“Ready?” Lola asked from next to me.
“As I’ll ever be.” I took a deep breath, smoothing my skirt.
“Don’t be nervous babe, it’s gonna be fine. Just put one foot in front of the other and smile for the cameras.”
“You make it sound so easy.” It really was that easy, but that tiny part of me that was still sixteen years old and scared of walking down the halls of her high school was taking over my adult brain.
“I’ll be with you the whole way.” She squeezed my hand once more before we stepped out onto the black carpet. Tonight was the Golden Gods awards and we were here representing our band. I was excited to see some friends in the industry that I hadn’t gotten to see lately, but I was also terrified of the interviews. This was my first public outing since we’d announced our marriage. Myles was also walking the carpet but we’d decided it was better for him to go stag and let me stand on my own as a musician rather than as his date. It also kept Lola from having to walk by herself; Aria had a dress rehearsal for a show tonight and couldn’t make it.
The musician in me beat back the terrified sixteen year old and I managed a cool smile as the cameras started to go off. There was so much noise and so much light, but Lola’s grip on my waist kept me from bolting like a frightened deer. Not that I could move too fast in these shoes; with a six inch heel and a platform, I was lucky to be upright. As it was my ankles were liable to go out halfway through the night.
As we made our way down the carpet, a woman with a headset holding a sign that said “Mercyfvcks” trailed behind. It was good to be here as a musician, but at the same time I wished I was with Myles. I wanted to be on his arm, to be seen as his wife. I also wanted to be seen as his equal, which was how I’d ended up walking with Lola.
We found an opening at the bar to speak to a reporter who didn’t seem to be getting too much traffic. The noise level from all the people shouting and the music blasting made it hard to hear so I had to lean in closer than I would have liked. I was grateful for the metal fence; at least if I lost my balance, I wouldn’t fall flat on my face.
“Mina, you recently announced your marriage to Myles Kennedy. Do you have anything to say about that?” The look on the interviewer’s face told me it was totally okay to not have anything to say, but I was tired of being mum about him.
“He’s the most incredible person I’ve ever met, and the fact that I get to spend the rest of my life with him is an amazing prospect. He’s a little upset with me because Lola’s borrowing me for the night, but I’ll be backstage later when he’s performing so that should make up for it.” I couldn’t help the huge smile on my face when I talked about him.
“My girlfriend Aria couldn’t make it so Mina’s my date.” Lola chimed in. “She’s a dancer and she had a dress rehearsal tonight.” I was a little surprised that she’d said anything about Aria. Usually she was even more tight lipped than I was about her personal life. I understood why she did it. All anyone ever wanted to talk about was her sexuality, not our music, and talking about Aria just made it seem like it was okay to badger her about being bisexual.
“Tell me about your plans for the rest of the year, touring wise.” I made a mental note to get the name of this girl. She seemed like she knew what she was doing when it came to talking to musicians about their lives. You could get a few personal details, but all we wanted them to care about was our music.
“We’ll be heading back out on tour soon, we’re doing a full tour in the US and then the summer festivals in Europe, then we’ll do a full European tour in the fall.” Lola was the only reason I ever knew where we were going. I seemed to have inherited my dad’s sense of direction, or at least his attention span when it came to knowing where he was.
