A Different Beat

Luke stared at the group of four sitting in front of him. Two girls. Two boys.

He took a deep sigh and leant forward on his chair, studying each person in turn, his eyes lingering on Cole for a fraction longer than the others. She noticed and shot him a dazzling smile that urged him to not be afraid and just speak. He felt guilty for having to get rid of Willow, but the girl just couldn’t hold her nerves when it came to the night and it showed heavily in her performance.

“So as you guys know, Willow is gone.” Luke gulped down the ball of saliva at the back of his throat, using his hand to rub the nape of his neck nervously. “It was a hard decision because I see potential in all of you. But she wasn’t as strong as you four and as much as it killed me, she had to go.”

“Look man, we don’t blame you. The girl was shaky and killed that ace song.” Finley didn’t have tact whatsoever, and it was the one thing that made Luke’s temper flame a little. If he had his own way, Finley would have left first, but everyone was full of praise for the talented but arrogant twat, so he could never have made a plausible excuse. He couldn’t admit to anyone the main reason he wanted the guys arse off his team was because of the way Cole laughed at his jokes, or touched him arm in her harmless flirty manner, or just the way she looked at him.

Rumours told of Cole’s flirty nature and already she had ruffled a few feathers with her friendship with all the guys. Luke was one of these, but he wished he could be the only one.

“Hey, no need to be so harsh, Fin.” Cole spoke, scrunching her brows and frowning at the boy. Luke held back a smirk as Finley looked at Cole with a betrayed scowl.

“Sorry if your sweet little arse can’t handle some brute honesty.” Finley’s comment was battered off easily by Cole, but Luke found a confidence in him to stick up for the girl.

“I don’t appreciate you bitching about Willow’s performance or labelling Cole as nothing more than a ‘sweet little arse’! These girls are human and deserve a little more respect from you.” Finley fell back into his chair, realising he just received the first bollocking off Luke. Cole’s lip twitched into a small smile.

“Look, as much as I love seeing Finley squirm in his chair, I would like to get as much rehearsal time in as possible.” Jacob adjusted the thick rimmed glasses on his nose, his soft voice suiting the camp-ness of his appearance. His arm was draped behind Cole’s chair, an action that didn’t annoy Luke because Jacob was an outright and proud gay.

“Okay, sorry Jacob,” Luke apologised, “Now we’ve gone over the songs for this week and so I’ve decided I want you guys to choose how we play it from now on. Go use the house and rehearse where you want. I will be in the studio and my door will be open for anyone who needs me. I want to hear what you each have tomorrow and then again the day before live shows, but how you go about things is your own call!”

Cole smiled, realising Luke had taken her advice. Not many people knew about their frequent late night meets because she knew they would assume something more than what was happening. The truth was simple; she got on great with Luke and they had a lot to talk about. He was becoming a great friend as well as a mentor. She would sometimes creep into his room and they would chat for hours about music and movies and other things they seemed to have in common.

But he had taken her advice she had given last night when he confided in her about his worries for the team he had. We wasn’t sure who was serious and who wasn’t, so Cole had suggested letting them have freewill and it will become obvious who slacks off.

“Okay, before you lot head off and do your own thing, I do have a few things I want each of you to individually work on.” Luke looks at each in turn, “Sandra, you need to work on your control and find the balance between too little and too much. Jacob, your range is amazing, but sometimes your pitch does go off a little; work on perfecting those high notes. Finley, your stage presence needs work; it takes more than just having a pretty face, you also need to own that stage.” And finally Luke turns to Cole. “And Cole, you had a really good performance, but I think this week we really need to focus on your song choice. We could have done better this week, and that song just didn’t showcase your talent enough.”

Cole nodded her head as everyone began scribbling down some notes.

“Well in that case, unless someone else wants to claim you today, I think we should discuss song choice for this week?” Cole spoke and Luke looked from the piece of paper in front of him.

“I think I’ll be fine for today,” Sandra added in, standing to her feet and adjusting her mid length black skirt. She left the room a moment later.

“I’m cool with working alone,” Jacob gave a small wave before following Sandra out the door. It just left Cole and Finley, who was staring at her with those intense brown eyes. He was about to speak, opening his mouth, but looked like he changed his mind and closed it again.

“I think getting some alone practice outside might be nice…” Finley looked hesitant to leave, but eventually slouched out the room.

Cole turned away from Finley’s slouching body and smiled at Luke, who was still looking a little nervous. He did every time they met.

“So the queen of great advice needs my help?” Luke leant back and smirked. Cole laughed, leaning forward slightly on the table.

“I’m not full of great advice all the time, and even the mighty need help sometimes.” Her flirty tone was nothing foreign to him, but Luke just wished it was just a tone she used on him. He knew lying to himself wouldn’t do any good. Guys liked Cole and Cole liked guys.

For the next couple of hours, the two laughed and flirted, and practiced the song she chose for this week. Luke had said she should use the British tone to her singing voice to her advantage, it made her unique. So they chose a song from her favourite band, Bastille. The song was called ‘Things we Lost in the Fire’ and was a song she had adored since she first heard it.

“Your accent just pops in this song!” Luke smiled, from the seat beside her. He had moved some time half way through their time together and realised how hot he felt when so close to her. When she laughed she would lean forward and her hand would brush his leg and the clamminess would grow until he was wiping them dry on his trouser leg.

“I adore this band.” Cole giggled leaning forward and studying the song sheet in front of her.

“Well I’m just happy you’re able to do the song some justice on live television.” Luke smiled at her, gulping down some saliva when she looks up at him and her face is closer than he realised.

She reaches her hand up slowly and her finger touches his bottom lip. He stares at her, questioning if this is some move that could lead to more. Luke wonders what she is doing a little longer before she smiles.

“I’ve always wondered if lip rings hurt as much as my friend back home made out!” She was studying his lip ring, her brows knitted together as she nibbled on her bottom lip. It was an adorable expression.

“It wasn’t too bad,” Luke shrugged, not wanting to recall the moment he had his lip pierced because it did in fact hurt.

Cole pulled back a little and a small smile played on her lips.

“Don’t lie to me, Luke,” She chuckled, giving his shoulder a little push, “I can tell it killed and you’re trying to impress me.”

“Well is it working?” Luke replied quickly, regretting the words as they left his mouth. His blue eyes grow wide as Cole just stops and stares for a moment.

The silence is deafening, as the saying goes, and Luke wished he never opened his mouth. The atmosphere between them was treading too dangerously. They were mentor and contestant. Nothing could happen and Luke needed to shake these feelings he had for her.

Thankfully, Cole was now smiling again and only pulled back slightly as she stood to her feet.

“It’s going to take more than a lip ring to impress me, Mr Hemming’s!”

And there the name was again.
It made Luke’s heart jump and his stomach turn.