1.1 | daunting medleys

thirty-four | adorable

Tabitha hated thinking.

Her mind was already filled with a lot of things and now she had the issue with the orphanage to think about. She had never wanted anything the way she wanted to help them raise money for whatever they would need. Her and Oliver sat in the backyard of his house, on the swing that creaked as she moved back and forth. The silence between them was very heavy, as they were both lost in thought.

Oliver started speaking, as he picked at his bandaged hand. "I'm worried for them. The orphanage had a financier that provided for whatever they need but he recently died, and his family is showing no intent in continuing what he was doing. My mum tries to help at times but she can only do so much, but now, it's worse than I could ever imagine."

Tabitha reached over and held his hand. "We'll think of something that is going to help them get back on their feet. I promise." He nodded, looking through his notebook. They had been sitting in silence for a while, then the peace was disrupted as Oliver's best friend ran into their backyard. His shirt tag billowed proudly in the wind, and his shoes were on backwards.

"I got it! I know a way that we can keep the orphanage from closing down and moving away." He said, his pretty face red with exhaustion.

Oliver stood up to his feet. "Wait? Are you serious? Don't just stand there, tell us the plan." Tabitha rose, her eyes wide as they stared down at Axel that was bent over and huffing.

"Pierce Carmichael's coming to town, and I know this because we are really good friends. So I asked if we could host, like, a charity concert to fund the orphanage and if he would perform at it, and he said yes. He'll perform live, and we can stream it on Instagram too." Pierce Carmichael was one of the greatest musicians that Tabitha had ever heard. She related alot to most of his songs, and they were pretty catchy. He had a lot of fans and they were usually so supportive of him and his ventures.

Oliver asked, his face showing confusion. "Why are you so sure that this Pierce person would make people want to donate?"

"How do you know Pierce Carmichael." Tabitha asked excitedly.

"We grew up together in Arizona."

Oliver asked again. "How do you know this Pierce person would make people donate?"

"Because he hasn't been on tour since he debuted. It would be like, his first unofficial tour." Tabitha answered, her hands shaking with excitement.

Axel butted in. "And he's going to tour soon, so it's going to be a sneak peek of an actual tour with him is going to be like. His management agrees that it's great publicity, and it's for a good cause."

The orphanage had a chance of being saved, and it looked like Oliver had realized that because he pulled Axel into a hug. "You did it. You saved the orphanage!" Axel patted his back, as Oliver's laughter permeated the backyard. Tabitha giggled at how excited he was. She was too, but his excitement was oddly adorable.

"We need a venue, and we need to spread the word. And oh, Pierce started a GoFundMe account for the orphanage and the donations have started pouring in. I mean, think about the money that we would raise if he performed." Axel chattered excitedly.

The look of pure joy on Oliver's face was infectious, the warm sun was a huge contrast to the weather earlier, she pulled off her sweater, revealing the tank top she wore under it. The sun felt like a lover's caress on her skin and she revelled in it. Oliver was looking at her, and she hated how much she wanted to blush and fall into his arms. So she looked at Axel who looked hesitant to speak.

"Is there something else?" Tabitha asked cautiously.

He looked like he'd been caught in his hands in a cookie jar. "I may have told Pierce that Oliver writes songs, and he wanted to see them. So I may have sent one to him and he loved it and wants to perform it. And also, he's also leaving for the tour in two weeks which leaves us with two weeks to plan and make this event happen. Alright guys, let's do this." He added with a fist bump, but no one answered.

Tabitha turned to Oliver, suprised. "You write songs?"

He didn't answer, because he was glaring at Axel. "Why in the hell would you think that it was a good idea to give any of my songs to him?" He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay then, what song did you give him?"

Axel moved several steps backwards. "The one without a title, that you just wrote last week."

Oliver jumped at him, and tried to attack the blonde haired boy. His face contorted with pure anger. "How could you? That song was personal. I'm not allowing you to use the song. I can't let you use it, I'm sorry."

She interrupted, oddly interested in what he wrote. "What's the song about?"

He paused, then a light flush overtook his cheeks. "I-  It doesn't matter. It's just that I wrote that song for my ears alone. It was an outlet for me."

Axel butted in softly. "But he loves the song, I've never seen him that excited about anything." He looked at Tabitha, then gestured to Oliver. She was confused, and shrugged. He then mouthed convince him to her.

"No."

Tabitha wrapped her fingers around his forearm. "Can we talk?" He nodded and told Axel to leave grumpily.

"I know what you want to say. you think that I should let him use the song but I don't want to. I may be selfish and I want to be selfish because I've been selfless all along, and using this song, it's going to kill me inside." He said, looking up at the sky.

She replied softly, her hands holding his. "I just wanted to ask you what the song was about? If you don't want us to use the song then fine, we can find a way to convince Pierce to sing one of his songs."

He looked annoyed, and petulant, like a child being forced to do something he didn't want to do. "I really wouldn't want to give him my song to use, but it's going to take us too much time to convince him otherwise, and we don't have that much time left so I guess I can let him use the song."  Tabitha squealed and hugged him tightly, then she yelled Axel's name and told him to come back in.

"I'm guessing you did it, sweetheart." He fist bumped her, and turned to his best friend. " We'll need a venue, and food. The instruments and other things would be handled by Pierce's team."

Tabitha asked. "What about Pierce? Would he need any type of payment?"

Axel grimaced. "Yes, but you don't need to worry your pretty little head about it. We just need a venue."

Her head snapped up, when she'd thought of a wonderful idea. "I know who can get us a venue."

**********

few more chapters left...