The Federation

“Okay, so before we let all you lovely people leave this concert hall, our bassist Carter has a little something to say,” Joshua announced after they played their encore, the last song of the entire tour. Saying that I was excited about the end of the tour was an understatement.

Over the past four months since our latest, and worst, scuffle, Jimmy and I went back to our old ways of completely ignoring each other. He barely existed to me anymore. I was still saddened by a future lacking with the crazy bouncy ball that is Jimmy, but I always brightened upon realizing that my future also contained a very cute blond by the name of Carter who’d swept me straight off my feet this entire year. I often wonder how I lived without Carter in my life. It’s like tasting chocolate for the first time when you’re in your twenties and regretting not ever trying it before. But he was in my life now, and I planned on keeping it that way for a very long time.

I was even considering showing him the Legion. No doubt it would cause problems with Jimmy, but Jimmy barely mattered anymore. Everyone else seemed to get along with Carter just fine. I already contacted Joan about it, but she hasn’t called me back to give me a definite answer. I figured she would be all for it—if I trusted Carter, she knew she could trust him, too.

“Indeed I do,” Carter continued, picking his microphone up from its stand. He pivoted his body towards me. “If my lovely girlfriend Asher will step up on stage for a few minutes.”

My eyebrows furrowed questioningly at Carter, but he just motioned with his hand for me to step up to him. Slowly, I mounted the steps onto the stage and stepped up to Carter. He extended a hand, and I gently laced our fingers together. He lifted the microphone to his lips and began to speak.

“Quite honestly, I never realized that anything this amazing could happen on this tour,” Carter began. My frown deepened but I didn’t interrupt. Where was he heading with this? “I’d heard some of Asher’s songs and such—haven’t we all?—but I never thought that we’d become best buds or anything. I never realized what a truly sweet, loving, caring, totally badass person she is. But upon meeting her, I felt the attraction instantly and I knew I couldn’t let her slip through my fingers.

“And over this past year, I’ve grown to love her. I love her more and more every day. I learn something new about her every day, and I love it all. Every new fear or aspiration or favorite food or favorite sex position—” Carter wiggled his eyebrows at me, and the crowd laughed accordingly. Carter’s gaze had not left mine, even though he was clearly speaking more to the audience than to me. “—she tells me makes me love her so much more than just a few moments before. I want to spend my entire life learning about her—maybe trying out a few of those sex positions—and I want to keep on loving her until my heart gives out.”

My teeth embedded themselves in my bottom lip as Carter slipped something small and circular out of his pocket. He clenched it in his palm, and I couldn’t see what it was very clearly. In a simultaneous movement, Carter dropped to one knee and slipped his hand up to my wrist. My fingers hung lax in the air, feeling the absence of his fingers.

“Asher, will you marry me?”

Before that moment, I’d never heard a concert hall so quiet. There were no screams, no whistles, no yells of “Marry me, Carter!” or “I want you to father my babies, Synyster Gates!” The audience seemed to not even be breathing. Neither was I, for that matter.

Everything slid into slow motion for a few seconds. Neither Carter nor I blinked, and out of the corner of my eyes I could see Carter’s band mates standing and waiting for my answer. Suddenly, everything shot into super fast forward. I’m not a very teary person. I did not tear up at Carter’s proposal. But it touched me, and my heart swelled with love. I nodded and whispered yes. Carter grinned and dropped the microphone. It thudded against the stage, but neither of us noticed as Carter slipped the ring onto my lax finger and I launched myself into his arms. The crowd erupted with cheers, nearly raising the roof from its foundations.

As Carter straightened up, pulling both of us to our feet, I looked over his shoulder to see Jimmy on the other side of the stage. Our eyes met, and his dark scowl deepened further. Then, he turned and stormed off out of my sight. I buried my face into Carter’s shoulder as he lifted me happily off my feet and smiled.

Some inner Asher, however, couldn’t help but feel a little sad that Jimmy couldn’t be happy for me, too.