BANG.BANG.BANG.

"You better be up Giovanna! Or I swear to god I will come in there and dump cold water over you."

I rub my eyes and slowly push myself up onto my elbows, the banging continues but what really brings me out of my dazed state is the gruff groan that vibrates through my bed. Coltons starfished on the other side of my bed covering his face with a pillow.

"Make it stop." He whines, I chuckle at his gravely voice. Colton is very rarely a morning person,trying to get him to the plane on time is harder than it was passing my maths GCSE.

The banging stops abruptly, "Wait is Colton in there with you?" Sofia questions, our silence is enough of an answer, "Great I've got his outfit, now stop fondling each other and get up!"

"We're not-" I try to protest but her footsteps are retreating and an arm is pulling me back to the mattress. I let out a squeal as Colton hovers on top of me, pushing himself up by this forearms that rest beside my head.

"Morning sleepy," I mumble staring into his glossy eyes, his dishevelled hair falls off his face with his smirk.

"Morning sweetheart," he smiles placing a small kiss on my forehead. The simple gesture sets my skin alight which prompts my fingers to explore is bare abs. I run my hands along all his contoured ridges, listening to his laboured breathing. He slowly lowers himself until our legs are tangled underneath the duvet.

"Don't get any closer, I'm vile in the mornings," I whisper, pinching his chin with my finger and thumb so I can admire the small bit of scruff gathering along his jawline.

"You're beautiful, morning, afternoon and night." He goes to kiss me but I block his lips with my hand.

"Your flattery will not cure morning breath." I deadpan, his chest wriggles with laughter under my fingertips.

"Alright I guess I'll just have to move..." he places a wet kiss on my jaw, "Lower." His husky voice tickles my neck as he sucks slightly, tingles enclose my body and a deep heat forms in my lower abdomen. His teeth nip at my skin prompting a small moan to leave my lips. Colton's hot breath fans my neck as he growls.

"You like that? How about-"

"GET UP! We're hungry and I need you to do my hair!" Sofia shouts through the door, "Everyones here so hurry up!"

Colton groans against my neck which makes me giggle. I untangle myself and throw on a hoodie as I open my bedroom door.

"You coming?" I look over at Colton who's made no attempt to remove himself from my bed.

"Uh yeah... just give me a few minutes... you got me kind of excited." He smirks forcing a red to permeate my face. I nod understandingly and walk out into the kitchen where everyone is gathered, sipping mugs of coffee and glasses of Juice.

"Happy Pride bitches." I announce as I start breakfast.

"You need more glitter." I giggle tipping more glitter on Colton's bare chest. When Sofia plans her pride outfits she lives by the saying of 'less is more', but what she really means is less clothes and more skin. She gave Colton a pair of rainbow shorts and a set of wings, he threw a hissy fit about the wings but after a good wrestle I managed to get them over his bulky biceps, I think it helped that we're matching. Sofia put me in a rainbow bikini top and a pair of high-waisted denim shorts paired with a set of angel wings. I have to stop myself looking in the mirror or it'll be coming straight off.

I can do this, I love the outfit and that's all that matters.

"Jesus enough with the glitter!" He sulks looking down at his glittered abs.

"I like it, maybe this could be the new album cover." Will chuckles as Sofia paints a rainbow flag on his cheeks and Bleu and Marsha put flags and cute badges on the kids.

"I agree, you look hot." I wink at him capping the pot of glitter.

"Wait hold up, you need some more too." He takes the glitter and seductively starts to tip it onto my breasts. I try and hold back my laughter as she spreads it across my chest.

"Don't get too excited now, those shorts don't leave much room for... expansion," I whisper, he grunts in response and moves behind the kitchen counter.

I giggle to myself as Sofia approaches me with a slight smirk on her lips.

"What are you smirking about?" She grabs my chin and lifts my head up slightly.

"They are defiantly getting worse..." she mumbles assessing my neck, "You might want to cover them up."

"Cover what up?" I rub my neck, other than it feeling a bit sensitive I don't understand what she's looking at.

"Oh my god, Gigi have you not seen them? Go look in the mirror!" she chuckles as I rip down the hallway to look at my neck. The reflection staring back at me has three purple bruises bubbling on the surface of my neck. I gasp at the sight. They've been there since this morning! Oh my god everyone would have seen them!

"COLTON!" I scream running to my room to grab some concealer.

"What? What? Are you okay?"  He runs in behind me. I turn to him pointing at my pathetic excuse to cover it up, "Oh that." He smirks, "What's wrong with that. Just letting everyone know you're my girl." He whistles walking away, obviously pleased with himself.

His girl? My stomach flutters at his nonchalance.

"Right then, everyone's here, ready to go?"Sofia announces as Ruby and the other dancer girls step into our already full apartment. Some of them wanted to do the parade with us before the show.

"Actually we're just waiting on one more-" the doorbell interrupts Jacob as Sofia and I cast a glance.

We can hear a faint male voice as pleasantries are exchanged at the door, Jacob leads him in with a bright smile placed on his face.

'This is...Josiaha... my," Jacob looks down at the floor nervously, "my... boyfriend."

My heart bursts in my chest, I smile exuberantly at the couple who link their fingers together.  Jacobs never had a proper relationship before so I know this is important.

"It's really great to meet you, I'm Gigi!" I walk towards him and catch him off guard when I wrap my arms around him, squeezing him in a hug.

"I know who you are and I'm totally not fan-guying right now." He whispers into my ear, "It's so nice to meet you, Jacob talks about you all the time." I pull away and smile at them both.

"I can't believe you didn't tell us! Some best friend you are!" Sofia stomps her foot dramatically but I know she's just joking, "Screw it. Jacob, you've ruined my day. I'm not going." she flops onto the sofa arms crossed. I shake my head at her antics.

"Come on stroppy we'll miss the start of the parade if we don't go now."

The City of London is a beautiful place, even more so when it's covered in the colours of pride, people from all different walks of life come together to celebrate love and acceptance. Its always one of my favourite events of the year. Colour fills the streets as we parade through the streets.

I watch Colton who has got Luca on his shoulders. His boyish smile brighter than the thousands of rainbows that plague the city. He looks over at me, catching me staring at his gorgeous features as a flush drives up my face. I look down at the floor but he simply slips his fingers into mine and squeezes gently, tugging me closer to him.

I can't help but peek up at him again, admire his icy blue eyes that are dripping in warmth, his sharp jawline that's been freshly shaved this morning, the blush of his full lips and the tiny array of freckles that cover his nose. You'd miss them if you weren't looking close enough, many a morning I've laid in bed staring at the light freckles as he snores quietly. I smile content, letting it sink in that I am completely head over heels for Colton Jax, that I don't need to worry about anything else because he makes me feel safe. He makes me feel beautiful and happy and for the first time in years, I'm okay with letting myself go for him.

Am I scared? Yes.

But will I try? Yes.

Because that's what he deserves and that's what I deserve, I can do this. We can do this.

Stood in a sea of people who are celebrating the acceptance of people and love I think I finally understand what love is and what it means. It means the acceptance of a person and no expectations for perfection, it means you will stand by a person through their hardest times and celebrate their best times. It means you can find no fault in their soul and will put you first no matter what.

It means I'm falling in love with Colton.

"You alright?" He asks bringing me out of my love infused trance.

"Uh, yeah fine," I mumble.

"Whatcha thinking about?"

"Nothing... absolutely nothing." I chuckle to myself.

I've always been the one in the crowd fighting to get to the barriers so I can be closet to the stage. Now I'm the one on the stage being very careful of the barriers which are bursting with excited fans. I look out onto the mass of bodies, all singing along to my music, this is what acceptance is all about. It's why I do music.

A group of strangers can come together and forget about everything else, bond over a song or an artist and feel accepted into a community. My music was my escape and I've always found acceptance in my self with it but tonight I feel so accepted into another community, an even bigger one that I shall speak of with Pride.

"London! Can I just say you all look insatiable tonight!" The crowd cheers and screams which makes me giggle, "Thank you so much for having me tonight! London is my home and I take so much pride in being able to celebrate this with my city and be a part of this event. Before I go I just want to leave you all with this, No one should have to choose between living and living our lives with authenticity and integrity. Be who you are and never apologise.  Love is love and we all belong on this earth as equals." I listen to the mass holler and cry out. Then I look into the wings of the stage where my friends are cheering and smiling.

"It's been an honour London, this last song is dedicated to my best friend Jacob whos one of the bravest and most incredible people I know. I love you squishy, I'm happy you're happy. This is ' About The Boy' "

The music starts and dancers fill the stage, rainbow streamers shoot from the edges of the stage as the night sky draws in and the stars above twinkle.

Droplets of sweat line his forehead, he's given it his all tonight and it's genuinely admirable to watch. His chest moves in and out quickly, the glitter now dripping down his tanned abs, it's quite the sight for sore eyes. He swings his guitar around his body flexing his arms in the process. Sweaty brown curls dance about on his forehead as the dancers move around him. The beats pulse through the stage whilst the crowd scream his lyrics so loud I'm not sure how they haven't lost their voices.

He's captivating, everything he does makes my knees week especially when he throws a wink across the stage, my cheeks flame at the cheek.

"How are you guys tonight?" he says, catching his breath, into the mic as an eruption of cheers sounds from the audience, "Great, you guys have been amazing tonight, definitely one of the best crowds I've had on tour! It's so amazing to be here with you all and be celebrating amongst you, it's truly an honour to be up here tonight. I've got one last song and its one that I wrote with someone incredibly special. Someone who taught me what love and acceptance is. This song is about being able to fight and I know many of you in this audience have had to fight to have your voices heard, have you heard! But we hear you, we hear you loud and clear so I'd like to invite the mastermind behind this to sing with me. Gigi?" The crowd erupts in cheers and my heart bursts, fuzziness filling my body. He's a big softie really and what he said makes me so proud to be... something... with him.

A stage manager brings me out of my fuzzied state and hands me my mic as Colton gestures for me to join him. I walk out under the hot stage lights to where he's picking up an acoustic. He slips the strap over his head and grabs my hand, pulling me into centre stage.

He starts strumming the strings, all the while keeping his eyes trained on mine, they twinkle brighter than the blinding stage lights and crinkle in happiness with his smile. Sweat dots along his taunt arms looking massive with a bandana tied around one.

Our voices create one as we start singing 'Not going anywhere' our duet that's been sat at number one worldwide since its release. The audience picks up and before the first chorus, we're drowned out by the collective of voices. My body weakens at the sound, a wet feeling succumbs on my cheeks and I don't even realise tears are slipping out until Colton reaches out and wipes my cheeks, his touch setting my skin on fire. He swings the guitar around his body so it's resting on his back and he pulls me into his side, resting his chin on my head.

We look out into the crowd and its like everything is lifted, I feel like I'm floating, surrounded by happiness. They're singing our song, a song they can relate too.

I'm stood with a guy who has turned my world upside down in a few months, it should freak me out, and some part of it does but the other feels like a zoo has been unleashed in my stomach, it's exciting and mad but he makes me feel safe.

"This is all you, babe." He whispers in my ear before placing a soft kiss on my forehead.

Hey hey! It's Christmas Eve!! Happy Christmas everyone! I hope you all have a great day tomorrow!

I really hope you enjoyed this chapter, it made me kind of sad to write since I really missed going to pride this year 🥺

I've been doing a bit of thinking recently and I was wondering How would you all feel about a spin off with Jayden and Sofia? It's just a thought but I've got a few ideas.

And I'm currently writing the last chapter of TTS! I'm intrigued to see what you guys want to see happy/ tied off at the end!

As always thanks for reading

Iz x