The Saltwater Acoustic
Intro.
There was tension in the air.
It came out with the carbon dioxide and cigarette smoke, in silky tendrils that made everyone shuffle impatiently. The noise level was rising in the amphitheater, and it echoed. The couple hundred overdone bodies seemingly multiplied as their voices echoed throughout the walls. The venue smelt like weed and menthol cigarettes, expensive perfume and too much axe. The smells – so different on their own – had melted together to create something that was purely animistic. Impatience at how slowly the roadies were setting up the stage was rising off of these people in waves of heat. A fight had already erupted in the back, and she could hear the boys shouting to each other as heavyset rent a cops carried them out of the amphitheater. A girl was screaming a whine somewhere in the front, and her friends were jeering her on. The heat was making these kids go insane.
This chaos was what Blaise lived for.
An unnamed boy stood in front of the microphone tentatively. If he hadn’t been covered in head to toe black Blaise would have said he was cute, but he was too goth. Too out of place at a concert for kids that were in love with color. Everywhere that she looked it looked as if a rainbow had splattered against everyone as they’d made their way through the entrance. Even their hair seemed to radiate color. “Check,” Goth boy mumbled, holding on to the microphone handle. “One, two. One…” He stood there forever, repeating the same words without any change. After another eternity he nodded and walked off the stage. A boy screamed something about Hot Topic that made the crowd ripple with malicious laughter.
The tension was palpable. Blaise was convinced that if she held her finger above her head she’d be able to feel the ropes of impatience and anger that were layering themselves there. Where are you? She silently asked. Her heart was still pounding in her chest, and her silent question turned into a silent chant that everyone around her seemed to be mimicking. The crowd was hushed, the lights dimmed, and a guitar was playing… somewhere. Not on the stage, as far as Blaise could tell. It was all too much. The build up was too intense, and now this suspense was making her chest expand in the most painful way. She just wanted to see them onstage, hear the first words of any song they’d decided to sing. The chords weren’t ones that she recognized, but this wasn’t her first concert and she knew that TSA had a habit of rewriting introductions just to do this to their fans. What was the point of making these kids wait if the suspense would only be met with anger and confusion? Blaise wondered as the music grew above the confused shuffle, the shouted questions, and the girls that were still whining.
And then she had her answer. Reeve’s voice came through the speakers, rushed and hushed. Beautiful, depressing, heart wrenching. Everyone knew this song, the same way they knew every other song. The Saltwater Acoustic knew exactly what they were doing. The angry chaos had swiftly turned to rough dancing, screaming. Reeve was standing in the center of the stage, her mouth twisted in a smirk as the music took over. It was sweeping everyone away, and closing her eyes was all Blaise could do to make sure that she didn’t pass out. This concert was everything that Blaise had imagined it would be, and so much more but right now she couldn’t handle all of the emotions. As quickly as she’d snuck in, she slipped out.
The girls were pushing past her in a hasty attempt to catch Zane before he was safely on the bus. Blaise felt a pang of guilt as the pushy girls caught up with him. She was sure that they would have climbed on top of him if it wasn’t for the security guard that was watching the near mauling with amusement. “Oh my god!” One of them screamed as he hugged her quickly before disengaging himself and taking quick steps in my direction. “Zane Misarche just hugged me!” She was talking loud enough for Zane to hear her, and I felt embarrassed shame for her. All of a sudden, I wanted to hide from Zane’s golden eyes.
He was grinning, and his black hair hung in loose curls around his face. In a different world, Zane was beautiful with his glowing hazel eyes, and his mocking smile. “They seem to like you,” She says when he’s finally in front of her, standing there with his hands shoved deep into his tight pockets. She look beyond Zane for a moment, and watches the girls. They’re glaring at her, their lips pressed into a hard line. It’s a look she wouldn’t expect to get unless she was flirting with someone else’s boyfriend. Their possessiveness shoots a jolt of electricity through her back. “They don’t like me much.”
He shrugs, “They don’t even like Reeve. They think she’s sleeping with me.”
“Haha, you wish.”
His mouth twists in a crude grimace. “Tch.”
“So what did you beg me to come here for?” Blaise asks. Impatience wraps itself around her like a blanket, and pushes its way through her skin. Her hands are tapping a little dance on the back of her hand, and she keeps shifting, looking around like she’s gaging the escape routes. “Or could you just not wait to see me?”
“Come with me.”
The words sound blurted, and she’s convinced she heard him wrong. “What?”
“Come. With me. On this shitty bus with enough room for at least three people. Please.”
It doesn’t make sense. “You told me before I couldn’t.” Her eyes are guarded.
“Please.”
Has she ever been able to deny him? She nods a couple times, a smile tugging at her lips. Her giddiness is only halted by confusion. Why now? She follows Zane onto the bus, standing in the doorway while he announces that he ‘finally’ asked her. “Good,” Reeve says, smiling at Blaise. “Now we can talk to you, instead of getting talked at, about you”
A boy with red hair that hangs past his shoulders grins at me. “Do you give blow jobs as good as Z says you do?”
It came out with the carbon dioxide and cigarette smoke, in silky tendrils that made everyone shuffle impatiently. The noise level was rising in the amphitheater, and it echoed. The couple hundred overdone bodies seemingly multiplied as their voices echoed throughout the walls. The venue smelt like weed and menthol cigarettes, expensive perfume and too much axe. The smells – so different on their own – had melted together to create something that was purely animistic. Impatience at how slowly the roadies were setting up the stage was rising off of these people in waves of heat. A fight had already erupted in the back, and she could hear the boys shouting to each other as heavyset rent a cops carried them out of the amphitheater. A girl was screaming a whine somewhere in the front, and her friends were jeering her on. The heat was making these kids go insane.
This chaos was what Blaise lived for.
An unnamed boy stood in front of the microphone tentatively. If he hadn’t been covered in head to toe black Blaise would have said he was cute, but he was too goth. Too out of place at a concert for kids that were in love with color. Everywhere that she looked it looked as if a rainbow had splattered against everyone as they’d made their way through the entrance. Even their hair seemed to radiate color. “Check,” Goth boy mumbled, holding on to the microphone handle. “One, two. One…” He stood there forever, repeating the same words without any change. After another eternity he nodded and walked off the stage. A boy screamed something about Hot Topic that made the crowd ripple with malicious laughter.
The tension was palpable. Blaise was convinced that if she held her finger above her head she’d be able to feel the ropes of impatience and anger that were layering themselves there. Where are you? She silently asked. Her heart was still pounding in her chest, and her silent question turned into a silent chant that everyone around her seemed to be mimicking. The crowd was hushed, the lights dimmed, and a guitar was playing… somewhere. Not on the stage, as far as Blaise could tell. It was all too much. The build up was too intense, and now this suspense was making her chest expand in the most painful way. She just wanted to see them onstage, hear the first words of any song they’d decided to sing. The chords weren’t ones that she recognized, but this wasn’t her first concert and she knew that TSA had a habit of rewriting introductions just to do this to their fans. What was the point of making these kids wait if the suspense would only be met with anger and confusion? Blaise wondered as the music grew above the confused shuffle, the shouted questions, and the girls that were still whining.
And then she had her answer. Reeve’s voice came through the speakers, rushed and hushed. Beautiful, depressing, heart wrenching. Everyone knew this song, the same way they knew every other song. The Saltwater Acoustic knew exactly what they were doing. The angry chaos had swiftly turned to rough dancing, screaming. Reeve was standing in the center of the stage, her mouth twisted in a smirk as the music took over. It was sweeping everyone away, and closing her eyes was all Blaise could do to make sure that she didn’t pass out. This concert was everything that Blaise had imagined it would be, and so much more but right now she couldn’t handle all of the emotions. As quickly as she’d snuck in, she slipped out.
The girls were pushing past her in a hasty attempt to catch Zane before he was safely on the bus. Blaise felt a pang of guilt as the pushy girls caught up with him. She was sure that they would have climbed on top of him if it wasn’t for the security guard that was watching the near mauling with amusement. “Oh my god!” One of them screamed as he hugged her quickly before disengaging himself and taking quick steps in my direction. “Zane Misarche just hugged me!” She was talking loud enough for Zane to hear her, and I felt embarrassed shame for her. All of a sudden, I wanted to hide from Zane’s golden eyes.
He was grinning, and his black hair hung in loose curls around his face. In a different world, Zane was beautiful with his glowing hazel eyes, and his mocking smile. “They seem to like you,” She says when he’s finally in front of her, standing there with his hands shoved deep into his tight pockets. She look beyond Zane for a moment, and watches the girls. They’re glaring at her, their lips pressed into a hard line. It’s a look she wouldn’t expect to get unless she was flirting with someone else’s boyfriend. Their possessiveness shoots a jolt of electricity through her back. “They don’t like me much.”
He shrugs, “They don’t even like Reeve. They think she’s sleeping with me.”
“Haha, you wish.”
His mouth twists in a crude grimace. “Tch.”
“So what did you beg me to come here for?” Blaise asks. Impatience wraps itself around her like a blanket, and pushes its way through her skin. Her hands are tapping a little dance on the back of her hand, and she keeps shifting, looking around like she’s gaging the escape routes. “Or could you just not wait to see me?”
“Come with me.”
The words sound blurted, and she’s convinced she heard him wrong. “What?”
“Come. With me. On this shitty bus with enough room for at least three people. Please.”
It doesn’t make sense. “You told me before I couldn’t.” Her eyes are guarded.
“Please.”
Has she ever been able to deny him? She nods a couple times, a smile tugging at her lips. Her giddiness is only halted by confusion. Why now? She follows Zane onto the bus, standing in the doorway while he announces that he ‘finally’ asked her. “Good,” Reeve says, smiling at Blaise. “Now we can talk to you, instead of getting talked at, about you”
A boy with red hair that hangs past his shoulders grins at me. “Do you give blow jobs as good as Z says you do?”