Strings Attached

IX

Quinn-

He carried the fiddle in one hand, and held Alex's hand in the other as he led her backstage to where Clarke and Johnny were warming up for the show. There was about ten people with them. Clarke was the first one to see him.

"Yo Quinn! Dude you're definitely gonna want to see this!" He reached his arm out with a black envelope in his hand.

"What's this?"

"Just read it, man. You're gonna freak the fuck out."

Quinn opened the letter and began reading it. He was lightly skimming over its contents until he read the final sentence. The fiddle slipped right out of his hand.

"You gotta be kidding me! It's a joke right?"

"No dude, this is real."

"Oh you fucking genius, get in here, you too, Johnny!" He pulled both of them into a huge bear hug, and at that moment a bright camera flashed, taking their picture as they hugged. It lasted for a solid five minutes. And Alex, still unaware of what was happening decided to speak up.

"Quinn, what going on?"

He turned around, he had a full smile on his face, showing teeth and all. He looked as if he just won the lottery.

"You were right! We just got a record deal. A record deal!"

"No..fucking..way. You're serious?"

"I'm dead serious, this is really happe-" Alex pulled his face into hers and kissed him. She pulled away, now she had a smile as well. Neither of them noticed that another cameraman took their picture as they kissed. But Quinn realized the ten other people backstage were from the news herald. A journalist jumped at Quinn, bombarding him with questions. Thankfully Johnny noticed how uncomfortable Quinn was so he climbed on top of a chair and shouted out.

"Alright everyone, clear out, we need time to get ready for the show!"

The journalists all looked disappointed, but followed Johnny's orders and slowly filed out the backstage exit.

Clarke asked, "Quinn, why do you have your fiddle? Where's your strat?"

"Oh, uh, my mom asked for us to play Drunken Lullabies. Do you have your mandolin with you?"

"I always do, you're lucky we have space for one more song on the setlist. But seriously, where's your strat?"

"I gave it to Johnny yesterday night, he should've brought it. Right Johnny?"

Johnny stood up and walked to the door. He reached behind it and pulled out Quinn's seafoam green guitar. He knelt down and dramatically shouted,"your Fender Stratocaster, Sir Quentin McLaughlin."

"Get up man, we don't have any time to be playing around. Did you see if my guitar was tuned?"

"Yeah, it's tuned and ready to go. And there isn't even any time to practice, the show is sold out once again, only this time we have 1,100 people! And they're all in the pit already, which means we need to be on stage in five."

"Shit, okay, I guess I won't have any time to practice then. Clarke put your mandolin out right next to the stage so we can be quick with getting the instruments."

Quinn picked up the fiddle and put it next to Clarke's mandolin right offstage. Quinn strapped on his guitar, Clark slung his bass over his shoulder, and Johnny grabbed five pairs of drumsticks.

"You guys ready?"

Clarke and Johnny responded in unison, "hell yeah!"

"Well let's get the hell out there!"

They all ran out to the stage, and just like the concert last week, the crowd exploded into an ear piercing cheer as they stood on the stage. Quinn knew this would have to be their best concert.

Alex-

The concert went just like it did last week. Quinn ran back and forth across the stage, climbing the amp stacks, and kicking in the air. Only this time, he seemed more hyperactive, like something was making his movements quicker and his jump-kicks higher. The show was just as great as she thought it would be. It went on for almost four hours, and Quinn didn't seem to run out of energy at all, although Clarke and Johnny started looking sluggish after the first two. But everything calmed down as Quinn announced that they were about to play their last song.

"Okay guys, I know this is a bit different from what we usually do, but our last song will be a cover. We're playing Drunken Lullabies by Flogging Molly."

To her surprise, the crowd blew up once again, and a few small groups of people held out Irish flags as Quinn picked up the fiddle and Clarke strapped on his mandolin. They played the song, but stretched the time so they could play longer, but from the crowd's reaction, they loved it. She had never seen Quinn smile so much, he looked happier than he'd ever been. They walked off stage and were greeted by a hoard of journalists, sticking handheld voice recorders in their faces. This time, Alex picked up on how uncomfortable Quinn was. She pushed her way through the sea of journalists and made it to Quinn. She jumped in front of him, trying to block the people from getting too close to him and his band. Quinn pulled her in front of him as they all turned around and ran back on stage, there was no way they were getting out the way they went in. The crowd of journalists seemed to follow them so they broke into a full sprint to the parking lot.