Lead me to Heaven

Breaking ties

Danny was a libra like her and, because of that, they both thought similarly and it was easy for any of them the cheer the other up. “Where have you been!?” Came the irritated greeting, a demand really, when he saw her slim figure approach, but then he realized there was something wrong with her.

As usual, Danny hugged her fiercely and waited until she calmed down to get the latest story. The other two members of the band, Paul and Freddie, exchanged puzzled looks and then shrugged. They were best friends since elementary and were always together, telling each other inner jokes no one else understood. They kept their distance and passively accepted whatever plans Sandy and Danny had for the band or the set-lists, just happy to be a part of it all.

Sandy let go when she felt Danny’s body tense and heard a surpassed sigh. She knew her current mood was upsetting him and tried her best to compose her face. Danny took the band seriously, way too seriously the mothers of all the other band members would say, but he was the guitar player, the manager and the leader, all at the same time and that couldn't be easy. She understood him and tried to calm him down whenever he got too nervous, which was basically, before, during and after every performance, but even though she was the only one capable of making him see reason and calm down a little, there was no way of turning him into a normal person when they were to go on stage.

He was a perfectionist and had a low self esteem that needed everything to go perfectly for him to feel all right with himself. Sandy was the only one who knew this. The rest only saw the mask of cockiness he wore all the time and a guy with a musical obsession, thinking he was a big fish in the sea, when they hardly had four hundred fans.

“What happened, puppet?” He asked trying to sound concerned, but too worried about her eyes getting too swollen to look good on stage to be convincing. Sandy made a face. She hated it when he called her “puppet”, but didn't have the heart to let him know. He had done so much for her already, always listening to her teenager problems and letting her cry it out whenever she had had an argument with her father, she felt she owed him. Still, her face was so red and damp she doubted Danny could tell the reason for her disgust was the vocative he had just used.

It was hard for her to answer. Where to begin? She didn't want to relive it and cry more. That would certainly make her face impossible to show in public. “I… ah…” She sobbed while gathering her thoughts. “I ran into Cindy and her new girlfriend. Her mom gave the bitch my spot at the conservatory because she couldn't carry a tune in a bucket and would have never passed the entrance exam.”

Danny frowned, torn between feeling bad for her and worrying about the concert that would start in fifteen minutes. He was probably thinking of the best way to calm her down fast. Sandy could read that much in his eyes. “But don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine in a minute…” She said with a sigh. She was exhausted of pretending, of telling everyone that she’d be fine when she knew she wouldn't. And the most painful thing was knowing he’d be willing to eat that up and look the other way as long as she was OK for the performance. “I’ll change clothes, put some make up on, and I’ll be good as new.”

He hesitated for another moment and then nodded. That promise barely guaranteed that the performance wouldn't be a failure, but it was the best she could give him. “Hurry up. We’re up in ten.” He told her. She nodded and hurried into her tiny top and mini skirt, twisting and turning to put them on behind the stand without Paul and Freddie seeing too much.