AJR- Little Sister

Chapter 22-

March 28-

Soundcheck? Done. VIP? Done. Nervous? Of course. Everyone is. Not just Lilly. She is more nervous, but the boys are still nervous for the show. They made a plan for Lilly which was when she went on stage, if she starts to get nervous, they would stop and calm her down. They hoped it wouldn't happen, but they never know. They get ready for the show. One minute. They're nervous. Thirty seconds. They do their handshake. Ten seconds. Last moments of nerves. And showtime. They run out to their intro as Cat and Lilly watch from side stage. They play through their first few songs, the crowd screaming every word back to them. Then they get to Lilly's part. Jack explains what's going to happen to the fans.
"Alright, so welcome to the newest bit of our show, where we get our little sister, Lilly, to join us on stage. Everyone give it up for Lilly!!" Jack says, pointing to Lilly. Lilly walks on stage and grabs onto Jack.
"Lilly, what will you be singing for us today?" Jack asks like they rehearsed.
"A song I wrote with Jack and Ryan." Lilly says. The crowd erupts in applause and cheers as Ryan handed Jack the guitar, Jack handing Lilly the mic.
"Ready Lil?" Ryan says only to Lilly. Lilly nods as Ryan started to play the ukulele as the beginning of the song. Jack joined in on guitar, but when it came time for Lilly to sing, she froze. They stopped playing the instruments and Ryan went over to Lilly, setting down the ukulele as he went.
"Hey, you ok?" Lilly tenses up, immersed in her own thoughts and can't focus on Ryan. Ryan lays a hand on her side and she snaps out of it, looking at Ryan with panic in her eyes.
"Come on Lil." Ryan says, grabbing the mic from her. Ryan hands the mic to Jack and Ryan takes Lilly off stage and meets with Cat. Jack then explains it to the crowd.
"Alright, so, the first time Lilly played live, was New York City, about two months ago, and she froze up on stage and got nervous. The same thing is happening now, so Ryan's just gonna calm her down real quick and we'll get back to it. In the mean time, I'll point out some people in the audience and we'll hang out, ok?" The crowd cheers and Jack starts doing his bit. Ryan hugs Lilly as she tenses up and starts crying. She buries her face in her hands and nuzzles into Ryan's shoulder. Ryan was crouching down in front of Lilly and Cat crouched down to the side behind her, rubbing her back and side. They try calming her down for a while but Lilly doesn't relax.
"What's wrong Lilly? You scared?" Ryan asks. Lilly nods and continues crying.
"Hey, there's no reason to be scared. You've practiced the song a million times, we're right there beside you, you've got this Lil." They should be getting to the point where Lilly settles down now, but she's not.
"Want me to take your bit out of the show tonight Lil?" Ryan asks after a minute. Lilly shakes her head no.
"Alright, then breathe with me and settle down, alright?" Ryan says. He starts taking some deep breaths and after a second Lilly starts to follow.
"There ya go Lilly!" Cat says encouragingly. Lilly finally calms down and pulls away from Ryan, wiping the tears off of her face.
"Alright, ready Lil? You can't get nervous, alright? You've just gotta do it. You can do it, I know you can." Ryan says.
"Alright, let's go Lil." Ryan says. Lilly takes a final deep breath and holds Ryans hand and they walk back on stage.
"Alright, we're ready." Ryan says as Lilly grabs the mic from Jack again. Ryan stays relatively close to Lilly as he plays the intro to the song. Lilly sings the song perfectly with no mistakes, and without getting nervous. They finish the song, the crowd erupting in applause and cheers. Lilly hands the mic back to Jack as Jack gives her a hug. Jack pushes Lilly to the front of the stage, making her bow. Ryan and Adam also give her hugs and she walks off stage into Cat's arms.
"You did it Lil! I'm so proud of you!" Cat says. They finish the show and they run off stage into the dressing room.