behind blue eyes ― jimmy page

iii. THREE

︵‿︵‿୨ 1972 ୧‿︵‿︵

THE ROOM WAS filled with heavy anticipation as Sadie found her band-mates in the crowd to stand by them for the show. The raucous sound of shouting and music had hushed down into a steady drum as everyone, drunk, high or both, watched the stage as Jimmy Page walked up to the microphone. "Alright who's ready for a little fun?!" The guitarist asked, his voice amplified and echoed across the room as the crowd erupted into cheers mingled with the sound of clinking glasses.

Sadie grinned and watched as Jimmy's eyes roamed the crowd before they finally landed on her, a smirk growing on his lips to match her own as he continued on. "Now are you all familiar with a little singer called Catalina?" He asked, and the crowd erupted again into hollers. Sadie clapped her hands too, joining the shouts and cheers for Catalina as Jimmy chuckled into the mic. "Well she sang a song of ours recently without us knowing, and some people think she sang it better! Well I think she should come up here and prove it!" He paused while the shouts flared loud enough to drown out the static mic sound, partygoers across the room slowly starting to die down before Jimmy continued on again, "So without further ado I give you... Catalina!"

Sadie laughed as the roar in the room became deafening, the stamping of feet and semi-drunk shouts welcoming the brunette as she ran up the steps to the stage centred within the huge main room. Her perfect cherry-coloured lips were pulled into a blinding smile as she took ahold of the microphone and pulled it free of it's stand to speak. "Better watch your words, Jimmy," her echoey voice warned through the speakers as she turned back to wink jokingly at the guitarist by her. "You should know better than to challenge me."

Jimmy followed along, chuckling at her commentary as he leant into the mic in front of him, "Well you have a tough act to follow, Miss Pérez, because you will be competing against our very own Robert Plant."

As though summoned by his own name, the golden-haired mane of the one and only Led Zeppelin singer appeared upon the stage, sending another ruckus through the room that made Sadie bounce excitedly on the balls of her feet while she clapped and cheered along. Robert's eyes were on Catalina, though, as he grabbed his own mic and raised it out of it's stand. "Enough with the theatrics, Page, let's give them what they want to hear!"

Jimmy didn't need to be told twice as he lifted up his infamous double-necked red guitar and rested the strap over his shoulder, picking at the strings a few times until the hubbub of the room died down enough for him to truly start playing. It didn't take more than a few notes before the whole room recognised the tune of the iconic Stairway to Heaven falling from the guitarists familiar finger-tips, although no time seemed to pass at all before Robert's voice filled the room with the melodic opening lines; "There's a lady who's sure, all that glitters is gold, and she's buying a stairway to Heaven... There's a sign on the wall, but she wants to be sure, 'cause you know sometimes words have two meanings..."