This Love Will Never Die

Chapter Four

Raelyn’s POV

After we’d eaten, everyone gathered around the main stage where a couple guys had set up a karaoke machine. I was sitting between Oli and Spencer with Max sitting in Vic’s lap on the other side of Spence. Jason Lancaster from Mayday Parade was doing a horrible job of a Lady Gaga song. He was singing way out of tune trying to hit the higher notes and also seemed to be doing an impression of her at the same time. He had us all laughing so hard our guts hurt and tears were falling down from my eyes.

When he was finally finished, Austin Carlile took the mic from him, wiping his eyes and asked for other volunteers. For a few seconds, everyone was silent. I looked over at Max, my karaoke buddy and she rolled her eyes before getting off the ground and following me up to the stage.

“Alright we have volunteers. You’re Raelyn, right?” I nodded. “It’s your first year at Warped, am I correct?” I nodded again. “Awesome, well welcome to the family. Everyone give her a hand!” There was a lot of clapping and a few cheers. “Who is this?” Austin gestured to Max who was hanging a little behind.

I pulled her up beside me and a few people laughed in the audience. Austin handed me the mic. “This is Max; she’s our manager and my best friend.”

A few people awed as I hugged her before Vic shouted, “And my girlfriend!” Max blushed and stuck her tongue out at him.

“Anyways, we’ll be singing ‘Here’s to Never Growing Up’ by Avril Lavigne.” I smiled and Alan Ashby ran onstage to hand Max another mic. A minute later, the music started and Max and I started to sing the song at the top of our lungs. A few people in the audience got up and started dancing and singing with us.

I didn’t get the same feeling I got the last time we were on tour and performing in front of crowds. I didn’t get the nervous but exciting tingly feeling all over my body. It was just fun to be on the stage singing a song with my best friend to a bunch of our other new friends. When the song was over, I almost wanted to stay on stage and sing another. I didn’t, though. I followed Max off of the stage and we sat back down with our friends.

We continued to watch people get up and sing songs by other artist. A few people sang songs from bands that were on tour with us, but made them sound higher than they really were or just sound girly. Some people changed the words to make them funnier. All around, it was a good night.

Until Austin said, “Okay, the next guy coming up has a special reason for being up here. He royally screwed up with the girl he loves and he’s hoping this makes it up to her. Ladies and gents, Kellin Quinn and “All I Want is You”.”

“Oh, shit,” I heard Max mutter.

Kellin walked out on the stage holding an acoustic guitar and sat on the stool now placed in front of a microphone stand. His eyes found mine in the darkness and held them as he started the song. “You say you want diamonds on a ring of gold. You say you want your story to remain untold,” he sang as tears sprang up in my eyes as I remembered that night in Orlando. I didn’t know it then, but I realized later that he’d been trying to tell me how he felt that night. Instead, he didn’t tell me until we were in New York. Remembering New York brought back all of the memories of that night and suddenly I was drowning in them.

“Rae, are you okay?” Spencer asks me.

I sprang up from the ground and stepped over people as I hurried away from the stage and back towards the buses. I heard Kellin say my name from behind me but I didn’t stop running. Not whenever I heard the muttering of the people around me or Kellin calling after me, or Max or Spencer or Ash or Jasper. I just kept running until my knees gave out from under me and I fell onto the hard gravel.