Charttoppers - 11. The Big Day, pt. 1

TylerEdwards on Twitter:

I never thought this would happen but here we are: my first ever album ‘A Story to Tell’ is out now! :O I’m so thankful to everyone who helped make this happen, you all rock! And to everyone listening, I hope you enjoy it. ❤️

The entire audience at the ‘Action’ club in downtown London was as silent as a mouse. Sitting at their tables, they were all turned toward the stage as they watched Tyler perform his new single ‘Distance’. Wearing a tailored navy blue suit, orange tie and a baby blue shirt underneath, the young singer looked every bit the amazing breakout star he had become in such a short time. However, it wasn’t just his looks that attracted everyone’s attention. As he sang his new power ballad, his strong, beautiful voice had everyone captivated.

As the final notes hit and Tyler placed his mic back on the stand, he was met with a standing ovation. He smiled, tears in his eyes, as he saw the several hundred people in attendance all get up on their feet to applaud and cheer for him. They liked him and his music, they enjoyed hearing him sing! He could hardly believe it. No matter how many times he received applause, praise from a fan or a lovely message on social media, Tyler was still grateful for it. It was hard for him to believe that was his reality now, that he was famous and loved.

“Thank you so much for coming! I hope you enjoy the rest of the night! Let’s have some fun!”

Feeling overjoyed with all the support he was given, Tyler stepped off the stage and went straight to one of the tables closest to the stage, where his parents were sitting, observing him proudly. His mom recorded everything on her phone so she could show it to Kit and Lucy later, since they were too young to attend.

“You were amazing, love!” Marissa gushed, wrapping her son in her arms. “Just amazing! Uh, such talent in this one, can you believe it?”

“Yes, I can,” her husband laughed. It was his turn to hug his son and pat him on the back. “Great job, superstar. I’m so proud of you!”

“Thanks,” Tyler replied as he sat down between them. “Did you record all of it?”

“Yes, yes, it’s all here, I’m sending it to you in a minute. Now go, these people are here for you, go talk to them,” the woman urged him. “You can’t be sitting here with us oldies all night.”

With a smile on his face, Tyler got up and started mingling, as people tried to get his attention and get him to come to their table for a chat, even if just a brief one. After a while, he finally reached the table with his high school friends, all laughing loudly and having fun. Even though he was glad to see all of them, the singer couldn’t help but miss the one person that wasn’t there – his girlfriend Stacy. If she even was his girlfriend anymore.

Although Tyler had invited her to come, she refused, saying she had to travel to Manchester because of some college obligations. Of course, he knew that was just a convenient excuse. With Tyler being forced to pretend he was single for the sake of his career, Stacy wasn’t sure she was willing to put up with it. There was also the issue of having to be so far away from him once she moved away for college.

The future of their relationship was still up in the air, but Tyler wasn’t ready to give up just yet. Having found the clip his mom had sent him, he forwarded it to Stacy, along with a brief message.

“Wish you were here.”

Putting his phone back in his pocket, the singer focused on the present and joined his high school friends at the table. They were laughing and talking over each other, joking how Tyler was going to support all of them once he became a millionaire.

“So is your album out yet? I wanna illegally download it from Torrent so I can give it a spin,” his friend Michael said, pretending to search for it on his phone.

“Midnight! Gosh, that’s only half an hour away,” Tyler replied, glancing at his watch. “I can’t believe it’s coming out. I hope people like it.”

“Are you nervous? I would be pissing my pants right now!” Myra, one of the girls from his biology class, nearly screamed in excitement.

“Why would he be nervous? Did you see the performance he just gave us? He killed it! He can handle anything,” Brad, a hunky guy from the school’s football team, was quick to reply, smacking Tyler on the back with too much force.

“What about the Stardust Awards? That’s coming in a few days, right?” Michael asked.

“Yeah, and?” Tyler asked.

“Well, there’s gonna be thousands of people in the audience. And millions of people watching you on TV! That’s gonna be such an adrenaline rush. Imagine, like, the entire country watching you perform. Mental!”

Tyler nodded, forcing a smile as his stomach dropped. He never thought about it that way until now. Suddenly, he got flashbacks of the fiasco that was supposed to be his first ever performance over a decade ago. He remembered being on that big, frightening stage as a seven-year-old kid, looking at all those faces in the audience. His throat closed up in fear and he couldn’t get a single word out, let alone hold a note. All he could do was run off the stage in tears and into his parents’ waiting arms.

It has been twelve years since then, but was he finally ready? As he thought about the spectacular Stardust Awards and having to perform live for millions of people, he felt like that scared, little seven-year-old boy again. Everyone else seemed to have endless faith in him, but were they right? He wasn’t so sure anymore.

~~

TheRealAshKhong on Twitter:

Wow! The day is finally here – my second solo album Too Close is out!! I’m so excited to get on the road soon and perform the new music. Let me know your fave songs! Love, #AshKhong #TooClose

Stuck in traffic, Ash turned up the music in his car, hoping to drown out the noise from the outside. Impatient drivers kept honking, driving him crazy. What the fuck do they think they will accomplish with that, he asked himself. It won’t make anyone go any faster. He remembered reading about traffic lights in Mumbai that extended the red light the more people honked their horns, wishing New York would do the same.

While he waited for the long line of vehicles to start moving, he took out his phone and opened Twitter. He received tons of messages every day, so he clearly never read all of them. There were just too many - most of them being from his fans, desperate to be noticed and get even just a moment of his attention.

This time, though, Ash decided to read some of them. He needed a way to pass the time and get his mind off of things. His new album came out last night, but all he could think about was Marcus. It had been two days since they broke up and the singer could not get him out of his head. He tried calling a few times, and even left several messages asking him to reconsider and give them another chance, but the dancer did not reply. Ash was devastated.

As expected, Marcus did not show up at the press conference or the album release party last night. Maybe it was for the best, Ash thought. He was glad the dancer was not there to watch him get increasingly more annoyed with every question about his private life and Kelly Marvel, to the point where he had to tell reporters he would only be answering questions about his music and nothing else.

The party afterwards was slightly better, mainly because he was free to drink as much as he wanted to. His manager ended up taking him home since he was in no state to drive.

Even today, he was still in a sour mood. The only reason he even left the house was to have a practice session with his dancers for their upcoming performance at the Stardust Awards. They would probably have to make some last-minute changes to the choreography, since without Marcus there would be an odd number of dancers. Still, it was nothing they couldn’t handle.

Ash tapped on the private messages icon - the current number was one hundred and seventy six - and started scrolling through them. He suddenly stopped when he saw a familiar name - Jin, his former bandmate from 2Good. Ash had sent him a message a few weeks ago, wishing him a happy birthday. Even though the band moved on without him and he didn’t keep in touch with the other members, he still remembered the birthdays of the five guys. They remembered his too, as every year they would send him messages.

“Hey heartthrob, thanks for remembering!” Ash read the message, chuckling at the nickname the guys had given him years ago. “I hope you’re doing well! See ya soon (sooner than u think)!”

The singer raised an eyebrow in surprise, wondering what that meant. Maybe Jin was coming to New York? He thought about responding, but the line of vehicles finally started moving. Ash tossed the phone to the passenger seat and resumed driving, quickly forgetting all about his former bandmate’s message.

When he arrived at the dance studio, he saw the other dancers had already arrived. He quickly changed into his workout clothes - a loose tank top and sweatpants - and entered the dance hall. Off The Rails was already playing on the stereo.

“Hey, guys, sorry I’m late. The traffic was-” he started to say, when his eyes fell upon the last person he expected to see - Marcus. Even though they never discussed it, Ash assumed Marcus would not be dancing with him anymore, but now that he saw him there, he realized he was being dumb. This was Marcus’ job, of course he wouldn’t quit just like that.

The dancer was stretching in his tight, green sweats and yellow tank top, which looked amazing against his dark skin. He turned around just as Ash came into the room, but quickly looked away, pretending not to be fazed at all by seeing his now ex-boyfriend.

“Uh, the traffic was horrible. I left home fifteen minutes earlier and I was still late,” the Korean recovered. “Anyway, you ready to rock this thing?”

The dancers all shouted in agreement and smiled, pretending not to notice the awkward tension in the air. Even though Marcus hadn’t told any of them about the breakup, they could sense there was trouble in paradise. Their relationship was an open secret - everyone in the group was aware of it, but they never openly discussed it.

“Marcus, can you come here for a second?” Ash asked, calling the dancer to join him away from the rest of the group.

“Sure,” the guy replied curtly, pursing his lips.

“I didn’t expect to see you here,” Ash whispered as Marcus came over, not wanting to be overheard. “I… wasn’t sure you’d be up for it.”

“Ash, I’m a professional and this is my job. Just because we’re… not together anymore, doesn’t mean I’m gonna quit. Especially not before our big performance.”

“Ok, I just wanted to make sure. I wouldn’t blame you if you did,” Ash said apologetically. “Maybe after we’re done with practice, we could go for a drink and talk…”

“I already have plans,” Marcus was quick to cut him off. “I think we should just focus on the practice right now.”

With that, he returned to the other dancers and Ash had no choice but to follow him.

“Alright, let’s start,” the singer said, standing in front of everyone. He had to keep his head in the game and not let Marcus’ presence distract him. He wasn’t sure how he was going to do that, but he would definitely try. If there was anything he learned to do after all the years in showbiz, it was how to act and pretend everything was fine. Fake it till you make it. “Maya, can you play the song from the top?”

One of the girls went over to the stereo and pressed the button, then returned to stand in the formation. Everyone started doing the moves they had learned very well by now. It was the same choreography they did in the music video, so they knew it pretty much by heart.

Marcus, who was usually in the front, to Ash’s right, executed his moves with perfect precision. He knew he had to focus on the dancing and nothing else, especially not on Ash standing just to his left. He had been dancing since middle school, and was a professional dancer since the age of seventeen. Even when he was tired, ill or in a bad mood, he never let that get in the way of his job and always gave a hundred percent.

This time, however, there was one part of his brain that just wouldn’t cooperate no matter how hard he tried. Ash’s very presence next to him made him lose his focus. Marcus loved him, he couldn’t just shut off his feelings and pretend everything was alright. His eyes kept darting off to the side, trying to catch a glimpse of the Korean singer. There he was, so close that they were almost touching, but he might as well have been a million miles away. The reality was - they couldn’t touch, they couldn’t kiss, they couldn’t do anything together in front of others. It would always be like that.

By the end of the second verse, it was obvious things were not working out. Jason, the main choreographer, noticed that Marcus’ moves were too sharp and out of sync with everyone else's. He left the formation and turned the music off.

“Marcus, have you had too much caffeine this morning?” the guy joked, which did nothing to improve Marcus’ mood. “Let’s try this from the top, and this time, try to keep up with everyone, ok? You’ve done this a hundred times, you got this.”

The second attempt wasn’t much more successful. After the second chorus, Marcus and Jason came up to stand beside Ash and grab him by the hips, lifting him up in the air. Feeling Ash’s body so close to his own, having to touch him and feel that familiar, comforting scent that he loved, was just all too much for Marcus. He froze for just a moment and fumbled his next move. Ash slipped from his fingers and almost fell to the ground.

“What the hell?!” the singer sputtered, catching his breath. He somehow managed to land safely without hurting himself.

This time, it was Marcus himself who stopped the music. Everyone turned to look at him, but he was already heading for the exit. When he reached the door, he stopped and turned around.

“I’m sorry, guys, I… I need to take a break. Go on without me,” he muttered, rushing out of the hall all flustered.

His cheeks turning red, Ash stood in front of everyone, staring at the door Marcus just left through. He wasn’t angry, at least not at Marcus. He knew that if the roles were reversed, he would’ve probably done the same.

“Uh, I’m gonna go check on him,” the singer said, leaving the studio. He looked around until he saw the dancer sitting on a bench in front of the building, his duffel bag next to him. Ash slowly came up and sat down on the opposite side of it.

“Hey,” he said quietly, glancing at the other guy.

“Don’t,” Marcus snapped and shook his head, not even turning to look at him. He couldn’t do it. All he wanted was to be as far away from Ash as possible. As much as he loved him, he needed to get over him, forget about him and move on with his life, but he couldn’t do that if they were still working together.

“What? I just came to see if you were alright?”

“Yeah, just perfect,” Marcus scoffed. “Never been better.” After a few moments of silence, he finally looked up, turning to face Ash. “I thought I could do it, but I can’t. I’m sorry. I… I can’t be around you right now. I hope you can find a replacement because I quit.”

“Wow… Are you sure?” Ash asked gently. He didn’t want to pressure Marcus or tell him what to do, as much as he wanted him to stay. The dancer just nodded, looking at him with sad eyes.

“Ok, then. I understand,” the Korean replied. It would be hard to find a new dancer and have them learn the choreo on such a short notice. Stardust Awards were in just a few days, but that was not what Ash was worried about at that moment. His relationship had fallen apart and he couldn’t bring himself to care about the award show or even his new album. So what, he would perform one dancer short. It wasn’t the end of the world. Marcus leaving was the only thing that mattered. “I hope you know that I never wanted…”

“I know,” the dancer interrupted him as a car stopped on the driveway in front of the building. “My Uber’s here, I have to go.”

He picked up his duffel bag and headed toward the car. Halfway there, he stopped and turned around, his eyes meeting Ash’s sad and defeated gaze. “Good luck at the awards… And congrats on the album,” he said before turning back around and getting into the car.