You're My Spark

19 \\ Fantasy

This was possibly one of my favourite chapters to write ever. With powerful love ballads, quality #nomnom, defensive boyfriends, total appreciation and SQUAD GOALS, I give you chapter nineteen! I hope you read this and feel the way I do, because I'm so immensely proud of my characters, even if they aren't real.

[ T O M ]

I couldn't breathe. I wasn't sure if it was the panic attack or Netty's beautiful singing that stole my breath, but one way or the other I was walking out on that stage no matter what.

She looked at home on stage. I wasn't sure how performing made her feel on the inside. I had no way to tell if she got the same rush of adrenaline in her gut and the push to try harder like I did out beneath the spotlight, but no matter what she felt, she looked like she felt something. Something that took grip of her soul and released it into every jaw dropping note she belted out of her small frame. Whether she liked to admit it or not, she looked just as natural on stage as I did, as if her body had been longing for the chance all her life-- which it probably had.

"Are you alright?" Daniel asked. Maggie passed me my microphone as I walked towards her very slowly, my eyes transfixed.

"I am now." I told him. Netty disappeared from my view, belting out a high note and talking a strong stroll down the runway leading off the stage. Daniel gave my back a firm, encouraging pat as I walked past him almost transparently, breaking into the glowing spotlights with an eruption of screams.

[ A N N E T T E ]

"Okay, I overestimated myself. I can't go out there alone."

All day I'd been buzzing. I'd had a crazy, hyperactive drive to get back out on stage and show more of what I could do. Almost like I'd had too much tequila and I'd completely forgotten that I didn't want to be famous. I'd spent most of the day scrolling through Twitter and Instagram, making phone calls to my family and friends and soaking in every moment like a sponge hungry for water. But once I'd made it to the wings of the stage, where I could see part of the crowd that was ready and impatient for the concert to begin, I realised how unprepared I was for this.

"Yes you can." Daniel encouraged me as Tom disappeared, "You did it last night and you did amazing, don't worry about a thing."

"But not alone." I tossed the microphone from one hand to the other nervously. Oddly, they'd given me one with a ring of sparkle around the base, but I wasn't complaining because it looked much prettier like that, "I've never done this solo before. I can't do this."

The crowd was chanting, they wanted to boys to walk out and begin. They wouldn't want me, a nervous girl with half the experience and no original songs. It was only a four song set, why did it scare me so much? Why did I agree to this to begin with?

I got too confident and when it came to do it, I was too scared and felt like I had to run away. This always happened. Even right back in high school when I was even more of a raging introvert than I am now, I still found a way to get myself into situations where I felt like I had no other option than to run.

And even when the inside of me was a fire of determination, anxiety still crept in a smothered it to ash.

"Do you remember when you did your solo piece at LPAC? When you sat behind a piano and belted out a song by Whitney Houston without a care in the world. What's any different? Same voice. Same talent. Same girl. Just a different place."

I sighed, turning to Daniel who was dressed in a blue dress shirt rolled up to his elbows and ripped black jeans, "But that was different."