Until It's Gone

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

 

Chester’s POV

          It was the night before they were supposed to be performing. Their show was sold out. Every seat would be filled. He was going to sing to over a thousand people. Over five thousand people. He wasn’t sure if he could handle it. Dave was excited. Mike was excited. Everyone was excited but him. He was nervous. He remembered standing in front of a group of kids who hated him. Would that be anything like what he was about to do? He didn’t want to be booed off stage. Mike was standing on the front of the stage rapping and jumping around to see how much of his air he could waste on his acrobatics. Chester was sitting down in the pit. They were going to go crowd surfing at some point in the concert. He loved doing that. He loved being carried by the people.

          “Hey Chaz are you ok?” Mike called from the front of the stage. Was he ok? He was too nervous to even get up on the stage and walk around. Sure he was excited to perform but the self-doubt in his mind was making things worse. He was afraid of being hated and he was afraid of performing. He was afraid of everything. So he wasn’t ok.

          “Yea,” he called back and then shifted uncomfortably on the ground. He heard Mike jump off the stage into the pit and then walk over to him. He glanced up as Mike walked over to him and sat down.

          “Are you sure?” Mike asked softly as he cupped Chester’s cheek in his hand.

          Chester looked down, “I’m just nervous.”

          “You don’t have to be. You’ll be up there with us. It won’t be like before,” Mike said and Chester looked away. Mike knew exactly what he had been thinking.

          “How do you know?” Chester whispered.

          “Because people wouldn’t buy tickets to someone they wouldn’t want to see,” Mike said quietly. Chester looked up at Mike to see him smiling.

          “And I for one, know that everyone would love to see you sing,” Mike said as Chester offered him a small smile. He knew Mike was giving him half the truth. Sure a lot of people that came would want to see them. But there were always those people who came just to hate on them. Just to throw things or rag on them. He always feared for those people.

          “Look at me Chester,” Mike said softly, “It’s going to be alright.”

          Mike gave him a quick kiss before pulling on his arm to lead him towards the stage. Chester obediently followed him. There was no way he could win an argument against Mike. No way. So he slowly walked onto the stage and stood at the front. He looked around at the seats lining the place. It was huge. There would be so many people. All of a sudden, the seats were full of people, waiting for him to perform. There were so many of them.

          “Come on already!”

          “I didn’t come here for this shit!”

          “Get on with it coward!”