Out of Tune: The Original 2015 Draft

chapter 26

When people hear good music, it makes them homesick for something they never had, and never will have—E.W. Howe

There was something extremely exhilarating about stepping onto a stage where the entire crowd knew your name and started screaming for you before they even saw you step out from behind the curtains. The lights had flashing brightly and the energy in the room had almost been a tangible thing. On the stage, I'd never felt more alive.

We'd just finished our first concert of the tour, at Ford Field. Despite the fact that we'd been forced to re-block our entire performance, due to Spencer and his broken leg, everything had gone really well. Zeke had been forced to move around and interact with the crowd more than he normally did. Spencer had sat on a stool with his guitar and a microphone just shy of center stage. I started off the night by standing beside him but as our program went on, we had three songs to perform, I ventured out farther and farther on the stage and closer to the crowd.

And I sang.

It was different, singing in front of such a crowd, but oddly comforting. Before the tour, I'd felt shy and awkward on stage, as if people we mocking me. All insecurities I'd had vanished the second the crowd started singing along, joining in on a melody that I created. Prior to coming on the tour, we'd recorded all of the songs we'd been planning on performing and posted them to our YouTube channel. It was obvious that we had some fans in the crowd for most people sung along to our original songs.

It was probably one of the best, if not the best, experiences of my life. And the best thing about it? I got to do it all over again in just two days.

Currently, the six of us, Miles, Taylor, Zeke, Charlie, Spencer and myself, were sitting in one of the lounges on the tenth floor of the hotel. There was a couch and a table, on which Zeke and Charlie had started to play Solitaire on, and a vending machine a few feet away.

We were set for the night.

There had been an after party for the performers and speakers at a club a few streets away but we were happy celebrating just with ourselves. Besides, we had one guy with a broken leg, two sets of couples, and two guys who could hardly talk to girls without clamming up. All in all, we would have a much better time if we just hung out together.

I sat in front of Spencer. He, Miles, and Taylor, were all sprawled out across the couch, leaving little space for me. Instead of attempting to climb in between them, I sat on the ground and leaned back against Spencer's legs. Occasionally, his hand brushed against my hair, gentle and calming.

"Seriously, though," Zeke was saying, "we killed it tonight."

"Mm-hmm," Charlie agreed, focused on his Solitaire. He flipped a card over, stared at the ones already on the table before flipping another.

"At the rate you're going, you're bound to get signed sooner or later," Taylor said. Her voice was exuberant for us and her face was lit up happily.

I grinned at her. "Let's hope sooner."

She smiled back and nodded. "Sooner would be better."

"God, I hope we get signed," Spencer said longingly. This was his dream and I knew that he could almost taste it. We all could. "I want every night to be like tonight was."

"That would be nice," I agreed. "At least we get to enjoy another three weeks of this."

Detroit was only the first stop of many. Tomorrow morning, we would be packing up and heading out to perform at the next venue, some stadium in Philadelphia. It would take us just over an hour to reach Philadelphia by plane which meant that we would have the rest of the day to tour around and see the city. I'd never been to Philadelphia and neither had anyone else from the band.