Grey scooted closer to Misty, pushing himself into her side, a sign of physical comfort and trying to get her to stop fidgeting so much. He couldn't help the slight chuckle that her mark was a peach, of all things, "Well I guess that does make it a bit obvious. Who'd have thought Raz's silly nicknames would have some sort of accuracy. Let's never tell him. He'll be insufferable."

He paused considering her next words, kinda laying his head on her shoulder and looking up at her, "Why not yet though?" he asked, "I mean, I don't fully understand how meeting your soulmate goes, but most of the people I've heard who figure it out so quickly, it's like they can barely stand to be separated. Yet your here, and I don't get the feeling you've seen Jae in the last few days." Maybe it was part of why she was tense and fidgety, not just the emotional issues, but the sheer distant from her newly discovered mate. It was all so strange to Grey.

Misty chuckled at Grey's first suggestion, but didn't comment. They both knew it well enough. That guy would figure out the truth whether they told him or not. But wouldn't it be something else if they all turned out to be fruit. She could imagine the scandal now, or rather, the scandal Jonah would cause in reaction to it all. As amusing as the thought was, she couldn't linger on amusement now. Misty sighed again, struggling to find words to explain this thing.

"We're just...going to try to stay friends for now. See how it goes," she struggled. It was a silly thought when she said it out loud. How many people did something like that? Shouldn't soulmates want to be together? "That's what we were looking for at the start and Jae's not ready. Honestly, I don't think I am either." She petted Grey's hair, leaning her own head on top of his, feeling very glad for the close comfort. "I mean, I'm trying to be a rockstar! How does a soulmate fit into that?"

Grey shrugged as well as he could from his position, "Well I mean, everyone's different right? Soulmates mean there's not a lot of guesswork on who you love, but that doesn't mean the how is exactly the same for everyone." He pulled up and looked over at Misty, "You aren't concerned that there's something wrong with you two, right?" he asked, wanting to make sure that wasn't what had Misty upset. "You'll figure it out, and you'll both get there and learn what it means to be together and to be ready for it. I mean we're young still, even if all of Jae's friends and their mates make it look easy. You know it can't be. They each have their own story, I'm sure."

Grey's words washed over Misty and she just looked at him for a second, shocked by them. An understanding dawned on her before she let out a sudden and half covered up laugh. "Since when did you get so knowledgeable about things like this?" she asked. "Don't tell me you have a secret too? How does someone without a mate get to lecture me on them? You're not even older than me!" she huffed, sounding quite put out, though it was all dramatics. Her smile turned softer as she pulled him in for a quick hug. "But thanks. I don't think there's anything wrong. It's just that we need time and for a second, I didn't know what to do with that. I want to be with Jae and I'm afraid she won't want to be when I do. It looked hard for her, and that was hard for me. But, I think we will be okay."

Grey blushed at this, his face coloring a vibrant red, "N-no, no secrets," he mumbled, his voice never really varying from the soft way he'd been speaking before, the words just getting more jumbled as he got embarrassed, "You know me, I just watch people. I notice things, sometimes. And soulmates are pretty fun to observe." He leaned contentedly into the hug, though glad it was brief as some of Misty's longer hugs often left him feeling embarrassed. "I'm sure you'll be okay too. You'll figure it out. I mean it's you. You always figure something out."

Misty’s lips quirked up in a smile. “I think you give me too much credit, but really, thanks. You've been a great help. You always listen so well.” She envied that trait sometimes and wondered if she ever upset her friend because she didn’t give him the same honor half the time. She could listen, but she always talked so much better. “You know what I think though? When you do find your mate, they will be a very lucky person.” She squeezed his shoulder before rolling to her feet. “Now, let’s say we go for a walk and talk music and funner things now?”

Grey shook his has, face getting slightly redder if even possible, "I don't really think so I'm not really that special." he shrugged, not really feeling comfortable with the praise from Misty. He stood when she mentioned some more walking though, glad she founded a little more cheerful, "Okay, yeah, let's do that...." he said, still a little awkward after the compliments, "Just promise to let me know if this all gets to you again. We can do all this again," he said with a generic gesture to indicate the earlier part of the afternoon.

Misty just smiled again. Even if Grey denied it, she knew him for the gem he was. She might have her own mate, but the warm feelings she had for her best were also their own kind of love. He was just too modest to see he was worth it. "I will, but I'm feeling hopeful for the future again. You know me, always optimistic," she chuckled. The sun shone overhead and birds darted through the dappled branches. They could hear dogs barking somewhere in the distance, no doubt enjoying this fine day as well. Really, what was there to worry over? "But speaking of hopeful, are you looking forward to tomorrow?"

"That's good, I'm glad I could help," Grey said, smiling happily knowing that he'd had some part in getting Misty out of her head and back to how he normally was. He nodded at her question, "Yeah it'll be a bit crazy and I kinda expect Jonah to pass out from stress at some point, but I can't believe we're finally doing this," he said, his voice getting slightly louder with excitement as his entire demeanor changed, lighting up and eyes widening, "I mean we aren't recording tomorrow, but tomorrow's the first step in a new direction in a long time. I'm excited."

Misty stretched both her arms toward the sky with a grin herself. "I know! I think I might explode I'm so anxious for tomorrow to come! I mean, I will be right there stressing Jonah straight into his grave!" she exclaimed with a laugh. A squirrel darted away from them, startled by the noise and she laughed harder. You would think the park wildlife would be used to people like them. Thankfully they were still in their own world without more than a few people seen in the distance. "But I know he loves it to. I have to thank him for bringing the band together or else I'd still be dreaming." Now, the dream was about to become real and that meant more than the world to her.

"We all will be, though Raz will be the worst, you know it. He's the one who gets some joy out of stressing Jonah out," Grey laughed, but knowing that the combined nervous energy from all of them would really be what pushed Jonah over the edge, if anything. "But yeah it's great how things have come together for all of us It almost seems to easy some times. Who'd ever thought I'd actually get to play bass and not just collect an absurd amount of guitar picks for no reason other than they're cute."

"I can't even decide if he does it on purpose or is just an idiot!" Misty laughed back. "Raz can be serious when he wants, even more serious than all of us combined, but the rest of the time it's like he's living just to goof off. If he didn't live with Jonah, I'd figure their friendship was just pity." Those two definitely drove each other insane, but it kept life interesting. It was the sort of things only best friends could manage. And she and Grey liked that they could just sit back and watch it. Shaking her head at the boy, she almost pinched his cheek, but just managed to stop herself. "It's that cute side of you I love the most, ya know."

"Probably half and half," Grey said, no doubt that Raz sometimes acted dumb just because he k new it drove Jonah up a while, but that the other was also pretty happy to just go through life without a care when it didn't require him to. It was something Grey wished he could emulate, but for the life of him he just cared too much to be like that and was too scared of people sometimes. He made a face at Misty at being called cute, even though he knew it was true, his nose wrinkled, "I'm sure you're the only one."

Misty hummed in agreement about Raz and Jonah as they walked. "For now at least, I might be the only one that thinks that. Except your mom," she added with a grin. Grey was lovable. He just didn't give people a chance. "One day though, some one else will love that even more than me." She left the conversation with that and the two of them continued to walk and talk, falling into a black hole of music related topics that consumed a good hour. Only when they felt exhausted of the outdoors and talk and laughter did they part ways again. Misty showed no signs of her earlier emotional state as she waved bye, promising that if they survived the next day, she buy him another guitar pick just for being amazing. It was definitely going to be fun though and well worth the wait. More than worth it.

Jae spent the week mostly just going to work and coming home, which was definitely different from her norm. As she would usually visit the parkour studio at least once in a week and maybe go visit Davvin at work. But she did none of those things this week, not really wanting to face her friends. They even texted her a few times, but she ignored their messages, even as they became increasingly more weird.

It wasn't that she was sad, she just didn't know how to be normal anymore. Not when the knowledge that Misty was her soulmate was constantly pressing in her mind. She'd found herself almost texting the girl more than once, but each time she went to, she either chickened out and couldn't press send, or didn't even know what to say. She couldn't shake the feeling that the weirdness front he other day was entirely her fault, and she was holding Misty back from what she really wanted. She felt bad, but still too scared to actually try a relationship. So she just didn't act.

On Saturday evening, she was once again laying on her couch head swirling around and around on the same matter as it had been all week with some mindless tv show on int he background when there was a knock on her door. She sighed, already knowing who was on the other side, but knowing they'd just use the hidden key if she didn't answer, moved to open the door.

And indeed on the other side of the door were her three best friends, "So you want to tell us why none of us have heard or seen from you for an entire week?" Davvin asked, arms crossed, a slight glare on his face, though it was softened because it was easily visible that she was upset about something.

"Not really," Jae responded as they pushed the way into her apartment. She could see them carrying several bottle of wine and Naoko seemed have the preparation for some sort of food. So they probably planned to get her drunk to get it out of her. "I'd have called and told you if I did, wouldn't I have?" she said, though there wasn't any real bite in her voice, just a flatness.

She sat back down on the couch and glowered at them, "You know it'd be easier if you just told us," Naoko coaxed from the kitchen, the sounds of cooking starting.

"When has Jae ever done anything the easy way?" Elliot said, sitting next to her on the couch, studying her as Davvin took up a sit in the chair Misty had set in the other day. His eyes also on Jae.

It didn't take long for Naoko to emerge from the kitchen with the food, obviously having reheated something she'd previously made, and she handed everyone a bowl and set on the other side of Jae, "True," she said, "but Jae, you're obviously upset majorly by something and we want to help, like you help all of us."

Jae shook her head, "I don't know how to talk about it. And I just don't want to. I don't need help. It's not something you can really change anyway. Wouldn't me just telling you not to worry be enough?" she asked, knowing it wouldn't really discourage him.

"Of course not," came the in unison reply, before Davvin continued alone, "We wouldn't be your friends if we didn't worry, and I really don't it's so needless for you to keep this all to yourself."

"Well there are some things you don't want to tell. And this is one of those," but the longer she resisted, the more she just wanted to blurt it out. It wouldn't fix the situation, but it was like this information didn't want to be hidden. Just like as scared as she was, she still wanted to be at Misty's side. It must just be part of being soulmates.

Naoko sighed and rest a hand on Jae's shoulder, "You do know we'll understand, and we won't make fun. Not now at least. Not when you're upset."

Jae sighed, but decided to start talking, not really wanting this to turn into a drunk confession, "I don't even know if upset is the right word. Scared is definitely in there. Unsettled, too. But it's not like I'm distraught or feel like crying. My whole world has just been rearranged." she sighed, pausing, still reluctant to say it, "Misty is my soulmate." she finally confessed, "And I just. I'm really not ready, but I now I'm hurting her, and maybe myself too, and I just don't know what to do. So... I've just not been doing anything."

"Oh honey..." Naoko said, hugging her, "You're probably more ready than you think, and don't even know it." she said, "Fate wouldn't bring her to you now if you weren't and one way. And there's no rulebook that says you have to immediately fall in love with your mate. For some people it just takes time. You'll get there because I know you want to. Just get to know her."

Elliot and Davvin nodded in agreement, "You'll see," Elliot said, softly, even though he and his mates had fallen in love like a flash of lightning in a summer storm. He still knew that pull and call and knew Jae must be feeling it to. "It'll get easier everyday. Erik was reluctant at first too. Determined he didn't need love, but now he's the biggest sap out of the three of us, just don't tell him that." he chucked, "And you know the journey will be worth it. And it'll be right because it's for you to."

"Just don't cut her out of your life," Davvin added, once Elliot finished, "It hurts more than anything to do so, especially once you know. I imagine your feeling that a little bit now. You don't have to be a couple, but just being near each other. Well it makes things a little easier, even before you realize it." He said, thinking back to the early months with Tavis and the weeks they didn't talk to each other that felt utterly torturous.

Jae sighed, a large exhale, but almost as if letting go of a weight, "I guess. I do plan on trying, because I don't want to hurt her, but I hope she can wait until I'm ready and it not also hurt her. Because, I need to know that I'm confident in this before I even try." she paused, looking around at her friends, smiling, "Thanks though guys. You really didn't have to come over here. I'd have gotten there by myself, but I'll text Misty tomorrow. Why don't we talk about other stuff now though?" she asked, not wanting to dwell on the subject, the pressure still lingering, something that she had a feeling wouldn't fully go away until she fully embraced Misty as her mate.

And with that the four spent the rest of the night talking, drinking, and chatting aimlessly. The topic of Misty didn't come up again, even though the others talked about their soulmates as normal, the pride and joy still inflecting their voices. Jae kept catching on that, wondering if or when she would ever talk about Misty like that. It almost seemed a far away dream, a near impossibility, but then nothing with soulmates was really supposed to be impossible. She smiled though, something in her starting to get curious about that possibility, even though the very thought of being that close to someone else still set her heart pounding. Eventually. Eventually she'd get there.

The hot shower water washed over Misty's body as she stared up, watching the ceiling steam above the water's spray. Outside, the early morning light no doubt warmed the dew off the leaves. She woke up with the dawn, feeling refreshed and ready after her day with Grey. Anticipation still bubbled in her, but with a readiness. Pulling hands through her hair, she rinsed the last of the suds off. She was ready for this practice and these demos and recording and albums and everything that would come after. Nerves? She had no reason for them.

After turning off the water, she stepped out to get ready at her own pace. They arranged to meet at school's music studio in the early afternoon and Misty checked the time, seeing her lazy shower left her at least solidly in the morning. For a second, she almost sent Jae a quick message to let her know about the practice, but only then did she falter. Perhaps now wasn't the best time to dip her toes into that mess. Right now, she felt confident and calm. She refused to break that and right now, she felt good about the future the two of them might build. She didn't need to rush. First, she would chase her music.

The rest of the morning passed just the same. She dressed in her favorite top, letting her fingers brush against the firecracker mark before she sent her band mates a text to let them know she was on her way. A bag of snacks and drinks in the car seat next to her, she spun away toward the campus and the first step to their future.

Grey woke up the next day, excitement over the practice filling him. He stretched languorously in his bed, yawning wide and sitting up with his hair all in even more of a disarray than usual. He looked around the room, blinking, before he remembered that the practice for the demo was today and he grinned slowly before climbing out of the bed. He wen through his morning routine quickly, not spending too much time on anything, except for picking the picks he'd take to practice with him. He picked out several including the one with strawberry shortcake on it that Raz had given him and one with the heart on it from Misty. And of course he made to slip his lucky metal one, that he never used for playing, that was inscribed with the words 'where words fail, music speaks,' into his pocket. He never played without it on his person.

Once he was ready, certain his eye makeup looked good, and that all his bracelets were in place, he stepped out of the door, nervousness and excitement battling for each other in equal measure. He fired off a message that he was leaving right after Misty's arrived and then quietly hummed to himself the entire way to the campus.

It didn't take him to long to arrive at their practice space, he could really have walked if he didn't have his guitar with him, but the drive was still nice. He got out of the car, walking in, sure the rest of them would already be there, Jonah and Raz always getting there first and Misty having left before him. He walked in and smiled slightly, "Hey guys," he said, nodding his head to them.

(Lucky Guitar pick)

Raz looked up from the music he had been looking over and grinned at Grey. Misty swooped over, speaking before the other could get in a word though. "Hey Grey baby! Are you ready for this?" she asked, ignoring Raz's huff that she stole his words. Of course she looked repentant, but didn't feel it at all. She just grabbed Grey's arm and pulled him over where they'd already started getting things set up. Jonah had his guitar out, already lost in the act of getting it tuned. She hadn't got there much before Grey, having just a little farther to drive. "Ah here, you should look at this," she added, handing him a couple of the music pages that Raz had been studying before.

"Me and Jonah stayed up all last night making sure everything was perfect and we tweaked a few things. It's mostly in the lyrics, but we want to give this a go and see which sounds better. It's kinda late notice, I know," Raz explained as he dragged a hand through his multi-colored hair. Jonah nodded his head without looking up until Raz finished. Then, meeting everyone's eye, he set the practice rolling.

"Let's do our best today, guys. Practice like it's the real deal."

Grey quickly hugged Misty, blushing at her chosen form of greeting, even though it had been mostly to annoy Raz, it still caused red to flare up his cheeks. He hurried away from Misty after hugging her to go tune his guitar, modified sheet music in hand. He tried to study it, while tuning his guitar, absentmindedly using the chords not he paper to test the tuning. It didn't take long for him to get the guitar tuned, he made sure to never let it get too far out of tune, and after a quick set of scales. He was ready.

"Yeah, okay," he murmured, smiling at them, the same excitement building but he was trying to contain it so that he could focus on playing. "Let's make it the best practice we've ever had." he said, before they all started in on the first song at Misty's count. Moving through the song with competency, once they'd finished it, Grey knew they'd pause to discuss, especially at this practice, since they wanted to put their best foot forward when they went to record.

Misty finished setting her own drums up and helped Jonah check the sound equipment so they were ready to go. It didn't take long. Only in moments like this did they work like a perfect oiled machine, being used to each others routines by now. They worked through the practice with the same frame of mind. Unlike usual, even Raz didn't get off topic and showed his serious side. After the first song, they discussed and decided to keep a few changes and played through the questionable areas until they were satisfied.

After that, it went by fast, full of energy and passion that picked up as they went through more songs. Finally, they paused for their break, Misty pulling out the snacks she brought. They spread the 'meal' out on a little metal table and found themselves all grinning. Misty tilted her head back, gulping from a water bottle. "I'm feeling so amazing now. I don't know about you guys, but I think I'm ready."

Grey nodded quietly in agreement with Misty, the nervousness still a more dominant feeling for him. "Yeah, but it still seems so scary," he murmured after drinking some water. "Like what if they don't like us?" he said, voicing the real fear he'd been holding in since hearing they'd be getting a legitimate chance at this. "I'm just afraid we'll both get rejected and make Jae's friend mad. And I don't want to do that. But I also don't not want to take this chance."

Misty smiled at Grey, looking far more serious. "It's not that we don't feel like that too..." She patted his hand, trying to offer at least some comfort though she didn't know the words for it. After biting into a power bar, Raz elbowed Jonah in the side, their blue haired friends pouring over the music without pause even though they were supposed to be resting.

"Huh? What?" he asked, pushing his glasses up and blinking at his bandmates.

"Grey is nervous," Raz explained.

After a second, Jonah folded his arms over the sheet music to give them all a look. "The way I see it," he started, seeming to muse himself. "It doesn't matter if they like us or not. Look at us. We're a rag tag group of abnormal, colorful people. If we're proud of the music we make, then at least we've done something. Someone will like us. We just try again and keep taking what help we get. We only let them down when we give up."

"At least until we're famous!" Raz butt in. "Don't forget the famous part."

Misty rolled her eyes. "I don't think any of us did..."

Grey chuckled and smiled up at them, looking through the fringe of his hair, "I guess yeah," he murmured, trying to sound more confident than he still felt more nervous than anything. "Maybe I'll just let you guys be confident for me. I'll just play the bass as best I can and hope to not sound awful." he said, leaning against Misty's side as he talked, less for comfort and more cuz he wanted to lay down and she was the nearest band member on which to do that. "Though if we do come famous, won't we have to meet a lot of people?" he asked wrinkling his nose, as he considered meeting fans and other varying people, "That almost sounds worse than failing."

Misty grinned and ruffled Grey's hair. She didn't mind him sticking close and it comforted her as well, though she liked to think she didn't have doubts. As long as she had these guys, she didn't at least. "Oh come on, meeting fans would be fun! Can you imagine the interviews?!" she exclaimed. "But that's way in the future, so there's no need to worry about it now. One step at a time right?"

The other hummed in response and after gulping down some more water, Jonah pushed back his chair. "Misty's right. You can't dwell on that now. We want this right? Now come on and let's run through all the songs one more time before we call it quits." As he picked up his guitar again, running a finger along the curves, a fond smile came over his face. "And don't worry. We have Raz to do all the talking."

Grey made a face at them, clearly displaying how not fun he thought meeting fans would be. It was just meeting a bunch of strangers, and he really doubted he'd ever get any better at that. "You guys can do all the talking then," he said, not wanting to have any part of it.

He groaned as Jonah tried to get them practicing again, it meant he had to stand up again, and he'd just gotten comfortable on Misty. He did push himself up after a few moments though, knowing they really did need to practice at least once more before they called it a day. Everyone got ready again and they ran through the songs again, stopping less this time, but still stopping to discuss minor things that could be done better, determined to have everything be absolutely perfect.