I'll Take You There And Back Again

Chapter 2

"Dude where's my beer?" Drew complained as he stood with his bass over his shoulder. That was his pre-show ritual, chugging one beer since we had said he wasn't allowed more than that. Why he was currently incapable of getting it himself was beyond me. The rest of us were just standing around backstage. Some of us were jumping, trying to get warmed up, others were sitting on speakers. Will was one of those sitting and he was drumming away on the speaker itself.

"If you're so insistent, why don't you go get it yourself?" he asked Drew. You could tell he was starting to get annoyed, as were the rest of us. That must have been one of Drew's super hero powers, the power of Annoyance. One of the workers walked up before he had a chance to reply though and handed him a bottle of Heineken. That person had now been added to my list of heroes for the day. Garret came around behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist.

"You ready for tonight?" he asked in my ear. To many people it looked like we were dating, but we weren't. We were just really close best friends is all. No funny business. All of the guys tended to be like this around me sometimes, each in their own different way though.

"Of course I'm ready."

"Yeah the only thing she isn't ready for yet is sex." Drew snickered.

"Drew! If you don't shut the fuck up you'll never have to worry about sex again!" I yelled in his direction as Garret held me from lunging at him. There may have been a lot of tension between Drew and I but in the end, we were really good friends. He was actually the one I have known the longest as surprising as that may seem. We have a strange relationship, as any alert person will notice.

"Hey hey, save your voice missy. We're opening with Twenty-Four Hours tonight." Adam told me as he chugged some water. Twenty-Four Hours was one of our favorite songs. It was all calm vocals until the last minute of the song. Then some rougher, screamy vocals kicked in and usually sent the crowd into shock, especially those who had never seen us before. That's why we loved to open with it. It was a shocker and set the mood for the rest of the set.

"Hey guys, and girl." One of the stage crew people came up to us. He winked at me to which I just rolled my eyes. There was always one per show. It would be a disappointment if there wasn’t.

"You're on in ten." He finished before walking out onto the stage to place some water bottles around for us.

"So you said Mattie's coming tonight Kacie?" Garret asked as his arms were still around me.

"Yeah, and he said he was bringing some friends too. Hope they like us."

"I'm sure they will if they're friends of his." I just nodded my head before turning to watch the stage crew finish setting up for us before we took the stage in a few minutes.

~xXx~

"So tell us once more. Why are you dragging us here tonight?" Brian asked Zacky's little bro Mattie as they neared Shockey's, the club that Mattie was forcing them to come to.

"I already told you five times Syn! I've found you you're opening band for the tour." Mattie was getting tired of having to say the same thing over and over. He had discovered Murder By Midnight when he met Kacie in one of his classes. She had invited him to her band's gig once and he was an instant fan. He also happened to know what his brother's band was looking for when it came to their opening bands. And MBM was definitely a keeper. Typically the guys stuck with bands that they knew when they went with opening bands, but this time around they wanted something different. If only they would just trust Mattie and not be a pain about it.

They reached the doors of the bar and Mattie told the bouncer his name. They asked for a table somewhat near the back so as not to be spotted by the group that would be entertaining them tonight. The guys felt that if they were seen the band might not play like themselves. So they wanted to keep a low profile until after the performance. They all shuffled into the round booth in the corner and glanced up at the stage. It was still empty but it had a very nice drum kit set up along with several mics.

"And this singer, you wouldn’t tell us much about him. Why the hell not?" Zack asked his younger brother.

Mattie just smirked. He had left out the detail that the lead singer was a chick. He wanted it to be a surprise for the guys since they had never seen a decent rock band with a girl as the frontman, or woman in this case.

"I told you, you'll find out all in due time. Just chill man." The guys all ordered a few beers and spent the next couple of minutes trying to pry information out of Mattie. He, however, wouldn't budge. The lights soon dimmed and spotlights filled the stage as the band made their way out.

There on the stage, stood four guys and a chick. Mattie just smirked even more as his friends watched with interest.

"What's up Long Beach! How are ya tonight?" The girl screamed to an applause from the crowd. For not a ton of people, the ones that were on the floor sure seemed to be fans. It was surprisingly packed and the cheers roared as the girl continued her introduction.

"We are Murder By Midnight and we’re still here to fucking rock your night! This first song is called Twenty-Four Hours."

The guys in the booth all sat in shock as Kacie started to sing.

"No way." Jimmy laughed as he looked at Mattie's impressed face.

"Yes way. I'm telling you. Calm down and watch. Dude Brian you ok?" Mattie raised an eyebrow at Brian as he looked the most shocked. His eyes were wide and his mouth was slightly open. He had this dreamy look on his face as he watched Kacie's every move. At least, that’s what the guys thought he was watching.

"Huh? Oh yeah. I'm fine." Brian nodded his head before taking a swig of his beer.

Yeah right. Matt thought. I know that look. But he dropped it for now and turned his attention back to the band. They were quite impressive. They all had a lot of charisma on the stage and Kacie did have a voice in her, although he didn't actually know her name was Kacie just yet.

Johnny sat back with a smile on his face, thinking that this band has potential. Mattie was right. Of course, he had been the one to believe him from the start. He glanced over to Zacky who was about to take a swig of his drink when suddenly all five guys almost either dropped their drinks, or fell off the edge of the booth from shock.

"Damn! She can scream! Dude that's awesome! She reminds me of when Val used to scream for us when we were first starting out." Zacky started freaking out as he sat impressed by the vocal capabilities of the singer.

The song ended to a roar from the crowd and introductions were made.

So her name's Kacie. Brian thought as Will started the drum intro for the next song. He seemed fond of her already and he hadn't even met her! He internally told himself to control his emotions and went back to drinking his beer.

An hour later, the band had finished their set. The guys were still amazed. There was not one of them that could not disagree with Mattie. Speaking of Mattie he had gotten up from the booth to go find Kacie and the guys. He wanted to introduce them to Avenged.

"Well, I guess none of us can argue with Mattie now after seeing that. They were amazing." Matt smiled. He was glad that they got the chance to watch these guys play. They had so much charisma and they were flat out talented.

"No kidding dude. Hey Syn I think both Garret and Kacie can give you a run for your money when it comes to solos." That was also one of the reasons Syn was so amazed. He could only nod his head as he thought back to the song where Kacie grabbed a guitar and did a solo with Garret just like he and Zack would do. It was so different seeing a chick shred like that.

He couldn't wait to talk to her.