by Mia Archer
But instead I finally gave into the overwhelming feelings that had been running through me since the first time she approached me in the diner. I reached up and pulled her against me. Her eyes went wide and then I felt her smile as she kissed me. As our mouths opened to one another for just a brief moment that stretched into eternity.
I couldn't believe I was making out with the sexy lead singer on stage at a fucking concert! And yet it was happening, it was magical, and it was a moment I wasn't going to forget for the rest of my life.
If I thought the crowd was loud before when she was just singing to me, when her lips brushed against my hand, well that was nothing compared to when we kissed. Whether they were screaming because they were angry it wasn't them up here or they were screaming for me and the incredible chance I had I couldn't tell you, but I decided to just go with it. To assume they all had the best of intentions.
As she kissed me I felt one of her hands move down the small of my back. Down into my pants. She gave my ass a squeeze. My eyes went wide with shock.
Then she pulled away from me and smiled. Winked. In a daze I made my way over to the side of the stage where Alice waited with her arms crossed looking up at me with an eyebrow cocked. That was a look that said she wanted answers and she didn’t appreciate that I’d been lying to her all evening long. Sure they’d mostly been lies of omission, but that probably wouldn’t help when the questions started.
I scrambled back to my seat and looked over at Alice sheepishly. I had a feeling I was about to get one hell of a questioning. She stared at me. I glanced around and everyone was staring at me. The looks on those women's faces were clear. They were wondering the exact same thing Alice was. Who the hell was I and how did I catch Ivy's attention like that?
I turned back to Alice. Braced myself for the barrage of questions as Ivy moved down the stage giving me another glimpse of that incredible ass as she walked away. Damn. That was a view I’d never get tired of!
"You have something hanging off of your ass," Alice said.
Her voice was flat, matter of fact, but I could see a twinkle in her eye.
"What are you talking about?"
"Am I speaking Japanese or something? Nan desu ka? I said you have something hanging off of your ass!"
I moved my hand down but the only thing I felt was my cell phone in my back pocket. Then I thought back to Ivy squeezing my ass and I moved my hand into the other pocket where I felt something hard and rectangular that felt like it was attached to something.
A lanyard.
What the…
I pulled it out of my pocket and saw two lanyards with plastic rectangles attached to them. Backstage passes. I looked at Alice, my eyes wide. She stared back at me and tried to keep a cool face, but it didn't work. Not for long at least.
Her face broke into a huge smile and then we both devolved into a fit of giggles. I allowed myself to enjoy the moment. To give up on the ice bitch persona I'd cultivated when it came to Sleepwalker. Whatever. That had been an incredible experience, and I was a fan of Ivy now even if I still wasn't a huge fan of the band or their music.
"Backstage passes!" I squealed.
"Oh my God! You have a lot of explaining to do," Alice said. "But if whatever the hell is going on here gets me backstage passes then all is forgiven!"
9: Changing Plans
Damn that had been intense!
Sure I’d done the whole “serenade a random girl from the audience and make her night” thing countless times before at concerts. It was something we all did from time to time. Actually it was something we were each supposed to do during that song. We sort of went out into the audience and each of us was supposed to sing a part of the song and I’d just monopolized all the time.
Oops.
Then again it was originally my song. I was the one who wrote it, and I figured if I wanted to change the plans just a little so I could give Jessica a thrill then I had the right to change the plans! It was my song. I could do what I wanted while we were performing it, damn it!
“So are you going to tell us who the girl is?” Gareth asked.
I turned and grinned at everyone standing there with arms crossed. They didn’t look pissed off, which was a relief considering the Incident had hit all of them as well as me, but they did have stupid grins plastered on their faces like they were eager to find out more about Jessica.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, and we’re about to miss our cue if you don’t hurry.”
“Nope, you’re not getting away that easily,” Talia said. “Can we expect anything else like what you pulled with that girl out there? Come on. Who is she anyways?”
I tried my best to look indifferent, but it was hard. Talia was always too perceptive for her own damn good. Gareth also had a stupid grin on his face that said he didn’t believe it when I said I didn’t know what they were talking about.
Well let them have their suspicions. They’d think I was crazy if I told them all I was going on here was a quick conversation in a diner. They’d probably be right, at that.
“I’m telling you guys there’s nothing going on there.”
Gareth snorted. “Oh yeah? And the way you slipped those passes to her was just because she was some random?”
I blinked. “You saw that? Was it on the monitors or something?”
Shit. That was the last thing I needed. Sometimes I got so carried away on stage that I disappeared into my own little world. A world where it was just me, though in this case it had been just me and Jessica.
It would be just my luck that I was so out of it that I didn’t even pay attention to the giant monitors all around the arena that might’ve caught me squeezing Jessica’s ass and slipping those passes into her back pocket. I could see that feeding the rumor mill online and creating one hell of a headache.
Though I had the consolation of knowing it probably wouldn’t be as bad as what happened the last time I got too involved with a fan. I was pretty sure nothing could top that shit storm. I prayed nothing in my life would ever top that shit storm again.
“No one saw anything,” Talia said. “No one but us, at least, because we know what to look for. No worries about that. It wasn’t on the monitors. We all just happened to be looking trying to figure out what the hell was going on.”
“Don’t forget that I was the one who taught you that move,” Gareth said. “You can’t steal all my best moves and expect me not to notice.”
I shrugged. “Well I guess you’ll just have to wait and see what’s happening with that girl, because to be perfectly honest I have no clue right now either.”
“Fair enough,” Emma said. “Just be careful.”
I nodded. None of them needed to elaborate on exactly why I needed to be careful. No, after everything that happened with the Incident it would be pretty obvious to anyone who followed the band that I needed to be a little more discerning when it came to my love life.
For some strange reason I couldn’t quite explain, though, I had a feeling that Jessica was a good choice. It was crazy since I’d only had that brief conversation, but there was something about her.
Gareth clapped me on the shoulder as the roar of the crowd grew so loud that it nearly rattled my teeth.
“We probably ought to get going before that crowd decides to storm the stage.”
The others moved into position, but I stopped for a moment. There was a mirror with a light hanging over it so we could do quick touch-ups in between songs. I stared at myself in that mirror for a moment. I could wait. It’s not like they were going to start the show without me.
I felt a strange exhilaration that went above and beyond what I usually felt at these shows. It was the exhilaration of knowing there was someone in particular out there I was performing for. Not just the generic all-American girl out to have a little fun and see her favorite band.
I wondered if this was how Talia felt whenever she was out onstage because she knew Lisa was out there watching her perform. If
so it was one hell of an inducement to get out there and have some fun. I hadn’t felt like this going out on stage in years. Since back when it was all new and exciting. How I felt about this Jessica girl after so many empty one night stands was new and exciting, and that was making all the difference in the world.
I couldn’t wait to get out there and dazzle even if she didn’t particularly care for the band. No, I was out there to impress a specific girl for the first time in a good long while, and I was going to give the performance of a lifetime!
10: Backstage
We started towards the backstage area during the second encore. They still hadn't played their biggest number one hit from way back when, but it’s not like I really cared to hear that song after spending the better part of the past decade trying to forget it.
Hey, I might be having a little bit of a starstruck flirtation with Ivy, but swooning over a hot girl and deciding that crappy music was suddenly wonderful because I was swooning over a hot girl were two very different things thank you very much.
I was surprised Alice was going along with it though. I figured she’d be out there in the middle of the crowd until the very end whether or not I wanted to sit and suffer with her, but when I suggested we get going she’d hopped up right away muttering something about how it was well worth missing a song she’d heard a million times to avoid the rush of people who were inevitably going to be trying to get backstage whether or not they had backstage passes like we suddenly did.
I was surprised at that sentiment from Alice of all people, and I had a pretty good feeling that she wouldn’t be so understanding about, say, leaving the concert early to avoid the rush out to the parking lot in a hypothetical world where I didn’t get backstage passes and we weren’t going to meet the band.
Not that I’d ever get to test that particular theory. No, Ivy, lead singer of Sleepwalker, seemed to have it out for me. It was the strangest turn of events I never could’ve imagined when I headed out with Alice for this concert, but here I was so I figured I’d roll with it.
It took forever to make our way through the press of bodies, but eventually we got up to security and flashed our passes. One of the guards, a big muscular hulking thing with a bald head, smiled and stepped aside to allow us through. And immediately moved back into place with a scowl on his face as other concertgoers tried to rush into the opening we'd just created.
Other concertgoers who didn't have the backstage passes we’d gotten in the most spectacular way possible. I couldn’t help but think “tough luck girls” as I felt an irrational flash of jealousy.
Oh yeah. I knew who those girls were back here to see, and even if the rational part of me thought it was ridiculous to feel jealousy over Ivy the irrational part of me hiding in the back of my mind was pretty damn happy that those wannabe groupies were being kept out.
Wannabe groupies. Was that even a fair thought? What was I doing back here? I know what the fire burning between my legs wanted me to be doing back here, and I quickly stomped down on those thoughts before they could get too out of control. As it was I got a little wobbly in the knees and almost stumbled to the ground before Alice caught me and gave me a funny look.
They were just starting up with that number one hit, the opening strains of "Txting My Luv (2U)," as we made our way into the backstage area. Hey, what can I say? They got popular back when texting was first starting to be a thing and everyone was using shorthand because the world still had to contend with godawful number pads instead of the on screen keyboards we enjoyed today. So naturally their biggest hit was mired in the technology of a decade past as much as their popularity was mired in that same decade long past.
As we walked through the backstage area I heard some commotion behind us and turned in time to see the bouncers let in another couple of girls. They looked just as excited, though they were probably a couple of years younger. Definitely still in college.
I fought the urge to scowl. It wasn't polite to think bad thoughts about the younger generation, but I couldn’t help but wonder what a couple of obviously younger girls were doing back here. I figured Alice and I were on the younger end of their target demographic and we’d been in middle school when Sleepwalker hit it big. Those girls had to still be in elementary school when the group was popular. Now they were back here with their silly smiles and their hair highlighted a shade of blonde that definitely came from a bottle and…
I stopped myself. What the hell was wrong with me? Why was I getting so upset about other women being back here? So what if they probably thought Ivy was hot? Only women who preferred the company of men wouldn’t think she was hot, there probably weren’t very many women like that in this crowd to begin with, and even then there might be some wiggle room.
It’s not like I had a good reason to be jealous. I’d just had a quick conversation with her at a diner, that flirtation during their set, and that one brief shining moment of perfection where she serenaded me on stage. It’s not like we were engaged to be married or anything. It’s not like I had some sort of claim on her.
So I stomped down on that jealousy. Or tried to. I didn’t do a very good job of it from the way I still felt heat rising as I looked at those girls, and not the kind of heat I felt when I thought of Ivy. So I turned and pulled Alice farther backstage where I wouldn’t have to think about Barbies one and two.
As we walked along I caught a glimpse of what I would consider to be the true "backstage" area. Roadies carrying equipment this way and that. Technicians doing who knows what with wires. And I thought I could even see somebody from the band, though I wasn’t entirely sure. That was probably my imagination since they were still out there playing and the girl I glimpsed didn’t have an instrument on her.
The final strains of Txting My Luv (2U) faded and I figured the group would show up soon. Goose bumps ran all along my skin as I thought that she was so near.
It occurred to me that we had backstage passes, so why not make use of them and do some exploring? Unfortunately as I walked towards the roadies and technicians another security guy stepped in our way.
This one was even beefier than the last to the point that he didn't have a neck. I'm talking like his bald head, why is it that all security guys at concerts seemed to have that bald head, was more of a dome that gently sloped down to his shoulders than a head and neck.
The guy was a fucking mountain holding out a beefy arm blocking us from going any farther. Damn it.
"What's the big idea? We have passes!" I said.
"Trust me, you don't have backstage passes for this area," he said.
"Then what the hell are these passes good for?" I asked.
The guy jerked his head off to his left, our right. Away from the stage. Away from the real backstage area. Away from the tantalizing glimpses I was getting of members of the band walking around doing their thing after the show.
"Those get you into the green room for the meet and greet. It's that way. The band will be over there shortly."
"This is bullshit!" Alice said.
Her voice carried all the anger of a cornered animal. Or a fangirl who just discovered she might not get to meet her favorite band up close and personal after all. Same thing, really.
I turned to her and nodded. "Definitely! What good are backstage passes if they don't actually get you backstage?"
I figured backstage passes that Ivy Thompson personally slipped to me while pretending to squeeze my ass would be better. Maybe she was just looking for an excuse to get in a squeeze? What if she did that with all the girls?
No, I wasn’t going to think like that. I also shouldn’t be getting as giddy and turned on as I was at the memory of her squeezing my ass while singing to me onstage.
The guard shrugged, though it was more like a mountain that was rolling its shoulders. I half expected to see rubble and boulders come crashing down from his insanely thick neck.
"I don't make the rules, I just enforce them," he said. He sounded like he didn't care at al
l. And why would he? His job was to keep us out and he was just doing that job. Sure he was crushing our dreams, but for him it was just Tuesday.
That didn't stop me from thinking he was a huge asshole though. "This sucks."
"What's going on here?"
I felt a thrill. I felt an impossible heat as though my entire body was on fire. As though I'd just contracted a fever. I felt weak in the knees, and I almost started shivering. All of that from a few words from Ivy. I’d recognize that voice even if I couldn’t see her yet.
A part of me hated that I was reacting like a groupie getting excited at hearing the lead singer of Sleepwalker, a group I despised. The rest of me, the part of me that was thinking of how hot Ivy was, quickly stomped down on the skeptical band-hating part of my mind that had been in control for so long.
No, the part of me that was excited at a super hot girl being interested in me was in control, and it was on fire! Damn!
But could you really blame a girl for reacting that way? Because when I turned and looked past the mountain that was a bouncer I saw her standing there. Ivy. My mysterious girl from the diner who was oh so sexy. Looking every bit as gorgeous in person as she had out on stage when she treated me to that rock star moment.
Standing there in that tight shirt and miniskirt she looked every bit the rock goddess she'd been when she was up on stage singing to the crowd, reaching down and touching my hand, pulling me up on stage for a song I shouldn’t have enjoyed because it was a Sleepwalker song but I’d already downloaded it to my phone to listen to later and oh God she was corrupting me. Making me actually like a Sleepwalker song, damn her.
I shivered again as I thought of that brief moment of heaven together on stage.
Ivy looked at me and her eyes lit up. Damn. It wasn't fair for one girl to look that good. To make me so weak in the knees. It wasn't fair that one girl could make me feel this way with just a look.