CODA

Twenty-Three

"Damn, is this really my girlfriend?" Calum mumbles into Carter's ear as she jumps, his arms wrapping securely around her stomach.

"Hi. And what are you talking about? I'm not even close to dresses and ready yet." She laughs.

"You look good to me." Calum shrugs.

"Thats because you like that I'm wearing your shirt right now." She laughs pulling at the knot she has the of bottom of his Nine Inch Nails shirt tied into over her stomach.

"Ya, you look damn good in my clothes, Heart. Deal with it." He chuckles. "Plus your ass looks amazing in these jeans." She squirms away as he squeezes her butt, making him laugh.

"You're horny today." She rolls her eyes, playfully shoving his chest.

"Only for you, baby girl." He shrugs.

"You ready to blow the minds of every one of your fans? Singing and not playing the bass?" She changes the subject.

"I'm excited to show the world how I feel about you. And sing it to you. The fan reaction is going to be fun too though." He nods.

"I'm excited too."

"Good. How's Ava?"

"We are doing better." She smiles, "I apologised for not understanding how it would have felt to be here without them. And how I get it now that that would have felt wrong at this point in our career as a band. She seemed to accept that, we had a little heart to heart in the car, and ya."

"Look at you being the bigger person." He grins pulling her back into his chest.

"It's true though too. Getting ready for tonight sort of opened my eyes to how weird it would be to be doing this without my girls."

"I'm glad my selfishness helped fix it for you then." He smiles, "Now, should we be funny and walk out to perform with me wearing Olive's bass and then passing it off to her? Or just shock everyone with me just not having one?"

"I like the pass it off option. Really shock them all." She grins.

"Me too. Think Oli will agree?"

"Yes." Carter laughs, turning to find her friend. Calum can't help but watch her go, hoping he finds the courage inside himself to tell her his true feelings soon.

Sound check and rehearsal goes perfectly, the song sounding absolutely amazing. The use of so many instruments and the vocal combinations coming through better than Calum could have hoped for. By the time they are all ready and joining Jimmy on the set for the show, he feels as if he is going to burst with excitement over the song they are going to premiere tonight.

"Alright, welcome back!" Jimmy signals they are starting back up, pulling everyone's attention.

Calum is seated between Luke and Ashton, their band seated on stools behind CODA who are seated on a couch, Carter sitting closest to Jimmy, in front of Luke.

"So we have a large group here as our musical and celebrity guests tonight. Debuting their new song on the show tonight, it's 5 Seconds of Summer, and their touring companions, CODA." Jimmy waits for the crowd to clap and cheer before continuing.