My Mistake, So Predictable

“So what are you guys doing tonight?” Alex says, humming along quietly to a song playing in the background. I am currently spread out across my bed with my phone tucked between my shoulder and ear, talking to the boy while trying to beat Mario’s ass on my gameboy. Tabby had sent me in my room to clean up and find some of my lost guitar picks, but instead I had come across some of my old things and became distracted with while putting away clothes.

“Actually, we’re playing a show.” I say as nonchalantly as I can muster, mumbling as Yoshi runs me off of the track. Dang turtle. Lizard? He’s some kind of amphibian!

“Seriously?That’s awesome!” Alex exclaims, “Would you mind if I came?”

I blushed, “We’re nowhere as good as you guys are, so don’t laugh. And we’re only opening.” I inform him, angrily powering down the toy as Mario once again comes in first. Lousy game, it’s fixed I know it is.

“Yeah right,” He scoffs, “And anyway, I wouldn’t. Don’t tell Tabby, but I’m afraid that if I laugh at her, she’ll kill me.”

I laugh, “She scares you?”

“God, yes.” He breathes, “She’s insane.”

I have to agree with that. “But seriously, I would love it if you came.”

“Good. Can I bring the guys with me?”

“The more the merrier.”

-&-

“’Sup Hailey Whaley. How are you doing?” The French voice says from behind me as I nervously play with the strings on my guitar; checking to make sure they’re in tune before we go out on stage.

“Pierre!” I call happily, leaving my spot so I can give Tabitha’s boyfriend a bone crushing hug. His real name is John but I prefer his nickname more, John just does not fit his French accent.
“Where’s Tabitha?” He asks, trying to look around me after letting me go.

I roll my eyes and point in the direction of the small dressing room behind the stage. “Being a drama queen. She’s insisting she can’t go on without sparkling water.”

Pierre laughs, “I’ll go check on her.” He pulls me back into a hug, whispering “good luck.” And then heads off in the direction I had indicated to him before. I smile as he walks away, he’s good for Tabby. He knows exactly how to keep her feet on the ground when she acts up.

-&-

“Are you ready?” Tabby asks me five minutes later, pulling a smiling Pierre behind her as she walks onto the still curtained stage. Pierre kisses her on the cheek and whispers to her good luck before informing us that he’ll be watching in the crowd. Tabby grins as he leaves, “he’s amazing, isn’t he?” She asks and I laugh, snapping my fingers in front of her star-crossed eyes.

“Focus, Tabs.” I laugh as she slaps my hands away and grabs her bass from its stand.

“Where’s Max?” She questions, moving over to her mic so she can check its height. “I’m tiny, goddammit.” She curses when she realizes the microphone is high enough to rest on the top of her head; but her tones light as the crew around her cracks up laughing. “They do it on purpose, I swear.” She mumbles, moving it down a lot so it fits her short height.

I laugh and make sure my own mic is the perfect height before glancing around for our missing drummer, “I dunno. I haven’t seen Max since-“

“I’m here!” Max calls breathlessly as he slips behind his drums and picks up his drumsticks, banging out a beat for a second before nodding in contentment.

“Always fucking late.” Tabby laughs, ducking as Max tries to hit her with one of the drumsticks he had finished twirling between his fingers.

“None of that, you can’t have your singer injured.” Alex teases, walking on staged and then over to give me a hug as Tabby triumphantly sticks out her tongue at Max. He threateningly waves his other drumstick in the air and Tabby ducks behind Jack just as he walks on stage; he grins and lets her cower there for a moment before turning around and squeezing her tightly in a hug.

“Yeah, you might hurt their ego; a singer’s is always gigantic.” Rian jokes, also walking over and hugging me.

Alex and Tabby both protest at the same time and the rest of us burst into laughter, “I’m kidding.” Rian says with a grin, “Mostly, anyway.”

“Two minutes,” a voice says and the guys give us each hugs or man hugs in Max’s case, and then wish us luck before making their way off stage.

What feels like seconds later, the curtain is rising, the lights blinding me for a moment before I adjust to the brightness. Tabby steps up to her microphone and grins, fist pumping at the crowd. “Who’s ready for an awesome night?” She calls out, grinning as the crowd goes wild in front of her.

“Great! Our band is currently nameless, so if you mention us to anyone just say we’re a brilliant band, okay?” She asks the crowd and they roar back in response.

“We’re going to do a few covers tonight while we finish up writing a few songs, so hopefully you guys know some Summer Set songs?” Tabby asks and they cheer causing us all to grin. She finishes with a smile and places her fingers on her strings, waiting for Max to start the intro up with the drums.



-&-

We finish Cross Your Fingers and the crowd erupts. Nothing gives you the same feeling as standing on a stage, facing your fears as a hundred people listen closely to you; making you feel like all they want is to hear you make a mistake. But really, they’re trying to capture the same feeling that you are. The weightlessness as the music bounces around the walls, the many body’s twisting and grinding as the beat gives them something to dance to. The crowd is nowhere near as large as an All Time Low concert but we’re used to practicing in our living room, so to us this is insanity. We have played a few smaller shows before, but this is a lot larger and the crowd is really getting into the music, dancing and singing along to the words. Hopefully one day they’ll be that excited over our own lyrics, but for now we had decided as a band just to do covers of other songs until we’re sure that our songs are ready to be played for others.

“So that song’s pretty amazing, right?” Tabitha asks the crowd, “We’re gonna slow it down for this song and then we’ll pick it back up for our last song.” The cheers we get back made us enthusiastic as we prepare to play the second song in our set, “This equally awesome song is by The Cab, it’s called Vegas Skies.”