Walk-On

Okay guys, new story! (Based, slightly, off of One-Direction... the dream was about them anyway. But the story is different, and the characters have differences too!)

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Prologue

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“Everything okay with the boys?” my dad said through my headphones, and I had to adjust the mouth piece to be able to respond. I hadn’t realized how far it had been knocked out of place. 

Liam was close enough to hear, and he gave me a look that told me to lie through my teeth. “Yeah, Dad, everything’s fine down here.” I cleared my throat, the obvious telltale that I wasn’t being totally honest, but apparently it wasn’t loud enough to transfer over the airwaves. 

“Great,” came the crackled response, and then he was off talking to someone else, and by the quieted tone of his voice he had shifted his own mouth piece as well. I looked at Liam, and his eyes were burning dark like they always did when he was deep in thought. His curly locks had fallen into his eyes. 

The only other boy in the room was Joey, and he was looking at Liam with the same intense stare I was using. We were both close enough to him to know that we shouldn’t bother him. He was figuring out a plan. I took a moment to steal a glance at the other band member, and all he did was give me a grimace. That was completely out of Joey’s bad boy character, so I cleared my throat once again to get Liam’s attention. 

His head snapped up with concern lacing his eyes now, making sure I was okay. It took him a few seconds before he let out a deep breath through his teeth. “Gwen, I don’t know what we’re going to do.” 

This was bad. This was so bad that it hadn’t even completely hit me yet. “You’re sure that the other two went out to find him?” I asked the boys, not really aiming the question at either one in particular. My eyes had found the floor one second after they had met Liam’s when he talked to me. 

“That’s what they said,” Joey piped up, and as he moved from his position leaning up against the make-up room counter to walk over to where we were standing he added, “He shouldn’t have run off.” Liam and I didn’t respond, but I looked at him as he massaged his temples and flipped the light switch, causing the room to go black as the multitude of lights turned off. It’s not like we really needed the light, and even I was beginning to sweat in my comfortable black t-shirt and jeans. I had no idea how the guys were feeling in their dressy attire. 

I bit my lip, daring to gaze up at them again. “What if they don’t get back in time?” I ventured, unsure how either one would react to that notion. But instead they simply shrugged. The question that was really on our minds hadn’t been asked yet, and I wasn’t brave enough to voice it. I leaned back up against the wall behind me and slid down to the floor, my head digging itself into my hands and my knees up to my chest. It wasn’t very long until I could feel the tears start to prickle at my eyes, and it was only a second longer before I heard the thumps of the boys sliding down on either side of me. Liam pulled me onto his shoulder and Joey stuck his arm in around my waist, leaning into me. Even though this safe feeling overwhelmed me, the tears still didn’t go away, and for the first time since I had been on this stupid tour I let myself cry in front of them. 

Somewhere above us we could hear the screaming fans, mostly girls, begin to get impatient and yell each of the boys’ names. The first one I could actually make out was obviously Harley’s, and I couldn’t help but picture his gigantic smile. Then came Liam’s, who was mostly known for his smooth voice. Shawn, who was the funny one, was being screamed by a bunch of the more outgoing fans. I could even hear Nick’s, who definitely had the baby face that everyone fell in love with. 

Joey and I both heard his name at the exact same time, and I could feel his fingers dig a little tighter into my waist. An announcement was heard through the backstage loud speakers, telling the boys they had ten minutes until show time. 

None of us moved. None of us had the desire to move. All of us were just wishing that any minute the other three would come busting through the doors, and that the group would be together and could go out and sing the songs they’d been practicing for months now. This was the first stop on the International Tour, and they’d been singing nonstop for ages knowing that this was big; huge, even. This concert would really give an idea of how big they’d become as a group. 

We heard the screaming die down, and I knew what was happening. The giant screen that was on the stage had begun to flash the ever famous “movie countdown,” and it had stunned everyone into silence. But then when it reached five, they all started yelling the numbers down with it. “Five!” 

I unburied my head and looked over at Liam. His face was hard and not showing any emotion at all. He was, in essence, a rock. “Four!”

Joey, on the other hand, had begun to shake like he always does before shows. But this time it was worse. I released myself from his death grip and squeezed his hand.  “Three!”

When the countdown reached one, there would be a knock on our door, and a few of the bodyguards and my dad would be waiting to usher the boys to their spot where they would rise from underneath the stage. I knew this, because there were pictures of the boys that would flash while they got into places, and that was then the screaming was always the loudest. Dad said it was to create an illusion of being to the point of dying from waiting so long, but I knew it was partially due to the fact the boys needed a few extra seconds to calm themselves before they took the stage. That, and hearing the intensity of the audience gave them an excitement, a fire to feed off of, that really made the entire concert energetic and fun. “Two!”

Deep breaths from all three of us, and Liam stood up and extended his hand to help me up. Joey rose with me, his hand still grasped in mine, turning my knuckles white. But I didn’t mind. I was used to it now. Our heads snapped at the sound of footsteps, and I knew what was coming. Or, I knew what would’ve been coming if all five of the band had been here. With three missing, there was no way of knowing what was in store for us when everyone found out. “One!” 

“Ladies and Gentlemen,” the loud, prerecorded voice rang out above as the pictures began to show and the crowd got even wilder than ever before, “Walk-On!” 

Then the knock came to the door, and none of us moved to open it.