A Night on Fire (An Olli Herman Fanfiction) #Wattys2016

Chapter Three

A moment of silence filled the venue only to be replaced by cheers. Scattered cell phones lit up in the darkness ready to record what was to come. My heart pounded with eagerness. I couldn't believe it. I was going to see these men perform in front of my very own eyes!

"Oh, Sasha!" Beverly shouted, squeezing my left arm with both her hands. "It's happening!"

I glued my eyes to the stage, hoping to see four silhouettes, but the stage was too dark for my eyesight to focus. Seconds seemed to pass by way too slowly. All of a sudden, the combination of drums and a guitar started up along with the harmonizing voices of the band singing, "Ooh whoa-oh, ooh whoa-oh, ooh whoa-oh, oh-oh," causing the crowd to go wild. The place erupted with screams and chants of ooh-whoa-oh's, including me and Beverly, as we all were familiar with the first song, "Night on Fire," to be played. The lights flashed on, shining down upon Hessu Maxx on the drums, Jalle Verne on the bass, Pepe Reckless with his guitar, and Olli Herman with his microphone.

Olli...dressed in leather and having the looks that kill, steered my focus over toward him. His long, blond, slightly teased hair dangled over his shoulders. He smiled at the audience as he always does, showing perfectly white teeth. His appearance amazed me. In real life, he was beyond beautiful! His hands, covered with black gloves, removed the mic from its stand. He brought it up to his mouth and, in a fierce tone as if he was ready to kick some ass, sang the first line, the fans echoing the words to the song.

Olli bloomed with energy, jumping, dancing, and running around the stage like a child at a playground, his hips swaying side to side in a seductive style and his leg kicking up in a David Lee Roth fashion. He encouraged the audience to participate in the excitement by gesturing us to sing louder. Jalle and Pepe also interacted with the first and second rows and the people around the catwalk. They made eye contact with the enthusiastic folks and showed off their musical abilities, especially when Pepe worked the guitar solos. After every few songs, Olli would praise his bandmates for doing such a fantastic job by slapping them high fives, giving brief hugs, or patting them on the backs.

Reckless Love performed all their singles from their self-titled, debut album to Spirit. They also performed some non-hit songs that Beverly and I love and their acoustic cover of Def Leppard's "Hysteria." They chose "One More Time" as the final song to play. The song's end lasted for quite a while as Pepe lengthened it with goosepimply guitar shreds. The audience went completely insane, clapping and yelling with their hands in the air. The lights flashed rapidly in time with the guitar and drums. Olli let out one last, drawn-out scream into the microphone before the music ceased and the lights settled. The venue erupted into satisfied shouts. Faint music in the background started up, playing the song "Safe and Sound" by Capital Cities. Jalle and Pepe put down their electric gear, and Hessu moved around his drum set to join the other three at the stage's front where their arms linked around one another's shoulders in a row to give an appreciative bow to their fans.

"Thank you for coming out to see us, Burgettstown!" Olli shouted into the mic with a heavy Finnish accent. His panting could be moderately heard, and the sweat on his forehead gleamed in the light. He took a quick swig from the bottled water he picked up. "We are Reckless Love." He pointed to each of the band members when he introduced them. "Pepe Reckless on the guitar, Jalle Verne on bass, Hessu Maxx on the drums, and I'm Olli Herman. We're going to be taking a picture, and you're all going to be in it, so raise those fists in the air for us!" They turned around to face the camera man in the back who positioned himself to get everyone into the photo, and the crowd threw their fists up. Once the man took the picture, Olli grabbed the mic again and said, "We'll see you next time! Drive safe!" and the band left the stage.

Beverly tugged on my arm. "Come on! We need to get to the backstage now, so we don't have to wait in another line!"

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