Write On Me

Chapter 13

It was finally time for the big show. Maite had gone through rehearsals and meet and greets, and she felt prepared, that was until right before the show was about to start. Her nerves where all other the place. This would be by far the biggest audience that she has ever performed in front of. Plus, she was afraid that people weren't going to like her. As long as she didn't get booed off, she was fine. 

She was only going on stage for about half an hour, opposed to Fifth Harmony who would be on for about two to three hours. She wasn't sure how the girls could do shows for that long, she could only handle the half an hour of time she had, but time flew by whenever she performed and she expected this time to be no different.

"Alright, Valentina. You're on," a producer said, signaling for her to get on stage. 

She took in a deep breath, hearing the excited screams of the crowd. Right as she was about to go on, she felt someone pull her into a hug. She melted into the embrace, instantly recognizing the tall Polynesian girl.

"Go kill it, boo. You're gonna do great" Dinah cheered, and swiftly slapped Maite on the butt as the girl ran onto the stage. 

Dinah quickly ran to the fenced off area between the stage and the fans; the Fifth Harmony girls would be watching Maite perform from there. The other girls seemed just as excited about Maite performing as Dinah did. 

Behind Maite on a screen was her stage name flashing in bright neon green lights, off to the side of that screen was the band. She took her place in center stage after introducing herself and began singing as the intro to her first single "Beware" started playing.

Recognizing the song, the crowd began singing along and dancing with the music. She wasn't sure how many people were in the crowd, definitely more than a thousand. The fans looked happy; they had smiles plastered on their faces and danced around. 

She relaxed seeing that they were enjoying it. She felt herself let go of any insecurities she had had and she began to dance around the stage through the entirety of the four minute song.

Everyone began cheering once the song finished. Her heart swelled up with joy and she thought she could get used to that feeling.

"Thank you all," Maite said after the song, her cheeks were hurting from smiling so wide but she couldn't stop. 

The crowd's energy was wild. She was pleasantly surprised by the reactions she had gotten. People were already screaming their lungs out and the main event hadn't even come on yet. To say the least, Maite was proud of herself.

She had gone through a few more songs when one of the band members handed her a pink guitar. Pulling the strap over her heard she took one quick strum, making sure the guitar was in tune before look into the crowd.

"Ok, for this next song we're gonna switch it up a bit. This is probably one of my favorite songs ever, it's called 'Gravity' by the one and only John Mayer. If you know it, sing along," Maite smiled. 

Her hands effortlessly plucked at the strings of the guitar and she leaned forward towards the microphone and began singing.

Lauren, who was having a great time, instantly recognized the song, "I love John Mayer! She has great taste."

Lauren listened more and recognized, "wasn't this the song she played in the first video we watched of hers?"

Camila switched her eyes off of Maite on to Lauren, "yeah, it was... Wow, her voice is just so-wow."

Camila was impressed, not that she was shocked by how well their opening act was doing, but because of how well Maite was doing on stage for performing in front of an audience this size for the first time. She remembered the first time she had performed in front of a crowd this size, well lets just say she was no where new as composed as the Argentinian.

Normani agreed to Camilas previous comment, "and her guitar skills are so amazing. How does she do that? She's not even looking at the guitar!"

Camila took note of how smooth Maite's long, brown fingers strummed and plucked. Not going to lie, she was a little jealous. She had been learning the guitar for some time and was no where near Maite's level. Nonetheless, she was still proud of her new friend.

As for Maite, she felt at peace in that moment. This had been her dream and for her to actually be living it was indescribable. Plus, having so many people singing along with her made it icing on the cake.

Dinah was the first to pull out her phone, began recording videos of Maite, and posting them on her social media accounts. Dinah was so proud of her new friend, for it being Maite's first concert, she was killing it. 

Lauren followed Dinah's lead and began recording a video of Maite. She was blown away by the other girl's talent. She had never heard a voice so raw and pure as Maite's. That was probably why her eyes stayed on the girl the entire time Fifth Harmony had to watch her.

Once "Gravity" ended, the girls all rushed backstage to finish preparing for the show. After a few more makeup touches and running through a couple more vocal exercises, they were ready to step on stage.

Maite finished her last song and quickly tried to exit the stage on the opposite side of that she had come in one. She was on a high from just performing. She felt like the time that had just passed was too short and too fast. The crowd had chanted "Valentina!" when she left, making her feel the love; it was overpowering. 

As she stepped off the platform, she saw the girls coming on on the side. Her eyes immediately took in Lauren. 

"Wow," she gasped. 

The image of Lauren with her dark long hair flowing and body showing from the black swimsuit type of outfit she was wearing took Maite's breath away. Even from a far distance Maite could see her striking green eyes looking more prominent because of the mascara she had on. Her eyes traveled down Lauren's body once more. Her long, tan legs were making Maite's mouth water. She looked away, trying to compose herself and continued on her way off.

Quickly changing and throwing on a white tank top and black shorts, she walked into the secluded area where she found the other girls' parents standing there watching the show. They were too busy watching their daughters to realize Maite was there as well. Maite didn't mind, she got just as lost watching the girls as their parents did. Or more specially, she got lost watching a certain green eyed Cuban. It was hard to keep herself from staring directly at Lauren's rear end, but she somehow managed to do so because Lauren's mom was standing about a yard away from her and she felt like a pervert watching her daughter like a rabbit in heat. 

Even though she tried her best not to, her eyes would wander back to Lauren from time to time. The dance moves the girl was doing ignited a flame deep within Maite that she never knew was there. Especially when Lauren would turn and show her butt to the crowd, Maite would almost lose it.

 Finally, the show was over and everyone was exhausted. Maite met the girls backstage and was instantly pulled into a hug by Dinah.

"You did so good!" Dinah released her from the hug.

Maite couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face, "thanks, Dinah. You guys did so great, it was really fun to watch."

"Yeah, I'm sure watching Lauren was a really fun, creep," Dinah jokingly muttered under her breath so only Maite could hear causing the other girl to roll her brown eyes at her.

See caught Lauren looking at her from the other side of the room. Maite smiled at Lauren causing Lauren to look away and her cheeks to heat up.

Well, that was weird, Maite thought. 

Shrugging it off, she returned her attention to Dinah trying to listen to what she was saying. But her thoughts kept going back to Lauren. Why did Lauren seem so embarrassed to be caught staring at her? 

"Earth to Maite," Dinah nudged her bringing her out of her thoughts.

"Sorry," Maite focused back on Dinah, "what'd you say?"

Dinah gave her a weird look, then shook her head, "we're gonna head up to eat, then get our stuff at the hotel, you coming with?"

Maite looked back to Lauren, who seemed to be avoiding her gaze. What the fuck?

"Maite," Dinah called once more.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming."