• Life Cycles • Telle Smith [discontinued]

Life Cycles

{A/N} Hey, hey, hey guess what? Beau never met Lights in this story. Nope. Sorry.Reminder this is AU

"How are we feeling about this LIGHTS World Tour Arizona?" The neck of the guitar was slipping under my sweaty grip. The feeling was weird, being back in my home town, doing the one thing I love when this wasn't even my dream to begin with.

" This is it! Are we ready Phoenix!" I smile into the crowd, never feeling so alive before. "My Boots!" And of course the feeling I will never get over is strumming my pick against the guitar. I get lost in it. A trance. The crowd doesn't look like a crowd, but instead the empty room of the auditorium that we played in as teens at college. As I opened my eyes to face the crowd, I paused at one pair of eyes and stopped singing. My breath hitched in my throat as those brown eyes stared back at me. I heard the confused strumming of instruments behind me as they realized the vocals stopped. The band came to a stop altogether, hissing at me to continue in the back ground. The singing stopped, the crowd surfing stopped, everything.

I could make out those eyes anytime, especially now. I've been to a few of his concerts with his band The Word Alive, but I never knew he would come and see my band. The words hitched in my breath.

"It's you." I whispered, which echoed through the microphone. The crowd eye each other in confusion, mumbling 'what's going on?'.

Suddenly, the group of people behind him were hoisting him on top the crowd. I automatically saw one of them as Luke. My brother I haven't seen since forever.

He was thrown on top of the crowd, he was going to crowd surf to stage. Still reckless, even after all these years. "Guys, help him up." I say barely above a whisper.

I'm still confused. Why now?

People looked up as they realized who it was. Hands automatically shot up and he began stepping on their hands, using them as a stairs to walk to stage, and using the others to grab onto, supporting him. More and more people saw the front man of TWA and were eager to help him to stage. As he neared, I took a few steps back. When he got to the edge of the stage, he stood up on people's hands and stepped off one and onto stage. He wobbled for a bit, hands ready to catch, but he steady out his balance.

When my band saw him, their eyes soften. Knowing if he is here, so is my brother. I haven't seen him since he was a teen and I'm now 26. Not since I bailed out of college to be a musician.

He took a few steps towards me. he looks good, just as he did in college. "Telle." I whispered. He smiled at me, glad I still remember the nickname. He stared into my eyes, completely oblivious to the fact I'm in the middle of a concert. "Lights." He said, mimicking the nickname theme.

He took my hands in his and suddenly, I realized how much of an idiot I am.

"I told you, I always find you." And he pulled me into a hug. I smiled as I took a deep breath before I cried onto his shoulder, remembering the childish quote from school. I cried and laughed so hard, the sobs shook my body, along with his. I clung onto his shirt, never wanting to let go.

"I miss you." I said with a laugh. I was happy that he was here, but I was also sad that he's here. I couldn't figure out what I felt the most so whenever I laughed, I just cried.

"Stop crying." He whispered. "You're going to ruin your make up." He clutched me tighter. "You were never this excited at my concerts." I laughed again and pulled back from his chest. He still smells the same, like mint and coffee beans. He wiped a thumb under my eye, taking away a single tear. "Why'd you leave? You didn't even say goodbye." His voice cracked at the end. "Four years felt like forever to me Lydia. I missed you." The crowd awed. I completely forgot the microphone was in my hands.

"I-I-I'm sorry." I whispered, as I fumbled with the microphone, trying to turn it off. I failed, my hands were too shaky. As I started looking up at him, tears began pooling over. But I wasn't laughing. "I wanted to come. I wanted to." I wasn't sure if I was reassuring him or myself.

"I know you did." He pulled me back into his chest, his strong arms wrapping around me. he kissed the top of my head. "I know you did." His hand reached down and clicked the microphone off. The crowd once again had a wave of confusion washing over them.

"Tyler-I-I."

"Shh." He leaned down and pressed his lips to mine. It was like I was back in college again. It was like all the times we snuck out to to be with each other. Like all the times we would hang out with friends and were secretly holding pinkies under the table. I missed the feeling of his lips, the hold of his hands, everything. Simply because with Telle, I felt at home. I clung onto his shirt tighter, pulling him closer to me. One minute, two minutes passed, only breaking the kiss to get air. When he pulled back, I kept my eyes closed, not wanting to face reality. "Finish your show. I'll be back stage. Luke wants to talk." He pecked my lips one last time before rubbing my shoulder and walking back stage. Brandon gave me an odd look before shaking his head. I quickly wiped my tears and turned the microphone on.

For a minute, I said nothing. Words tumble around in my head, but the only thing that stuck out was his words. I choked up as I sated at the ground, my bod twitching ever so lightly as I almost broke down again.

I turned to face the stage. I took a deep breath and plastered a smile on my face. "Uhm," I froze. I actually froze in front of my fans. Not a single word uttered out my mouth but silence.

"I-" I blinked. "Uhm. Let's finish the song yeah?" Stupid. The band quickly restarted the song and I finished the concert, in sheer awkwardness.

After the show, I gave all our guitar techs and crew managers high fives as I neared the dressing room. Someone tossed me a towel and I used it to wipe my sweat off. As I closed the door a grabbed a bottle of water off the counter, chugging it down senselessly until-

"You're gonna choke."

"Jesus." I screamed and dropped the bottle on the ground, water pooling around my feet. I turned around to glare at the asshole but saw only Tyler. He walked to me, pulling me in a hug. I squirmed away, wanting to take in his features and not get sweat on him.

"This is beautiful. You're beautiful." Tyler turned and pulled me in his arms to kiss me. I melted against him with a moan. It had been so long since I'd been with him and I was feeling it in every inch of my body. I kissed him deeper and he hoisted me up onto the counter and pushed against me.

"We...shouldn't be...doing this..." He mutters against my lips between kisses and I gave a hoarse laugh against his lips as I scraped my fingernails through his hair.

"I know." I whisper.

"Luke is waiting to talk to you. I'll be back." He hugged me one last time. "I love you." He whispered and then he was gone. I fixed my appearance again, combing my dark hair with my fingers. A knock appeared at the door and I hesitated.

Wait, he what?!

Love?

"C-come in." the door opened and standing in the doorway is my 19 year old baby brother. "Luke." I whispered. I ran to him and pulled him in a hug, crying. He hugged a little before pulling away.

"It's really you." He said it like it was a joke. He crossed his arms. Everything about him was different. He was no longer 13.

"Luke-" I began with a sly smile.

"I have to ask you something." He said completely ignoring the statement I was getting ready to announce.

"Anything." I smiled. This may be all so overwhelming, but Luke. He's here. In flesh and blood.

"Why'd you leave?" My heart dropped.

"I had to. It wasn't my choice. My band needed me." I sighed.

"I was only 13! You didn't say goodbye!"

"I wanted to! I tried. So hard Luke." I reach out towards him, but he merely backed up. Asswipe.

"You didn't try hard enough!" He spat. At 19, he sure has an attitude.

"I KNOW!" I finally yelled. "I know!" I cried. I always blamed myself for it, but it's different, it's so different hearing someone else blame you for it. I put my hand over my mouth and cried. "I'm so sorry." I whispered. "I tried. So hard." He stood there awkwardly. "I tried."