epilogue - falling for you

the art of falling for you

a glimpse into the future

- - -

'bloom beautifully

dangerously

loudly

bloom softly

however you need

just bloom'

- rupi kaur

- - -

"Shit."

"I'm not doing that."

"You are doing that."

"You can't make me. I refuse."

"Sacha, if you don't get out on that stage right now I'm going to let every single one of those screaming fans backstage. Do you want a repeat of what happened last time?"

"You don't bully Kareem like this," My younger brother sulked, running his fingers through his hair. We walked towards the stage, side by side, as the crowd screams got louder. Almost as if they could sense us, and judging by some of the fans I'd had the pleasure of meeting, I wouldn't underestimate the fact that they could. Isaiah was due to run on in five minutes and I could see Kareem and Bodhi stood on the opposite end of the stage, hidden to the audience by the curtain, waiting for the signal that it was time to go on. I'd been tasked with the impossible task of containing my brainless brother who had decided after years of dedication that he wasn't prepared to perform to a crowd in our home state.

Dumbass.

This was our first show in New York City since the album was released five months ago. It was so insane to think that it had been barely thirteen months since we moved out to LA and began creating something so insanely incredible to us.

The band was currently touring alongside a world-class band as their support. They'd done a few headline shows before the album was released but this was the tour that seemed to shift the entire world's population to the four boys from New York.

Everything had changed so quickly.

Going to LA at first had been quiet. We managed to seep through the streets, completely unknown to everyone as we worked relentlessly hard to make not only our label proud but ourselves too. The moment One Direction announced Fallen Temple as their starting band, the fanbase had expanded a completely insane amount. People recognized the band in the street, people asked for photos and autographs and tattoos. The album had climbed to number one and an entire world tour was mapped out for Fallen, which they would headline once the Where We Are Now tour eventually ended.

The audience were here for One Direction but they were cheering for Fallen Temple. It was still so surreal hearing thousands of people sing my lyrics back to me, witnessing people resonate with my words so much that some had them tattooed onto their body. A permanent reminder of something so truly beautiful or something equally as painful. A tale of survival and pain and happiness and love. Love that was so endlessly consuming that my skin still ignited with every shared touch, every secret eye capture.

The album release day slowly climbed to being the happiest day of my life. The boys were ecstatic, staying up all night as Falling For You was released into the world.

This was everything that we had all worked for.

Isaiah ran onto the stage, starting the drum beat as Sacha and Kareem walked out from each side, guitars in hand. The cheers intensified. Bodhi strolled out, reaching straight for the mic as he began to sing.

From backstage, I couldn't see much. The overwhelming sense of pride consumed me as I watched as they created history. The first gig in front of all our families.

Shifting slightly closer to the stage so I could see a part of the crowd, my eyes immediately found Hendrix. She had very much exploited her 'VIP' status to get early access to the venue and get to the barricade. Her green hair, for once, was not the only part of herself that differed from everyone else so naturally she'd decided to wear a neon pink crop top so 'Sacha could see her judging him' from the stage.

It was safe to say that FT's newfound fame hadn't bothered Hendrix in the slightest. She was still the shit-talking, biggest bullshitter, with raging neon hair that I'd fallen in love with all those years ago.

Next to her stood Jem, who had finally overcame their distaste for people by standing at the barricade. According to them, they'd decided that Sacha was worth the amount of bruises that they were going to walk away with tonight. We'd laughed it off, but I knew it meant a lot to both myself and Sacha that their support had never faltered.

Kezziah had point-blank refused to come back. She'd been staying in our temporary place further up in North California, while jumping onto planes whenever we needed to move. Special circumstances, ie: the record labels influence, had meant that she was given permission to complete a large amount of her work online and had access to all of her lecture recordings so it didn't matter whether she was sat at home or at some studio in Sweden.

She'd decided to tag along for the majority of the tour, including all across South America and Europe. We'd settled in London for a while, to begin writing our second album in line with what the label was asking for, which was fun. She'd decided to return back to California alone not long after she turned eighteen, wanting to have some time alone before we did our Headline tour.

A part of me strongly suspected that she just didn't want to return to New York. After we'd left, she'd been uncharacteristically quiet for a long time. Even Kareem wasn't sure on how to approach her.

It'd been different but we were all surely getting better with the changes.

Oh, and we'd been nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammys. So that was now a thing.

As the acoustic section of the set started, the soft guitars of Beautiful Stranger being played, I couldn't help but think back to all that we did to get here. They were born for this, that much was obvious. This was what these boys were born to do.

I didn't know where we were going from here. I didn't know what the future would bring, or what the band would bring. But I knew everything would fall into place eventually. We had each other. We had the music. We had the support, and I knew wholeheartedly that we'd earnt this.

This was it for us.

A/N:

short but sweet

fallen temple will have a big role in the third book, the art of loving you, so keep an eye out for that!

love you all, always