No One Does It Better

Josh's P.O.V

“Oli…this looks incredible!” I all but squealed. Oli and I had went out two days ago looking for apartments and we had found a nice flat in the heart of the city. It had a large balcony coming off the bedroom, our bedroom; hard wood floors throughout the entirety of it, and a large bathroom. All in all, it wasn’t huge, but it had a living room, kitchen, two bathrooms and a bedroom...so it was so much more than we had before. He had gotten it for a steal, the older woman who owned the building took pity on us, especially after we shared our stories of being homeless. 200 quid a month, with utilities, hell she was probably losing money on this deal!

“I went to a few thrift stores and bought most of the furniture, only spend 100 on it all. The mattress was 120 but all in all we still have enough to get us through the month…even though I have a show tomorrow which should bring us more money.” He stated calmly as he wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed my cheek.

“You did amazing…” I purred as I placed my arms over his and swayed back and forth.

“I'm glad you think so.” He replied, squeezing me tightly before slipping from my grasp. I paraded over to the new dark leather sofa and plopped down on it, staring at the large box television,

“You want me to cook breakfast?” Oli chimed as he entered the kitchen.

“Only if you want to, babe.” I smiled to myself; I still can't believe Oli really asked me to be his! The way he did it was even cute, go steady; it was absolutely adorable that he was embarrassed to ask me. As if I would have said no! I would have to be blind and stupid to have said that, he made me happier than any person ever could.

RING

Groaning, I wrestled my phone out of my pocket and stared at the caller I.D, it was a number I didn’t recognize.

“Hello?” I inquired quietly as I leaned back into the couch, pinching the bridge of my nose, trying to wake myself up a bit. 9 am was not my best hour.

“Yes...hello, is this Josh Franceschi?” the man’s deep voice was just as confused as mine had been upon answering.

“Yes?” I pursed my lips, who was this and why on earth were they calling me at such a god forsaken hour!

“Hi, this is Alex Scott, I'm a talent scout for Epitaph Records, I am looking into contacting both you and a Mr. Oliver Sykes? I was unable to find any contact information for him, but received yours via your last label. Hope you don’t mind,” the man’s voice trailed off, and I felt excitement pit in my stomach. I quickly got up from the couch and rushed to the kitchen, Oli eyed me curiously as he flipped the pancakes, I put the phone on speaker and leaned on the counter.

“Not at all Mr. Scott, I’m actually with Oliver at the moment, you don’t mind being on speaker, do you?” I questioned, Oli shot me a confused look.

“Not at all, hello Mr. Sykes, I was just talking to Mr. Franceschi here. I'm a talent scout from Epitaph records, and I would like to talk to you both if you had a moment?” Oli’s face was priceless; he dropped the spatula on the ground and turned the oven off as quickly as he could, before moving the pan off the burner.

“Yeah, that’s fine by us.” I giggled as my boyfriend grabbed onto me for support, a completely exasperated look on his face.

“Well I recently attended the show at Leadmill, and I must say; both bands are going to be huge, and soon. You're both very talented young men, along with your band mates, and here at Epitaph we have a lot that may come as an interest to you. If you wouldn’t mind me asking, when is you’re next show? I would like to come and watch you all perform again, and hope to hear more from You Me at Six. If I like what I hear and see again, I would be more than interested in bringing you both before our CEO and see what kind of deal we could work out. But as I stated, we are very interested in both of you.” I hit the mute button rapidly as Oli and I screamed in excitement, he quickly pecked me on the lips. I hit the microphone button again;

“Absolutely, tomorrow Bring Me the Horizon is playing at the Leadmill again, as for us in You Me…we only have one song complete…so we weren’t planning on playing then…” I bit my lip, dammit we should have practiced more!

“Oh…that’s a bit disappointing, well I guess we can work on something in the future; as for Bring Me; I will be there. It’s at same time as the last show?” I felt my stomach churn, not only had I just made a shit impression, I made it seem like we didn’t work hard enough.

“No wait! Uhm…You Me will be playing tomorrow, we can just finish up the songs we have been working on! Yes, it’s the same time as well! See you tomorrow night?” I gritted my teeth nervously as Oli slapped himself in the face.

“Definitely, please guest list me so it will be easier for me to get back stage. See you tomorrow lads, cheers.” With a click, the phone call was over.

“Are you kidding me Josh!? For starters this is bloody brilliant, but seriously? You only have the lyrics done! No way you and the lads can write 4 more songs by tomorrow night without them sounding god awful! Damn and we lost Jona so now we have to find a fill in because we can't keep making Max do it and I'm not ready! This is going to be a disaster! I-“ I cut him off by pinning him onto the fridge and planting my lips on his. He quickly kissed back, running his tongue along my bottom lip and slipping his hands around my waist; I opened my mouth enough to let his tongue slide in past mine. After several moments I pulled back, panting as I tried to catch my breath.

“Enough of that nonsense, you will do great. I still have the contact info of a keyboardist that used to help me out, I can see if he would just do synth work to cover the missing guitar parts; he owes me a favor anyways. As for the guys…I need to call them.” I let reality sink in, I had just promised a scout from one of my favorite labels that we would be ready tomorrow, and we were far from it.

“Yeah you do.” Oli commented, breaking out of my grasp and slapping me on the butt as he turned the stove back on, and continued cooking pancakes as if getting the most exciting news we had ever received...hadn’t just happened.

-*-

“Yes, I would love you forever Jordan.” I slapped myself in the face for the billionth time today, as Max slugged me in the shoulder.

“Fine, I’ll do it. Just cause I love you Joshy.” His sarcastic tone only led me to believe that he was clearly not happy with me for calling him up last minute.

“So you’ll do it?” I begged, not even trying to hide the desperation in my voice.

“Yes, I will. I’ll be leaving London now with my gear, I’m staying with you though. Send me an address; I know you’re at band practice so ill just come there.” He sighed, but I felt pretty damn good about what had just happened.

“ ‘mkay.” I replied, ending the call and typing out Max’s address. Everyone from Oli’s band and mine were sitting in Max’s studio that was snuggly fitted into a large basement, everyone was working together, and like mad, to get these parts down. We had to be ready, one way or another. God help us.

-*-

The next day

“We did it…we actually did it.” I panted as I collapsed in the chair just off the stage, my band mates followed suit.

“How did we not fuck that up?” Matt pondered, disbelief clearly on his features. I was the same way, we had managed to perfect 5 songs in just one day, not mention we had just played them for 2000 people, which was absolutely mental.

“Good job, Josh and company!” Jordan Fish chimed as he walked past us. He had come down yesterday and crashed on Oli’s and Mines couch, oddly enough he took a liking to Oli and his band mates, which was very strange considering Jordan wasn’t a very social kind of guy.

“You did amazing babe, wish me luck?” Oli stood in front of me, rocking on his toes as he twisted his fingers together nervously. I stood up from my chair and pulled him to my chest.

“You’ll be fine. I promise.” I soothed him for a few moments until the crowd began to chant ‘Bring Me the Horizon!’ over and over again, he sighed.

“That’s my cue, where’s Alex again?” he questioned, looking around the stage, I pointed across from us.

“Over there, just pretend he isn’t here.” I advised as I kissed his cheek and ushered him on stage with a ‘Kill it!’

And they did just that, every song flowed with a perfect rhythm, and Jordan’s new inputs were outstanding, that guy was a genius at what he did. The crowd was just as energetic as they had been throughout our set, which came as no surprise.

“Thank you Sheffield! Have a good night!” Oli tossed his mic to a tech as the crowd screamed one last time. My boyfriend rushed towards me, all but jumping in my arms.

“Did I do okay?” he asked immediately, nuzzling his head in the nape of my neck.

“You did fine. Don’t worry, they loved you.” I reassured him quietly,

“Get a room!” Nicholls shouted, tossing his drumsticks at us which made everyone else laugh.

“You’re just jealous, Pickles.” Oli chimed with a bit of sass in his voice, he really could be a bit dramatic; which was perfectly fine for me! It made for a good laugh.

“Well if it isn’t the men of the hour!” Alex Scott walked towards us, patting everyone on the back as we formed a tight circle around him. He was a man of about 6’2, but he was as skinny as Oli, he had to be in his late thirties, though he looked a lot younger due to his long hair and colorfully littered skin.

“So what did you think?” Chris asked calmly, but I could tell he was sweating it.

“Well let’s start with You Me at Six…” he pulled his clip board out and flipped to the second page. “Great energy, no slip ups, fantastic rhythm and solid vocals throughout the entire set; well done lads.” I grinned as did my band mates.

“As for Bring Me, I notice you had a member of You Me as a fill in last time you played, is this new guy, the keyboardist...a new member?” he eyed Oli warily, he shook his head.

“Well he’s a friend of ours, but we really liked our performance with him…so I think I speak for everyone when I say if he wants the job it’s his.” Jordan’s face actually lit up, and he laughed.

“Really? Cause you guys are actually pretty swell, so I may just take you up on that offer!” he clapped his hands together as Vegan, Lee and Matt nodded in agreement. Alex cleared his throat,

“Well either way, it was a very solid performance, and I was pleased with what I saw. I’d like you all to meet me at our head quarters building in London next Friday at 9 AM. Bring your gear because you will be asked to perform for the CEO; don’t be nervous though, remember he loves this shit.” We all nodded quickly. I was honestly baffled, someone from Epitaph actually had faith in me…my band, and Oli’s? This had to be a dream.

“Josh, I will call you with details; see you lads then!” Alex waved as he made his way away from us and out the back doors. I turned to face everyone,

“HOLY SHIT!” Matt and Dan screamed at the same time, bringing us all in for a huge group hug.

“This is amazing!” Oli cheered, he squeezed my side harder.

“Definitely, I love you guys.” I exclaimed, bringing everyone closer together.

“EW! Gay!” Matt Barnes retorted which made everyone let go and try to contain their laughter.

“Hey sorry to break this up, but here’s your cash! Come back again soon, just call me Oli and we will make arrangements!” The guy handed off a huge stack of envelopes, which Oli divided up as he thanked the gruff man.

“Well I say we celebrate.” Jordan added, as he shoved the money into his pocket.

“House warming party at ours?” I offered, shooting a glance to Oli who nodded his head.

“I'm down.” He said quietly,

“Well that’s settled! Let’s go!” Nicholls slung his arm around Oli’s and mine’s shoulders as he dragged us out the back door, leaving the venues techs to worry about our gear. Life was good, and for once…I was actually happy to be alive.

-*-

Unknown P.O.V

“Come on, let’s go inside!”

I watched as most of the group of men rushed inside the apartment building, but two lagged behind just enough to sneak in a kiss. A kiss that should have been mine. Good things came in due time though, and I was patient. Patient enough to wait outside his building for hours and watch him come home; if only he knew how much this meant to me…

No matter. He would know soon, and by the time I was done…he would never want anyone but me. I grabbed my scrapbook from the passenger side, flipping through the pages that held articles and pictures of him. He was perfect, he was everything I could ever dream of…I loved him. I always would, and when the time was right, he would love me too.

Josh Franceschi...when will you realize that being with Oli will be the death of you?