How Quickly I Forget; That This Is Beating Less

Currently our techs Dan, Lisa, and Brandon were setting up our instruments. I handed my bass to Lisa and smiled as she went and hooked it up to the amp. 5 minutes until we were on. 5 minutes until I had to see Mike once again. And 5 minutes until I could see Hartford's reaction to us, LoveNeverLies. I was shaking in nervousness and excitement, but I'm not sure which was dominant. I tugged at my shirt and checked to make sure my shoes were tied tight. I didn't want to trip in the middle of a song. Dan, Brandon and Lisa exited the stage and Lisa came over to me.

"Good luck kiddo." She grinned and pulled me in for a quick hug.

"Thanks Li." I smiled. Erin and Alli were standing next to me, talking quietly about what had happened earlier with Mike, and Cam was texting his brother about the concert. "Ready guys?" I grabbed Cam's hand and dragged him out with me, jumping up and down in the excitement that had finally set in. We took our positions and grinned at each other quickly. Allison came up and whispered in my ear quickly.

"Can we start with Never Young?" I nodded and she ran off to tell Cam.

"Hey guys!" Screams erupted throughout the crowd. I grinned and raised my hand into the air. "We are Love," I paused, "Never," I paused once again. "Lies!" Cheers began once again as we started the intro to Never Young.

&!

"Alright Hartford! This is our last song!" I heard a chorus of boos and my smile must have been 10 miles wide. "We're gonna be playing a new song. One we don't even have on any of our pages yet. It's really easy so Erin will teach you the words!" I set down my bass carefully and ran over to Cam. He tossed me a water which I downed in about 5 seconds before running back to my mic stand and bass. It was hot. The sun was bearing down on us with little protection from the roof of the stage. Erin slammed on her drums a few times when she finished.

"Ready to kick it Erin?" I winked at her and strummed a few chords on my bass. "I want you guys to scream as loud as you can! Those guys in Vegas talk shit about how horrible you guys are at getting pumped. Show us what you've got!"

"Let's go!" Cam growled into his mic. Not once during our set had I seen Mike, which made my spirits rise even higher.

&!

"JULIEEEE!" Max screamed, tackling me to the floor in a hug. I pressed my lips to his softly.

"Hey Maxy." He smiled and stood up, brushing himself off and offering his hand, which I gladly took.

"You looked so pretty out there Jay." He blushed lightly and I smiled, pushing back a strand of his hair and kissing him again.

"Thanks." I ended up blushing too. Cam laughed.

"PDA! STOP THE PDA!" Bryan yelled, running in the room and to Erin.

"I'm gonna go take a shower. Meet you back at your bus Max?" He nodded and walked me back to my bus.