Ain't It SALTY

If it don't hurt now just wait a while

Dalton's POV:

I quickly run a song or two, per Dean's instructions, so that we can check to make sure that the sound quality is balanced between my vocals and my guitar. After that, he nods in my direction from behind the sound guy and I unplug my guitar. I hop off the stage, but lose my footing and fall flat on my face instead. Classic Dalty move right there.

"Are you okay? That was quite the face plant you took..." I peel myself off the main deck to see Hayley offering her hand to help me up. My gosh, her hair is yellow. Really, really neon yellow. I really dig it, but my mom would roast my hide if I did anything to my hair besides routine bleaching. "Ugh, yeah, I think I'm okay. Just a little sore. And the mouth full of concrete deck certainly doesn't help. But yeah, I'll be all right." She yanks me back to my feet and I can tell she's hiding a smirk. "Hey now, don't you laugh at me. I fell. On my face. If this (I motion to my face) gets damaged, I'd lose all my fans." Now she laughs. "Oh I doubt that... you're pretty talented! I was watching your sound check and... I really like the tone of your voice. It's even better live - the computer screen barely does it justice." I shrug my shoulders. "Well, thank you!"

I look down to see that she is still holding my hand. I smirk and raise an eyebrow slightly. She's blushing a little, her face turning the perfect shade of ketchup to complement her yellow-mustard hair.

"Well, now it's my turn to sound check. See ya later!" She smiles at me, and then turns toward the stage, shedding her black hoodie to reveal a leopard-print tank top underneath it.

"What'd I miss?" Will pops up behind me, sipping a pineapple smoothie out of a coconut (which to me seems like the Frankenstein of smoothies, but that's besides the point). I try to smile, but then it hurts and I realize that I may have bruised my chin when I fell. "Well, sound check was great... Until I face planted." "Well are you okay now?" I nod my head. "Yeah, but I think the floor may still be traumatized."

Hayley's POV:

Oh gosh, he must think I'm so weird. I didn't mean anything by holding his hand... I don't think? I honestly don't really know for sure though. Okay, gotta sound check now. Focus, Hayley. I look off into the distance and see Taylor emerge from the back hallway from his cabin. He nods at me and the grabs his guitar. The fill-in bass player, and our recently welcomed-back drummer, Zac, start "Still Into You", and I add my vocals to the mix until the sound guy seems satisfied with everything. I high-five Zac and Taylor, then I exit the stage area.

"Nice job, guys! I'm so pumped for tonight." Taylor smiles at Zac and I. "Yeah totally! And I'm glad we have such a great opening act. The fans are going to love Dalton!"

Now they're both staring at me. "Well, it seems like you do so..." Taylor winks at me while Zac looks confused. "What? Who's Dalton? Did I miss something?" I can feel my face heating up again. "Taylor, what are you implying?" Taylor winks at me. "Oh, like you don't know..." Zac still seems confused, having been out of the loop for a while. "Still don't know what's going on..." Taylor puts his hand on my shoulder. "Hayley might like our opening act for more than just his singing..." Understanding lights up on Zac's face and he and Taylor both crack up laughing. At my expense. "Oh my gosh guys! He's only like twenty feet away over there by the smoothie bar! Keep it down a little! Geez..."

"Well Hayley, I mean there's no reason why you can't go for it... Unless, of course, he's bad news. Then I would tell you to stay the heck away from him." I sigh. My band mates, especially Taylor, mean well, but they are super protective of me. I've become more like their little sis over the years, and if anyone (especially a guy) upsets me in any way, they could have a whole lot of trouble coming their way. Super sweet of them, of course, but I always remind them that we can't go on tour if they're in jail. That usually gets them to tone it down a bit, before any crazy revenge goes down.

"Yeah, I know. He seems really nice and cool..." Zac nods. "Yeah, a cool dude for sure. Go talk to him!" "What, now??? Nahhhh. I'll let it happen on its own." Thing about me is, when I fall for a guy, I fall fast and hard. So I definitely won't need to make anything happen on its own. If it's meant to be, it'll happen naturally, completely on its own.

"All right, well, we have your back, Hayley, if you need us." I smile at them. "I know that, thank you guys!" And I hug them, equal parts grateful for their support and worried that Dalton might get chewed up pretty badly if he messes up.