He stood on the stage, the smoky lights blurring the audience in front of him. He knew she was there, he'd gotten a glance of her just before the show had started.
Bucky's heart pounded in his chest, it always did. The adrenaline pumping through him.
He wanted to see her, know that she was real.
A year earlier things had been, well, complicated. He'd left his label, gone solo. Left New York and Frankie behind. But that's what she'd wanted, wasn't it?
"It won't work," she'd told him, her hands shaking. "We're toxic, you and I."
She was right. Just two addicts addicted to one another. It was toxic, so he let her go.
Yet, here she was. In the crowded bar, she stood toward the back, the lights came up and his eyes landed on her.
"Hey," he spoke into the microphone, the boyish smile on his face. He'd changed in a years time. Cut his hair, let the beard grow out. And he was six months sober.
"Thanks for comin' out, I 'preciate it. I gotta new one," he said a bit nervously, chewing his bottom lip. He knew they'd come out to hear the hits. But that wasn't him, not anymore.
He adjusted the guitar strap and fiddled with the mic, beginning to play the bluesy tune. He hoped and prayed she'd know, she'd understand. This one was for her.
"I used to spend my nights out in a barroom
Liquor was the only love I've known
But you rescued me from reachin' for the bottom
And brought me back from being too far gone"
She'd saved him. Letting go had given him exactly what he needed.
"You're as smooth as Tennessee whiskey
You're as sweet as strawberry wine
You're as warm as a glass of brandy
And honey, I stay stoned on your love all the time"
He took a breath, catching her eye and she smiled. She knew.
"I've looked for love in all the same old places
Found the bottom of a bottle always dry
But when you poured out your heart I didn't waste it
'Cause there's nothing like your love to get me high"
Just the idea of her, the idea of being with her, was honestly better than any drug, anything else he could do to feel high. She was all he needed, all he wanted.
He loved her, needed her.
And he'd tell her tonight.
"You're as smooth as Tennessee whiskey
You're as sweet as strawberry wine
You're as warm as a glass of brandy
And honey, I stay stoned on your love all the time"
