Easier To Lie

Garrett's bass line thumped through Mallory's body, making her jump. She had never been side stage before. Sure, she had been in mosh pits and right behind barricades, but never right on stage.

Pat's drum beats made her want to dance and jump around, but she restrained herself as she didn't want to look stupid. But she knew you could never look stupid at a show.

Kennedy (she had to remind herself of his new name) and Jared were extremely talented at playing the guitar. She knew her brother was good, and he still was, but Jared was amazing. His solo for a particular song, Listen To Your Heart, was breathtaking.

And then John's voice brought all the chaos together and made it wonderful. His voice was two parts raspy, three parts soft. She never really listened to it before. She had heard one or two songs off of Can't Stop Won't Stop, but hearing it live was even better. She felt as if she could listen to it all day, every day.

Mallory giggled at some of the facial expressions Garrett was making, finding them extremely adorable. He did some of the weirdest things on stage. He heard her giggle and turned his head towards her in between songs. He smiled at her and she looked away, clearing her throat.

Garrett turned back towards the crowd, defeated. Mallory was definitely laughing at him in a you're-so-pathetic kind of way. He knew what he did was weird. But no one had ever laughed at him before. Not even Pat.

When the intro to Girls Do What They Want played, Garrett walked close to John and whispered a suggestion in his ear. John grinned and nodded, leaning over to tell Kennedy while Garrett told Jared and Pat.

"Alright guys! I know you know this one. It's called Girls Do What They Want. Help me out!"

The crowd jumped up and down, and everybody in the venue was singing at the top of their lungs. Mallory even got the hang of the chorus and sang along. She was lightly head banging as well, and now it was Garrett's turn to chuckle. She blushed, but kept doing her thing.

When the bridge came along, John stopped singing and the crowd cheered. They knew what was coming.

"Alright guys, usually, we have someone from the crowd sing this part with us."

The cheering and screaming got even louder and Mallory was tempted to cover her ears.

"But tonight, we have someone special to sing it for us. No, LB, not you. Calm down. Not this time."

LB, their techie, laughed next to her.

"Her name is Mallory!" Mallory's eyes widened and she shook her head vigorously. There was no way she was going out there. Absotively posilutely no way.

LB put his hand gently on the small of her back, causing her to jump slightly. He guided her out on stage next to John.

"Thanks for bringing her out here, dude. Next time, you'll sing it," said John.

She squinted as the bright stage lights hit her face. "Um, what are you doing?!" she demanded.

"I'm welcoming you into the family!"

She pursed her lips and crossed her arms over her chest. "There's no way. I'm a terrible singer."

John faced the crowd and asked them to, "Please tell Mallory that she can do this! Come on guys!"

The crowd started to cheer even louder, if that was possible, and encouraged her to sing the bridge. She heard tidbits of things like, "Mallory! You can do this!" from random people and she blushed. She was getting encouragement from people she didn't even know.

"Okay, so it goes like this. Girls do what they want, whoa whoa, boys do what they can. Repeat after me."

She cleared her throat and took a deep breath, taking the mic. "Girls do what they want, whoa whoa, boys do what they can." Her voice shook and so did her hands.

The music started to progress and John shouted, "One! Two! One two three four!"

Mallory sang with all her heart and smiled. "Girls do what they want, whoa whoa! Boys do what they can!"

He signaled for her to do it one more time. "Girls do what they want, whoa whoa! Boys do what they can!"

John retrieved the mic. "Mallory does what she wants and Kennedy does what he can!" She laughed and so did Kennedy. "Give it up for Mallory, Kennedy's sister!"

Mallory walked off the stage with the biggest grin she had ever worn in her life.