Baby Steps (Marianas Trench fanfic)

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Mel’s POV

I began thinking of every song I knew how to play on guitar. It was a long list so I decided to have the crowd help me pick.

“So guys. Between If I Die Young by The Band Perry and Wide Awake by Katy Perry, who wants to hear the first one?” Cheers followed this question.

“Okay. And who want to hear the second one?” The cheers for this were much louder, probably because more people actually knew this song.

“Well, Wide Awake it is then. Bare with me though, it’s a weird song to play acoustically.” I began to sing it, listening as well to those who sang along. Our voices combined in beautiful harmony and I was smiling throughout the whole song. The song may have said ‘falling from cloud nine’ but my feet were firmly planted on this cloud, high above all hesitation. I fed on the crowd’s energy and began to dance in place, or what would pass for dancing for me.

Ian’s POV

I was wandering around the festival grounds, stopping now and then to talk to fans, sign things and take pictures. It was an amazing job to have and I felt on top of the world. I needed to find Brett though and knew that earlier he had been by the stage that we were going to perform on later. I headed in that direction, occasionally stopping to listen to performers on the other stages.

When I got to side stage I found Brett, attempting to untangle a long cord. I laughed as I approached him.

“You know if you store them properly, you wouldn’t have to untangle them everytime.” I said when I was right behind him. I had startled him and he dropped the cord he was fidling with.

“If you’re so smart Casselman, why don’t you untangle them?” He said, throwing the knot of wires at me. “I’m going to get myself a drink.” And with that said, he walked off.

I didn’t really care as I had nothing else to do right then. I sat myself on top of one of the amps near the stage and watched the performer as I untangled wires. She was covering a Katy Perry song and was smiling as she sang. She had a beautiful smile. Her long brown hair was covering the rest of her face though, so I wouldn’t have been able to recognize her later.

The cord lay forgotten in my hands. Her voice was extremely melodic and hit every note flawlessly. I was enchanted by her voice and I wanted to hear more. I dropped the cord on the ground and got comfortable, facing the stage.

“Really man?” Brett asked as he returned.

“Have you heard her fucking voice?” I said to him, not taking my eyes off her. At this point she was sort of shimmying to the music, still smiling and still flawlessly singing.

Brett had picked up the cord and was untangling it as he stood next to me.

“She is pretty amazing. Nice girl too.” Brett remarked. He walked off to perform more of his guitar tech duties.

“Okay! Well, that wasn’t too bad. I might have messed up lyrics a little bit, but who cares?” She shouted out to the crowd. They responded enthusiastically. I wish I knew her name, I should have asked Brett before he left. I don’t think I’d ever seen  or heard of her before, but of course, I wasn’t very in tune with more recent pop culture.

“So next cover will be a Carly Rae Jepsen song, because I love her and she’s adorable. Don’t you all agree?” She asked this question with her head tilted, moving her hair away from her face. I took in the details, hoping that I would remember her face later on.

“It’s between Cup of Tea or Tiny Little Bows. So again, who’d rather hear the first song?” She paused to take in the audience’s reaction. “And who’d like to hear the second song?” More cheers to this one.

“You guys seem to like my second song choices better! Well, Tiny Little Bows it is. It’s been a while since I’ve played this.” She strummed her guitar and began to sing.

Mel’s POV

I actually adored Carly and her music. She was definitely a big influence on me musically. As I sang I slowly stopped playing the guitar, I swung it back so it was out of my way. I took the mic off it’s stand and walked back on forth on the stage as I sang.

As the song came to a close, loud cheers came from the crowd but I could hear a displaced voice from the side of the stage. I glanced over and blinked several times to make sure that my eyes weren’t tricking me. It was Ian freaking Casselman. Sitting mere feet away from me. I shocked but I managed a small smile and little wave at him. I only had one more song to play so I hoped I could meet him afterwards. If he stayed long enough. Seeing Ian gave me an idea for what song to play next. I placed the mic back on it’s stand.

“So I know exactly which song I want to play next. But I need permission.” Spotting Brett approaching Ian I called out to him

“Oh Brett darling, can you come here for a second?” I put on a fake British accent for this statement. I don’t know why, but it seemed appropriate. It got some laughs from the audience. Brett smirked and made his way over to me.

“Hiya Brett, nice to see you again.” I said to him, covering the mic so that only he could hear me. “Listen, for my last cover I want to play Skin and Bones but I don’t want to play it if Marianas Trench is. Do you know if their setlist includes the song?”

Brett pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, the setlist, I believe. “Mmmm, nope. Not playing it today.”

“Can I maybe have a peek at their setlist?” I asked, mustering as much innocence in my voice as I could muster.

He handed it over to me and I pulled a pen out of the pocket of my dress. Scanning the setlist I located Good to You and on top of it added Round Here, because I loved it when Josh sang that before Good to You. I handed the piece of paper back to Brett.

He looked at my addition and chuckled. I uncovered my mic at this point and said ”Thanks darling” to Brett, winking at him while doing so. In response he messed with my hair before leaving the stage.

“Ack! Brett! You never mess with a girl’s hair. Stupid little-” I cut myself off as I attempted to settle my hair.

“Okay. So permission granted to sing this song. Since a lot of you are Trenchers you’ll recognize this.” I closed my eyes as I strummed the guitar. I leaned closer to the mic and poured out Josh’s heartbreaking song. There was so much emotion in this song that it was hard to focus on those around me and what I was doing and I  seemingly drifted away as I sang.

Ian’s POV

Brett walked off stage and the girl began strumming the intro to a very familiar song. While fixing her hair she had moved it so I could clearly see her face. Her eyes were closed as she sang Skin and Bones. It was a very depressing song and seemed like a horrible way to close her set.

I sensed Brett standing next to me. His brow was knitted above his sunglasses. He seemed a little displeased.

“What’s up Brett?” I asked him.

“I just hope that this song has never applied to her.” He said monotonously. He was right though. If she felt a connection to this song I would be upset. Many fans have told us how hearing it helped them through their own ED and for whatever reason I hoped that she had never had to deal with that.

“Anyway, she changed your setlist a little while I was up there” Brett said, handing the list to me. I looked down and saw right above Good to You an addition that said Round Here. I smiled, it was a good way to segue into the song. I handed the setlist back to Brett and turned to watch as she finished our song.

Mel’s POV

I strummed the last note in the song and opened my eyes. The crowd was respectful, they all seemed to know what this song meant and even those who didn’t could sense the weight of the subject. They cheered when I was done, holding it longer than they had before. I smiled again, this crowd was amazing.

“Thank you guys so much. From the bottom of my toes to the top of my head, all 5 feet 4 inches of me is grateful to you guys. Especially to you sunglasses guy” I said pointing at him. “I definitely would’ve walked off stage and you all would’ve gone ‘so, who was that?’” Amused chuckles from the crowd and a nice hearty laugh from sunglasses guy. I hoped I would see him again, he looked friendly.