Take Me Anywhere

It was the night of the Toronto show, five minutes until showtime, and Mia was actually nervous for the first time during the whole tour. Of course she had pre-show jitters, but never to the point where she had to breathe into a paper bag.

"Are you alright?" Dave asked. "Why are you so nervous? Because it's a hometown show?"

"I don't know," she lied. "I'll be alright."

She knew exactly why she was so terrified. Not only was the audience filled with her family and friends, but somewhere in that crowd were Sidney and Jordan. In the past week, Alice had managed to wrap Jordy around her little finger, and they had become inseparable. Alice was, of course, at the show as well. Mia just had no idea where in the venue that they were.

"How many people are out there?" Mia asked Jenn, the tour manager.

"I'd say four thousand," she responded casually. "You've played bigger venues before. Don't worry about it!"

"I'm not worried," Mia smiled. "Alright. Let's go do this."

The lights went out and Mia walked onto the stage with her guitar slung over one shoulder. She waved to the crowd that erupted in cheers. The spotlight hit her and she grinned, immediately diving into her newest single.

The song ended and she wiped a bead of sweat from her brow. "How is everyone doing tonight?" she asked. The roar of the crowd was her response. "It's so good to be back home, you have no idea," she laughed. "I get to go home and sleep in my own bed..." She turned to her backing band, who lived all over Canada, but not in Toronto and smirked. "Suckers."

The crowd cheered. From somewhere in the middle of the audience, she heard a man yell, "Mia, I'm pregnant!"

She had been tuning her guitar, but, without looking up, she leaned towards the mic and said, "Physically impossible. But you know what? Pregnant man, this song goes out to you."

The crowd laughed as Mia started playing another song. After a while, she forgot about all the pressures she'd felt before the show started and just had fun. She conversed with the crowd, and told anecdotes about growing up in the suburbs just outside of the city. It felt more like a casual, intimate gathering than a concert with three to four thousand people.

The time flew by, and the show ended. She walked off the stage and was surprised to see Alice, Jordan and Sidney waiting for her by her dressing room. Alice was dressed in her typical concert attire, but Sid and Jordy looked a bit out of place. They were both wearing button-up dress shirts, nice slacks and dress shoes.

"Hey, you all made it!" she smiled, giving them each individual hugs. "You guys didn't have to get dressed up for this. It's just the Kool Haus."

"Well, this is really all that we have to wear," Jordan admitted. "Plus, we were hoping you and Alice would want to go out for a post-show drink."

"I don't really drink alcohol," Mia confessed. "It's bad for the vocal chords...how about a coffee at Tim's? They're open twenty-four seven."

"Tim's!" Sidney cheered. "Yeah, let's go! Maybe we can get free stuff."

"Quit bragging just because you're the new face of that company, with your Timbits hockey and marketable face," Jordan teased, slinking an arm around Alice's waist.

Mia flicked Jordan's hand. "I don't need to see you two getting all close and intimate when I'm around. You forget that I'm the old fogey who doesn't want to see her baby sister getting felt up by a hockey player."

"Old fogey, my ass," Alice snickered. "You're only a year older than me."

"Which makes you how old?" Sidney asked.

"Twenty-two," she shrugged. "Turning twenty-three in August."

"No way! Me too!" he exclaimed. "Aw, kindred spirit, let's be best friends." He squished her in a hug and she gently patted him on the back as Jordan and Alice just laughed.

"When's your birthday?" Mia asked Sid.

"The seventh," he answered.

"Damn!" she joked. "You're eight days older than me. Mine's the fifteenth."

"This is weird," Alice whispered to Jordan. "It's like they're...perfect for each other or something."

"Should be interesting, seeing how this all turns out," he nodded. "Maybe with Mia distracting him, he'll take it easier on us at practice."