Swallow

Chapter 1.14:

When I got backstage, JD and Aiden were bouncing around hyping themselves up. Mark looked like he was going to chew the tips off his drumsticks as he peeked out around the stage to look out into the crowd.

These guys were such a mess before playing a show.

"A lot of people came out tonight. Are you ready?" JD's eyes were bugging out of his head as he looked over at me. He swallowed back the vomit that was threatening to spew out.

Fucking amateurs.

The sound of the chattering voices bounced off the walls, making it sound like a freight train was rolling through the back of the building. I closed my eyes and took the noise deep inside myself. This was my favorite part about playing in front of people. The anticipation of going on stage was a strange type of high in itself.

The lights started to dim out in the crowd a little more as we prepared ourselves to go on the stage. That was our signal that it was time to start. I stretched my wrists and fingers out, working the stiffness out of my hands. I fingered a few chords in the air with my left hand and stretched the index finger and pinky out to its limit a few times. I had large hands and extremely long fingers, which helped my playing ability. I didn't have to strain them as hard as most people who played did, but they still required a little bit of warming up.

JD strode across the stage first. As the unofficial, self-proclaimed leader of the band, he was always the one who made the first move. Mark scuttled behind him, hunched over like he would get eaten by a rabid creature if he stayed behind.

"Looks like we're up." Aiden patted my back and smirked. He turned on his game face the instant his foot hit the splintered wood on the stage. I had to give Aiden a little credit, he may be a bit of a dork in real life, but he had a switch he could flip to turn on his stage presence. He looked six inches taller as he moved closer to the microphone.

I walked out last, but I was the one closest to the side of the stage, which meant it didn't take me but a few steps to get to my gear. I picked up my guitar and almost pulled the cord out of it when I forgot it was still hard-wired in. I swore and refastened it tightly before turning around to face the crowd. I lifted the strap over my neck and adjusted the position of the guitar on my body. It felt like it wasn't hitting the right spot on me, so I had to fiddle with it for a second until it was perfect.

This was a brilliant way to start what I was predicting would be a terrible show.

I looked down at my hands and was a little baffled. My palms were sweaty and shaking. Was I nervous? I never got nervous playing. I was good and knew it. I wiped my hands on my pants and took a deep breath in. My hair fell into my eyes and I pushed it back so I could see what I was doing. I was in desperate need of a haircut.

I played the first chord progression as Mark began to build up the sound behind us. He was holding his rhythm a lot better than he did during the soundcheck. We sounded a lot fuller and more put together starting out.

The rest of the guys might have actually come to play tonight.

Aiden let out a throaty scream and the crowd erupted. I had made a few changes to the cadences and it definitely added to the intensity. Mixed with Aiden's above-average phrasing abilities, I was pleasantly surprised that we didn't sound like a complete joke. I could see it on the guys' faces as they played next to me on the stage.

Whatever change that had magically happened between soundcheck and now was working for us. They were feeling it too.

Turning my attention back to the crowd, I missed a chord change when I saw a bright blond head standing perfectly positioned in front of me. Riley was looking up at me with slightly hooded eyes, moving her body in the filthiest ways just for me. She was enjoying herself and I wanted more than anything to be down there with her, touching her naughty curves as she pressed against me.