Abby and the Cute One (Backstage Pass) (5 page)

Chapter Six

Nathan

N
athan didn’t go to sleep. He went to his bunk on The One and played Otis’s song on his phone to make sure it wasn’t tainted now with thoughts of lost causes and never-going-to-happens.

Abby’s audition had overwhelmed him. She was beautiful. Light spilled from her while she was up on that stage as if she was made of the sun’s rays. When she sang, her soul opened. Hope built in his chest, the kind that inspired new songs and the dream of new beginnings. With all the girls he’d gone on dates with recently, none had lit that spark.

No matter how beautiful Abby was, or how talented, or how much she moved him, it couldn’t happen. He had his band mates to think about. And his family. And now Abby herself. He was onto something good, and even though he wanted to pursue Abby like crazy, it wasn’t an option.

Fortunately, as he listened to the lyrics of “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay,” he could separate Abby from one of his favorite tunes. Now, if he could separate himself from Abby Curtis, he’d be in business.

Needing a distraction, he fished out the stack of fan letters LJ had given him the other day. He picked one out from the first few with red glittery heart stickers on the envelope. He liked the ones that showed thought had gone into it. That someone took the time to press a sticker somewhere or draw him a picture meant everything to him.

Dear Nathan,

OMG, if you read this, I will just die. Literally. I’ve just spent hours watching interview clips of you on YouTube and you’re like the cutest thing ever. OMG, your smile! Your face! I follow you on Twitter, too. (CareBearXO14 if you want to tweet me!) I love all the backstage photos you post. It makes it feel like I’m there so please don’t stop doing that!

My absolute fave song is “Kiss This.” Believe me, there are so many girls just in my class alone that want to kiss you. I’ve seen on Yahoo! recently that you’ve dated a few actresses but what about real girls? Us real girls want you too, Nathan! Please share the love!

I know you get asked all the time but would you date a fan? Or even kiss a fan? I’ve heard you say you would on TV before but I thought if you could write me back and tell me the real answer it’d be really cool. I promise I won’t tell anyone. I think you and I would be absolutely perfect for each other so I hope you say yes.

My sister and I are going to your concert in DC. I can’t wait!

XOXO

Carrie

P.S. Please, please, please, PLEASE say you’ll date a fan and not just famous people! I would die!

Nathan smiled as he laid the letter down and shook his head. Fans said the craziest things sometimes when he thought about it literally. Would Carrie really want to die if Nathan read her letter or if he said he would date a fan? He hoped not. He wouldn’t want to say anything ever again.

He was glad he read her letter, though. She’d reminded him he hadn’t taken pictures of MetLife Stadium yet. Sound check was in a little while; he’d have to make sure to get some pics with the guys then.

The air release of the bus alerted Nathan someone was coming on. He stuffed the letters to the side of his bunk, flopped down on his pillow, and pretended to sleep.

A couple seconds later a hand shook his shoulder. “Hey, Nathan. Wake up.”

Beau’s big mass hovered in the bunk’s opening.

He pretended to be sleepy. “Yeah?”

“An interview got moved up. Sound check is right now.”

Nathan got up and fake stretched. “Okay.”

Beau crossed his arms and leaned against the bunk opposite him. “Did I just see the girl you met last night on the pier in the food tent? You guys must have really hit it off. How’s LJ taking that news?”

Panic ignited in his chest. Nathan forgot Beau would’ve seen Abby yesterday. How much
did
he see?

He pulled his hands through his hair and tried to calm himself. “That’s Abby Curtis. She’s our new opening act.”

“I know who she is
now
. Rumors about her audition are spreading like wildfire around here. But she’s the same girl from last night, right?”

“No,” Nathan said without thinking. Because any hesitation would so not be good. “No way, Abby doesn’t even look like that girl. They both have blond hair, but that’s about it.”

Beau’s eyebrows drew in. “Huh.” After a moment, he shook his head. “I must’ve been tired last night. Could’ve sworn it was the same girl.”

Nathan laughed it off and then patted Beau on the shoulder a couple of times. “You need some time off.”

Afterward, he made his way through MetLife’s humongous backstage area, silently thanking whomever that he’d somehow totally pulled that off. Beau had no idea Abby was the same girl from last night, and he needed to keep it that way. Whatever Beau saw couldn’t be associated with Abby. Not that he thought their head security guard—who’d been with them from the start—would narc on him to LJ, but he didn’t want to take any chances of it getting out. Beau and the guys were tight and he might let something slip without thinking. It would fly through the crew like crazy. Nathan had never met so many busybodies in his life.

Sound check had already started when he got there, but he paused to snap a selfie with the whole arena in the background. He uploaded it to Instagram and Twitter and then shut his phone down so the pings of likes and comments wouldn’t upset their routine.

The techs made their rounds, making sure everything was set up correctly, the mikes were live, and musical instruments were where they should be. Will ran up the ramps, testing them out—he was Mr. Safety since getting hurt—and Trevin tried out the speaker jump he’d been working on.

He caught Nathan watching him, and a smile spread across his face. “I think I’m putting this baby into play tonight.”

“Don’t fall,” Ryder helpfully suggested.

Miles shrugged. “Wouldn’t be the first time one of us fell during a show.”

They all peered at Nathan who’d ate stage the last time. “Ryder tripped me,” he reminded them.

A giggle came from the sidelines and Nathan’s arms sprouted goose bumps. Dammit. He’d been proud of himself for deceiving Beau so easily, but how was he supposed to do it when she was right there? When his body went all traitor on him just from a simple giggle? He didn’t dare turn around while the guys were staring at him. His face would speak volumes.

Justin, their head roadie, signaled they were ready. They always sang at least one song all the way through to make sure everything was operational for the big night ahead. “What are we going with tonight?” Nathan asked.

Three guys shrugged while Will looked to the side. “Let’s have our newest opening act decide. What say you, Abby? Which song should we test?”

Nathan glanced over to find Abby blushing. “The One,” she said softly. A fierce red spread across her cheeks as she rocked back on her heels. It reminded Nathan of last night.

“Excellent choice,” Ryder said.

Nathan wanted to be dramatic and roll his eyes at Ryder’s pompous attitude, but he had a job to do. He took his place on stage with the rest of the guys, put Ryder and Abby out of his head, and waited for the backup band to play the opening chords to “The One.”

Despite all his good intentions, he couldn’t help but sneak glances at Abby. She hugged her arms to herself, a smile growing on her face as the song progressed. She hadn’t been kidding when she said she was a fan, and he loved that she was enjoying this. She looked like she was about to burst.

Around him, the band fizzled out, and the guys stared his way with puzzled expressions. His face heated. He couldn’t even
look
at Abby. “What?” he whispered to Will, who stood closest to him.

Will’s lips curved into a small smile. “You missed your cue for your solo.”

Oh God. He hadn’t done that in…never. He’d never done that.

Justin jogged out. “Is your mike not working?”

Nathan couldn’t even answer. He hadn’t been paying attention to much of anything except for Abby—he didn’t even know if his mike was on, let alone working. How could he miss his solo?

Justin grabbed the mike. “Check one, two. Check one, two, three.” He handed it back over to Nathan, a crease deepening between his eyes. “Seems fine.”

LJ’s booming voice sounded from the front of the stage. “Start from the top. Nathan, get your act together.”

He nodded as a scorch of flames flashed up the back of his neck. He turned his back to the empty arena and took a few breaths. Trevin nodded to him and Nathan nodded back. The band started up again and they did it all over.

This time Nathan sang when he was supposed to, though his vocals could’ve been better. Nerves after being scolded in front of Abby had him thinking too much. And thinking too much meant he second guessed himself and didn’t take risks. And not taking risks meant he sounded like every other cookie cutter male vocalist.

After everything checked out, Miles brought Abby out on stage and handed her his mike. “Sing your version of ‘The One’ for me? The mike’s set up to my vocals, but it should be fine.”

Abby’s eyes widened. She looked as if she were two seconds away from a car accident. Her gaze swung around to the sidelines and all the other nooks and crannies of the stage before it fell back on Miles. “Are you sure? I don’t want to hold everyone up.”

“No, it’ll be brilliant. I kind of had this idea that maybe we could bring you out for ‘The One.’ You could start it your way and then we could transition it into ours for the end. What do you guys think?”

Miles, the ever-optimistic Brit, peered around with a smile. Everyone nodded and agreed except Ryder and Nathan. It was Ryder’s baby after all, and Nathan wasn’t sure he’d be able to lose himself in the music with Abby on stage right next to him. He could barely handle it when she was standing on the sidelines fifteen feet away from him.

Eventually, Ryder agreed and Nathan had no ground to stand on other than he just didn’t feel like doing it, which would play out as well as it had when he hadn’t wanted to vote on hiring Abby earlier. So he begrudgingly said, “Sure.”

“Brilliant.” Miles looked at the drummer. “Start it out at about half time, right Abby?”

She nodded, her fingers turning white from the grip on Miles’s microphone.

The former heartthrob didn’t seem to notice. “Then we’ll transition it into full speed by the end. It’ll be cool. We’ll play off each other.”

Nathan walked by Abby to take his place on stage. Her hand shook. Before he could stop himself, he touched her shoulder. “It’ll be fine. Just have fun.”

She gazed up at him gratefully and then squared her shoulders as Trevin placed her in front center. The band played the opening notes and Justin ran out with another mike for Abby so Miles could have his back.

Abby sang right on cue and her pitch was dead on. After a few moments, the band and the rest of the guys got into the rhythm and backed her up. By the middle, the song was in full force Seconds to Juliet mode and Abby had no trouble catching up either. When the drummer hit the last cymbal, they all smiled.

“That was awesome,” Will said. “We should start that tonight.”

“One thing,” Trevin said. “Abby’s got to move around on stage more. We were running circles around her.”

She cleared her throat, her face ashen white, and she mumbled something.

They all had to move closer to hear her. “What’d you say?” Miles asked.

She rolled her eyes. “I get stage fright.”

“Oh. From the way you sang at the audition, I had no idea. You’ll get used to it,” he assured her.

Ryder leaned lazily with his hand draped over his guitar. “How many shows have you done?”

She drew in, making herself smaller. “A few small shows. Nothing like this.”

Miles looked at Trevin. Trevin looked at Ryder. Seeing his scowl, Trevin turned toward Abby. “Maybe we shouldn’t start you out on ‘The One’ tonight. You should work on your stage presence with someone.”

They all nodded and glanced at each other. “I’m scheduled up to the rafters, mates,” Miles said. “Every spare moment I have, I chat with Aimee as much as I can.”

“Ditto,” Ryder said. “I chat up Aimee, too.”

“Oh, bugger off.”

Trevin eyed Nathan and Will. “Normally I’d volunteer, but I’m in the same boat as those two.”

“If you say you chat up Aimee, too…”

“No, I like to be with Daisy as much as I can with our full schedules. Sorry, Abby, I really don’t have time to work with you on this.”

That left Will and Nathan. Will wasn’t ready to take on a new responsibility, so it really only left Nathan. He knew it. They all knew it.

He sighed. This was going to suck.

Abby smiled at him.

Or maybe not.

He’d played in front of sold out stadiums. Surely he could keep his attraction to her in check long enough to help her.

“I’ll do it,” he said.

“Really?” Abby asked, her voice high and laced with doubt.

“Yeah. I’ll do it.” He grimaced under the weight of his bandmate’s stares. What if they saw right through his act? He shrugged, feigning indifference. “What? She needs work, so I’ll work with her.”

Trevin shot Nathan a look then put his hand on Abby’s shoulder. “Your singing is beautiful. We just have to work on your swagger, that’s all.”

“How’s Nathan going to teach swagger?” Ryder jumped in with a cocky smile.

“Do
you
want to do it?” Nathan snapped.

Ryder smirked and held his hands up. “She’s all yours, little brother.”

As soon as they planned everything out, LJ herded them to the interview room. He waved all the others past, including Abby, and waited to walk alongside Nathan.

Wonderful. He was about to get an earful. What happened to the good mood manager from earlier?

LJ combed over the few strands of hair he had left on his balding head. “There’s nothing attractive about screwing up, son. The solo in ‘The One’ is your time to shine. That’s the moment all of your adoring fans are waiting for. You standing there mute isn’t sexy.”

Nathan nodded as he focused on Abby walking in front of him. She glanced into every room they passed then hurried up behind Trevin every time she fell behind.