Staged and Confused | LRH

lu. 21

Alexia's Perspective

I wiped sweat off of my forehead as I got dragged off stage between Calum and Michael, wrapped up between their arms. The show was awesome tonight, we all fed off of each other's energy. Luke and I had our fair share of moments on stage as we'd gotten so accustomed to this tour, and having to uphold the charade that there was something between us. Although now it felt a little more truthful to be on stage, and like we were putting the charade on whenever we got off and had to pretend that we weren't desperately attracted to each other. It had also just become beyond natural to play off of his energy while on stage.

I found myself laughing in Michael and Calum's grip as we continued down the hall as a trio, while thinking about Luke and I. Yes, I still found him mostly annoying, but I had this whole new attraction to him that I was dealing with on a daily basis.

The boys grip loosened on me as we walked into our green room where Crystal was excitedly waiting for us. Her time on tour was almost over, so we were really grateful to have her here with us while we could. The green room smelt disgusting with the five of us crowding the small area straight after being on stage. I collapsed on the couch, already knowing that I would be having my shower on the bus tonight because at the moment I'm far too tired to move.

Luke and Calum raced towards the bathroom to occupy the two shower stalls. The sound of the showers running radiated from the bathroom into the green room as we all sat quietly coming down from the high of the show. Michael and Crystal were chatting about something I didn't care to tune into, and Ashton was on the couch opposite from me scrolling through his phone. This is how after shows usually go, we're usually either very hyper and energetic, or beyond exhausted. Tonight was an exhausted kind of night for me, so I found myself just staring at the ceiling.

Luke and Calum eventually stumbled back into the green room dressed in new clean clothes, while Ashton traded with them and went into the washroom. Michael decided on showering later like I had so we were just waiting on Ash now. As far as I know, no one has any plans tonight so after Ash is done here we're done for the night. Calum tapped on my knees, pushing them off of the couch so he could sit. I pushed myself up and sat straight to give Cal room and be more comfortable. He tipped his newly opened beer to me asking,

"Want some?" I took the bottle and sipped it to see that Luke had just made himself comfortable on the couch across from us with his own beer sitting in his hand. I gave Calum the bottle back before the door to the green room got pushed open.

Our heads tilted towards the open door as Marissa, one of the tech crew members inched through the doors asking, "Can I come in?" as if she wasn't already shutting the door closed behind her. Her gaze lingered on Luke for a reaction, but it was Calum who replied,

"Sure. What's up?"

"I'm just here to collect all the wires and in-ear monitors so we can pack up," she explained with a soft voice. She looked nervous, and stood with her hands wrung together as she bounced back and forth on her heels. I started to pull the wires from my clothing, forgetting to take them off directly getting off of stage tonight. Calum grabbed mine from me to hand her along with his that he'd grabbed from sitting on top of his bag. Michael pulled his own wiring from around his neck and stood to hand it to Marissa looking to Luke asking,

"Where's yours? Do you want me to grab it?"

"No, it's okay. I'm just being lazy, it's still in the bathroom, I'll go grab it." Luke made a move to get up but paused when Michael waved him off and made his way towards the bathroom calling,

"I have to go pee anyways. I'll grab it for you." Luke didn't argue any before settling back down comfortably into his seat. "I'll just be a minute," Michael told Marissa, "but you don't have to stand. You can take a seat."