Not So Normal

Chapter 21

   The first show of The Piano Girls' "CrissCrossed" tour starts in ten minutes. We're in some city in New Mexico that I can't remember the name of. This particular arena seats 19,000 and it sold out. I'm so nervous. I think Lindsey is too.

   "What if I mess up?" she asks in a panic. I have that same thought.

   "You won't mess up, Lindsey. And even if you did no one would notice. People would know if I messed up," I try to reassure her, but I don't know how well it works. We both freak out with each other until someone comes and tells us we have one minutes until we need to go onstage.

   "We can do this. We are The Piano Girls!" Lindsey says, pumped up. We do our special pre-show handshake thing, and then we go out to the stage.

   "Please welcome The Piano Girls!" a voice booms over the speakers. Everyone cheers as Lindsey and I walk to the front of the stage.

   "How are you all doing tonight?" Lindsey says into the microphone. More screams. I almost feel like I'm a One Direction concert. I never thought that we were this big. I mean, I know we're not anywhere as big as One Direction, or even the Piano Guys, but this is still pretty freaking awesome.

   The first song we do is our signature Black Horse and the Cherry Tree. That song is our most popular cover. I love singing it, though, so I'm perfectly fine with doing it. It's just so fun to sing and I get really into it. We have a band behind us with drums and guitar, so it sounds even cooler.

   We do a bunch of songs that we planned, and then we let the crowd pick a song for us to improv. We decided that this would be the little thing we did different at all the shows. We had people going to this show tweet a song they wanted us to perform under the hashtag 'PianoGirlsNewMexico' and then all the other cities are doing the same thing, but with their state. Management finds the song that was most requested, and they show it on the jumbo-tron.

   The song New Mexico chose for us is Maybe by Ariana Grande. It came out a few months ago, but it's still pretty popular. Luckily, I know it pretty well. I'm dreading the day I don't know the song that the crowd picks. The song goes well, and then we do our closing song, which is Not Like the Movies by Katy Perry. That's one of my all time favorite songs.

   "Thank you New Mexico!" I yell, running offstage. Lindsey follows me and we bear hug backstage.

   "That was amazing!" Lindsey squeals. We freak out for a minute and then crew and other staff come and congratulate us on our first show and stuff like that. I wish Niall could've seen this show. The first and last shows of tours are always the most special...

   I'm lying in my bed on the tour bus an hour later, wishing I could be in a nice hotel bed. This bed is barely big enough for me. It's almost midnight, and I'm not even close to falling asleep. I'm still pumped up from the concert. I'm about to get  up and go watch TV when my phone starts buzzing. It's Niall.

   "Hey, Ni," I answer.

   "Hey princess. I'm surprised you're still awake," Niall says, sounding impressed. I usually don't stay up this late during the week.

   "It's just the first-show-adrenaline rush. I'm sure I'll be out like a light in a bit. I'm just too pumped too even think about sleep," I say with a sigh. I desperately want to be asleep.

   "I know the feeling. You'll probably be like this for the first week or so, but then you adjust and sleep like a rock after that. It's pretty sweet, actually."

   We talk for a few minutes about how the first show went and how the guys are doing with all the interviews and TV stuff. I guess they were on a talk show yesterday and got asked about their love lives, and the host brought up the whole thing with me and Harry. I cringe when Niall mentions it.

   "I'm so sorry, Ni, I never wanted this to happen," I almost start crying. I still feel awful.

   "Elissa, don't worry about it! It was easy to shut the subject down, and we've done a lot to deny all the rumors. You know I'm not mad, so don't freak out," Niall says, exasperated.

   "I know, but I just feel absolutely awful. You shouldn't have to go through this. It's all my fault."

   "Let's just not talk about it, okay?"

   "Okay. I'm sorry," I mumble. We keep talking until Niall says he's got to leave for an interview. We say our goodbyes, and after I hang up it doesn't take long for me to fall asleep.

   A week later, we're getting ready for our show in Nashville, Tennessee. This is one of the cities we're doing a meet and greet. This is the second one we've done, and they're actually pretty fun. We meet a ton of fans and they're all sweethearts.

   We've got about twenty minutes left of the meet and greet when Taylor Swift walks in. I watch as Lindsey's mouth drops open and she almost freaks out. She's never met Taylor, and she's a big fan. Taylor has a couple people with her, but I really don't think me or Lindsey care.

   "Hey guys!" Taylor says. Her and her friends pose for pictures and then we talk for a few minutes.

   "It's awesome to have finally met you," Lindsey gushes. I try not to burst out laughing- she's in total fangirl mode right now and it's hilarious.

   "It's cool to meet you, too," Taylor replies with a smile. I swear Lindsey almost passes out.

   When it's time for me and Lindsey to go get ready to go on stage, Taylor and her friends say bye and head out to their seats. Lindsey and I go do our little pre-show ritual and handshake.

   We go through the normal show, and then the song that this crowd picks is Love Story by Taylor Swift. Since she's in the audience, I invite her up to the stage to sing it with me. The crowd goes wild. It ends up being really cool, and the crowd tries to get me and Taylor to do another song, but over my earpiece, management tells me not to. Dang.

   "You've been a great audience! Thank you Nashville!" I yell before going offstage.

   Lindsey and I go straight to the tour bus and get in bed. We've been sleeping like rocks the last couple days, but we're still exhausted. I'm about to fall asleep when my phone goes off.

   "Hey Ni." barely escapes my mouth.

   "Oh shit, did I wake you up?" he asks. I try to say no, but a yawn stops me. "You sound exhausted. I'll call back in the morning, okay princess?"

   "Okay," I say with another yawn. We hang up, and two minutes later I'm fast asleep.

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Sorry this chapter is really short. It's pretty much just a filler chapter. I've been doing homework and had some other stuff to do, so I didn't have a ton of time to do this.... sorry!