BLOOM • awsten knight

12

MARCH 2018

Patent Pending play an amazing set, and really hype up the crowd; so, when it's time for Waterparks to start, the energy is indescribable.

Concerts have always been one of Elle's favourite places to be, and when she hears the start of 11:11, accompanied by the flashing lights, her heart races.

Although she probably won't admit it to Awsten, she tears up as she watches Waterparks perform; with their friendship aside, it's surreal for her that she's finally able to watch her favourite band live.

Maybe she's imagining it, but she swears that Awsten catches her gaze throughout the song, with a grin on his face, which makes her heart skip a beat, or two.

Later in the set though, Elle hadn't quite prepared herself for when Lucky People starts to play.

The memories tied to that song start flooding back all too quickly, and it feels like a sudden kick in the chest which, unfortunately, doesn't go unnoticed by Taylor, when a tear rolls down Elle's cheek.

"Are you okay?" Taylor gives her a worried look.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she lies, although it's getting increasingly harder to breathe. "I just need a minute."

Elle slips away quickly, heading to the toilets, and she's glad that Taylor doesn't follow her, clearly understanding that she needs a moment to herself.

The song is muffled once she gets downstairs, as she leans against a wall, taking a couple of deep breaths.

She hates that the song feels so tainted by Alex, and it makes her feel guilty; Elle knows that she shouldn't let something that she loves so much be taken away from her. But, Alex took so many things that were her's, and wrote his name all over it.

Leaning her head back, Elle wonders if Awsten has noticed her absence; she highly doubts it, since he has a whole crowd of a couple hundred people out there to entertain. She doesn't believe that it would be her presence that he's focusing on.

Despite the song being muffled beneath the floor, the memories still echo in her head.

She thinks about the day it was released, when things were at a high point in her relationship, or so she thought.

Alex had promised to wait until Elle was home before listening to the song, so that they could listen to it together for the first time; but by the time she'd returned to her apartment and answered his FaceTime, he'd already listened without her.

"I get to see your reaction now, though," he brushed it off, despite Elle's obvious disappointment, but she couldn't let it consume her in that moment, because it seemed so stupid.

For a second, right now, it does consume her; her heart hurts, thinking about every single thing she let slide, and this is how she's been repaid for it.

Elle squeezes her eyes shut for a moment, trying to focus on anything else, other than what's going on in her head.

The crowd sings along loudly, almost burying any other sounds, which seems to be helpful.

Instead of focusing on the song itself, she takes a deep breath and decides to focus on the sound of Awsten's voice.

Soon enough, Elle's head feels like it stops spinning; she takes another deep breath before exiting the toilets, and heading back upstairs.

When she returns, Awsten is talking to the crowd, Geoff and Otto have returned to the stage, and Taylor turns to her with a soft smile.

"You feeling better?" She asks, as Elle resumes her position next to her.

"Yeah," Elle nods, leaning against the railing, and looking towards Awsten. He spots her quickly, and flashes her a bright smile. "Yeah, better."

"This one's called Not Warriors," Awsten then says into the microphone, causing screams to erupt from the pit.

Elle smiles to herself when the music starts, feeling it lift her mood as she watches Awsten, and how effortless he is on stage.

The energy of the crowd is different during this song; the lyrics resonate with a lot of people, Elle included, and it feels special.

It's not long before she feels like dancing around again; Taylor laughs as Elle bounces to the chorus, often pointing towards the stage as she sings along.

Then, the second verse kicks in, Elle's favourite part of the song.

"Our residence is in this bed," Awsten sings, moving his head side to side as he watches Elle jumping around on the balcony, out of the corner of his eye.

The two of them have the same thing going through their heads, though, neither of them know it.

They're both thinking back to before Awsten left for tour, when they sat in his bedroom, talking about Entertainment; Elle explained her love for Not Warriors, and how much she loves the lyrics, and that's all Awsten can think about as he's singing them.

In all honesty, Awsten has been thinking about Elle for the whole show. It's been a struggle for him to keep his eyes off of her, but he knows he has to occasionally, else things would seem suspicious; not that there's anything to be suspicious of, in his eyes.

He smiles as he continues to sing, "all I want's The Office," thinking back to his view of Elle, sat on his bed, watching his favourite show.

Suddenly, Awsten isn't sure which sight is his favourite; that, or seeing Elle dancing as she watches him perform, with a look on her face that he wouldn't mind seeing every single day.

"You couldn't get much sleep, I found you just in time."

Elle hopes that maybe one day, she'll forget what life was like before meeting Awsten; when she was barely sleeping, and if she was, it was through exhaustion from how much she'd been crying.

She hopes that this is the start of things getting back on track, and that Awsten will stick around; because, she can't bare the thought of losing him, too.

Elle's heart skips a beat as Awsten looks up at her, wearing the brightest grin she's seen all night. "But hey, for what it's worth,"

He steps back from the microphone, leaving the crowd to sing along.

"I think you saved my life."

//