Echoes of Us (14 page)

It was thrilling and ego feeding to see comments begging for more music, asking where they could buy our song and when they could see us play live. We decided to set one full day aside to finish our assignments for summer session. There was no reason to toss away an entire class when we were so close to completing it.

Jade and I had it relatively easy compared to Maggie. We didn’t have a final test to freak about, only a final project. Jade handed his portfolio in to his professor, and then told him he wasn’t registering for the fall semester. I did the same thing. We agreed to try the music thing for one semester. If it didn’t work out, we were heading back to school. My parents were going to fucking freak out. It would be one more thing to add to their list of disappointments when it came to their baby son.

Kelli told me not to worry about anything. She could handle Mom and Dad for me. It was nice to know I wouldn’t have to face them with this news. They would probably try to have me committed. And truthfully, I wasn’t ready to face them, and they weren’t ready to talk to me. Forgiveness was a hard thing on either side of the fence.

We had several arguments about what songs to put up on YouTube. Maggie begged us to put up “From the Beginning,” but I didn’t know if I was ready to share that song with everyone. It was too personal.

“Jade, I wrote that one for you,” I snapped. “I don’t want to give it to anyone else.”

It was selfish and maybe a bit childish, but if people didn’t like that song, I didn’t know if I could handle it. To me, if people attacked the song, they were attacking me personally.

“Rylan, every song you write is a part of you,” Jade said. “I love that you wrote this song for me. I want to share it with the world.”

“It’s a beautiful song, Rylan,” Maggie said.

They always ganged up on me.

“I don’t want to put it up on YouTube yet. I want to sing it live first.”

“I’m good with that.” Jade looked at Maggie, and she nodded. “Okay, so we sing the song live and then put it up on YouTube. Rylan, you can’t change your mind.”

“You should make the video for the song when they sing it live,” Kelli said to Maggie.

“Oh, yeah, that’s a great idea,” Maggie said. Jade agreed and I had to admit, it was a really cool idea.

We laid down three tracks that night, and Kelli joined Mrs. Morgan and Maggie as fangirls of Rylan and Jade.

It only took Maggie one day to get the next video ready for upload to YouTube. It was a song Jade had written a couple of months ago. I tweaked the lyrics, and it changed from a depressing song to an upbeat dance tune.

We filmed the video outside, chasing one another around the yard, laughing and smiling with Maggie and Kelli. Even Mrs. Morgan made a guest appearance. Life was good at the moment. I pretended not to notice. I was going to enjoy the ride. When the bad stuff came, I would be prepared and be happy I’d taken the chance. We celebrated with beer and pizza.

“Kelli and I are going to check out the bar this afternoon. We’re meeting with the owner to finalize all the plans. He’s very excited to have you guys playing.”

“How can he be excited? He’s never even met us?” I asked.

“Our reputation precedes us,” Jade said.

Maggie cuffed Jade in the head. “He’s seen your YouTube video, and I might have exaggerated a tiny bit.”

I groaned, because Maggie’s definition of exaggerating a tiny bit was definitely different from mine. It was safer for us not to know what she told the guy. Neither of us needed the extra pressure.

Jade and I spent the afternoon practicing and figuring out our set list. It wasn’t like we had a vast amount of songs to choose from. To create a long enough set list, we would need to play all our songs.

We agreed he would do most of the talking to the audience. I needed time to get used to performing in front of people.

“I’m scared I’m going to freeze and end up staring at the audience.”

“And they would love it,” Jade said.

“Shut up,” I said.

“You always put yourself down,” Jade said. “Don’t.”

“He’s right, you know,” Kelli said.

“Old habits,” I shot back at her.

“Rylan,” Jade whispered and kissed me on the throat. “Well?”

Maggie came around the corner grinning like a loon. “It’s going to be fine, boys. The venue is small, but nice. It’s an all-ages show. We don’t need a full band yet, but I think we should start looking for a drummer, and a bass and guitar player.”

“Can we get through this first show?” I said as all the blood in my body drained to my feet. “If we absolutely bomb, we won’t need any bandmates.”

“Rylan,” Maggie said. “You’ll be fine.”

“Easy for you to say,” I grumbled.

“Go get dressed,” Maggie said.

“Dressed?” Now it was time to panic. With all the practicing, we hadn’t talked about what we were going to wear to the show.

“Your clothes are on your bed, Rylan,” Kelli said.

Before I knew it, Jade and I were dressed in black pants and white shirts. I had on a tie. Jade’s collar was open. He looked fucking hot. I was actually impressed the girls didn’t try to make us wear something weird. This was nice, simple, and comfortable.

“Makeup time,” Kelli shouted, before she came strolling into the room with a small cart. It was filled with bottles of goop, hair spray, brushes, and combs. There was even a flat iron. There was no way anyone was getting close to my hair with that thing.

Kelli fussed with our hair while Maggie dabbed on makeup. They both tried to get me to put on eyeliner, but I refused. We finally shooed the girls out of the room.

“Jade,” I whispered.

“Yeah,” he answered. He was still fiddling with his hair, mumbling about so much fucking hairspray he could poke someone’s eye out.

When I didn’t say anything, he glanced over at me.

“Rylan? You okay?”

“I’m fucking nervous,” I said. “What if they hate us or no one shows up or I forget all the words? I’ll look like a total moron.”

“Maggie and Kelli will be there, so even if it’s just them, we’ll sing for them. Really, all I want to do is sing for you.”

Well, that was a sigh-worthy comment and settled me down.

“Let’s get moving,” Maggie shouted.

There was a van parked in the driveway with a girl I’d never seen before sitting behind the wheel.

“This is Shannon. She’s a film major and is going to help us do the video when you guys sing ‘Dreamin’ Out Loud.’”

I wasn’t going to ask questions. Getting our stuff into the van would be a lot easier than trying to cram everything into Maggie’s car. Jade and I probably would have had to jog alongside the vehicle.

We tried to talk Mrs. Morgan into coming along, but she told us she would be there to see us when we played at the United Center. Jade made her promise. She countered with a demand for backstage passes. Jade promised her dinner with us, a limo ride to the arena, and backstage passes.

“Blow their panties off tonight,” Mrs. Morgan said to us.

“Shit, Mrs. Morgan,” I said, grinning at her.

“Ha, I made you smile. Now think about what I said when you’re freaking out. You’re good, Rylan. You deserve to be up on that stage. Quit selling yourself short,” Mrs. Morgan said. She patted me on the butt. “And if all else fails, shake your cute little booty. The girls and boys will die.”

She waved at everyone and left me speechless.

Jade didn’t stop laughing until we were on the freeway. “Should I be jealous?”

“Of what?” I asked.

“I think Mrs. Morgan was hitting on you,” Jade said.

“You’re it for me, babe,” I mumbled.

“I have something for you,” Jade said, digging in his pocket.

“What is it?”

He shifted closer to me and grabbed my wrist. “None of this would have happened without you.” He slid a bracelet on my wrist. It was a black cord with a silver infinity sign. “I bought myself one too,” he said shyly. He lifted his shirt cuff to reveal an identical bracelet.

He leaned toward me and pressed his lips against mine.

“I love you,” we both murmured at the same time.

Several kisses later, we realized the vehicle was no longer moving.

“What the hell is going on?” I asked as the van inched forward. There were people all over the place, standing in a line that stretched for blocks.

“There’s the bar,” Maggie said, pointing at a small building.

“Did you see that sign?” Jade asked. He pressed his face against the window trying to see down the road.

I didn’t see anything except a hell of a lot of people crunched together anxiously waiting for something.

“Keep down,” Kelli said, shoving her hand in my face. “There’s the parking garage the bar owner told us to park in.”

“Go back,” Jade said. “I think that sign had our names on it.”

“Are you crazy? I’m not going back,” Shannon said, glaring at him in the rearview mirror. “It would probably take us an hour to get around the block.”

The parking lot attendant held up his hands, stopping us. Shannon rolled down her window.

“The lot is full,” the guy barked, pointing at the lot full sign.

Maggie leaned over Shannon and hung out the window to talk to the parking attendant.

“We were told to park in here.” She handed him a ticket, and he peered inside the car, eyeing Jade and me.

“So you’re the ones causing all the ruckus tonight.”

I swallowed and shrank back into the seat. The guy told Shannon where to go and waved us forward.

“You two stay in the van,” Maggie said after we parked. “Kelli, Shannon, and I are going inside to find out what the hell is going on. This is crazy. They can’t all be here to see you guys. Maybe we got the dates crossed or something else is going on tonight.”

I leaned into Jade. He put his arm around me, pulled me close against his side, and kissed the top of my head.

“This is weird,” Jade said. “Maybe Maggie did fuck up the dates, but I swear that sign I saw had our names on it.”

“Why would someone have a sign with our names printed on it? We’ve never played live before. You’re probably right. Maggie screwed something up. I’m never going to let her live it down,” I said. Deep down, I knew Maggie hadn’t done anything wrong. She was organized to a fault. If she didn’t have roommates, her kitchen would probably be alphabetized.

Jade’s fingers tangled with mine, and he grinned as he leaned in for a quick kiss. It quickly turned hotter when he dipped into my mouth with his tongue. I groaned when he shifted his weight.

“Ride me, Rylan,” he murmured.

“Oh God, quit saying stuff like that,” I whined.

Someone banged on the window. “Rylan, get off him!” Maggie shouted.

We separated and Jade glared at her when she flung open the van door.

“So, what’s going on?” I asked. I snapped my mouth shut when a big guy opened my side of the van. He held out his hand to me so I shook it.

“Hi, I’m Dave,” he said.

“Um, okay. Nice to meet you, Dave,” I answered.

Jade had gotten out of the van and was deep in conference with Maggie. As soon as I got out, Kelli tugged on my tie to straighten it. She fluffed my hair and doused me with hairspray again.

“The club management sent Dave and a few other guys out here to help us,” Kelli said.

“Help us do what? What’s going on?” I asked. “Did Maggie fuck up the date or time?”

“No,” Kelli said.

“So, what’s going on, then?” I asked at the same time I heard Jade shouting.

“Holy shit,” Jade shouted. “Really!” His voice reached an all-time high, and it made me incredibly nervous.

“Kelli?” I said anxiously.

She looked at me and chewed on her lip. “All those people are here to see you and Jade sing.”

“You’re lying,” I said. “Jade?”

“Holy shit, Rylan. Can you believe this crap? Hi Dave,” Jade said. “I’m Jade and this is Rylan. You might have to carry my boy inside. He’s probably going to have a small freak-out.”

Jade was now jumping around, asking if we could go outside and talk to the fans. Dave kept shaking his head. I couldn’t breathe. The walls of the parking structure were sitting on my head, threatening to crush me into the ground. Kelli grabbed me around the waist and yelled for Jade. He was by my side in seconds, with his arm around my shoulder.

“Can you get us inside?” Jade asked Dave.

“That’s what I’m here for,” Dave said. It was then I realized there were two other large guys leaning against the wall. Dave called them over, giving them instructions to get our equipment and take it into the club.

“It’s our first show, and we already have roadies,” Jade whispered.

I giggled. He could always make me feel better.

“You good now?” Jade asked.

“Better,” I said. “But fucking nervous. What if they hate us?”

Jade tweaked my cheek. “Obviously they’re here because they saw our videos. They know what we sound like, so they must like us. I mean they had to pay to see us play. And besides, I don’t think the club will be able to accommodate everybody.”

That didn’t make me feel any better.

“Babe,” Jade whispered. “You can do this.”

“Okay,” I said. “As long as you stay close.”

“Always,” he whispered and touched my bracelet.

The word made my heart clench, and I suddenly desperately wanted to believe he meant it. Always. It was a word I’d never believed in before I met this guy. Now I felt hopeful.

The girls huddled next to us as Dave gave us instructions. It was crazy to think all those people outside were here to see us. Maybe they thought they were here for a different band. Now that would be funny if we got onstage and the audience went dead silent.

“Stop it, Rylan,” Maggie warned. “All these people are here to see you and Jade.”

“Yes, oh great dictator,” I said under my breath. She smiled and squeezed my hand.

“You sure make my life interesting,” Maggie said.

A lot of things happened very quickly. We were surrounded by a couple of large guys along with Dave, who hustled us forward like one big mass. A deafening noise greeted us when the people lined up outside figured out it was us coming out of the parking garage and heading into the club. I heard people chanting our names and shrieking louder when Jade waved in their direction.