Rhythm of Love

Nora’s Point of View

Blinking my eyes open, I stretched out my arms across my bed. Or, at least, what I thought was a bed. Instead, I was staring at a table and someone’s shirt and laying on a booth and a person. This took a moment to register in my mind before I let out a bloodcurdling screech and jumped up from my spot, assessing the situation I was on. My clothes were still on, which was good; that meant nothing happened as far as I’m concerned. Peering down, I saw that the person I had been using as a bed was Eli, who was now murmuring incoherent words and getting up. Looking around the room, I recognized it to be his family restaurant and saw my band mates and those from Welcome to Paradise sprawled out on the floor and on tables. There was a beer bottle still in Damien’s hand as he was falling lamely off the side of a booth. I would have laughed if I hadn’t remembered what today was: the first day of the competition. As Eli stumbled out of the booth behind me, I peered around in search of a clock.

When I found it, I screeched again, louder. It’s 4:03 in the afternoon!

Around me, all the guys started walking up and glaring at me. Damien growled, “Shut up Nora! Let me sleep…” His tone of voice let me know he was suffering from his infamous hangover. However, there was no time for that. I ran up to him, just barely dodging Ivan, who managed to sleep through my screaming.

“Damien!” I screamed, shaking him by his shoulders. “It’s 4:03!”

“So?” he groaned, lowering his head to my shoulder.

“We’re supposed to be a the Verizon Center in fifty minutes!” Damien tense in front of me and I notice all the guys, aside from Ivan, freeze as well.

It was almost unworldly how quickly everyone reacted to the news. Xavier, Conner, and Eli all immediately jumped to their feet and headed toward the door while Alex kicked Ivan in the head to wake him up. Ivan jumped up, ready to punch Alex, until he told him what time it was and the two ran for the door. Mitchell, Troy, Dylan, and Noah sprinted close behind him, while Damien picked me up and put me on his shoulders before running out after them. Even in the horrible situation we were in, I couldn’t help but squeal in joy as we ran out of the building. As all the guys were piling into their vehicles, Mitchell was mumbling on his cell phone probably for someone to drive over the trailer with all of our stuff in it. I slid off of Damien’s shoulders and headed toward Noah’s car. However, before I made it to the car two arms wrapped around my waist and my heart jumped. They pulled me to his chest and I looked up to see Eli’s smiling face. I grinned back, but a part of me hurt, deep in my chest. Spinning around, I face his chest and wrapped my slender arms around his chest and didn’t move. I breathed in his scent, and he smelt like Alex. Thankfully, behind me Noah yelled for me to get in, allowing me to escape the overpowering smell. Before leaving for Alex’s truck, Eli pressed his lips to mine and grinned. I smiled as well, and stood on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek. It warmed beneath my lips and I giggled before jumping into Noah’s car.

“Bye-bye!” I said, waving to him and he beamed and waved back.

“See you there!” He yelled as Noah revved the engine, and we were flying out of the parking lot.

As we flew down the road, I realized that we were all probably a mess and most of the guys still reeked of booze. When I brought this to there attention, they shrugged and said that we would be able to clean ourselves up in our room. I nodded, but was skeptical about this thought. We weren’t going to some hotel room; this was just where we were going to keep our stuff! Oh well, I thought, holding my head up with my hand. No use telling them now. Noah continued to speed down the road, slowing down only when he caught sight of a policeman. It took us about a half hour to make it to the parking lot of the Verizon Center, giving us less than twenty minutes to get ready. I grabbed the microphones and strung a guitar around my neck, while Damien grabbed another guitar and some of the drum set and the other guys grabbed the rest of the drums, our songs, and anything we may need including costumes for Damien and I.

When the ticket taker caught sight of us, he hurriedly shoved us through the door and sent us down a vacant hall. As we near a room with a paper with ‘Behind the Unknown’ scrawled on it, I heard a young female voice yelled, “Nora!” In fear and surprise, I dropped both the mikes on my feet and winced. However, I forced a grin on my face as Beech approached us with a grin on her lips.

“Hey Beech!” I called, picking up the microphones as Noah unlocked the door. She grabbed one for me and handed it out toward me. “Thanks Beech.” I took it and we entered the room. Upon entry, I dropped the mikes down on the couch and set the guitar against the desk. Damien did the same, and then helped the guys assemble the drums. Mitchell remained in the corner, figuring out what song we should do first.

There was a knock on the door and everyone’s heads whipped to the door. A man we didn’t recognized poked his head through the opening. With a grin, he stated, “Okay guys! You’re our opening act for the first singles competition.” By ‘singles’ he meant one band, ‘doubles’ were when there were two bands. Our mouth hung open as he shut the door and we all frantically rushed around the room fixing ourselves up.

“If you only knew,” Mitchell stated simply and we all looked at him. He explained, “That song by Shinedown, ‘If You Only Knew’. We’ll do that first, seeing as it sort of relates to the situation.” At first I was confused until I remembered the chorus. With a quick nod, I agreed with his notion.

Of course, that meant I wasn’t able to go on stage. Damn.



The six of us stood just off stage as we were being announced. From where I stood, I could just see the start of the audience and where the judges were sitting. If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought this was the set up of a new episode of American Idol. Finally, I heard our name get called and the guys sent me a thumbs up before Noah wheeled the drums out, Troy and Dylan headed out with their guitars, and Damien held his mike close to his lips. Screaming could be heard as the audience and cheered.

Damien sung the first verse smoothly, and the whole time people were clapping to the beat and cheering loudly. However, as he progressed to the chorus, he turned so he was looking at me, outstretched his arm and sang…to me. I mouthed, “Idiot! Look at the audience!” But he just continued to sing and grin at me.

“It’s four o’ three and I can’t sleep,” he sang, and Dylan nodded his head at me and I shook mine. They were insane. However, I guess since I found myself walking on stage, I was insane to. “Without you next to me, I toss an turn like the sea.” He took my hand with his free one as he sang, and spun me around. We attempted to dance for the remainder of the song, and this only made the crowd cheer louder.

When he wasn’t paying attention, I grabbed the mike from him and held it to my own lips. We were already breaking our rules, so why stop here? Singing an octave high than him so it fit my voice range, I sang, “It’s four o’ three and I can’t sleep. Without you next to me, I toss and turn like the sea. If I drown tonight, bring me back to life. Breathe your breath in me. The only thing that I still believe in is you.

“Oh, I still believe in you,” my voice grew softer, almost to a whisper. “If you only knew.”