Life After Dark: Book Two of the Dark Series

Chapter 9

"Stop dragging your feet. Come on!" Lizzie said, pulling a reluctant Tommy by the hand.

"Are you sure this is okay?" he tentatively asked. As he, Elizabeth, and Gina headed backstage to their friends' dressing room, he began to have misgivings. Wishing them good luck had been a good idea in the car, but now as they passed the various other band members and security guards, he wondered if they should just turn back.

"It's fine. They gave us backstage passes. The security guard let us through. Don't worry about it," Gina said with an encouraging smile.

Tommy felt some of his worry and apprehension leave when Gina smiled at him. He smiled back at her and didn't say anything else as Lizzie continued to pull him.

"Oh, look! There's Lucky," Lizzie said. She released Tommy's arm and ran to hug Lucky, who returned her embrace with equal fervor.

"Hey! You guys made it. You didn't have any problems coming back here, right?" Lucky asked as Gina and Tommy reached him and Elizabeth.

"No problems at all," Gina said with a smile.

"Wow! Nice dress," Lucky said with an exaggerated wolf-like whistle.

Tommy's eyes narrowed at Lucky's innocent comment, and he felt himself move closer to Gina. For some strange reason, Lucky's words made him feel protective. He didn't understand why he felt that way, but even if he wanted to, he couldn't have moved away from her.

"Thanks. You don't look so bad yourself. Mrs. Jensen's designs look even better now than they did on paper," Gina said with a smile.

She was right. Carrie willingly and happily designed the costume for DJLS. To correspond with their multi-ethnic make-up she decided that black and white costumes would be in order. The boys wore black pants and black shoes. Their white shirts were almost skin-tight, v-neck tee shirts. The material clung to their upper arms and made their biceps look maybe even bigger than they actually were. The material was flexible enough for them to move freely and not feel restricted when the time came for them to stop playing and dance. Dawn's costume was designed with the same effect in mind.

"Where are the others? We wanted to wish you guys go-" Tommy began.

"Don't say it!" Lucky and Lizzie said simultaneously.

"What? All I was gonna say was go-"

"No, Tommy! It's bad luck to say those words backstage," Lizzie explained.

"Why?" he asked with a frown. Over the past six weeks, he had learned plenty about different phrases and the 'normal' way of life, but each day, he found that he was still very far behind.

"Because it just is," Lucky said. The fact is, he didn't know either, but he had heard it often enough that he believed it. Winning the headliner position would mean that he could move out of the boxcar and keep Luke off his back forever. There was no way he'd allow a few innocently spoken words to jinx it.

Still not fully understanding, Tommy shrugged and said, "Oh. Sorry about that. So, um what do you say back here."

"Break a leg," came the soft voice as Dawn and Nikolas joined them.

"But that doesn't make any sense," Tommy said, turning to face her. His eyes immediately flew to her chest which wasn't completely concealed by Nikolas' leather jacket. Embarrassed that his eyes would betray him so, he blushed and looked away.

Dawn was oblivious to Tommy's reaction and with humor said, "You're right. It doesn't. Nothing back here does. My, my, my! Don't you three look nice. That shirt looks really good on you, Tommy."