You Were Too Good to Be True

“Jimmy?” Alex called as we stepped down from the stage. A short guy stood at the mic stand, adjusting the height to make it taller than he would need. “Excuse me, but do you know where Jimmy from I See Stars is? We need him backstage.”

The man turned around to eye her suspiciously. “Mr. Gregerson went outside, I believe.”

“Thank you, sir.” Alex linked arms with me as we stepped down, then we looked for a door to go outside.

“I don’t think he’ll be in the front with all of the fans that are probably there,” I told my friend, who was subtly pulling me toward the front entrance.

“But he’s not in the back, or else we would have seen him already.” She stopped, bit her lip, then squinted her eyes to look around. It was dark – as places where bands like I See Stars often are – and seemingly empty, with a bar near the doors and tables set up with chairs in the back next to the merch booths. There were a few merch guys chatting near the bar, but no Jimmy. “Maybe there’s a side door. We’ll probably find him there.”

“Well I don’t see a door.”

“Excuse me, sir?” Alex roared at one of the merchies, who looked up in surprise. “Is there a side door by any chance? Better yet, have you seen Jimmy?”

“Jimmy’s in the van, last I heard. It’s through the back. Why?”

“We were sent to find him. Thank you, sir!”

Alex looked at me and scrunched her eyes and eyebrows as I let out an uneasy laugh. I pointed back at the stage, then we began to march.

We stepped onto the stage, wincing at the sound of feedback as a guitar was being plugged in. We entered the room where Andy and Zach were laughing together, waved, then went out the back door, Alex flashing the guard a genuine smile.

It didn’t take long to find I See Stars’ van; we approached it cautiously, not wanting to disturb anyone. We accepted that we had to, then I knocked on one of the windows softly.

The door swung open and Brent, one of their guitarists, raised an eyebrow at us. “Hello?”

“Hey, Brent. Have you seen Jimmy? We’ve been looking everywhere.” Alex always talked with her hands, this time I had to duck in order to evade them.

“Yeah. He’s in the back. Hold on…” He stood up in the car to crawl over to the back seat and yelled something I didn’t listen to. He climbed back over to us, Jimmy not far behind.

“There you are! We’ve been looking all over for you! We were told to come get you. That probably means that they need Brent, too… Mind coming with us?”

“Oh, okay,” Brent sighed, grabbing onto Jimmy and pulling him out.

Alex shot me a glanced as he stood next to us – looking him up and down, then stifled a giggle. When the boys started walking, she leaned in to whisper, “Did you remember Brent being so short?”

I held in a laugh. “No, I didn’t.”

The bouncer let the four of us in, then we entered the room to be confronted by Zach, who gave us a big, toothy smile. “We lose track of those guys – thanks!”

Alex raised an eyebrow, then told him it was no big deal.

Devin entered the room with a girl, their bassist, Jeff, not far behind. “Hello again!: Devin shouted. “Listen, we all need to talk. You guys go ahead and watch the first act. You can come back when we’re done. Alright? Go have fun or whatever. Don’t forget to buy some of our merch and check out everything around here. See you.”

“Bye!” Zach and Andy called in unison.

Alex and I both waved, then obeyed their frontman, as annoying as he might have been. As we opened the door to leave, I could hear them speaking. When the door closed, I pointed at it, Alex shooting me a funny glance.

“They said your name,” I explained, then pressed my ear against the door, her reluctantly doing the same.

“…Not ugly,” Brent said quietly.

“I would… but Zach… He should be glad,” Andy’s voice was too soft to make out much.

“But she’s different…” Zach trailed off.

“I think I should call it off… Never… Beautiful. But I don’t… If I Can…” Jimmy’s voice was pleading.

“Come on, don’t be a… You know what’s supposed to happen.. Or Zach wins this round. But…” Brent pressed.

Alex removed her ear and pulled me away. “What the hell do you think they’re talking about?”

“They’re up to something, I think?”

“Whatever. Stupid boys. Let’s get a spot in the front for once. I don’t want to get punched in the face again.”

I agreed, and we both jumped down to stand at the barricade. Within minutes, the doors opened and people trickled in.

Soon, a sound guy came from backstage and started testing out the keyboard. Alex and I discussed how dumb it was to check everything twice. The techie roared into two of the mics onstage, gave another the okay, then I See Stars took the stage and the lights dimmed. We cheered, the bouncers took their places, and people swarmed behind us.

The boys stepped out from backstage, picking up their instruments, taking their places.

Music started playing, their intro boomed, and then they all began.

I was too caught up in the moment to pay much attention to the crowd, cheering for Jimmy, singing along, screaming along with Zach, jumping to the music, trying hard – not as hard as my friend – to keep my place, square in the front. Jimmy often smiled at me, whipping his ‘hair’ out of his eyes for a better look at me.

Andrew pounded the drums, singing, Jeff bounced to the beat as he plucked his strings, and Brent wandered as he thrusted his head in time to the music. Devin jumped in place and roared at the crowd, “How many of you downloaded our music illegally?”

Alex groaned as he started his “if you buy actual albums, you’re helping the music business” speech. Honestly, I never had money for CDs – I’d either get my music from Alex or somewhere else.

A crowd surfer fell from above us, causing the girl in the air to bump heads with Alex and kick me in the face. A bouncer caught her, but her leg pulled my head into the barricade. Alex and I stared dumbly at each other for a moment, literally seeing stars and holding each other up, then we snapped back into the moment to raise our fists and sing a chorus along with Devin.

At the end, Andy lightly tossed his drumsticks to Alex, then Jimmy flicked his pick so that I could catch it. Brent and Jeff threw something in the crowd – but Alex and I were too busy trying to keep our gifts from the other fangirls.

Some people drifted away; there was still a lot of time before the next band played. My friend and I screeched and jumped around, amazed and veins pumping adrenaline. After shaking herself silly, Alex drew in a deep breath, closed her eyes, and whispered, “We have all-access. Do we go back now?”

I danced slightly, about to burst with excitement. “Uhh… YES.” I seized her by the arm, we marched up the stairs – one of the guards was about to yell, but we flashed him our passes – then opened the door, I See Stars waiting for us behind it.