A Week, A Lifetime

It felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off of Dakota’s shoulders. The talk with Rian had helped a lot, although she was still unsure of what to think of their situation – after tonight, after the guys had played another show, they would have two days left. What then? What would happen when those two days were over? Dakota had no idea, and she was certain that Rian had no clue what to do about it either.

They had spent the little spare time they had before the start of the show running around in the arena. They had even had a round of hide and seek, but for some weird reason, they simply could not locate Jack. They ended up ending the game, and having Jack coming back out, although he refused to tell them where he had hidden. He said it was to be his “dirty little secret”.

The show started, and Dakota and Kaylee were standing on the side of the stage. The girls were screaming frantically at the boys on stage, and you could tell they all thoroughly enjoying it. Alex and Jack were messing around with the audience, and they loved the yelps of love coming from the girls. Their microphone stands were already filled with bras in all shapes and sizes. Kaylee, like you would have guessed, was dancing her ass off to every tune, while Dakota was carefully bopping her head, enjoying the show.
“They really are great,” Dakota said to Kaylee, and smiled.
“I knew they would make you love them! They do that, you know!” Kaylee exclaimed, and twirled around in her cute, little dress. They had actually spent a little extra time making themselves look pretty for tonight, simply because they had spent so much time in more comfortable clothes. They had not shown their outfits to the guys yet as they wanted to surprise them. Or rather, Dakota wanted to surprise Rian. Kaylee’s dress was a light blue, and the straps were crossed at the back. It was seriously cute, and it was a very different look for her. Dakota had put on a dark blue dress that was quite fitted, and it was cut right above her knees. It looked simple, yet very classy. She had even put her hair up, and when Kaylee had been done curling her own hair, she had helped Dakota do the same. They both looked very good, and Dakota felt confident and happy. Kaylee was jumping around to the music, singing along to the words, and Dakota absolutely loved seeing her best friend this happy.

In between songs, as usual, Alex and Jack were talking to the audience, but Dakota quickly started freaking out when she really heard what Alex was talking about.
“We have had company on tour, really good company actually. And we’d like you all to meet them.” Alex turned to look straight at Kaylee and Dakota, and he started waving them to him. Kaylee giggled, and shook her head nervously, while Dakota was more intent on running away to hide.
“They’re shy,” Jack said, and grinned. “Come on, girls, come on out on stage.” Dakota mouthed a very clear “NO!” to them, but she felt a hand on her back, pushing both girls out on stage. She turned to see Matt grinning. They stumbled out on stage, and Dakota felt her face flush a violent red shade the second she set foot in the spotlight. Kaylee was looking at the stage floor, not daring to look out into the audience. Alex walked over to put on arm around each of the girls’ shoulders, and pulled them to the centre of the stage.
“This is Kaylee and Dakota. And they are travelling with us, and we are having a blast. Say hello to our fans, girls!” Dakota carefully waved out to the audience, and was quite pleased when she recognised she could only see about the first six rows of the crowd. This comforted her more than she liked to admit. Kaylee tried smiling, but it looked forced, and kind of fake. Dakota smiled at the sight of it. The crowd was cheering, but somehow Dakota thought that all those girls out there, they seriously hated their guts right now. She jumped as Alex shoved a microphone into her hands.
“No, I can’t,” she tried saying, but Alex simply smirked at her. She took a deep breath before speaking.
“Eeh… Hello!” A giant roar of screams filled the hall, and Dakota felt her heart racing.
“I’m Dakota. Eeh… We have been travelling with the guys… and… Well, they are completely nutcases!” The crowd laughed, and Dakota felt pleased that she had made them laugh. She turned to hand the microphone back to Alex, but he shook his head.
“Now, this girl says that she can’t sing, but I think she can. Do you think she can sing?” The crowd roared again, and Dakota felt her heart sink. What was he doing?
“Yeah, I think she can sing too. So, the next song we’re gonna play is ‘Remembering Sunday’, and I want Dakota to sing it with me. Would you like that?” There was another roar from the crowd. Dakota shook her head violently, and took a step back, but Kaylee pushed her back to the spotlight. Dakota turned, and looked at her.
“Did you know about this?” she whispered, and Kaylee grinned cunningly.
“Ok then, let’s do it!” Alex yelled, and the crowd screamed as he started playing the guitar. The thoughts running through Dakota’s head were ‘What the fuck?’ and ‘Do I even remember the lyrics?’ She was completely freaking out, but she kept standing on the stage. She turned to look at Rian, who was sitting behind his drum kit, relaxing, as he had no part in this song. He winked at Dakota, and gave her a thumb’s up as the song progressed, and Alex was singing the wonderful lyrics of the song. She kept breathing steady, readying herself for the part where she was going to sing.

It was getting closer and closer, and Dakota felt her heart race, both out of anxiety and excitement. Alex turned to look at her as he sang his final word, and Dakota brought the microphone up to her mouth. And she sang! She felt a tingle of excitement go through her entire body as she sang each word, loud and clear. It did not sound bad, it actually sounded kind of good. The crowd was singing along, but Dakota kept her eye towards the back, where she could not see the audience. She was sure she looked stiff as a pole up there, but she seriously never had sung in front of people, only to herself, in the shower. She had sung in front of Kaylee, but they had known each other for forever. She sang the final words, and took a deep breath as she finished. The crowd was applauding, as was the band, and Kaylee was jumping with joy right behind her. She ran over to Dakota, and gave her a big hug. Alex came over and gave her a hug, and before returning to face the crowd he whispered into her ear.
“You did amazing!” Some of the girls on the front row were crying, and they were all applauding.
“How about that, huh?” Alex said, and the crowd went wild. “She was amazing, wasn’t she? And the girl says she can’t sing!” He laughed, and Jack went to his microphone.
“Wow, Dakota! I did not know you had that in you. Incredible. Give her another round of applause, ladies and gentlemen!” Dakota’s face flushed, as the audience cheered again, and she waved carefully at them, smiling as best as she could. Kaylee grabbed her hand, and pulled her away from the stage.

“That is the most insane thing I have ever done!” Dakota exclaimed, and Kaylee pulled her back into a hug.
“You were incredible! Amazing! I always knew you could sing, but you really did kick ass out there!”
“You think?” Dakota asked uncertainly, and shrugged. Kaylee nodded enthusiastically.
“Insane!” Dakota yelped again, before sitting down on the floor. “My heart is going crazy!” The guys finished playing the set, and thanked the audience for attending, before they came running to talk to the girls.