She was sure her eyes mirrored his and there was nothing Adeline could do to stop it. Since Blake's been back in her life, Adeline couldn't help but know they were heading somewhere else in their relationship. She didn't know if she liked it.

"How is everyone doing today?" Blake said into the microphone, earning a scream from the crowd, "Sounds like you've all got a bunch of spirit!"

"Maybe you could all use that spirit and help out with donations to this lovely place," Reece followed, getting a smile out of Adeline and the rest of the volunteers, "Now let's go!"

The boys were amazing. Adeline couldn't believe what'd she been missing out on the past few months. Their music was the perfect mixture in genres, causing her to dance along with everyone else. It was an infectious feeling and Adeline couldn't help but laugh loudly while she jumped around. She made eye contact with Blake from across the crowd and she thanked the contacts she'd gotten a few weeks ago. If she didn't have them in, she'd probably be blind and not able to see the cute smile Blake sent her way. It made her blush. Adeline was thankful Blake diverted his sight to someone else in the crowd so he didn't see the color flooding her cheeks. Andrew gave her a nudge and winked at her and Blake's moment and that caused her to blush even harder. She could blame it on all of the people and radiating heat, if Blake ended up asking why her face looked like an apple later.