𝐜𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧' 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐝 ─────⋆⋅★𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘺

𝟑𝟔. 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐬

The roar of the Tokyo crowd thundered through the walls, shaking the backstage area as if it were the heart of the city itself, pulsing with the electricity of thousands of people waiting for her. Suki felt her heart pound as she glimpsed herself in the mirror. Her eyeliner was smoky and intense, and the edges of her hair were damp from pre-show nerves. She tried not to glance at Billie, who was fixing her own lipgloss nearby with practiced calm, but she could feel the heat of Billie's gaze, that persistent flicker of something both enticing and dangerous.

"You ready for this?" Billie asked, her voice smooth, dipping into that subtle flirtation that made Suki's heart race just a little faster.

Suki nodded, tugging on her jacket as she tried to focus on the night ahead. She'd dreamed of this moment—performing in Tokyo, the place she'd only ever seen in magazines and films, with fans screaming her lyrics back at her, an ocean of people whose love felt surreal, like a dream she wasn't quite ready to wake from.

But tonight had a sharp edge. She'd caught wind that Drew's ex, Odessa, was somewhere out there in the audience. It shouldn't matter; it was none of her business anymore. But the thought of Odessa watching, of her seeing Suki up on that stage, performing her heart out, had burrowed into her thoughts, a constant reminder that she was still dancing through the shadows of her past.

They called for her, and as Suki took one last breath, she pushed all of it aside—the backstage tension, the invisible weight of Odessa's presence, the way Billie's gaze felt like a tether she both wanted to hold onto and let go. This was her night, her moment.

The stage lights hit like a wave, brilliant and blinding as she stepped into them, Billie a few steps behind. The arena was packed, a vast ocean of faces, arms waving, mouths open in joyous shouts. And then they saw her, and the sound was a shockwave, rolling across the space like a physical force, shattering the quiet she'd held in her heart.

As the opening chords of "guess" began, she felt herself transform, every inch of her body vibrating with the music. She belted out the first lines, her voice weaving through the room with a power that felt almost supernatural, a voice she barely recognized as her own. She prowled the stage, owning every inch of it, as if the lights, the sound, the crowd were extensions of her body.

Hey Billie, you there?

Uh-uh

She felt them. Thousands of voices singing her words, her lyrics filling the space, a wave of voices that reverberated through her bones. Suki felt a rush so intense she could barely contain it, her heart swelling as she locked eyes with the sea of fans, some of them crying, their hands reaching toward her like she was something holy, something worthy.

You wanna guess the colour of my underwear
You wanna know what I got goin' on down there

Billie joined in, her voice blending seamlessly with Suki's, the contrast striking, perfect. They shared a mic, their faces close, the tension crackling as they harmonized with an intensity that bordered on ferocious. Suki could feel the heat radiating from Billie, her eyes a storm of unspoken things, every note they shared an unspoken promise, a dare that neither of them was quite ready to take.

Is it pretty in pink or all see-through?
Is it showin' off my brand-new lower-back tattoo?

Then Suki's gaze drifted to the side of the stage, and there she was—Odessa, standing in the shadows just beyond the lights, her eyes dark and fixed on Suki with a look that was impossible to decipher. Suki's heart stuttered for a split second, but she kept going, her voice unwavering, her body moving as if Odessa weren't even there.

Try it, bite it, lick it, spit it
Pull it to the side and get all up in it

But Odessa's presence felt like a third figure in the performance, an unspoken tension coiling around her and Billie, weaving into the song's high notes, tightening every glance, every shared smile. Suki danced harder, sang louder, feeling every lyric strike like lightning. She wanted Odessa to see her, to feel the force of everything she'd become, as if the power of the performance could eclipse every shadow of her past.