The Understudy (hiatus)

Chapter One - Tydelynn

I've always hated airports. I hated the hustle and bustle of the place, tourists and workers running about and pushing you over. I hated the prices, heck it was £3.50 for a cup of coffee, and most of all I hated waiting for my flight. That's not to say that I didn't like planes, because I loved them. I loved relaxing in them, headphones in with a good book. I loved travelling all together, I liked long car rides and walking about. But airports, I hated them.

I was waiting in the departure lounge, which luckily was pretty quiet. The band's tour manager who offered me the understudy contract for four months, Dick Meredith, had managed to bag me a twilight flight. It was 3:30am GMT time, and I was waiting for my 3:45am Flight to Los Angeles. Dick and I were pretty close friends, and he knew my hatred for busy airports, so he made sure I got a quieter flight.

He was the one who got me this understudy job. Apparently, when the frontman of the band (which I believed was to be called Bastille) stepped in a glass shard and had to go backstage to get it sorted, causing a big break in the concert, Dick decided he needed to find someone that could fill in for any of the band members incase a similiar incident occured. He thought it was slightly unprofessional to have a massive gap in the concert, so he put forward the understudy idea. The band members all voted in favour of this idea, and I was Dick's first option.

I knew the band pretty well. I'd bought both albums and I knew all of the bass and keyboard chords to all the songs from both albums. Most people were seriously shocked I knew all this, but when you have endless free time and a flair for instruments...well - you learn these things.

I had no idea how this band was, personality-wise. I knew none of the member's names or how they were. I was dreading meeting them, because the last thing I wanted was to tour, for four months, with people that I couldn't stand. On all my previous tours with various acts, I always knew most of the crew pretty well before touring with them. This time, I was being thrown in the deep end. Head first.

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The flight went without a hitch. I managed to board and find my seat without too much hassle, and now I was at the baggage claim in Los Angeles. I managed to pick out my battered black suitcase fairly quickly and load it onto a trolley. I made my way to the exit, where Dick was supposed to be picking me up and taking me to where the tour bus was parked. Dick had said that I'd spend two days in a tour bus, but not travelling, then three night in a hotel, then we'd be travelling for a few days. I don't know what else we'd be doing, but I expected that Dick would tell me nearer the time.

"Tydelynn!"

I looked up and Dick came running up to me, smiling.

"Do you always have the use my full name? It's Tyde!" I scolded, hugging him quickly. He chuckled, grabbed my suitcase and headed outside. I followed him and watched as he threw it into the back of a car. He got into the driver's side of the car, and I got into the passenger side. Once we were all buckled up, he began driving.

"Feeling jetlagged?" He asked after a few minutes of silence.

"A little," I mumbled, focusing at all the things I could see out of the window. It was really sunny, as it usually was whenever I came to L.A. "So what is this band like?"

"Well there's four of them; Dan, Kyle, Will and Chris - but we call him Woody. Dan's shy and a little bit geeky, but a lovely person. He' s obsessed with David Lynch,"

I nodded, smiling. I loved David Lynch.

"Kyle's mad, but he's a great person. He loves cats, and he's a very sassy guy. Will's got a thing for Rihanna, and he's the type of guy who uses long words and says funny stuff. Then there's Woody, he's the ambitious one, he's a really funny guy!"

"They sound really cool!" I smiled.

"Just wait until you meet them,"

The drive continued in silence, and soon we were pulled up beside a large black and yellow tour bus. I got out the car slowly and took a deep breath. I watched as Dick opened the door, and I followed him in the tour bus.

"Lads, meet the understudy. This is Tyde," Dick said, gesturing towards me.

The four lads smiled at me and introduced themselves confediently. I learned that Kyle was really tall, had a really cool mustache and beard; Will had a tattoo of Bad Blood on his arm and a beard that rivalled Kyle's and Woody had a cheeky smile and longish caramel hair. The last one, which must have been Dan, didn't introduce himself. He just sat there staring at me, so I stared back. He had black hair that stood in an electrifying quiff, ginger stubble across his jaw and stormy blue eyes that were impossible to detect any emotion from.

"Oi, Dan introduce yourself," Kyle elbowed Dan in the ribs, and Dan looked down.

"I'm Dan," he said, voice merely a whisper, and he smiled gently but still not making eye contact.

This was going to be an interesting four months... I thought.