That Blue Gibson

CH 17

"This is nice!" Josie yelled over the blaring music. Liz nodded, taking a drink of beer from her clear plastic cup. They stood off to the side of the soundboard, on a riser to the very right of the stage.

"You girls wanna listen?" the man running the board offered them two sets of thick headphones.

Liz took a pair and slipped them on. The music around her was suddenly gone, replaced with the sound of laughter and backstage banter. She listened for a moment before realizing she was listening to the in-ear piece feed and ripped the headphones off. She shook her head and handed them back to the sound guy with a smile. "No thanks," she yelled, returning to her beer.

She took a minute to watch the crowd, feeding off their excitement. She had just been to a Foo Fighters show a few months prior on their Concrete and Gold tour, but was in the arena's GA. Josie grabbed Liz as Ace of Spades began to blast through the huge speakers. They laughed and danced, holding their beers above their heads, pausing only when Liz saw Travis approaching them as the song faded into Shout at the Devil.

"And?" she asked excitedly, her face was already feeling hot from the beer.

Travis shook his head with a smile. "I'm glad I took video," he said and pulled out his phone to show her.

*

Dave sat next to Taylor, focusing on him drumming on a five-gallon bucket while the rest of the band stood around them holding beer and chatting. Only Rami sounded nervous, everyone else had played the Roxy enough times to know what to expect. Dave hadn't heard from Liz since their texts on Monday night and had finally resolved that she wasn't going to show. He had sent five tickets to her manager and still hadn't heard anything. Part of him was relieved that he could focus on the gig, another part was trying to ignore how disappointed he felt. Taylor finished his drumming and looked over at him for approval.

"No, that's good. Do that," Dave said nodding.

They were crammed into a tiny dressing room just big enough for the six of them and a cooler of beer when a tech poked his head in the open door and announced that they had ten minutes. Dave felt the familiar surge of adrenaline begin to flow and he adjusted the black band on his right wrist.

His head snapped up when he heard Chris laugh, "What the fuck?"

A giant blue Cookie Monster suit wandered down the hallway in front of the dressing room and Dave, Chris and Nate leaned out of the doorway to get a better look.

"Is there acid in this?" Nate asked, holding his beer up to the light as if that would tell him.

Dave watched the suit round the corner at the end of the hallway and disappear. His momentary confusion dissolved into a broad smile when he remembered the texts Liz had sent him a few days ago, he had only read and re-read them several times between then and now. His adrenaline was replaced with butterflies when he realized that she was probably backstage.

"I'll be right back," he called over his shoulder to the band and left the room.

"We still have to do band prayer!" Taylor called after him, shaking his head. "He's fucking twitterpated," he said to Pat, who ashed his cigarette and nodded in agreement.

"Seen that before," Pat chuckled.

Dave hurried to the main backstage area where catering and guests were staged, distractedly greeting the few people there while looking over their heads for Liz. He searched until he heard a tech call for the two-minute warning and headed back to his band waiting just off stage.

Chris handed him a shot glass of Jaeger and a can of Red Bull which they all downed on the count of three, then strapped on their instruments. Taylor bounced around behind Dave as they stood listening to the introduction, but stopped abruptly when he spotted Josie on the opposite side of the stage.