iBelieve

“Shayley, you have a beautiful voice.”

I told Shayley everything. I told him about Belle, my mother, my band, Andy, Camy, everything. And in the end, Shayley and Raul were so understanding. They even promised not to mention anything about Belle. And I believe them. Now I’m listening to Shayley's work when he was with Of Mice and Men.

“Thank you.” He says. Raul cracks open another beer as the song changes to This One’s For You. I never really noticed how his voice is like a lullaby. It’s so beautiful and if combined girl vocals with it, it would be even better.

“Shayley?” I ask. I’m lying on the couch with my feet in Shayley's lap. They haven’t done bus call yet, so I’m just chilling with him and Raul.

“Yes?”

“I have a huge favor to ask of you.” I sit up. He looks at me with weary eyes. “Would you and
Raul help me write new songs for our album?”

“Like co-writers?” Raul asks.

“Yes. You guys will get credit, you’ll be on our album, and I was even thinking having Shayley's vocals on one of our tracks. It’s just, we both write for the same reasons and we both have similar writing styles so why not combine the two?” their eyes widen and I was tackled in a hug.

“You don’t know how much this is going to help us.” I laughed and hugged them back. There was a knock at their door and neither of them moved from their spot, crushing me.

“Come in!” Raul yells.

“Hey Shayley, Austin wanted to know if-” I froze. It was Alan. I felt the heat rise to my cheeks and I did not want anyone seeing my blush.

“Hey Alan, what did Austin want?” Alan couldn’t see me from under Raul, but I saw him and he looked so tired. His eyes were growing bags under them and his hair looked so misplaced. It looked like he had a hangover.

“He wanted to know have you seen Gwen? We’re getting ready to do bus call in about two hours.”

“Alan, you don’t look so well.”

“I know. It’s Maddie. She’s driving me insane.” I squirm from under their grip and stand up.
When Alan sees me his eyes darken back to the way they were when we first me. He rolls his eyes and stalks off the bus. “Are you coming or not?” He yells at me from outside. I sigh and wave bye to the others and step off the bus. Fog was everywhere, but, there he was, leaning on the side of the bus, smoking a cigarette. I began to wander off to my bus when he called me.

“Gwen right?” Great. He’s not even sure of my name. Perfect way to start off a tour. I hate this. I hate this so much.

“Yes?” I ask hoping for an explanation for his bipolar mood swings around me.

“I don’t like you.” And with that he stomped the cigarette on the ground and walked away. How can you not like someone you’ve never met or even gave the chance to know? What did I do to make him not like me? What, breathe? Did my breathing agitate him?

“Why is that?!” I call after him. He stopped walking and turned to look at me.

“Because you’re all the same. Girls in bands who think they can get anyone they want.” He barks.

“I do not think that. Everything I do is for to help others! To save lives!” I snap. How dare he say that I don’t care about the music, the fans. Besides Belle, they’re the only thing driving me to even want to be in a band, to stay in this band.

“Right.” He scoffs. “You females are nothing but users.” He begins to walk away again.

“Is this because of Maddie?” I call out. He turns around and comes running at me with full force. He slams me against the back of the bus. My head hits the bus and pain shoots throughout me. “It is.” I say while gasping in pain. My shoulder feels like it’s on fire. “I’m nothing like Maddie.” I say.

“Duh. You think you know everything, but you don’t.” His eyes glare at me.

“I can say the same about you! You think you know me but you don’t!” His eyes narrow. He doesn’t release his grip on my shoulder. “Look Alan, we’re on tour together for the next three and a half months. We need to get along.” He gives out a hoarse laugh.

“Right.”

“I’m sorry for whatever she did, but Alan, I’m not like Maddie.” I plead. He looks at me one more time. “What would make you think that?” I ask. “The look you gave me when we first met? If she’s using you, you should break up with her.” He studies me for a while. Just looking into my eyes, with his hand shoving my shoulder against the wall.

“You’re right. You’re nothing like Maddie.” He leans in and moves my hair from my face. I freeze and stare at his eyes. For the first time, they’re not frozen. Instead, they have lust in them. His hand moves from my shoulder and down my arm to my waist. All I want to do is kiss him. Something about him attracts me to him like moths to flames. He leans in and his lips gingerly brush past my lips. He pecks my cheek before running and disappearing into the fog.

Notes