Holy shit. Holy shit.
I'd never seen so many people in one room before. It should've been loud- louder than the biggest roar of thunder- but it was eerily quiet.
It was almost as if everyone was holding their breath, and if one person let their air go, it would throw the balance and everything would come crumbling down.
The only sound heard was the hollow click of my boots against the stage. the voices had gone silent, and nothing else mattered but this.
The entire venue had gone dark. If it hadn't been for the small fluorescent lights on either side, I probably would have lost my balance and fallen off somewhere in the crowd.
I stepped up to the microphone; it seemed to tower miles above me. I sucked in a breath, squeezing my eyes shut before taking a breath and began to strum my guitar, humming to the tune of Oh Ms. Believer by Twenty One Pilots.
I had to keep my eyes closed. I imagined the room was empty; it just had very good acoustics. It was just me. Me and my guitar. Right now, nothing else mattered.
A piano began to play behind me, completing the piece.
"Together, we go..." I sang softly, my eyes still squeezed shut. The song came slowly to a close, followed by roaring applause.
I felt I could open my eyes now.
They were cheering. Cheering for me.
Wow.
A smile creeped across my face.
"I wanna... thank you all for coming out tonight. It means a lot to me. And to Fall Out Boy."
The crowd practically screamed.
It seemed that I could have spoken something totally irrelevant and they still would have gone ballistic.
"Shout out to Fall Out boy to getting me on this stage tonight. It's been great hanging out with them these past few weeks."
It was almost like I could talk to this screaming crowd as if they were family. I felt comfortable just chatting away with them, telling stories about my stay with the band, and they loved it. I felt like an idol to them. Not like I was, since nobody really knew me. But I suppose it was a start.
For the next half hour, I bounced around the stage, singing some covers and some original songs. The crowd went wild. It was amazing.
I even crowd surfed, in spite of myself. I always thought it was a crazy and irrational thing that was brought on by adrenaline, but hey, when was I gonna get to do this again?
I performed on my own with as much energy as I could muster for about half an hour. I was starting to feel weak by then. A bit dizzy, actually. As Fall Out Boy performed, I was able to sneak backstage and grab a water bottle before anyone noticed I was gone.
"Alright, Youngbloods," Patrick waved towards the crowd, "I want you to make some noise... For my good friend Melanie Trohman... I'm real proud of her." The girls in front waved their hands at me and screams rang throughout the stadium. "Now we're gonna show our Youngblood pride with this next song...."
The intro of "The Phoenix" began to play. "Put on your war paint!" Patrick growled.
The two of us began to sing. "You are a brick tied to me that's draggin' me down. Strike a match and I'll burn you to the ground. We are the jack-o-lanterns in July, setting fire to the sky. Here - here comes this rising tide, so come on!"
It definitely was an intense song. By the end of it, I was breathless. The guys performed a few pre-hiatus songs as well as some from the new album. I was so full of adrenaline, I had no time to feel nervous. Everytime I would feel myself fainting, those huge, glowing spirals of flame that shot up would jostle me back into my senses.
"Once again, thank you all for coming out tonight. It means a lot to us. Don't forget to keep an eye out for Melanie's debut album, coming out this winter! Thank you, San Francisco!"
As we waved the audience goodbye, we retreated backstage. That's when the night began to take a steep, downwards spiral as I grabbed my waterbottle and met everyone in the lounge room.
"Hey, Melanie! Good job out there, hon!"
Fuck.
There sat the devil herself in a skin-tight dress, tapping her Steve Madden platform heels on the soft carpet as she examined her perfectly polish pink nails.
Patrick glared in her direction. "Who the fuck let her in here?" he yelled at his manager.
"She had a pass," he shrugged.
"You guys did so amazing!" she bubbled, throwing her arms around Patrick, who stood there stiffly, gritting his teeth.
"Taylor, get off."
"What? You don't want no sugar, Daddy?" she giggled. I looked down, balling my fists at my sides.
"Get. Off." He pushed her off of him roughly, causing her to lose her balance and tumble backwards onto the floor.
"What the hell, Patty!" she gasped, helping herself off the floor and marched straight towards him.
"Don't call me that. Get out." he ordered.
She glared at him with piercing blue eyes, laced with hatred. She stepped in front of him and, before anyone of us had any idea what was going to happen, raised her hand and smacked him clean across the face.
The manager grabbed her by the arm. "Alright. Out."
"Fuck all of you!" she screeched. "You should have gone to the grave with the rest of your career, Melanie!"
Fuck, that stung. But I couldn't let her mess with my head.
Patrick sat back on the couch and rubbed the deep welt on his cheek that was practically Taylor's handprint.
"Are you okay?" I said gently, sitting next to him.
"Yeah, I'm fine..." he sighed.
"Joe, could you get some ice?" He nodded, obviously in shock as well.
I placed my hand on Patrick's cheek and rubbed it gently. Joe returned within minutes with a bag of ice, handing it to me. I placed it carefully on the welt and ordered Patrick to hold it there.
"Did you know she was gonna be here?" I asked, interrupting the wave of shock-induced silence.
"Yeah, she texted me. I should block her number."
I hugged my knees to my chest and tried to avoid dwelling on what Taylor had yelled at me.
It was pretty fucking pathetic this all was. I wasn't gonna let this bother me. She was just jealous of me, after all. And excuse me if I sound vain, but then again, who was with Patrick?
She was just too desperate. So she had to take it out on me. All I knew was that she wasn't going to stop anytime soon.
GUYS
I'M SEEING FALL OUT BOY TONIGHT
I'M SO FUCKING PUMPED OMFFJKMFMGKFKFNGMGMF
IT'S GONNA BE AWESOME
I'LL TELL YOU ALL ABOUT IT NEXT CHAPTER :3
Also, if you haven't already, please check out my Frerard fanfiction, To The End. Thanks guys!
-Liesl :D
