Chapter 1

       I was barely able to leave the penthouse without being hounded by paparazzi, so I tried to not leave unless I absolutely had to. I even had to get my older brother to go grocery shopping for me.

       Apparently, a band breaking up was a good reason to hound the ex-members twenty-four seven. Such a shame, because that meant I wasn't able to go out anywhere with my girlfriend.

       The only part about being away from the band I thought I was going to like was not having to deal with that evil manager anymore. She wasn't going to be able to tell Aviva and I that we couldn't date, and I thought we would have been able to open to everyone about it.

       We couldn't. 

       We wanted to, but if we did, the hounding by the paparazzi would get a lot worse. They would not leave us alone, so we thought it would be best to just continue to lay low.

       It was hard, but being with Aviva was definitely worth it. I had been in love with her for years, and I always felt like the luckiest guy in the world when I was around her.

       The cheesiest as well, but that was probably because I loved food, so why not be cheesy?

       I was sitting at the table on my laptop, looking for a new apartment for us to live in. We still had a lot of money left, but now that we weren't performing and recording songs, it wouldn't last forever. Junior left to live on campus at a university, which left just me and Aviva.

      There was no way just the two of us could afford living in this penthouse meant for five for much longer, especially when we couldn't get a job with, again, the paparazzi hounding us.

      Aviva walked up behind me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders and resting her chin on my shoulder. "Any luck?" she asked.

       "Nope," I said. "There's nothing close by. We might have to move in with our parents."

       Aviva scrunched her nose. "Ew, no. I mean, I love my parents and everything, but my dad won't stop with his dad jokes. Ever. And lately, he has been texting a new one every day."

       "Come on, your dad is pretty cool," I said.

      "My dad and cool don't go together in the same sentence," Aviva said. She then sighed. "I really miss the band, Malachi. I even try talking to Otis and Ricky, but they ignore my texts and calls. I knew they weren't going to want to be a band again, but cutting us off completely?"

       I leaned my head back to look up at her. "Hey, at least we have each other."

       Aviva smiled softly before giving me a quick kiss, then moving to sit on my lap. "I still miss them."

       "Even Ricky? Because I bet you anything that he's still a numpty."

       "Yes, even Ricky," Aviva said. "He was like an older brother to me. You saw how he defended me when Agatha tried setting me up with Chad for publicity."

      "Ah, I thought you agreed never to speak of her name again," I said. "I'm glad we're finally rid of her, and I do not need any memories of what she made us go through. Now get off. I need food."

       Aviva sighed. "You always choose food over me."

      "No way," I said. "I love you too much to choose food over you."

      "Well, I love you too," Aviva said, giving me a smile before pressing her lips on mine.

       However, I pulled away shortly after. "But that doesn't mean I can never be hungry, which I am right now."

       Aviva got off my lap and I headed to the kitchen while she sat on the chair to look at more apartments. I opened the fridge, sighing when all I saw was left overs and I didn't want to heat any of it up. "Aviva, can you remind me to ask Alistair to go grocery shopping for us again?" I asked.

       "Didn't he just go last week?" Aviva asked.

       "Yes, but I guess this proves how much I eat. Can you blame me if I really love food?" I closed the fridge and went to the cupboards to find something to eat. There wasn't really anything that interested me, except for a bag of chips so I grabbed that and headed back to the table.

       "Does the penthouse always feel empty to you without the others here?" Aviva asked.

       "Yes. That's why we're looking for a new apartment."

       "Doesn't it feel....Weird?"

       "Admittedly, yes," I said. "Do I miss them? Not really."

       That was a complete lie. I did miss the band. I did miss all of us living together, even Ricky, and all he ever seemed to do was annoy me. It just felt so weird them not living with us, or even talking to us.

       I tried texting and calling them too, but I never got a reply. 

       "Uh....Malachi?" Aviva asked, looking at the screen of my laptop. "Remember months ago when the Music and Television Awards booked as to play live?"

       "Yeah? Why?"

       "Technically, we never cancelled," she said, moving the laptop so I can look at the screen. "I was checking Major Vocal's email because, well, I miss the band, and I saw that. We're still scheduled to play."

       I quickly read the email, which was a confirmation of the time we had to be at the Music and Television Awards, which was in one week. It would have been way too late to cancel now, and quite unprofessional, even if we weren't a band anymore.

       "What do we do?" Aviva asked.

       "Send the link to the others," I said.

      "And what if they don't reply?" Aviva asked.

      "We'll have to perform without them," I said. "No matter what, Major Vocal is performing. It may not be every single member of the band, but it will be some of us at least, even if it's just you and me. We are not cancelling now."

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Woo, the second book is up! :D I know I say this all the time but I HAVE A LOT MORE IDEAS FOR THE BOOK AND I CAN'T WAIT.

And I switched the POV over to Malachi because he was my favourite, and for other reasons you'll find out later on in the story. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )

I reaaaaaally hope you like this book. BE PREPARED FOR ALL THE DRAMA, NEW CHARACTERS, AND MORE PEOPLE TO SHOVEL.