BLOOM • awsten knight

76

APRIL 2019

Awsten and Jawn make their way out into the crowd, and Jawn doesn't say anything about the briefly exchanged look between Awsten and Elle.

They just find a spot, weaving through large amounts of people, under the dim lighting.

The familiar plucking of a guitar begins, and the noise of the crowd elevates, catching Awsten by surprise.

Small lights flash from the front as Elle's figure walks onto the stage, only causing the sound in the room to increase further.

"The day after you said goodbye," she begins to sing into the microphone, the lights becoming brighter as she comes into view, "all I did was lay in bed and cry."

It's the first time Elle is performing Remember That Night? - which means it's the first time she's hearing everyone singing the lyrics back to her.

When the song was first released, it was quick to rise to second place on her Spotify, close behind 21.

Awsten notices quickly how Elle's stage presence has changed; she's more confident, and seems to stand her ground a little more, as if she knows more about who she is as an artist.

Part of him aches that he's missed so much of her growing in her career, but his brain has to remind him that it might not have happened if he was around.

Neither of them knew how much they actually needed space until they got it; but that still doesn't mean they went about it the right way.

When the song comes to a close, the crowd cheers, before the next song starts; Awsten recognises this one more, since its Friend, from her first EP, and it was one of his favourites.

He still knows all of the words, even though he hasn't gone back to listen to it in a while, and sings along quietly, only catching the attention of Jawn in the last chorus.

He offers him a small smile, to which Awsten just nods, returning his eyes to the stage.

"Holy fuck," Elle giggles into the microphone, earning a loud reaction. "That first one was so much louder than I expected, thank you for that," she looks around everyone in the crowd for a moment.

She plays tehe and Under/Over from her first EP, after talking out to the crowd for a little while, before doing something a little different.

"In case some of you didn't know," she begins, clearing her throat. "I've been writing a lot with a really great band, and some really got friends of mine," the crowd screams at her words, as Elle pauses. "I wrote this next song with them last year, and it was released in December. It's one of my favourite songs I've written- well, that's been released so far," she smirks slightly, earning some more shouting. "This song is called Less Than I Do."

When the music starts, Elle moves around the stage a little more freely, since the song is more upbeat that anything she's played yet.

A part of Awsten feels like he wants the ground to swallow him up as she begins to sing.

This song is about him; she's singing a song that she wrote about him, and he's just standing here, in the crowd, trying to go unnoticed, as he stares at the floor.

"I said some things I wish I hadn't, I wish that we could talk about it," Awsten looks up as she sings this line, and he wonders if she means it.

Elle avoids any sort of eye contact with him, or even close to him throughout the song; Awsten notices, and wonders if it's on purpose.

"Don't think I can live without you, banging on your door, screaming," she holds the mic out to the crowd again to finish the line, while she looks away from them this time; not wanting to face the reality of the lyrics that she wrote.