MELODY

MELODY 11

┏ 𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝚑𝚒𝚖𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚊𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚎 ┐

Adam had an arm slung across Bryan's shoulders as they walked down the hallway leading to the 'headquarters'. It was a miracle the room hadn't collapsed in itself with how messy it was. With a hand on his tablet, he listened at Adam's insistent chatter about his recent trysts with somebody, eyes glued at the emails he had been tossing back and forth at multiple people in charge of creating the music festival.

He came across an email he was exchanging with Tay, the lead singer of MELODY. It was a formal email confirming of their performance and a list of the songs they would be performing. He stopped walking when he noted that he would have to meet with the band at the end of this week for a sound check and stage inspection.

"What is it?" Adam said from next to him, his voice close to his ear.

Bryan pulled away from him, taking a step back, causing the arm to drop at Adam's sides. "I have to meet with MELODY this Friday to bring them to the stage. Is the stage even set up?"

"It is," Adam said, a smile crossing his face as he hooked his thumbs at the edge of his jean pockets. "The campus hall is big enough to cater to the crowd. Possible crowd." He took a step towards Bryan before he gently pried the tablet from his hands. With a glance at the screen, he nodded. "Sounds about right, the schedule date they picked."

"I have no clue what I'm doing," Bryan said, taking the tablet back from his friend. He pointed at the timetable full of other band's name. "I don't even know the first thing about music."

"Sure, you do," Adam said, the corners of his lips stretched upwards when Bryan raised an eyebrow. "You know MELODY."

Immediately, his cheeks heated and he couldn't help the fluster erupting in his chest. Jackson's face flashed through his mind, momentarily rendering him speechless. Adam's grin grew and so did the weird sparkle in those eyes. Feeling a little exposed for his liking, Bryan sighed, rubbing a finger down the bridge of his nose.

"I know one band," Bryan said, keeping his voice as neutral as he could. "That doesn't make me an expert."

Adam eyed him. He reached to mess Brian's hair, eliciting a hiss of annoyance from him. His friend simply smiled wider.

"Your face is turning red," he said, poking at his own cheek.

The shorter male frowned. He refused to let his emotions get the best of him. Shrugging, Bryan said, "I really don't know what I'm doing, Adam. I don't even want to do this sound check with them."

It was a lie. He was a little nervous and if he was being honest, excited to be meeting the band this Friday. Jackson had taken one look at him and laughed when he found out that Brian was managing his group. While it had irritated him that he was looked so poorly by someone he... admired, he couldn't help but to wonder what he had gotten himself into.

The guitarist was right. He didn't look like the type who would be managing bands, let alone MELODY.

"Look," Adam said, tossing a look at him. "If you're too scared, I can always come with you."

Bryan snapped his gaze at Adam, blinking at the offer. "You would come around?"

His friend shrugged. "You should see the face you're making. Like you're about to die or something."

The shorter male opened his mouth to protest but Adam simply chuckled, moving to mess his hair again. Slapping his shoulder, he gestured Bryan to continue walking with him. He huffed a breath, fixing his hair with one hand and followed him, a little grateful that Adam was coming with him to the meeting.

That eased some of his nervousness. With his best friend by his side, who definitely knew more about music than he did, he could at least be assured he wouldn't be a mess in front of Jackson.

It was so weird how he was hoping he wouldn't be a complete loser in front of the cold guitarist. From what he had seen of him so far, it only served to irritate him. And yet, he couldn't shake himself out of the stupor.

Maybe it was because for some reason, when he could catch a glimpse of the real emotion running underneath the facade the guitarist was wearing, he felt connected.

As if he could understand what Jackson was feeling.

A soft sigh escaped his lips. It felt stupid to think that way of a man he barely knew.

But he couldn't find it in himself to disagree.

┏ 𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝙼𝙴𝙻𝙾𝙳𝚈 𝟷𝟷 ┐