Black Fire

We talked about the engine, transmission, and anything else that came to mind. We chatted about tires, wheelbase, suspension, mpg, rpm, how she drove, and she asked - nay, demanded - to hear her baby purr. Eventually we even wandered onto topics like the dashboard setup, the new radio I put in, and the Jump Seat. We talked for hours, and I didn't even realize it until I noticed my dad was gone, looked at my watch, and saw it was already noon.
"Crap," she said, having also checked the time. "I've got to meet the guys over at Jared's - practice today."
"Can I come with you?" The question came out before I even realized I wanted to know. I may have sounded a bit more desperate to go than I'd have liked, too.
"Oh. Well, yeah, I'm sure they won't mind a little excess company," she agreed with a nod. "Race ya there," she said with a grin, hopped out of the truck, and darted off before I even processed what was going on.
I chuckled and followed, catching up easily and effortlessly staying about a foot ahead of her until the last couple yards. I slowed down, faking exhaustion, and she reached the fenced-in area where the guys were about five seconds before me.
"You lose, Jakey," she said as she laughed. "You may be a little taller than me now, and you may have built up some more muscle, but you will never beat me."
Seth, Jared and I shared a look. They knew there was no way Shane could actually outrun me, and they both seemed a bit surprised she even believed my acting.
"Well," I said, still acting like I was out of breath, "I guess I'll just have to keep trying. I'm gonna beat you one of these days, Shaney."
"In your dreams!"

I greeted all the guys - fist-bumps for Seth and Jared, nods for Eric and Tyler - and Shane gave them each one-armed hugs except for Seth, who got a full-on one.
I helped a bit with setting up their equipment on the slightly raised-up deck which Shane had told me was where they usually practiced. After that Shane told me my only job was to be the captive audience and critic.
It wouldn't be too long before Jared's parents were home, and they liked to come home to order after any practices, so today the band would just be doing a practice run of five of the songs they'd be playing at their next gig.

They easily played through their covers of Into The Ocean, I'm Not Okay, Beautiful People, and I'm Yours.
Seth's Bass was incredible - I never really expected the kid had it in him.
And y'know how drummers get kind of ignored more often than not? Well, Tyler made sure you couldn't ignore him if you wanted to whether he was back at his personalized drum kit or up front with Shane on some kind of Conga drum for their duet of I'm Yours.
And Eric? I don't even know how he could keep swapping instruments like he did ; he went from keyboard to violin to I don't even know - he probably managed to play two at a time at some point!
Then there was Shane. My God, Shaney owned the makeshift stage. She could sing like nobody's business, not to mention her fingers danced across the guitar strings like she was born for this; she could play lead guitar like a freaking riot! Brotherly bias aside, Shane was Long Lost Lazarus - the band members finally agreed to that name a month ago - and they would be nothing without her.

They all played flawlessly as far as I could tell. That is, until the fifth song. Everyone else was fine, but it seemed like Shane stumbled and started a few seconds late.

-Shane-

I knew it was coming, but the sound of that piano-and-drum intro stunned me still. I started playing at least a second or two late and probably messed up a handful of times throughout. I knew the song by heart, that wasn't the problem. My singing was sub-par, too; I started out shaky and soft then just got more of both with time.
By the end I was just pathetic.
That song, 'Littlest Things,' just held too many emotions for me. All the guys knew it, but I insisted we play it anyway. 'The show must go on,' and all that.

Immediately after the song ended, Jacob was hurrying up onto the makeshift stage and for a split second I thought he was coming to make sure I was alright.
When he passed me up without a glance and continued back to talk to Eric, I think that pushed the welling tears to spill.
I didn't hear what Jacob asked, but faintly heard Eric reply, "She knows the vocals and I know the violin and keyboard parts. I can't do both, though."
I was sure to keep facing away from them, so I was completely caught off-guard when I heard a piano tune behind me. It took me only a couple second to recognize it.
"I could say that I'll always be here for you," I sang, a smile already starting to spread slowly, "but that would be a lie and quite a pointless thing to do." I was already standing and, when it was time, I demonstrated how to stomp and clap where the drum-and-clap parts came in. I could hear that Jared, Tyler, and Seth caught on and took over stomp-clapping.
"Since you've gone I've lost that chip on my shoulder," I sang, and whipped my head around to look in the direction of the boys when I heard the violin. As he'd said, Eric couldn't play both instruments at a time; Jacob was the one whose fingers danced across the keyboard so adeptly. My grin doubled in size and I continued to sing.

"Now you're gone, it's as if the whole wide world is my stage. Now you're gone, it's like I've been let out of my cage..." I sang and Jacob finished with the piano solo; he was nearly flawless and I couldn't help watching him through the whole solo.
As soon as he was done I rushed back to give him a hug. He met me halfway, and I locked my arms behind his neck, but only tight enough that I raised myself up on my toes just slightly to make it less awkward. I buried my face in his chest and he wrapped his arms around my waist, sort of resting his chin on my head.
"Jakey," I said, tilting my head down just a bit to make sure my words weren't muffled by his shirt. "I don't even know what to say. Thank you."
He chuckled, and the way it rumbled through him was nice. "Knew I could cheer ya up, Shaney," he said in a faux-cocky voice.
I moved one hand from behind his neck to lightly smack him where my face had been buried as I pulled back. "And, by the way, you were amazing," I informed him. Then I noticed that I still had one arm draped over his shoulder just kind of touching the back of his neck and the other hand on his chest, not to mention his arms around my waist kept us, from the waist down, a centimeter or two apart at most and, at some key points, not even that.
'Uh, yeah, this position is teetering on the edge of the Canyon of Awkwardness.'
I snatched my arms from their positions to cross them casually across my chest at the same time his arms snapped to his sides.

"You guys were all great today, too," I said, turning to the other guys fast enough to avoid looking at Jacob anymore. "And thanks for jumping right in to the improvised pick-me up."
They all shrugged and told me I'd done great, too. On that note, we started cleaning up.