Chapter 5
Rachel's POV
I knew Nate would have to move on to his tour sooner or later. It was crazy, how much emotional attachment had built between us in the last few hours. I turned to sit cross legged facing Nate, and took his hand into mine. A somber expression settled over my face. He'd have to go to the next show soon, and I'd be here waiting. My facial expressions were always so easy to read, I'm an open book when it comes to those things, so it was no surprise when Nate pouted at me. "Can't we enjoy the time we have now?" he asked, a slight immature whine unertoned in his voice. I let a small smirk tug at the corners of my lips. "I guess" I responded with a sigh, leaning forward and kissing Nate, only to be interrupted by the doorbell.
As I leaned back from the kiss and let go of Nate's hands so he could go answer the doorbell, a teasing shout came from the other side of the locked door, "Have you detached your face yet lover boy?" I recognized Jack's voice, as he erupted into a fit of laughter while Nate opened the door, revealing Andrew and Jack standing at the door with coffees in hand. "Very funny" Nate retorted, while rolling his eyes, and a small smile plastered onto my face as I shook my head. "Bus girl!" Jack acknowledged me with a head nod and I smiled in response, followed by a smile from Andrew. How many people just casually hung out with fun. in the lead singer's apartment?
The guys plopped down onto the arm chairs and sofa and Nate sat back down in his spot as I turned and he repositioned his arm around me again. It was then that I realized I was only wearing one of Nate's dress shirts and a pair of socks. "Uh, Nate?" I asked, somewhat embarrassed, "do you have a pair of pants I could maybe put on?" I finished, my cheeks reddening. "Yea," he responded, "anything on the middle shelf in the closet is good" he kissed my cheek before I stood up to make myself somewhat more presentable.
Nate's POV
The guys had stopped in out of nowhere, not that it was a bad thing, I needed their advice anyway. Jack wasted no time at all. "So what did you have a special connection or something?" he poked at me. Jack always liked to give me a hard time about girls, especially when it was with his sister. Dost shook his head, "C'mon Jack," he scolded.
"Well as lame as it's going to sound," I started, "I kinda did." It was true, there was something about Rachel that drew me to her, made me want to hold on to her. It was the novelty of it all, because I've had enough crazed fans come at me. "I don't want to leave her.." I admitted, giving up on trying to maintain a manly aura about myself.
Like a light bulb went off inside his head or something, Andrew's eyes lit up. "Hold on," Andrew began, "Emily wasn't feeling that great this morning, she thinks she might be coming down with something, laryngitis maybe" he continued "And Rachel was really good last night when she sang on the bus, have you heard her do anything else?" I started to see where he was going with this. "She's amazing" I sing-songed, "She can play piano, she can sing, and she" I paused and the light bulb went off in my head "she knows all of our songs and the harmonies…" I trailed off, excitedly. "I got this" I said as an idea sparked in my head instantly. "Andrew, go to the piano, Jack grab one of those guitars, make sure it's in tune" I pointed at the rack of 3 guitars in the music room, not that I play any of them anyway. "On my count, Walking the Dog" I finally decided. As if on cue, the door to the bedroom opened and out stepped Rachel in a pair of my sweat pants. "Go" I said, as the numbers flew from my mind when she walked in.
Rachel's POV
When you get the chance to go through Nate Ruess' closet to borrow a pair of pants, you don't take any pair. You take the softest pair that smells just like he does. Once I picked the perfect pair, I'd lingered in the bedroom a few minutes, just looking around, until I heard some type of commotion out in a different area of the apartment. It was once I walked out that I was bombarded with the opening themes of 'Walking the Dog' and Nate's welcoming wave, urging me to come sing with him. Never turning down an opportunity to sing, I walked over, took Nate's outstretched hand, and came in right on the beat. Nate and I did silly dance moves and we all just had fun with it.
After the song ended, I looked at the three of them exchanging suspicious looks. "What was this random jam session all about?" I asked curiously. Nate was the one to answer me. "Well," he said, taking both of my hands in his, "you and I were just talking about how I'm going to have to leave soon," he continued, "and I was just informed that our back-up vocalist has lost her voice" he paused, my heart racing "so we were testing you, and you passed!" He finished, leaving me as confused as I was when I asked. "What do you mean?" I ask confused. "I mean, you're coming on tour with us to sing Emily's parts until she can sing again!" he exclaimed. "What?!" I asked excitedly, looking around at the supportive smiles coming from all three of them. "You're kidding right?!" I jumped onto Nate, hugging him tightly and kissing him a dozen times over. "I can't believe this" I exclaimed.
"You and me baby, you and me" Nate smirked before kissing me for real, our lips colliding between smiles.