On the road with Ryder Crawford (Haylor Fanfic)

XXII - Superstar

We've been given our show outfits, The Agency are all wearing matching black ensemble while I'm wearing a gold sleeveless sequin dress that runs right above my knees.

"Aren't you a sparkly one" Al said as he's zipping his leather jacket.

I chuckle and look down on my dress.

"I quite like it." I reply as I shake the left and right making the sequins rise and fall.

Ryder's sound check ended about an hour ago and it sounds like the arena has been filled with fans right after.

Their faint cheering can be heard through the concrete walls of the arena, my insides are feeling all kind of excitement and nervousness.

I glance back down to the set list, ten songs. I can make it through ten songs.

No. I'll make sure I won't just make it through them. I'll make sure to leave a mark, I'll make sure I get this crowd ready for Ryder.

"Alright guys, let's go out there and knock their socks off. Send their hype to overdrive for Ryder." I say out loud to the band with a grin.

"Hell yeah!" Grant cheers as he puts his arm around my shoulder.

"You heard sparkly. Let's do this!" Michael joins in and extends his hand, palm down at the center.

We follow suit so our hands are atop each other.

"Sparkles on three" Al yells.

"1...2...3... Sparkles!" We all yell and chuckle.

"We need to work on a better cheer" I say in between chuckle.

We head out to walk to the stage, the rest already step to the seen part of the stage and the audience cheered.

I take a deep breath and stare outside, not all the seats are filled in yet but the crowd is already humongous.

"You got this." I murmur under my breath.

"Blur them out in your mind" i hear from behind, unmistakably Ryder's voice.

I turn my head back and see him leaning in a wall staring at the crowd.

He's wearing a plain  white shirt, his sleeves folded messily exposing his tattoos, a black skinny jeans ripped on the knees and his hair is tied to braids that only him can pull off.

'Only Ryder' I thought to myself.

His eyes shift to me and gets his back off the wall, stepping to where I stand.

"Lose yourself in the music and blur them out. That's what I did with the stage frights when I was starting out." He said casually and then looks at the crowd again.

"Okay... Thank you, really. But why are you here?" I ask quietly.

"Thought you'd need a pep talk." He replied nonchalantly.

I let out a single laugh.

"Sure" I say sarcastically and rolled my eyes exaggeratedly.

He smirks showing his deep dimples.

"I picked you out. So you better not let me down" He replied in a serious tone.

"I won't. I'll make sure their hearts are exploding when you step out." I reply as I step further towards the stage.

I look at him again and see him smiling, I returned the smile and hopped to the center.

"Good Evening Nashville!" I half yelled to the mic and the crowd cheered in reply.