I leaned into Cooper, grinning up at him before I glanced back at Lindsey. “I’d love to brainstorm some more things.”
Cooper lightly traced the side of my thigh. “It was amazing. We could hear you when we came in. I had to go check it out.”
I blushed. “Thanks.”
So much of that last song had been about him. And knowing he’d been right there to hear it made me feel like my emotions were on display.
But then there wasn’t any time to be embarrassed. We had a show to do.
Even the abbreviated show felt like a big deal. The first bit of normalcy in our chaotic world.
Jamie and Lindsey had their heads together while Zane and Oz were giving each other shit, as usual. I was pretty sure the comment about his bail was mostly teasing, but men could be just as passive-aggressive as women.
Cooper and I wound out pinkies together before splitting off to get to our own places on the stage. Our crew was a miracle. My piano was already set on the stage with Lindsey’s Baby Grand facing the other direction. When we had the stage availability, we both liked for our pianos to be ready.
The crowd for the rehearsal portion of the fan club event was triple the amount of people who had come to mine. They hollered when we came out from the side of the stage. Jamie, being her usual clown self, ran to the middle and did a cartwheel. “So much stage.”
Lindsey rolled her eyes as she moved next to me. “Pretty sure she hasn’t aged past fourteen.”
“In horny factor, as well.”
“That is the truth. So, I was just talking to James. I think we’re going to end the rehearsal with ‘The Show Must Go On’. What do you think?”
“Oh, wow.” I pulled out my bench and sat before I fell down. It was one of my all-time favorite songs. “Are you serious?”
“Well, now that you went big, we gotta finish big, right?”
I looked down at my keys. “I didn’t mean to overstep.”
“Teagan. Honestly, I love that you did. It means you’re finally feeling at home.”
“I do.” I gripped her hand. “I promise I do.”
“I know, but there’s always a little bit of holding back. I hope you don’t feel like you have to anymore. There’s room for everyone in our spotlight, okay?”
My eyes stung, but I nodded. “Yeah. Thanks, Lindsey.”
She pulled me in for a quick hug before turning on that insanely bright light that lived inside her. Lindsey was a born frontwoman. While I loved playing with the intimate crowd, I truly loved being part of the ensemble. I didn’t want all the pressure that sat so regally on her shoulders.
Cooper stood behind his kit and gave me a look. I shook my head and winked at him. The crinkles were back at the corners of his eyes as he slapped the skins loudly enough that Jamie whirled around.
“All right, Tarzan.”
“That’s Oz, not me,” Cooper shouted back.
Oz shook his hair back. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The abbreviated crowd soaked it all up. They were hungry for what took place on stage. Signs and T-shirts announced their favorites as well as screams and screeches of varying octaves. Pretty sure one girl in the back was going to break glass.
Oz soaked it up and Jamie in her ultra-cool fashion didn’t seem to notice it once her guitar was over her shoulder. We tore through our standard opening song, “Judgement”, which lit the crowd into a frenzy. It was always our opener and brewed the excitement until it was a nice, slow simmer.
From the low-key start to the epic end, Lindsey let her voice rip. She didn’t hold back like we did in our usual rehearsal. She usually saved her voice for the show, but since we had a night of rest before tomorrow’s actual show, she went for full range.
Fans turned dreamy-eyed as camera phones were lifted and the murmurs of excitement slid into a sing-along.
Lindsey stalked the stage and touched each of us to form that connection she was so good at fostering before she returned her attention to the fans and ended the song with a note that made everyone push forward to get closer.
We exploded through the shortened set list. We played two songs that only true fans would appreciate and that gave us a little extra practice since they didn’t come off the shelf too often.
Once we’d reached the end, we were all sweating as much as if it was a real show. Lindsey slung her arm around Jamie’s neck. “Cover?”
Jamie gave her an exaggerated side-eye. “Which one?”
“Hmm.” Lindsey touched her cheek with one long, glitter-tipped finger. “Neil Diamond?”
Jamie wrinkled her nose. “Not tonight. Maybe later.”
Oz came forward with his heavy bass. “How about…ID?” He turned to Cooper. “Yeah?”
Cooper slapped his sticks hard and they bounced up with a double flip before he snatched them out of the air and the bass-heavy “Radioactive” reverberated through the mostly empty arena.
“Wait a minute.” I stood up on my bench. “There is no way we’re doing that song without a houseful of people.”
Oz’s hair fell forward as he pouted.
Lindsey came around to her piano, and I stepped up to my other keyboard rig where I could pull other instruments in with electronic magic. Her voice was bright and true. Freddie Mercury would be proud of the range and the epic scope of her performance.
I moved back to my piano as the guitar solo for “The Show Must Go On” became one layer on another as Jamie and Zane put their own spin on Brian May’s intricate guitar style. My wrists sang with the force of my fingers on the keys as I raced with them and got caught up in the theater of the song.
Then Lindsey took center stage and fell to her denim-clad knees. She was a cone of starlight with her glittery blond curls flowing behind her and her back arched to
