Sing For Me

Chapter Eleven: Certain Inevitabilities

From the moment I'd sat down on that stupid red chair, every part of me knew it was going to be him. And yet, when the moment comes, I still can't keep the butterflies from fluttering in my stomach so hard they're causing a butterfly-induced tornado inside me.

Tim flashes his award-winning dimpled smile at the cameras as he walks onto my balcony. For a split second, I'm a little confused – all the other Babel singers had come out carrying cordless microphones, but for some reason Tim – or, rather, Eric – is wearing a headset, and I can't help but wonder why.

Probably so they can auto-tune him more easily or something. Or maybe Aaron's punch disrupted the airflow to his precious nose.

With all the feelings swirling around inside me – wondering if Abbey's going to be okay, Tim-as-Eric's continual pelvic-thrusting toward the audience in the first half of the concert – I now kinda hope Aaron did break his nose, if only because this whole Babel experience so far has been one nightmare after another.

The sea of babblers below us screams as Tim offers me the red rose he is holding in his left hand. Abbey's info-babbler-maniac voice rings in my head.

Did you know that two of the Babble singers are left-handed? And it's not even the brothers like everyone would think. Eric's left-handed, and so is Aidan, but Lachlan isn't! Weird, huh?

I swallow the lump in my throat that's threatening to overwhelm me. I would give anything right now to trade places with Abbey, for her to be in this big, red, stupid seat, even if that would mean seeing Tim skeez all over her like some overzealous male stripper.

I take the rose from him, and as I do, he bends down. The audience screams as he lowers his face to mine. To them, it would look just like he was kissing me on the cheek, close to my ear. But his mouth hovers a few millimeters away from my skin.

"Are you okay?" he whispers.

"Mm-hmm," I croak back, barely able to hold the tell-tale crack in my voice at bay. He grabs my hand and squeezes it as he pulls back, and I realize then that his headset isn't actually turned on – he's lip-syncing.

You know, Babel never lip syncs! Not even at big awards shows! Isn't that fabulous? Abbey's Babel trivia screams through my head again. I try my best to smile, to try to pretend and look amazed that Eric is showing such an interest in me, the luckiest hot seat winner in the world, but I'm so confused and mixed up I don't know what to think anymore.

Why is he lip-syncing? And was that real, actual sympathy I saw on his face before he turned around and went back to flashing his sterile staged smile to the cameras?

I sneak a glance at the screens and see Red's stunned-mullet face. Her expression shifts, she looks like she's been sucking on something sour.

Tim offers me his hand at the end of the verse, and every eye in the whole place is on me to see what I'll do next. Even the other hot seaters are flashing bug-eyed glances at the big screens documenting every one of Tim's moves. Too bad I don't have a clue about how I should act in return. I'm all left feet, clumsily feeling too big and too small all at the same time.

Tim turns straight toward me, his back shielding us from the semi-circle of cameras, and he looks straight into my eyes. I can tell from the flash of steel in Red's gaze that Tim is breaking all kinds of hot seat protocol right now. My heart drops. For that few seconds when Tim is looking at just me, there is no showmanship or cheeky flirtation.

In that one moment, his brown eyes, so full of sincerity, are mine alone.

It is him. The same guy from the coffee shop. And he does care...

I take a breath in, grasp Tim's hand and he lifts me gently to my feet. He peels my jacket down off my shoulders and places it over the arm of the hot seat, before taking my hand again. He twirls me around and draws me in close to his chest. I can tell from the brief glimpse I get of Red's aptly-colored face that this kind of thing doesn't happen often – if ever, and I can't help but throw my head back and laugh at her unease, because this is all too overwhelming.

That, and it serves her right.

To the crowd – and to Tim – it probably looks like I am enjoying myself... but inside I'm still thinking about Abbey.

Tim nuzzles his face into my neck to hide his non-singing lips from the cameras. "The paramedics have Abbey, she's on her way to the hospital." He whispers. He's so close I can hear the vague buzz of a voice in his ear – he must be plugged into the same radio coms channel as Red was. "She's going to be okay."

My shoulders shudder a little and I collapse into him. Tim holds me close, his hand rubbing small circles on my lower back. He smells of warm, earthy campfires and a hint of pine. 

Is that what Babel's signature scent smelled like? If so, I'd have to splurge and by myself a bottle...

To everyone else in the stadium, it probably looks like an intimate moment – that there was something almost electric between us. But in Tim's arms, it doesn't really feel that way. He just feels warm, and comforting.

The big-screen splits into five as I glance up at it. Of all the hot seat girls, I seem to be the only one who has been whisked off my feet. And it's not just Red who looks stunned, as even a couple of the hot seaters are ignoring their designated Babel stars in favor of gawking at me open-mouthed. My toes scrunch up in my shoes as I feel my nervous stomach ooze into the spot where my spleen used to be.

Tim is quick to note the color draining from my cheeks, and he leads me back gently to my seat, bending down on one knee next to me and holding both of my hands in his. It's a signature hot seat move, and the girls in the crowd squee in a pitch that so high I momentarily forget that it isn't spring and I'm not mucking out a pig farm.

At the end of the song, Tim pulls me to my feet again. His free hand is firm against my back as he dips me down, and the world melts away. We stay there, suspended for a moment, and then he tilts me ever so gently back onto Abbey's platforms and kisses me tenderly on the hand.

"What do you say we get out of here?"

~~~ A/N ~~~

Thank you for reading! What did you think?

Are you ready for the next chapter?! I am!! :-D

Have a wonder-filled day!

Emxx

~~~ <3 ~~~