A New Start.

I sat on the curb outside The Well, a lit cigarette in between my forefinger and middle, it was resting carelessly. The air around me was warming up from the freezing weather this morning had brought and threatened to stay. It’s currently July and summer is not far away for the kids still in school and this unusually warm climate is a reminding fact of this. I remember this time of year so well, being not long out of school myself.

I watched people around me carrying gear into the venue. I watched as girls started to arrive and began to set up a kind of camp in front of the venue doors completely ignorant to the fact that the back door is wide open and they could easily pass through and into the venue. I laughed out loud at myself. I remember what it was like to sit outside concert arenas and smaller venues like this one. I’d done it countless times, but because of it you gain so many amazing friends and it makes the whole experience more special.
I was so lost in thought I didn’t hear someone sit down next to me until they were talking to me.
“A penny for your thoughts?” I heard come from beside me. It shook me from my thoughts and made me jump. I turned to see Simon sitting beside me, pulling from his pocket a packet of cigarettes. I gasped in shock of him being there, making me jumped and this caused him to laugh. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you” he added onto the end.

“No, No” I laughed “It’s all good, it’s my fault really; I got lost inside my head a little bit” I turned and smiled at him.
“Ah, something on your little mind then?” he asked before taking a long drag from the cigarette. The smoke leaving his lips not long after.

“No” I told him, “Nothing really. I’m just being rather nostalgic” he raised an eyebrow at me, and I laughed and pointed towards the group of about fifteen teenagers sitting about ten meters from us. “That not long ago was me. For many gigs” Simon nodded in an understanding manner.
“To do this job, however amazing it is, come with sacrifices. You see your family and friends less. Being in a sturdy relationship rarely happens because of being on the road. Finding time to do the things you enjoy, like sitting outside concert arenas in the cold, is hard” he laughed. “But I guess none of that matters because it’s worth it when this is all you’ve ever wanted and its all you are ever going to want in the future.” he told me. He threw his now dead cigarette on the floor in front of us and looked around. “Sound check is starting in a moment. You better get inside, I mean, can’t sound check without the lead singer can you?” he told me with a wink.
He pushed himself up from the ground and then offered me a hand. I took his hand and allowed him to pull me up to my feet and lead me back into the venue. I blushed when we re-entered the room and realized that I hadn’t let go of his hand, he didn’t seem to mind as he kept a tight grip on my hand, but I’ve always felt embarrassed showing physically affection, not matter how platonic it maybe, so I discreetly removed my hand from his and moved towards the small stage.

There was no barrier at this gig, and I loved that and I knew that the crowd would too. Small venues are always better for gigs I believe, they allow the crowd to connect with the bands easier than on a big stage. I stepped up onto the stage, it was only a raised platform maybe a meter or a meter and a half max, and I looked into the room which later would be filled with a group of people with so much positive energy that wanted to have fun. I smiled.
I know that the boys and I were pretty good. We wouldn’t be out on this tour if we weren’t, but I’m always so conscious that sometimes we aren’t perfect like we should be, and I worry constantly that if I do one thing wrong that I’ll jack my voice up and let everyone else down. But as I stand on this stage, the boys getting themselves onstage and grabbing their instruments I can’t help but think about how kick ass this tour is going to be!

We’re not used to playing big stages, but this stage really is the tic tac of stages, it’s absolutely tiny! I heard a call from across the room telling me that everything is ready for us to start. I heard the kick of the drum from Jay and I was away. I was lost in the music. When onstage I become someone else, I’m confident and outspoken, much different from my normal self. I could feel the vibrations in my chest coming from the speakers and it fuelled me more, to be better and braver. I was two songs into the sound check; we were only doing four songs for sound check. Suddenly I felt myself falling forward; I felt my body hit the ground hard. I groaned out in pain. I’d miss calculated the size of the stage and had fallen from the stage to the floor below.

I could hear people gasping in shock, I could hear laugher from some, and I could hear someone shouting my name. I rolled over from where I landed to be on my side and groaned in pain. I felt someone kneel beside me and I went to sit up. I felt a large hand on my back supporting me, keeping me upright as I closed my eyes, the room was spinning furiously.
“Ever so fucking graceful Lauren!”I heard Dean shout down to me. I could hear the prominent laughter of him and Jay. I lifted my hand from my head and shot them both the finger, the person that was supporting me chuckled. I opened my eyes and they connect with a blue pair, which were laced with amusement and concern. And that’s when it hit me; I had just fallen on my face in front of the whole tour crew. I was never ever going to live this one down.
“Are you alright there? You took one hell of a fall” Gustav asked me, I blushed bright red. But nodded anyway but quickly realised this was a mistake and groaned in pain. I left a pair of hands under my armpits and then I felt myself being pulled to my feet while an arm wrapped itself around my waist helping my keep my balance. “Come on” Gustav murmured, “Let’s get you sat down and get an ice pack on that head of yours” I opened my eyes and allowed him to pull me down the stairs and back into the small room that we had the meeting in this morning, once in there I pushed myself off of him disliking the physical contact and placed myself on one of the couches that were littered about in the room.

“this would fucking happen to me” I told him. I heard him laugh from across the room where he was digging around in a small fridge. “I’m such a klutz. No one is going to let me live this one down either. The boy are going to hold this over my head forever!” I rambled on. “this one time at school, we were in rehearsals for the school play, and I had to stand on a stage that was about three meters tall on a chair, and of course I couldn’t balance of this chair and fell flat on my face in the middle of the performance” I heard Gustav try to stifle a laugh “It’s all good, you can laugh” I told him.

“It’s not that bad Lauren” his smooth London voice told me, “I have a knack for knocking my teeth out when jumping about” I gasped and laughed, he too laughed. “it’s funny the first few times that it happens but when you’ve done it nine times, the comical side of it wears off and you’re left thinking ‘I’m a fucking idiot’” he joined me on the couch, he sat really close. He leaned over, and at first I leaned away slightly, but then I felt the cool ice pack connect with the back of my head right where I hit it on the floor. I smiled gratefully.

“thank you” I told him gratefully, I reach up to take the ice pack from him, so that he no longer needed to be with me and could go back to running sound check or whatever he was doing before I so gracefully interrupted him but he gently pushed my hands back off “I can hold it you know?” I asked him with a laugh.

“I know, but I’d rather do it and know that you’ve not taken it off. You’re going to have one hell of a lump and headache later on!” he told me softly. I couldn’t help but smile, it wasn’t often that I had someone other than my mum or one of the boys looking after me, normally because no one ever gets close enough to me for them to want to but here I was with Gustav Wood a man that I’d never spoken to before today and he was looking after me. “actually, you can hold it for two moments, I’m gunna go grab some tablets for when that headache sets in” he took my hand in his and steered it towards my head and replaced it with his own. “I’ll be right back. Do not take it off your head” he told me with a smile. I couldn’t help but notice how truly beautiful his eyes are, the blue shone so brightly against his dark hair and pale skin, though his eyes held a slight red tint, as if he hadn’t slept properly for a few days or he was hung-over.

Once Gustav had been gone about five minutes I let my eyes slip down, tiredness overtaking me, I was fighting to keep myself awake. I shut my eyes and allowed my mind to wander to what my mum would say if she’d seen me take that fall. She’d of laughed and told me to man up. I heard Gustav return to the room and sigh. He talked over to me and gently shook me.
“Lauren, you need to wake up. It’s really bad to sleep after you’ve hit your head” he told me softly. I groaned but opened my eyes. In his spare hand he had some tablets and a glass of water. “Here take some of these” he popped two pills out of the packet while I placed the ice pack on the arm of the chair. He placed the pills into my out stretched hand and into my other hand he passed me the glass of water. I swallowed the pills and drank down half of the glass in one, not realising how thirsty I was.

“thank you Gustav. For you know, taking care of me.” I told him softly. “You better get up to sound check” he took the glass back off me and put it on the coffee table in front of me and then took a seat on the couch, a little further away from me than last time. I was grateful for this.
“I’m staying with you. They can sound check without me. I mean if I leave you, you could fall asleep or worse, fall over again” he said mockingly, I shot him a dirty look, before laughing out and nodding at him. “so tell me about yourself? I know nothing about you!” he demanded.

“there’s not really all that much to tell. I’m Lauren, I’m seventeen. I’m the youngest in the band and I am always reminded about it! My best friend is either my mum or a girl called Tessa, she is my polar opposite. I come from a small village in a city called Bradford, which I mainly fields. I’m the biggest scandal that my village has seen in a long time” I told him. I watched him as he took this all in. he waited for a few seconds before shaking his head.

“this isn’t you. This is stuff that I could find out by asking anyone that knows you” he murmured thoughtfully. I groaned. What did he want to know? He smiled at me, almost reading my thoughts. He turned to face me more on the couch and I also angled my body more towards him. “Let’s play twenty questions!” he exclaimed