legends never die || josh kiszka

24

Josh

Lorelei stood on the stage, microphone in her hand as she pranced around, singing her heart out. I admired her dedication, the input that she gives on and off stage to make sure they're successful, and for good reason.

It was one of their new songs, one they hadn't performed yet. I've heard it on their new record and I heard it during soundcheck, but the live performance brings so much more energy and power than on the record. I could feel the expression of the lyrics, and although neither of the two women often expressed their feelings in words, just by listening to and watching them perform you can find out more than if they told you directly.

Lorelei's feet, never bare, in complete contrast with the four of us, tapped and stomped with the rhythm. She was in a different outfit than she was while we were at the pride parade downtown, then wearing a flowy, pink dress (yes, a dress??), now wearing ripped up jeans that reached her waist and a light pink tank top with thin straps over her shoulders. She was wearing combat boots instead of her converse for once, and had on a decent amount of blue, purple, and pink eyeshadow. I knew what that meant, but I assumed she didn't realize that.

I was proud of her, knowing what was to come tonight. No one needed to tell me - it was her birthday and the first day or pride month, and the bisexual flag was displayed on her eyelids. Hell, we're performing at the annual pride festival. That was all I needed to know to assume she'd be coming out tonight.

She didn't know we had something planned for her birthday. In fact, we had pretended to forget it. After the show, we're going out to celebrate her birthday and the fact that her and Anastasia came out. Everyone else knows but her.

Except, there was something weird that happened this morning.

Jake clicked the television on in the living room where we sat, all eating pancakes and drinking coffee as it was seven in the morning. The default news channel came on, showing a picture of Leslie Porter on the screen.

"-what would've been her twenty-first birthday and three years since she's gone missing."

"Hey, look, it's about Leslie." Sam pointed, swallowing the pancakes that he previously shoved in his mouth. Lorelei, who sat next to me on the couch, tensed and damn near choked on her food. I patted her back, making sure she was okay.

"You really look like her, Lor." Danny chuckled, but Lorelei didn't think it was funny.

"I don't see it." She coughed, taking a sip of her milk. I kept rubbing her back, taking note of the fact that they share a birthday, too.

"She gets that a lot." Anastasia elbowed her side and Lorelei put on a fake smile before getting up and throwing away her half-eaten plate of food.

Other than that, the rest of the day was great - the pride parade was beautiful, and you could see the love within every person that attended. We sat on a float for a while as we passed by hundreds of people, but toward the end we mostly just wanted to interact with fans. We took lots of pictures, had lots of great conversations, and even made some new friends.

The greatest part of it all was Lorelei.

Today, she was the happiest I'd seen her in a long time. She reminded me of the day at the aquarium where she could barely contain herself with excitement. I don't think I'd seen her more comfortable around such a large group of people - usually she avoids large groups of people, in fact. Today, she was open, honest, and eager to speak about issues that need to be spoken on. She's always been willing to do that, though. The community welcomed us with open arms and Lorelei was extremely thankful.