Dear Lottie

Chapter 22

That night, me and Skye were all dressed up, I was in one of Skye's many floral bralets and a skater skirt with my converse on. Skye was in a frayed black jumper with super short, dark denim shorts on and black gladiator sandals. Me and Sam were stood in the middle of the field hand in hand and staring at the vast, empty stage. Maria's signature microphone stuck out in the middle and there was guitars lining the stage. "The field's looking empty." Declared Skye, swinging around to see a literal stampede of people entering the large grassy area. "Oh fuck!" She yelled before grasping my hand and pulling herself into my arms, awkwardly hiding away from the people. Me and Sam stood laughing whilst Skye cowered under my wings. The field filled up like the build up of tears. You tremble and tremble, a few rise and fill your eyes. Then suddenly, torrents flow. Sam was unbelievably able to hear his phone ring from his pocket and he immediately answered it. "Adam?" He questioned, blatantly confused as Adam didn't sound like he was in the field at all! "You're not coming?" He looked hurt by this so I gripped his hand harder in reassurance. He started nodding vigorously and he hung up. "Lottie, me and the boys are going to practice at my house. We decided that this gig is more important than In This Moment. Do you want to come? You can sell your tickets to people at the gates, it always gives you that feeling of being such a nice person." He smiled sweetly and I looked to Skye who was shaking her head gently in disapproval. She didn't want this. I replicated her reaction and he leant in for a quick kiss before forcing his way through the tonnes of people behind us.

I looked at Skye with the same disapproving look she shot me and I tugged down on her arm. "Skye! Please!" She shook her head harder now and I my stare became more intense. "Skye. I love this boy, he means the world to me and hopefully, some time in the next week, you'll see what I see in him; pure awesomeness. You've just got to give him a chance." She rolled her eyes silently and pulled me behind her through the crowds upon crowds of smelly hippies. Once we got the gate we saw a couple of girls who were holding on to the fence in dear life. She dragged me over to them and pushed the tickets into their stomachs demanding at least £40. Sam was right. The look on their faces was like when you give a 99p burger from McDonalds to a homeless man. It made you feel like the nicest person alive. They handed over £120 and ran into the crowd, they were surely going to get lost or trampled! Skye stared at the money that all together, equalled more than they actually costed. She now looked ecstatic; a completely different expression swept her face and she turned to me with excitement. "Let's go see these boys perform!"

We ran to Sam's house faster than we had ever ran cross country and we eventually got to his front door where I opened it slowly to see a literal mountain of boys shoes. I gestured to Skye to take her shoes off and place them down neatly next to the boys'. I did the same. As we proceeded into the hallway we stumbled across the first boy; Corey. "Woah! Hell no! We don't have any money to give you. Now leave." He shooed at us to tell us to get out but Skye just collapsed into a fit of silent laughter to which I thought I should probably explain. "Corey. Has Sam explained the new name to you? Whole Lotta Lottie?" He looked confused and concerned at the same time; like I was some overly obsessed band freak. Eventually, he nodded and I commenced my explanation. "Well, I'm Lottie." I gestured towards myself and Corey suddenly understood what the hell was going on. He took me by the arm and pushed me up the first step before attending to Skye by gently scooping her up, soothing her laughter. He then pushed passed me and once he got to the room, he gestured at me to come up. Slowly. So we did so. I did it because I was trying to give Sam a fright. Skye did it because she was so impressed with Corey's strong, masculine arms. I made it to the room but stood outside, waiting for Corey to get the message round to everyone before it was safe to come in. I first saw Adam, who shot me a quick smile before going back to twiddling with his guitar. Then I saw Lewis, who was stood with the microphone. He waved at me and smiled. Then I saw James and fuck yes. He was creepy. He had long black hair, pale skin, black eyes and had the stature of Slender man. I could see him smile under his hair before I nimbly walked over to Sam who was faced towards his three laptops and computer.

I pushed my hands gently down his chest but he sensed me doing so, instead of retaliating, he let my arms run through his hands and once our faces were side to side, I turned to face him. He leant his forehead against mine and kissed me with a substantial force. "Hello, thou angel of silence. I'm getting better at this!" I nodded in reply and let him swing round in his chair, patting his thigh to get me to sit down. I did as he told me to and he proceeded to talk to the group. "Boys. These girls are going to be with us for two weeks." I looked to him with apology, but under my breath, I muttered "maybe even longer." He smiled at me before beginning again. "And whilst they're with us, we will treat them like our sisters. Of course, you will, i'm not some sort of living incest." He smiled at me once again and watched me giggle quietly. "But these girls are from now on, important to all of us." James stood up abruptly from his chair and stuck his hand in the air. "What if one of us gets that girl?" He pointed straight at Skye who started with hysterical laughter again. It calmed down after a few seconds thankfully. To James' interrogative, I left Sam's lap to respond. "That girl is Skye Lewis and, honestly, she'll probably let any of you fuck her." All of them cheered in reply except from Corey who glanced at her. Skye looked back at him too, but never like she had ever looked at any man before. This time, her cheeks were red and her eyes were fluttering. Her mouth was partially open and she was clearly ignoring the cheers radiating from the boys. As I was lost in this miracle, Sam stood up too. "Yeah. Any of you can have Skye, but Lottie's mine. I love her." He looked at me from his standing position as if to say 'I would bend down and kiss you but I can't.' So I did him the honours of standing up and planting my lips of his whilst letting my arms crawl around his neck.