Not So Normal

Chapter 23

   It's December 11th, and we only have three shows left after tonight. This is our second show in Salt Lake City. We decided to do two shows here since it's mine and Lindsey's home city. Almost everyone we knew back in middle school (and people Lindsey knew at the high school she went to here for a couple years) will be here tonight, or were here yesterday.

   Not that it really matters that much, but we didn't make nearly as much money on the SLC shows as the other shows because we are way too nice. We gave a buttload of our old friends and acquaintances discounts, and we gave our old best friends and a lot of family free tickets.

   We're in the middle of the meet and greet, taking pictures with an adorable little 8 year old from my old neighborhood, when I hear a familiar voice.

   "ELISSA!" Joe shrieks. Joseph Forrest was my best friend, next to Lindsey. They were actually on pretty equal grounds. He liked me in middle school, but that never got in the way of our friendship. He's the one friend that I actually keep in constant contact with.

   "JOE!" I squeal and run to him. We hug, and Lindsey joins us. Her and Joe were never as good of friends with each other as I was with Joe, but they were still good friends.

   "I still can't believe you're performing at the Maverick Center. This is crazy," Joe says.

   "I always told you I would be famous one day," I say with a laugh. We used to joke that I would be famous one day and Joe would worship me and be my biggest fan. We never thought it would actually happen.

   "I always knew you would make it," he says, giving me another hug. We go and do the standard meet and greet pictures, and they're hilarious. We do a ton of different funny poses and faces and it's super fun. Joe has always been odd, and I miss his weirdness so much. It's nice to take a few minutes and rekindle our old ways.

   "I will see you in three hours," I tell Joe as he's leaving. He's got front row tickets for him and all our old best friends. Lindsey and I finish up with the last few people doing meet and greets, and then we go backstage to find Shelly. She told us earlier that she had surprises for us.

   "There you girls are!" she says happily when we find her. She turns to her assistant, Joy, and grabs something out of her bag. Oh my god.

   "No. You didn't," Lindsey says in disbelief. Shelly nods and grins.

   "Surprise!" she squeals. I cannot believe it. Lindsey and I have always wanted cool earpieces and microphones, and now we've got them.

   "It's beautiful," Lindsey whispers. Her microphone is covered in gold sparkles and has her name in cursive in pink sparkles. Her earpiece is pink and has her initials in shiny gold writing.

   "Thank you so much Shelly!" I say, taking my stuff from her. My microphone is covered in black sparkles, with blue sparkle lightning bolts down the sides. It looks awesome. My earpiece is blue with my initials in sparkly black writing.

   "They're already hooked up to the sound system and everything, so all you've got to do is turn them on and you'll be good to go," Shelly tells us, running off to go do something. Lindsey and I look at each other, and we're both grinning.

   "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Lindsey asks slyly. I nod and my grin gets even bigger. We put on our earpieces and turn them and our microphones on.

   Two minutes before we're supposed to go out to the stage, we start talking into our mics.

   "I can't believe that The Piano Girls actually sold out the Maverick Center twice. They're not even that good," I say in a whiny voice. I hear the crowd get quiet.