Beginnings • c.h

Chapter Seventeen

Media is a gif of Michael at their first gig

Chapter Seventeen

She lets out a watery laugh, and quickly wipes the rest of the tears that I'd missed away.

"Thanks for finding me, Ashton."

I give a small smile, and stand up right, pulling her with me.

"For you? Anytime."

Calum POV

*Night of the Gig*

"Five minutes till you go on." The owner said, walking over to us, wiping her hands on a dish towel. She was a woman in her mid-forties with brown hair and laughter-lines. Us three boys had just met her for the first time tonight, but Ashton knew her through family. She gave us a quick look-over, nodding a quick greeting to Ashton before leaving the room we were waiting in before we were due to go out and play.

After she walked out, Luke let out a big gust of air and ruffled his hair nervously. He wasn't the only one nervous. I didn't know about Mikey or Ash, but I was freaking terrified. This was our first gig as a proper band, and we had only been together officially for barely even a week.

I look around at all the boys, and open my mouth about to speak, but I am suddenly cut out by a loud shriek that echoed from the hall into the small room we were situated in. I recognised it as Anni's immediately, and then figured out that the groan that followed was Megan's.

It seemed I was correct, as Anni, Aimee, and Grace all walked through the door to the dressing room smiling and laughing loudly, while Megan hung back clutching her head with a grimace plastered on her face. I took in her appearance, and if I didn't know any better I would think she was hungover.

All the boys let out a chuckle at Megan's face except for Mikey, who seemed to be using a lot of effort in ignoring the glares that Megan was sending his way.

"What's going on, guys!" Grace shouts happily. Megan lets out another groan from Grace's loudness, we all laughed at her again, making her groan even more from the sudden rise of noise level.

"Nothing much, just preparing for the show." Luke says, now anxiously picking his nails.

"You guys will be fine." Anni replies optimistically, swiping her fringe behind her ear. I have to say she looked amazing tonight. Her jeans were a pale blue, and came up past her hips and it was paired with a tribal patterned shirt that showed just a small gap of skin above the waistline of her jeans.

She seemed to have caught me ogling, because as everyone else broke off into conversation, she waltzes over to me. Resting on the arm of my chair, she addresses me.

"Hey Cal. Ready for the show?"

I shake my head and let out a strange high-pitched laugh. I cough awkwardly, trying to cover up the massive testy-pop.

"Nah, I am heaps nervous."

She shakes her head, letting her hair -which was flowing loosely over her shoulders- to flick her in the face.

"You guys shouldn't be, you are awesome, just remember that."

I nod, and silence soon slips between us. After a couple seconds of silence, she lets out a small gasp. Turning towards me she claps her hands and exclaims,

"Your song! The one in the treehouse, you said you'd perform it at your first gig! Are you going to perform it?"

I let out an awkward sound in the suddenly almost silent room. Four of the six in the room were looking at us curiously, raising their eyebrows questioningly. Megan and Ashton were having a hushed conversation in the back of the room. Megan looked slightly out of character, as she was looking at Ash ashamed, and Ash seemed to be almost scolding her like an older brother. Those two had gotten closer in the past week, and I hoped for Mikey's sake that it was nothing more than friendship between them.