I Need Something To Pick Me Up

I groaned and grabbed Kylie, pulling her along with me. I could tell that she was trying to lead me the other way but I wasn’t going to let her chicken out. They invited us to be a part of their tour, and I wasn’t going to ignore them because Kylie was uncomfortable. I know, it sounds selfish, but the only good way to get over your fear of something is to face it.

Kylie started to say something about them probably being too busy to want to talk to us, but Adam turned his attention towards us and waved us over. I grinned like an idiot and pulled Kylie along with me. “Hey guys, how are you feeling?” Adam asked with an inviting smile.

“We’re a bit nervous, and anxious, and excited.” I laughed. “I feel like someone put my stomach on frappe until the only thing left was nervousness.” I admitted.

“Yeah, we were nervous our first time on stage with a famous band.” Adam sympathized. “But trust me, eventually you’ll get over it and every single time you’re on stage you’ll just feel excited.” I smiled at the Canadian singer as I really took his words to heart. I believed that we will get over the fear and anxiety.

“That’s good. If we never got over the anxiety Kylie here would be a nervous wreck more than usual.” I teased. Kylie just gave me a half-hearted smile. I could tell that she was too nervous. “Hey, I think we’re going to go onstage for Sound Check; if you guys are done.”

“Sure. Brad and I want to stick around and watch if that’s cool with you guys.”

“We don’t mind.” I said, pulling Kylie towards the stage.

When we got there we were both in shock at the beautiful sight before us. The lights and the equipment; it was all so beautiful. The stage was made of concrete and stood around five or six feet above the ground. In the middle of the stage were two microphones, a dynamic microphone and a condenser microphone. I reached out for the dynamic and looked it over. I had the exact same one back on the bus. Kylie stood next to me, bass guitar in hand, and asked which song we were going to perform first. I began playing the first few chords to ‘Check My Brain’ and she started playing too.

” So I found myself in the sun, oh yeah.
A hell of a place to end a run, oh yeah.
California, I'm fine.
Somebody check my brain!”

I played a sour note, but ignored it. I was so damn nervous, especially with Adam watching, but I just swallowed it all down and kept going with it. I wasn’t going to ruin it for Kylie, and I knew she was trying not to ruin it for me.

We finished the song and I headed towards the backstage area to get my acoustic guitar. Adam smiled, and Brad watched as Kylie nervously played random chords and riffs. I smiled back and picked my acoustic guitar off of the cart. “Could you get me a chair?” I asked Adam, and he nodded.

“What song are you guys performing?”

“You’ll see.” I smirked, and then thanked Adam for getting me the chair.

”Oh glorious king of deception,
What am I supposed to say?
I know to you it was just a fling.
So should I save my words for another day?
I think not...

You’ve beat me around,
Paraded your fucking crown.
And beat my heart into the ground.
You always brought me DOWN!”

The song brought tears to my eyes every time I played it, and every time I sang it. It was a very emotional song, and it was rather rough and raw. There was no drum beat, it was just my vocals and acoustic guitar and Kylie’s bass. And my experience with most guys contributed to how it turned out and to who I am today. The tears were hot and stung as they trailed down my face. “Shit, I can’t do this.”