Knock You Off Your Feet

“So you’re sure that this won’t distract you from your run?” my coach asked for the trillionth time that afternoon as she drove Shaun and I to the recording studio. “You guys, I mean, if it is…”

“It’s not. This is a one-time thing, and we aren’t close to the day we actually compete yet. So it’ll just be on our minds for now, then tomorrow, gone.” I patted her knee from my spot in the passenger seat in the white SUV.

“Who else is gonna be there?”

“I don’t know. Probably just you guys.”

I turned to her, jaw open. “What?”

“Nobody else could come. Their coaches wouldn’t let them. You guys are special cases – we’ve seen your focus. And we know that you can do this.”

“But what if we sound like crap? There won’t be anybody else to cover it up!” Shaun’s voice turned panicky. “I thought Scotty… Maybe Louie…”

“I’m sure they’ve got editing stuff, and after their runs, I’m sure their coaches will let them drive up here.” She pulled into the lot outside of a corporate-looking brick building. “Now, you guys go have fun,” she said as we got out.

“Thanks for the ride.” I closed the door, shrugged, and looked at Shaun.

“So we’re doing this.” He let out a deep breath and whistled. “God, I haven’t been this nervous in a while.”

“Oh, come on, you’ll be great. Even if you don’t, they can make your voice sound all T-Pain-ey and people will love it.” I opened the door and looked around the hallway. The walls were plain and white, with wooden doors every so often. Above the doors were red lights, none of which were lit. A man in a black suit stood up when he saw us.

“Oh, wonderful! You must be Shaun and Casey. Hi, nice to meet you, I’m Dan Maguire.” He pumped my hand ferociously and smiled a creepy, toothy grin. “So you guys ready?”

“Um, yeah. What song are we singing?” Shaun flexed his fingers after Dan had finished shaking his hand.

“I just got off the phone with John Mayer, and we got permission for you guys to sing ‘Waiting on the World to Change.’ You guys know that song?” Dan began walking down the hall quickly and we followed, entering one of the doors and finding ourselves in a little recording booth.

“Oh, yeah. Yeah, that song’s great.” I ran my fingertips along the soundboard and looked behind the glass at the two microphones. I took a quick glance back at Shaun, who looked absolutely horrified.

“Now, I’m gonna control everything from out here. On those little music stands inside are the lyrics, with parts highlighted. Casey, you take the far mic, and Shaun you can take the one near the door. Only sing the part that’s highlighted. After we get a good recording done, you guys can just sing. I know a lot of people just love to sing in a booth.”

I wondered, for a moment, who exactly those people were.

“Go on, then!”

I grabbed Shaun’s wrist and dragged him inside the glassed-in room.

“Casey, I can’t do this,” he whispered to me.

“Yes you can. You’re Shaun White.”

“Yeah, I’m a snowboarder, not a singer!”

“Listen, I know that you can do this. Don’t doubt your ability.”

He nodded as we both stepped up to the mics Dan had assigned us and put on the headphones. I left one ear open so I could hear our voices. I gave Dan the thumbs-up and he pressed play.

“One, two, one two three,” Shaun said in his huskiest possible voice. I smiled, making sure to remember to tell him “I told you so!” later.

“Me and all my friends, we’re all misunderstood. They say we stand for nothin’ and there’s no way we ever could. Now we see everything that’s goin’ wrong, with the world and those who lead it. We just feel like we don’t have the means to rise above and beat it! So we keep waitin’,” I sang, really getting into the song. It had always been one of my favorites, and I was going to use this chance to make sure I did it justice. I held the one side of the headphone against my ear as I sang and moved with the beat.

“Waitin’,” Shaun managed to sing, swallowing hard after he did so. He glanced at me and gave me a weak smile.

“Waiting on the world to change. We keep on waitin’…”

“Waitin’…” I could see he was losing his nerves as he watched me belt out the lyrics as well as I could. We were getting into a zone here.

“Waitin’ on the world to change. It’s hard to beat the system, when you’re standin’ at a distance, so we keep waitin’…”

“Waitin’!”

“Waitin’ on the world to change.” I looked over at the ginger as he turned away from the mic to take a few deep breaths before he started his huge part.

“Now if we had the power to bring our neighbors home from war, they would’ve never missed a Christmas, no more ribbons on their door. And when you trust your television, what you get is what you got, cos when they own the information, oh, they can bend it all they want. That’s why we’re waitin’…” Shaun’s voice was clear and strong as he sang his verse, eyes closed as he got close to the mic. I was surprised by his ease now, seeing as he had been freaking out not more than a minute or two before.

“Waitin’…” I sang a little hesitantly, completely focused on him.

“Waitin’ on the world to change. We keep on waitin’…”

“Waitin’…”

“Waitin’ on the world to change. It’s not that we don’t care, we just know that the fight ain’t fair, so we keep on waitin’…” He opened his right eye a little bit and smiled as he stole a glance at me. I blushed and looked away.

“Waitin’…”

“Waitin’ on the world to change!”

I took the opportunity to mouth over to Shaun that he was doing a great job during the little musical break. I was now full out dancing to the song, causing him to break into a smile and do the little dance along with me. I could understand where Dan’s “people” were coming from – singing in a booth was a lot of fun.

“We’re still waitin’…” I was shouting-singing as the song began drawing to a close.

“Waitin’!” Shaun and shouted together.

“Waitin’ on the world to change. We keep on waitin’…”

“Waitin’!”

“Waitin’ on the world to change. One day our generation, is gonna rule the population!” I threw in a little more dramatics as I sang my favorite line. “So we keep on waitin’…”

“Waitin’!”

“Waitin’ on the world to change! No, we keep on waitin’…”

“Waitin’!”

“Waitin’ on the world to change! We keep on waitin’…”

“Waitin’!”

“We’re waitin’ on the world to change. Waitin’ on the world to change. Waitin’ on the world to change. Waitin’ on the world to change.” I let my voice fade along with the final notes and brought my hand up to my throat, feeling the burn.

“Guys, that was great! Now, I’m gonna go make a couple quick calls. Feel free to just… I don’t know, hang out or whatever, just don’t kill any of the equipment. Okay? Great.” Dan rushed out of the room and I looked at Shaun.

“Yeah, he creeps me out too.”

I laughed and hugged him. “You did great! Just like I said. Told you so!”

“You did awesome, too, Squirrel. I didn’t know you could sing like that.”

“Neither did I.”

He chuckled.

All of a sudden, more music began playing in our headphones, and it was another favorite song of mine. I went back over to the mic and looked over to see if he knew the words. He nodded and I waited patiently for the place where the first verse began.

“This city, so pretty, under moonlit skies we’ll be hangin’ like a cigarette. So stunnin’, start runnin’, tonight’s like a knife, would you cut me with your kiss, I bleed…” I got more and more into the song as I closed my eyes and lost myself. In my head, I watched the little music video I had thought up when I first heard the song. Except now, instead of Alex Gaskarth and I singing a duet, it was me and Shaun.

“Red lips, you’re unbelievable, can’t miss this chance to take you out, here’s my invitation,” Shaun picked up from where I left off, our voices and changes flowing a lot smoother than the last one. He seemed to sing to me more than with me, but I didn’t take it as anything. I didn’t want to make assumptions.

“Hello, Brooklyn, hey LA! Take the streets all night cos we sleep all day, when the world comes crashing down, who’s ready to party? Hello Brooklyn, hey LA! Coast to coast, I’ll take you down in flames, let the good times roll, we can let go! Everybody knows there’s a party at the end of the world.” We were singing the song like we were at a concert instead of at a studio, but we didn’t care. Our voices probably sounded like shit, but we were having fun.

“Whoa-whoa-whoa-oh! Whoa-whoa-whoa-oh,” I added in quickly.

“This city is your city, heels on the sidewalk beggin’ for a backbeat. Don’t worry, I fight dirty, tonight’s like a right hook, knock you off your feet.” As he sang “right hook,” he faked a punch and I ducked away from the mic to laugh. With each line, we got more and more theatrical.

“I’ll be yours truly unbelievable, can’t miss this chance to take you out, here’s your invitation…”

“Hello, Brooklyn, hey LA! Take the streets all night cos we sleep all day, when the world comes crashing down, who’s ready to party? Hello Brooklyn, hey LA! Coast to coast, I’ll take you down in flames, let the good times roll, we can let go! Everybody knows there’s a party at the end of the world.”

“Kiss it all goodbye, tonight you’ve never been more alive, you’re so alive.” I was singing from the heart now, getting closer and closer to the mic as I did so.

“You’re not afraid to die, and I can see it in your eyes.” As cheesy as it was, our eyes connected and stayed that way.

“Your eyes,” we harmonized, still gazing at each other. I wasn’t embarrassed any more, simply because he was returning the look.

“Hello, Brooklyn, hey LA! Take the streets all night cos we sleep all day, when the world comes crashing down, who’s ready to party?” We were stomping and clapping with the beat of the song now, and when the music kicked back in, we started jumping around and dancing crazily. “Hello Brooklyn, hey LA! Coast to coast, I’ll take you down in flames, let the good times roll, we can let go! Everybody knows there’s a party at the end of the world.”

“London, Tokyo, Boston, Frisco!” I shouted, turning from side to side with every jump.

“DC, Chicago, Baltimore, Toronto!”

“Memphis, Reno, Dublin, Mexico! Paris, here we go! Everybody knows there’s a party at the end of the world.” Our voices came together on the last word and I smiled.

We began laughing at ourselves uncontrollably as we left, making sure that creepy Dan knew that we were finished and we’d be sending along our friends as soon as they were free. A shoving match ensued as we waited in the parking lot for someone to come and pick us up.

“That was actually insanely fun.”

“Yup,” he agreed. “Kicks karaoke’s ass.” He rubbed his throat. “It hurts, though.”

I nodded. “At least I don’t need my voice tomorrow.”

“Oh, that’s right! You’ve got your races! You excited?” His thin arm found its way around my shoulders as he assumed a comfortable stance, using me for balance.

“So, so excited. Nervous as hell, but excited. My board’s been running really well.”

“Well, I’ll be there watching you at the bottom. If you want.”

I looked up at him; he was looking at the clouds in the sky. “I would like that. If I medal, I’ll know who to run to first.”

“Then I’ll stand right up front. I’ll even bring a little Canadian flag.”

“Don’t. Aren’t I racing against your teammates?”

“Oh, good point. I guess I’ll just cheer for… You know what? I’ll just be there.”

“I’ll look for the crazy hair.” A smile seemed to be permanently etched on my face as I noticed my coach pulling up in the white SUV.