The bass of you

Chapter 12

A few minutes pass and I literally do forget about what happened for a moment, before I unintentionally look up at the stage and remember instantly as I look at Chase. The guitarist with the shades down the other end of the stage is standing in front of the mic stand down that end and Chase does the same to the mic stand up this end. They're playing their guitar and leaning into the mic stands to sing some lines the same time as Jackson Ellis does as part of the song. As Chase is singing his backup vocals, he glances down at me and then looks to his guitar as he's playing it and moves away from the mic stand. He head-bangs for a few minutes as he looks at his guitar then around at the audience.

Chase runs to the middle of the stage as the one with the bandana and the shades jump around and Jackson dances freely around the stage as there's an instrumental. Jackson stretches out his arms as he pulls his top over his head and throws it on the stage. His body is just as drenched in sweat as the guitarists and the crowd is going wild for it, screaming, cheering, jumping up and down behind me and beside me : Layla being part of it.

The guitarist with the shades and Chase stop beside each other near enough to the middle of the stage, in front of the drummer. They're saying something to each other. Chase says something and grins, the one with the shades looks over our way and nods and grins back to Chase, saying something back, they both look over our way, then they both nod to each and head-bang at the same time that they start to walk away from each other. Jackson raises the mic to his mouth and starts singing again, giving a long, classic scream to finish the song as the guitarists and drummer do their part of the fast instrumental to the song again.

The song ends and Jackson walks over to the steps in front of the drums set again to sit down. He opens his bottle of water and downs loads of it, he then takes it from his mouth and pours the rest over his face and upper body. Chase pulls the guitar strap over his head and rests his guitar to the side, making his way over to join Jackson. As he lowers himself down and opens a bottle of water, the other two guitarists rest their guitars down and join them. The one with the bandana sits down on the step in front of Jackson and Chase, the one with shades stands in front of them as the drummer comes around and stands next to the one with shades. They're all talking about something and laughing as they take a break to drink water. Suddenly, they all tell the drummer something and point over our way and my heart does a backflip again.

Since I told Layla about Chase, she's been watching them closely, like a vulture with their prey. Layla grabs my arm in response to them pointing over our way and holds it tightly, having noticed that they could be talking about us. Chase gets up as the others watch him with grins and the one with the bandana smacks him on the back as he walks away and disappears backstage. Not long after, we see him again in the corner right at the back with another person. It's a plump woman with a black shirt and a tag around her neck so I presume that she's a member of their crew. Chase points over our way again and the more he points our way, the more nervous I'm getting. From what I can make out, I'm sure the woman is nodding in understanding and Chase slaps his hand on her shoulder before walking back onstage. His band members acknowledge his return and go to pick up their own guitars as Chase picks up his. He pulls the strap over his head and pulls his cowboy hat off his head, flinging it on the stage floor. The drummer takes his place behind his set and as Jackson walks in front of the drums set, he calls something over to the drummer and sticks his hand up to him. I suppose that was Jackson telling the drummer that he's ready because he instantly looks over to Chase and sticks his drumstick up to him. Chase nods and starts to play the opening instrumental of the song as the drummer starts to join in. Jackson is moving about on the stage again in rhythm with the tune, shimmying to the left and then to the right with a huge smile on his face. I can't help but think of Chase's charming compliment about my eyes last night as I watch him play, and I can feel my cheeks getting hot as I think about it.