Running Away (a Louis Tomlinson fanfic)

Chapter 22

2 MONTHS LATER:

Alice's Point of View:

"You ready?"  I heard the familiar voice behind me and quickly turned around to face him.  He let out a laugh when he saw my incredibly nervous face.  "Don't be nervous, baby."  He laughed again, walking towards me and putting his arms around my waist.  I put my shaking hands on his chest and looked in to his blue eyes.

"Nervous?  Lou, I'm freaking out!"  I confessed and he pulled my waist in a littler tighter.  He ran his strong hands up and down my back and my arms to try to calm me down.

"Babe, you're gonna be great!  You have nothing to worry about."  He said before kissing my forehead.  "And I'll be right out there."  He said looking past the curtain and into the crowd.  "I'll be cheering for you the whole time."

"What if I screw this up, Louis?"  I asked quietly.  This was one of the biggest things I had ever done.  This was my future.  If I ruined this, if I messed up, I would be stuck without a back up plan.

"You won't screw up, babe."  He said and I looked up at him, letting him know that that wasn't an answer.  "But if you happen to screw up then it's no big deal.  You'll figure something out, you always do."  He said, stroking my cheek with his thumb.  "But you won't screw up," he added "I know it."  He winked at me and pecked my lips and with that he disappeared.

I watched as the performer before me sang some kind of classical song.  I probably should have paid attention to what he was doing, but I just couldn't.  I was too nervous.  I looked out into the crowd.  The front row was reserved for talent scouts.  Those were the people that could make or break my future.  I watched them write notes on clip boards, some of them smiling, some nodding, some not enjoying the performance at all.  What would they think of my performance?  I realized that all I could do was give it my best shot.  After that it was completely out of my hands.  The guy before me finished singing and bowed before walking off stage.

"You're up."  A man with and earpiece said to me, handing me a microphone.

"W-what?"  I stuttered as he put his hand on my back and pushed me towards the stage.  As I stood in the wing and prepared my self to step onto the stage my nerves really kicked in.  Metal butterflies flapped their massive wings in my stomach and my hands started to visibly shake.  My heart felt like it was in my throat and I pictured everything that could go wrong.  I could forget the words, I could drop the microphone, I could open my mouth and nothing could come out, I could vomit right there on the stage.  So many things could go wrong.

"Go!"  The man ordered, gesturing to the stage as the crowd waited for me.  This was it.  My feet somehow managed to carry my body out onto the stage.  I stood in front of the crowd.  I heard some people from my school yell my name, or hoot, or clap when they saw me.  I took a deep breath and smiled at the crowd.

"Hi."  I said, nervously into the microphone.  "My name is Alice Day."  The talent scouts smiled at me and wrote down my name as I stood there in my black dress and nude heels.  I could've picked a song about my life, or my boyfriend, but I knew the one I picked was perfect.  I picked a song about music, about finding my voice and expressing it.  As I ran through the lyrics in my head one more time I realized it didn't matter whether or not I got into one of the schools, or whether or not they liked me, what mattered was that I was on stage in front of all these people doing what I loved most.  "This song is called Listen, I hope you like it."  I said, before starting.  I took a deep breath and let the words flow out of my mouth like they had so many times before.

I didn't look at the crowd or the scouts until I finished, I just looked above their heads.  I let every single note ring out, even better than I had rehearsed them.  I hit each one with so much accuracy and let them grow, adding riffs I had never even practiced.  When I finished I smiled a real smile, not the one I put on at the start of the performance.