It was about five in the afternoon, and Sammie was waiting backstage nervously. She had already rehearsed, and despite her nerves she was beginning to get excited. Kaz had been lead to another room, and all Sammie had for company was one of the crew who was supposed to give her her cue onto the show. She had been speaking to one of the guys she had seen outside make up earlier, but he was on the set, picking a date. She couldn't hear a thing, so to try to entertain herself she read through her questions again.
      After what seemed like an eternity, the guy she's been talking to, Keith, came backstage with a tall redhead. They were talking quietly, but stopped to speak to Sammie.
      "Not long now" Keith reassured her, and slipped his arm around his date's shoulders. Another couple stalked past them, grunting 'hello's' at the three of them. Sammie exchanged a look with Keith and his date.
      "Looks like they had a good time" Keith joked. His date laughed, but Sammie felt so tense that all she could manage was a small smile. They carried on chatting, and the other couple returned.
      "It's you soon" The stage manager said. Keith wished her luck, and led Alicia (his date) away.

*****

      "And now we have three very strapping lads. Do you want to introduce yourself chucks?"
      "Hi, I'm Ben, I live in London but I come from Hampshire. You might know me as a singer in a little band called a1" The audience cheered, and a few girls screamed. Bens smile grew as they did.
      "Hey, I'm Mark, and I'm the keyboard player and a singer in the little band Ben here is from-a1" The audience cheered again, and Mark smiled too, then looked at Ben and they both started laughing.
      "I'm the guitarist and another singer in a1. I come from Norway and moved to America and now I'm in London, and my name's Christian" The audience cheered again, and Christian broke into a grin.
      "So you're a1. Wasn't there four of you?"
      "Yes, but unfortunately Paul needed to leave for his own personal reasons" Ben answered, wondering how many times he had said that before.
      "Do you still talk to him?
      "Oh, yeah, of course. Ben was even texting him earlier, weren't you Ben?" Mark said, his defiance almost showing through his normally cheery tone. Ben nodded, looking curiously at Mark. Was he letting his anger show for once?
      "Well chucks, that's good to know. Have you seen this Sammie then?"
      "No, not yet, but we've heard quite a bit about her" Christian said, hoping that Ben and Mark would start playing about again soon. They all got uncomfortable whenever Paul was mentioned, but they couldn't on a show like this, they had to be professional.
      "Well, apparently she didn't believe she was coming on" a1 laughed politely. "What do you think she'll do when she realises she's bagged a date with one of you gorgeous lads?" the tension broke.
      "Ah, she'll be pleased, most of our fans are brilliant, more than brilliant" Mark said, and the audience started giggling again.
      "Well, should we bring her on?" a1 nodded. "Ladies and gentlemen, here is she, looking gorgeous, it's Sammie"
      Backstage, the stage manager gave Sammie a push to let her know she had to walk on.