The American Spirit

June 19th, 2015

"But, Superman is a bitch!" Ryanne and Andy cried in unison, staring at Chelsea like she'd lost her mind. They were still doing the BryanStars interview and had gotten to the topic of superheroes because of Chelsea and Ryanne's phone cases.

Chelsea rolled her eyes. "You know Ryanne? I only have this because I know how much it drives you crazy. You should know by now that I don't care about superheroes."

Ryanne gasped and held her hand over her heart in mock hurt. "You wound me, sister. I don't know how we're related."

"Well, even though we're two years apart, I'm pretty sure we both came out of mom's vagina." Chelsea quipped, a grin on her face.

Ryanne grimaced, before shrugging her shoulders and conceding. "Touche'."

Bryan laughed and turned to the camera. "Alright you guys. On that note, we're going to end the video with a goofy face."

All five of them scrambled to jump into the frame together. Ryanne jumped into Chelsea's arms, leaning her head against Andy's arm and her foot lifted into the air. Braden popped up behind Chelsea, resting his chin on Ryanne's head. Bryan did some weird hand gestures and they all stuck their tongues out. Once the photo was taken, Ryanne was dropped onto her butt and she shot a glare at her sister.

"Bitch."

"Jerk."

They grinned at one another and Chelsea held her hand out to help her up. Ryanne rolled her eyes and accepted the hand, letting out a whoosh of air as she was yanked onto her feet. Chelsea laughed at Ryanne's attempt at a fierce look. The height difference made it very hard for Chelsea to take her sister seriously when she tried to be threatening.

"Dammit, Chelsea! I am fierce!"

**

"Alright Pomona!" Ryanne yelled, a large grin taking over her face. "We are The American Spirit and we are so fucking stoked to be here!"

It was their first show of the tour and all four of the girls were beyond excited to be on the stage. It wasn't a huge crowd, but a small one was better than nothing. She hopped down from the little step they had on stage and pushed her bangs out of her face.

"So, I don't know if you know this, but we have an EP out called Marry Me, Sweet Misery. It has five songs on it." She announced, grinning when Chelsea pounded a beat out on the drums. "We're going to play those five songs and then we're going to cover one song. So, let's do this! This one is, 'I Know You Are, But What Am I?'"

Braden watched as Chelsea counted out and then threw herself into the beats for the song, while Faye and Ashleigh went into the riffs. Faye was like a female Frank Iero, bouncing all over stage and almost running into Ryanne and Ashleigh. Whereas Ashleigh pretty much stayed stationary, focused on the strings of her bass, occasionally moving across the stage or out of Faye's way. Ryanne pranced around the stage, head banging and doing odd dance moves that actually weren't that bad. He was actually nervous to perform on the same stage after them. Seeing them up there, with all of their energy, it was kind of intimidating.

He was so wrapped up watching, but not listening, he hadn't realized they had played all of their original songs and were now asking the crowd what song they should cover. He grinned when she asked, loving how she interacted with the fans. Even going so far as to sit down on the stool onstage and listen to the crowd shout out suggestions.

"Alright, alright!" Ryanne laughed. "My sister knows a lot of songs, but you gotta be sensible. Who the hell suggested Justin Bieber?!"

The crowd laughed, knowing full well that nobody would ever dream of suggesting such an artist. He loved that she had such a good sense of humor and didn't seem to let things affect her too badly. Of course, being a new band on tour, they were sure to get some hecklers. Which they were actually starting to deal with now.

"Hey. Hey!" Ryanne shouted, standing up on the stool and pointing someone out in the crowd. "Yeah, I fucking see you. You wanna keep that finger, bitch? Come on! I wanna see you come up here and try to do better. We're offering our instruments and everything! I'm not gonna stand on this stage, where I am doing what I love, and get fucking called out by a bitch with her tits out. So, come on! Come show us what you got!" She huffed, blowing her bangs out of her face. "That's what I fucking thought. I'm up here and you aren't. I'm on tour with these amazing people and you're not. So, shut the fuck up."

When she realized that the girl had given up and walked away, she put a large grin on her face and made a total three sixty. The crowd was still cheering and some were even still calling out songs for them to cover. She turned and saw Braden in the side stage and smiled widely.

"You know, we're going to slow things down a bit. I don't know if any of you guys are a fan of The Police?" She teased, grinning at the reaction from the crowd. "This is probably one of my favorite songs, and it's actually in one of my favorite musicals, so I'm excited to play it. This is 'Roxanne!'"

The crowd cheered and Faye strummed out the first few chords. Ryanne swayed softly, eyes closing at the sound of the familiar melody. She focused on the crowd and took in a deep breath. This song was one of the first she learned to sing with the rasp she now has in her voice. Her vocal coach thought it would be a tough song for her vocals, but she blew her away when she first performed it for her after practicing for days.

"Roxanne.
You don't have to put on the red light.
Those days are over.
You don't have to sell your body to the night."

The crowd screamed and she laughed softly. It was amazing to sing this song again. She had fallen in love with it as a young girl and then, when she saw it in Moulin Rouge, she was completely adamant about learning how to sing it. She recently heard it again when she got into Juliet Simms for several weeks. And she was excited to see how she would compare to the Janis Joplin sound alike.

"You don't have to put on the red li-i-i-ight."

She finished with a flourishing bow, her hair swinging over her head and flipping back when she righted herself. The roar of the crowd filled her ears and she nearly broke down into tears right then and there. To see and hear all of those people crying out their band's name and asking for an encore, her heart swelled with pride. She looked back at her sister, who was grinning just as wide and breathing just as heavy. Faye and Ashleigh smiled like maniacs at their lead singer and best friend, knowing exactly what she was thinking and feeling.

"Thank you guys, so much!" She hollered, feeling her voice going hoarse. She walked back to the drum stage and grabbed her water, taking a huge swallow. "You guys have been amazing. So, you should continue to be amazing and come see us at our merch tent! Give it up for SayWeCanFly next!"

Braden grinned at the girl as she made her way off the stage, using her shirt to fan herself. He moved to say something to her, but was cut off by her screech of excitement. He followed her gaze to the tall, blue eyed singer that caught her attention first. He bit his lips and ruffled his hair, trying to stamp down the disappointment and jealousy he felt. He watched as she hugged him, him picking her off of her feet with her squeal of happiness.

He figured he just doesn't compare to one of her heroes.

**

Ryanne grinned as Andy gushed about her performance. She couldn't help but feel so elated as one of her biggest musical influences praised her about her show. It was beyond a dream come true. She felt a twinge of guilt for bypassing Braden, but she had seen Andy halfway through her set and she just had to see what he had to say. She knew that she should talk to Braden, seeing as though he was the first person to talk to her when this whole crazy ride started.

But, she couldn't help the flutter of a bajillion butterflies dancing through her stomach when she and Andy spent time together. Braden doesn't make her feel half that. And that thought made her feel bad, since she barely talked to Andy those first few months after the kick off party. But. she couldn't help that!

Plus, Andy made her feel so beautiful with the way he looked at her. And, when he talked to her, he actually talked to her. Not her boobs or her body. He always looked her straight in the eyes and the confidence he exuded made her feel confident herself. Like, he simply radiated it and pushed it onto other people. He never once made her feel like she was any more than another person and not some god forsaken walking sex toy.

Not that Braden made her feel like that. But, he was so shy and could barely look her in the eyes sometimes. She didn't have the personality to be with someone who could barely hold a conversation with her face.

Did that make her a bad person for thinking that?