Wasted Opportunities

Chapter 6

Emily's POV

I was totally freaking out. This was absolutely crazy, and it felt like I was dreaming. Four people who I thought about every day, and had stared at countless times on my laptop screen, were walking around me, and treating me like a normal person. I was so scared that I wouldn't be good enough for them, and it would all go wrong. When Luke put his arm around me, I melted inside. He was so perfect in real life, even more than in pictures, if that was possible. He seemed to notice me; not that the others didn't, but he just looked at me, and seemed to see what I was thinking. His arm felt warm around my shoulders, and it did seem to calm me down a bit, although it had originally made my heart speed up in a way that was definitely NOT calm. We soon reached the room Chris had mentioned, in which the band had set up their instruments, and there was a keyboard too. I hesitantly went and sat behind it, going through all the songs I knew in my head.

“Right, Emily, let's get started – how many of our songs do you know how to play already?” asked Michael, who appeared to be leading the practice. I listed the songs, and he nodded encouragingly.

“That sounds good, obviously we might want to change your part – give you just chords, or a harmony line – how are you at picking up new stuff?”

“Pretty good,” I replied. I knew I had to be fairly honest, and not too modest, otherwise they wouldn't get a good picture of how well we would actually work together.

“Okay, well I think we should start with the ones you know, just to see how you play, but you're probably used to playing the tunes, so you won't end up playing this in the concerts.” I nodded, and prepared myself to play.

We spent the next twenty minutes going through the songs that I already knew, and I played and sang some of them on my own, so they could hear my part more clearly.

“Do you mind giving us a minute to discuss?” asked Michael when we had finished going through all the songs.

“No, that's fine,” I said, sitting at the keyboard awkwardly while they whispered to each other, occasionally looking at me and nodding. My heart was beating so loudly I was sure they would be able to hear it across the room. This was what I was ultimately most worried about – their opinion.

“Okay, you're sounding great, and this has gone pretty well so far, so I'm gonna give you these,” said Michael, reaching for a folder from a pile of paper and handing it to me. “If you could take these home and learn them, that would be great, and if everything goes well, that's what you'll be playing on tour.”

“Are you serious?” I asked, looking in the folder to find piano parts for most of their songs. “I mean, you actually want me?”

“Absolutely,” said Luke, smiling. “You play and sing well, and I think you fit in with the band, which is great – we'd rather have someone who looks the part, and you already do!”

“Oh my gosh,” I said, unable to cope with this praise. “Wow. I mean, thank you so much! This is such a big thing for me, I can't even – ” I shook my head in amazement, not having the words to describe how I felt.

“Welcome to the band,” joked Calum. They all came over to stand by the keyboard, and I felt so overwhelmed that I almost cried.

“Aww, come here,” said Luke, holding out his arms, and I stumbled over to hug him. The others joined in, and I was soon right in the middle of a 5sos group hug, which, let me tell you, is just as amazing as it sounds!

“You're gonna have to get used to us if we're having a whole tour together, though,” Ashton laughed. “We can't have you blushing every time you see us!”

“I'll try,” I giggled.

“Let's go back and see how the others are getting on, shall we?” asked Michael, holding the door open whilst the other boys walked out. He hung back to talk to me.

“Hey,” he said to catch my attention. “You were amazing today, you know that?”

“Thanks so much! So were you. You literally have no idea how much that means to me!”

“With the playing, the singing, the band shirt and the hair, you're just... perfect.” I find myself looking up into his eyes, and I hear his words replaying in my head: “You're just... perfect.” I have to grip hard on the door handle to the room to stop myself falling over.

“How was the practice?” Chris asked Michael as we sat back down in our original seats.

“Great,” he replied. “Emily fits right in.”

“Awesome,” said Chris. “Well, we went through a few more details about the tour with Emily's mum, so she knows a bit more about it now. I understand her concerns, and we're going to have to talk a little more before she makes a final decision. I understand you'd miss a lot of important schoolwork?”

“Yeah...” I bit my lip anxiously.

“Okay, we'll have to talk to your school about that, but I'm sure we can work round it somehow. This meeting was a really positive step, and we have your contact details from your mother, so we're going to stay in touch and think more about it, but the band seem to have accepted you, so as long as your parents agree, we'll have some more meetings, and you'll be in!”

A/N

Thanks so much for reading, hope you're enjoying it! What did you think of Emily's first meeting with 5sos?