Rockstars (18+) [COMING SOON]

Sneak-peek

I walked upstage as I heard Leif say my name. The crowd cheered as much as it could be expected. Good, they didn't hate me... Yet.

"I'll guide you through the setlist," Leif said. "If there's anything you can't play or  sing, just let me know, okay?"

"Yeah."

"Cool. First song is Black Widow."

"Okay..." I nodded nervously. "Simple enough, good for a start."

"Alright. Let's f*ck this crowd up."

He walked away from me and stroke the strings, beginning the wash. His bassist followed, along with the drummer. I though I would freeze from anxiety, as I looked at the sea of people in front of me. I entered at my mark, playing the angry riffs, but I was actually relieved that my fingers worked. Leif checked on me one last time and focused on the audience. He hyped them with the first word of the song.

"Pain!"

He repeated it over and over. My muscle memory took over, fingers gliding over the frets on their own. I was still stiff, not moving much. I was in a sort of trance, disconnected from the world around me, but I got the job done. My biggest concern now was to not throw up; thank God I was sober.

Leif sang the first verses. I followed with backing vocals, matching his voice with the weird harmonies everyone insisted were so hard to achieve. He turned to look at me in surprise for about a second before coming back to himself.

The song picked up and I started to loosen up. Then we all stopped. Entered the nerve-wrecking chorus, completely array from the rest of the song. Leif got all intense and sinister as he sang the dark lyrics.

"Slow poison, pain inside
Drag me to the shadows, draining my life
Black Widow work your bane
When nobody is in sight, put the poison in my vein"

He trapped everyone with his voice, just like the spider he sang about; he sounded hypnotic in this particular song. They were completely enthralled by him. And so was I. I forgot I was supposed to sing this part with him, don't know how I haven't forgotten to play too.

He didn't seem to mind. We eased back into the main body of the song, at an even heavier pace. I flipped my hair, and he gave me an encouraging smile. We navigated the song as a well-oiled machine, but inside, I was barely keeping my sh1t together.

This time, I remembered to sing the chorus with him. We sounded so good together, I could not get over it. My brain was finally convinced that I was out of the woods, and I gave in to the song. I looked to the side and saw Leif looking at me. I held his intense gaze as we sang the last verses of the song until the abrupt end.

All I could hear now was applause and screming. I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding, chest heaving. Leif beamed at me, still looking amazed. I couldn't blame him. I too couldn't believe this had worked out so well without a minute of rehearsal.