Must Have Been the Wind (Alec Benjamin X reader)

• e i g h t e e n •

I'm hardwired to be with you

(Y/N's POV)

"Alec. Get up. I don't care if you're tired. We need to go get breakfast. No- don't roll o-"

He groaned, his face pressed against the pillow.

"(Y/n), I know you're anxious ok but please, please for the love of god don't put that on me."

I rolled my eyes as I continued to pack.

"Alec we need to be out of here by 10:30. It's nearly 10:15 and you haven't even started packing yet."

He groaned and rolled over again.

"Why are you so tired anyway? What time did you go to sleep?"

"1:30." He mumbled into the pillow.

"1:30?! Well Jesus that explains why you're  tried. What in God's name were you up doing?"

"Wondering how on earth you can ignore how attractive you are your whole life-"

"Ight, I'm gonna stop ya right there ok can we not talk about that right now."

"Ok. I'm going back to sleep."

"Alec."

I walked over to the beg and took the duvet, folding it neatly and shoving it into the closet.

He curled up into a little ball as a reaction.

"Ughhh that was ruuudeee."

"You're an actual child." I responded, walking up to the side of the bed.

"Yeah whatever." He said as he suddenly grabbed my leg, pulling me into the bed next to him. He wrapped his arms around my waist and shuffled closer to me.

"...Alec?"

"Hm?"

"Whatcha doin there, buddy?" I asked, nonchalantly.

"You took my blanket. So I took you. You are now my blanket."

"But Alec we need to pa-"

He muttered a bunch of gibberish to interrupt me before saying, "blankets don't talk."

I rolled out of the bed, comically falling into my front.

"Alec. I'm not gonna say it agin. Get up."

He mumbled and didn't move.

"Hm alright. I'll just go downstairs and check out by myself. Oh! Maybe that guy that hit on me last night will be working this morning."

He sat up.

"Ok, I'm up, I'm up, chill out, I'll pack, don't leave."
* * * * *

We arrived at the Fonda Theatre at 12:00 after we went to get some breakfast. Alec went through rehearsal pretty smoothly.

I have no idea how he does it.

I frantically practiced my chords on the piano, listened to the pre recordings of our duet on my phone religiously, and basically acted like a nervous wreck the entire time

Alec kept telling me that I was fine, and I was gonna do great. I believed that he thought that, but I didn't believe that he was necessarily right about it.

The dress rehearsal rolled around and they did my hair and makeup and gave me an outfit I was...moderately comfortable in. The hair was an excessively fancy side braid, and the makeup was meant to look fairly minimalistic, but there was still a lot of it. I wore a knee-length, silky navy blue dress with blue heels I could hardly walk in.

I was the opening act.

I heard the host introduce my name and I walked out, addressed the crowd like they taught me to, sat down at the piano and played the chords.

As I began to sing, it slowly got easier and I felt more comfortable. It was a very slow process however, and this was when hardly anyone was even here.

The violins sounded in the background towards the second chorus.

At the end, I thanked the crowd, that at that moment didn't exist, stood up, and walked off.

Everything after that was a bit of an anxious blur.

Alec said I sang good. And that I looked pretty.

"Hm?" I snapped out of my anxiety-induced trance.

"I said you look pretty." He blushed.

"Awe. Really?" I smiled.

He gave me a look that said don't say really you dumbass.

So I gave him a knowing glance, before muttering a thank you, with a huge smile and walking off.
* * * * *

"Oh no. No no I don't think I can do this. There's too many people Alec I just can't. I can't."

"You can. You're gonna be great, ok? You did amazing in rehearsal."

I nodded, attempting to convince myself. "...right. Right...you're right."

He smiled.

"Please welcome: (y/s/n)!"

"Nope nevermind nOpe Alec can't do it I can't-"

The next thing I know I'm shoved outside the curtain, staring blankly at all the people in the crowd, cheering.

I regain my composure, well, somewhat, and stumble over to the piano. I begin to play, and try to catch my breath.

*play video tagged with chapter*

I took a deep breath as I finished the intro, ready (as I'll ever be) to sing the first line.

Who cares 'bout star signs, I'm hardwired to be with you.

My voice sounded surprisingly clear to myself. It was stronger than I had anticipated.

You're like a sunrise and I'm scared that I'll never get enough of you.

I sang each lyric with meaning, trying to make it sound more personal. Sometimes when I get nervous I tend to sound like I'm reciting words from Ikea furniture instructions.

And I don't speak Swedish.

I'm all butterflies, um sky-high, for you.
When it feels like this,
Like a light came on
And you look at me,
Like I'm all you want

My mind was racing almost as fast as my heart was.

This was actually kind of...dare I say...fun.

When it feels like this.

The pre-recorded harmonies played in the background, joined by a violin as the second chorus began. The whole stadium buzzed with sound and pure ecstatics. It was electrifying.

The song ended and I stood up, trying to remember what else to do. The audience was ecstatic, they were bubbling with excitement and adoration. I couldn't tell if it was because of what I just did or because Alec was next to be on stage.

I remembered in a quick flash to address the audience, so I did so, before walking off stage, completely calm and collected.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AN: aH sorry it took me so long to update! But here you go! I'm really tired now. I've been up since 7 am

So imma go to sleep.

Thanks for reading!

-Erin 💕