As It Seems

Ch. 16- It'll Come Back To You

The next day was another show day, and I was ready for it. We only had one day off and yet I still found myself missing the thrill of preforming.

Backstage, with two hours to go until sound check, I decided to talk to someone. Someone who would be impartial. A mutual friend to everyone on this tour. That didn’t narrow my search down, since that was just about everyone on this tour, so I decided to just walk around until I came across someone who I knew would be a good listener.

I first passed Louis. He gave a friendly smile and wave, to which I returned and kept walking. I knew I shouldn’t talk to him. Not that he wasn’t easy to talk to, but he was really close to Harry.

I then passed Josh. We said hi to each other, but I kept walking. Josh was really cool, but I didn’t know him that well. Plus, he was close with Ashton… they were both drummers, after all.

Finally, I passed the person I knew I could trust. He was easy to talk to, good friends with both Ashton and Harry, but trustworthy enough to not tell them what I was saying, and he was a great listener.

“Hey, Mikey, got a second to talk?” I asked.

“Well…” The boy looked at his empty wrist, acting like there was a watch there. “I’m just so busy doing my daily food hunt. But for you, I guess I could make time.”

I rolled my eyes and laughed a bit as I motioned for Michael to follow me.

I pulled him into an empty dressing room after making sure it was nobodies.

“So what’s up?” He asked, looking at me with concerned eyes.

“Can I… talk to you about something? I know you may be a little biased, since it has to do with… well…” I nervously stumbled on my words.

“Ashton?” He finished for me.

“Yeah. That’s half of it. I know y’all are in a band together so you’re really close, but… I need unbiased advice. Think you can help me?”

“Of course. It’s what I’m here for!”

“Cool.”

“So what is it about Ash that’s bothering you?” He asked, eyes still fixed on me.

“Well, see… yesterday, he told me he liked me.”

“And that’s… bad?”

“No! Of course not.”

“So then, that’s good? You like him back?”

“Well…” I wasn’t exactly sure how to respond. “Not necessarily. I mean, yes. But, no. I don’t know.”

“Alright, well, let’s talk this out and figure it out. What are the things that make you wanna say yes?”

“Well, I really like the feeling I get when I hang out with him. Like I never want him to leave. It’s great when it’s just us two. Ya know? And his smile. His smile is… unexplainably beautiful. The way his dimple appears when he smiles real big. And don’t even get me started about his laugh.” As I went on and on about what I liked about Ashton, Michael just sat there with a look on his face that said something along the lines of ‘you so totally like him’ and ‘you don’t even need my help’. “So... I guess I got that figured out. I do sort of like him.”

“Alright, now... what is it that makes you want to say no?” He asked. I let out a huff as I started counting all the fears and drawbacks.

“Well, the biggest one that I told him was… we’re on tour together. What if we date? What if something happens? What if it all goes wrong? We’re stuck being around each other for a long time. It’s never a good idea to date someone you work with, so… There’s that.”