Eighteen // 5SOS

Chapter 8

"I change my mind, I really, really don't want to do this."

Kakkii and Michael were sat in the middle of the square from earlier, perched against a statue, with Michael holding a guitar that he had somehow convinced the previous busker to let him borrow. Before them was a crowd of people, either mobbing the square or sat in the cafe opposite them. Meanwhile, Megs had gone with Michael's ten euros to try her luck in a casino, which was a fifteen minute walk away from their hotel. At this moment in time, they were well and truly broke.

"But kakkiiiiii," he whined, resting his chin on her shoulder, pouting up at her. "You promised,"

"I didn't promise anything. There's so many people here, Michael,"

"Imagine them all naked."

"Why would I do that?"

"Why wouldn't you do that?"

Kakkii rolled her eyes before rubbing her face with her hands. "You're sure there's no other way?"

"Right now, there really isn't," Michael said, and lifted his head in order to look directly into her eyes. "I know you can do it Kakkii, they're gonna love you. Just sing it to me."

She shook her head, yet nodded. At this, Michael licked his lips as they formed a smirk, his hands moving around the guitar and it started to play. His eyes never left her as he sang.

"Do you hear me, I'm talking to you, across the water, across the deep, blue ocean..."

He smiled encouragingly at Kakkii as her part came up, and her heart thumped against her chest as she sang, her eyes staying focused on Michael. There was no one else there, the people around them who were turning their heads to listen were merely blurs in the background. The world turned only with the two of them, and the song was the only sound and movement to exist.

As Michael played the final chord to end the song, the crowd erupted into applause, some people in the cafe across the street even standing up and whooping. Their eyes left each other and they viewed the crowd, suddenly taken aback. Composing himself, Michael's eyes met Kakkii again, as he mouthed, "Well done."

Kakkii, breathless, watched as members of the crowd got from their seats and dropped money into Kakkii's cardigan, which was spread out at their feet. She turned to Michael and whispered, "Lets do another."

-

"I really hate admitting you were right," Kakkii said, counting the euros in her hands as they sat in the café across from where they had just played.

"But you have to admit that my plan worked out flawlessly." Michael said, his eyes shining in the sun.

Somehow the plan had gone so well that they had made over two-hundred euros, which was enough to pay for the hotel, at least. They could investigate flights back later, but for only a few songs it was an incredible effort.

"When do you think we'll hear back from Megs?" Michael wondered aloud. If she had somehow gotten lucky, then this situation could run a lot smoother than they thought. However the sun was situated high in the sky, and the show that night was growing ever closer.

"I don't know," Kakkii said, looking up thoughtfully. "She said to meet her here when we were done, but I don't see h-"

However Kakkii was cut off suddenly by a woman who had crept up to them and placed a hand on Kakkii's shoulder.

"Vous étiez incroyable!" the woman said, looking back and forth between Michael and Kakkii, who looked at her with a mixture of embarrassment and confusion. "Vous faites un très beau couple,"

"Um, thank you!" Michael said, nodding at the woman and chuckling awkwardly.

The woman smiled acknowledgingly at them before closing Kakkii's hand around a note for fifty euros, and whispering: "Suivez vos rêves," into her ear before standing tall once more and walking away into the square.

"What was that about?" said a familiar voice, and Kakkii and Michael turned quickly to find it had come from Megs, who was strolling towards them.

The group embraced excitedly in a three-way group hug.

"Megs," Michael said upon detatching, yet still holding her hands. "We made nearly three-hundred euros."

"Funny you should say that," Megs said, a smirk spreading across her face as she took in the sight of Kakkii and Michael. "But I'm a lot better at gambling than you would've thought,"

"Wait... What do you mean?" Kakkii said.

Megs paused knowingly, looking at the ground before meeting their eyes again. "I kind of won two thousand euros,"

Their jaws dropped, and in the middle of the centre of Paris, they screamed as loud as they could, leaping out of their seats and jumping around like maniacs.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?" Michael screamed, shaking Megs, and kissing her on the forehead. In his element, he ran at Kakkii, taking her in his arms and lifting her off her feet, spinning her round, both of them screaming.

"Yes!" Megs cried, revealing folded bank notes from her pockets.

"Guys," she said, "Lets go home,"