I'm Yours Tonight

CHARLOTTES POV


There was nothing better to take my mind of my shitty week with Lucas than to see my absolute favourite band in concert. That, and getting to talk to Brad.

All the feelings I felt when I first met him flooded back to me when I was sitting on the lounge talking with him. It was like the first proper conversation he and I had in my apartment - it felt so natural talking to him, like I had known him for so much longer than I had.

When he and the others left to do their soundcheck, Layla and I left the venue with a few other of the band’s friends to get a few drinks at a bar across the road. Layla and I, along with Liam, Harrison and Jess, were sitting around a table on a balcony of the pub, all with drinks in hand.

“So, how do you guys know the band?” Layla asked, taking a sip of her vodka raspberry.

“Liam and I were in Brad and Sam’s grade at school. Jess is my girlfriend, she’s in a band as well. We’ve all probably known them for about 10 years now? Since Year 7.” Harrison explained. It sounded like such a long time, but that was almost the same as Layla and I, meeting at the start of High school.

“That’s so cool that you’re all still friends. Charlotte here is really the only person I kept in contact with after high school. She still talks to her friends, but we all live in different states now, it’s hard.” Layla said. I took a drag of my cigarette, exhaling the white smoke into the air. Cigarettes had been my biggest stress reliever ever since I was 17, even though Layla hated it. She’d given up on protesting, so I just smoked whenever I felt like it.

“Well when I went to university, I moved from Sydney to here in Melbourne. That strained a lot of my relationships, because nobody could be bothered to make the effort to travel interstate. When I moved back, it only got slightly better.” Liam said, taking a large gulp of his beer. “How did you ladies meet the boys? Surely Sam would have used his best chat up lines at a club or something, he can’t get a girl any other way really.”

“We actually met outside our apartment building, on the street. Something happened and they helped us out. Ever since then Sam and I have just been friends, I guess.” Layla sounded slightly disappointed as she spoke, as if she was wishing the story would have been a bit cooler than what it was. Obviously she couldn’t explain the whole Ben situation, so the whole story sounded a bit odd.

“Sam talks about you quite a bit, Layla. I help out at some of their practices, and he will always make us all stop so he can text you. It’s nice to hear him shut up for the few minutes he’s concentrating on the typing, so thank you for that.”

Layla spent the rest of the night beaming. She loved hearing that Sam talked about her to his friends a lot. We hadn’t really had a proper conversation about what was happening with her and Sam, but I could tell she really liked him. I was happy she was letting herself like a guy again, after everything that happened with Ben.

We made our way back to the venue in time for the first band, sneaking in through the back of the venue. We felt rude watching side stage for the first band when their guests probably wanted to, so we waited until Grace Falls took to the stage.

When they did, it was absolutely amazing. I felt like a teenager again, hearing all the songs I was in love with being played live. So many of their songs had such a deep personal meaning for both Layla and I, and it was the greatest feeling to see them being performed. All thoughts about Lucas and all the drama with him left my mind, and I let the music take over.

When they finished their set, I felt a bit upset. I didn’t want them to ever stop playing. As they ran off the stage, Sam stopped at Layla, pulling her aside so they could talk on the way back to the dressing room. He looked just as thrilled to see her as she was.

“So, what did you think?” Brad asked, smiling as sweat dripped through his hair and down his body. He was bare chested, wearing only ripped skinny jeans and black converse. I couldn’t help but stare at his chest, and his arm muscles built up from years of drumming. My gaze probably lingered for much longer than it should have, but I couldn’t help myself. My eyes shot back up to Brad’s, and I smiled to hide my embarrassment.

“It was so good, honestly. I would tell you if it sucked, and it didn’t, so take that as a good sign,” i joked, and thankfully he laughed. I had no idea why I was getting so nervous around him, when I was perfectly fine only a few hours ago.

“Sam and I just need to get changed, and then we can all go out. You can wait outside the back entrance, if you would like. Andy’s out there probably talking to some fans.”

“I’ll call us a cab while I’m there, if you see Layla tell her I’m out there.”

I made my way out to the back of the venue, where Andy was surrounded by a large group of fans, all asking for photos and autographs. All I could see was his whipsy sweat-drenched dirty blonde hair above all the fans. It was already 11pm by now, and there were so many fans hanging around.

“When will Sam and Brad be out?”


“I NEED to see Sam! I have to get a photo with him!”


“Andy, I love you SO much!”

All the fangirls sounded the same, but I couldn't judge too harshly, as I knew all the ways of the fangirl. I was just like them not too long ago.

The cab pulled up across from where we were, which meant it was time to go. I sent Layla a text so that she could find everyone else and let them know the cab was here. I knew getting to Andy would be impossible, so I approached the nearby security guard to ask him to get all the fans to leave. He promptly shouted nicely at all the girls to leave, and after quite a few protests, the area was cleared.

“Oh thank god. I love the fans, but I am way too tired to stand out here for ages smiling constantly.” Andy said to me, rubbing his cheeks and jaw as he did.

“You do know we’re going to a club, right?” I asked. He raised his eyebrow at me.

“Oh, my dear girl, I am never too tired to go out and drink alcohol. One time I had been awake for 40 hours straight, hopped off a 8-hour flight and went right to a bar.”

I laughed, and he looked slightly confused. I had barely spoken to Andy when he was around us, so he really had no idea what I was like. “Don’t worry, I’m the exact same. During my HSC, I stayed up all night studying, completed a 3 hour long exam, and went to a pub right afterwards. 3 nights in a row.” I was always ashamed of that story, but it made Andy let out a loud roaring laugh, so it wasn’t all that bad.

“You’re Charlotte, yeah? Layla’s friend?” he asked, leaning against a nearby wall and pulling a cigarette out of his back pocket. I knew a lot of probably too personal things about Grace Falls, but I never knew Andy was a smoker. He lit his cigarette, taking a long and hard drag before slowly exhaling.

“Winfield Blues, eh? The cigarettes of bogans.” I scoffed jokingly. Now he seemed really surprised by me.

“How did you know? Did you get that just from the scent?”

“Of course. I’ve tried pretty much every popular brand of cigarette before I found my favourites. Plus the place I grew up in was full of bogans, the scent of Winnie Blues just lingers around the whole town.”

I took the cigarette out from in between his fingers, taking only a short drag. Layla then skipped out from the venue, with Sam and Brad closely behind her.

When she saw me, she fake gasped. “Miss Charlotte, smoking behind the building with Mister Andrew? You are a bad influence, missy!” she said in a mock-teacher voice. I was caught in a similar position in high school, and she never let me forget it.

“Your girl here isn’t a bad influence, ma’am. Although she is a thief.” he said as she snatched his cigarette back. I laughed, walking with Layla towards the cab and off to go party with Grace Falls.

---

The bar was a place Layla and I went to often, so we were greeted nicely by the security guard who had seen us there many times before. The bar was a brightly lit small club, with a large bar to one side of the room, and lounges and small tables in each corner. The place was abnormally busy, as word had gotten out that Grace Falls was going to be there, so there were quite a few fans hanging around. Layla and I led the boys and some of their friends over to where some of our friends were, and we all hung around together around some lounges in the corner.

Layla and Sam went off together, and once Brad had gotten away from some fans, he and I sat together on one of the lounges. His friends brought over a tray of drinks that the band’s management paid for, including quite a few shots, which Brad and I took advantage of. He didn’t seem like a big drinker, but was more than willing to do shots with me. It didn’t take us long to get through quite a few of them, and by the 5th shot, I was pretty drunk.

I, much like a lot of other people my age, don’t realise how drunk I really am, especially when tequila is involved. Which also meant I would say and do things not really realising, because I was drunk. It was like that all the time I drank - when I was in high school, too much alcohol meant embarrassing drunk phone calls to Lucas, or embarrassing hook ups, or even the occasional partaking in illegal substances. Basically, alcohol and I had a bad relationship.

I had a bourbon and coke in one hand, my third one in the span of an hour, and was pretty much sitting on Brad’s lap. He was also pretty drunk, but was beginning to slow down. We had been at the bar for only two hours, and I was already white girl wasted.

“Brad, I know that I’m rreeeaallly drunk, and I would seriously still be saying this if I wasn’t drunk, but you are such a fucking good guy. Like, really.” I stumbled out, trying harder than usual to get all my words out. He laughed - a laugh that I had never heard in any interviews or when I had spoken to him before. I’m wasn't sure if it was just a real, genuine laugh, or if he was just really drunk.

“Oh, I bet you say that to all the rockstars you chat up,” he joked, taking my drink out of my hands and placing it on the arm of the lounge. Before my brain could even properly realise what was happening, he tightened his grip around me and pressed his lips to mine in a forceful and sloppy motion.

I had dreamed of that moment for a very long time. I had never really thought that it would ever happen, so I wasn’t sure what I was expecting. But it certainly exceeded all of my expectations. I could feel the chemistry between us when my brain finally caught up, and I wrapped my hands around the back of his neck and kissed him back.

It felt like we were hooking up for ages, but it was really only a couple of minutes. I pulled back, still remaining close enough to feel his breath on my face. His brow furrowed as he stared at me in confusion, and I took a moment to force the words out of my mouth so they would be coherent.

“Where’s your hotel? Is it far?” I asked in a breath. His look of confusion turned into a sly grin as he understood what I was implying. He carefully slid me off his lap, typing away at his phone for a second before pulling me to my feet and leading me outside.