Plight of Amour.

I had only been to Hamburg stadium one other time in my life. My father had forced Rillia and me to go to some stupid concert that I ended up sleeping through.

But back then, I had not noticed how unbelievably huge it was. It was…scary. What looked like a million people were waiting outside, and I’m sure even more were actually waiting inside.

“Whoa,” I whispered, holding onto Georg’s arm tightly. “This place is huge.”

“It’s not the biggest place we’ve played,” he pointed out. “We’ve done much bigger, but I think tonight is going to be our best concert yet.”

He glanced down at me, and I smiled brightly.

“Let’s hope so,” Teniell piped up from behind us.

Georg led us toward the side stage, where we stay in the dressing room until the concert began.

I clamped my free hand over my aching stomach. My insides were clenched into disgustingly contorted knots.

I woke up with my stomach in such a condition, and it had only gotten progressively worse through the morning. It got to the point where I sat, gagging into the toilet for thirty minutes before Teniell came to calm me down.

The sick nervousness wasn’t as bad as that now, but it was still torturous in more way than one.

And my legs were shaking like jello.

Georg hopped up a few stairs and shuffled us backstage.

“Okay,” Teniell said quietly, trying not to draw attention to us. “I have a question.”

“What?” Georg glanced over his shoulder.

“Where are we going again?”

Oh. I had forgotten to fill Teniell in on everything.

“You are going to hide in my dressing room until the concert,” Georg answered happily.

“Why do we have to hide?” Teniell continued.

“Because I didn’t tell Bill that you were here,” he replied, pulling us closer to a door reading “Dressing Room” in six different languages.

He pulled the door open, but stopped as he was about to step inside.

“Oh, scheisse. Hallo, Tom.”

I froze. Had Georg told anyone else that we were coming?

“Sind sie hier?” Tom asked.

Apparently he had.

Teniell ducked away from the door and came to stand beside me. She grabbed my hand.

I smiled. “Thank you,” I whispered.

“Ja, sind sie.” Georg gestured to us.

I heard some shifting and a chair scooting against the floor. Soon a familiar head popped out of the dressing room.

“Calla!” Tom exited the room completely.

I let go to Teniell and walked into his awaiting arms.

“Tom, I’ve missed you!” I cried, smiling brightly up at him.

Tom had definitely become one sexy individual. I couldn’t help but stare up at his face, mesmerized.

“I’ve missed you, too, Callie,” he said, hugging me closer. “God damn, it’s been forever.”

“I know.” I pulled completely away from him and peeked at Teniell. She was staring at Tom, her eyes rather wide. “And, Tom. This is my wonderful agent, Teniell Gillian.”

Tom turned his attention to my scatterbrained, blonde agent and grinned. “Hello.” He abandoned my side to go talk to her.

“How long until the concert?” I asked Georg.

He glanced into the dressing room, obviously to check a clock. “Ah. Ten minutes.” He pushed passed me and grabbed Tom by the shoulder. “Zehn Minuten. Wir müssen uns vorbereiten. Wo ist Bill und Gustav?”

Teniell slid passed the boys, a dazed look in her eyes. I giggled.

“Are you still on earth, Ten?” I questioned.

She shook her head.

“Yeah, Tom has that effect on women.” I glanced fleetingly around us, taking in the area at the back of the venue.

Teniell sighed gently. “Effect. Yeah. I don’t think that’s what it’s called.”

I furrowed my brows together. “Then what is it called?”

“I believe the correct term is—“ She cleared her throat, preparing for the obvious banter that was about to be let loose. “—Oh-my-god. How-can-someone-so-young-get-my-hormones-raging?”

I laughed again. “That sounds about right,” I smirked. “But wait until you see Bill.”

Teniell looked me straight in the eye. “Yes. I want to see the boy that has stolen my Calla’s heart for so long.”

I slid my arms around her torso. She put her hands in the middle of my back.

“You’ll get to see him soon,” I whispered. “But I warn you. He’s kind of strange on stage.”

“I thought you’ve never been to one of his concerts,” she said.

“I haven’t,” I responded. “But I have gotten on the internet.”

Teniell nodded. “That explains it.”

“Hey, girls,” Tom called, bringing us away from our quiet conversation. “The concert is just minutes away, so you two can hang out over their at the side stage. I’ll distract Bill from noticing you when we come by. Okay? We will be right back.”

“Yeah!” Georg added. “Don’t move!”

Tom nodded to Georg and the two started jogging around the bend to find the rest of their band.

I tapped my foot on the ground. The knots in my stomach were being joined by fluttering butterflies. All the movement in there was making me sway a little, with nausea, which probably wouldn’t look pretty to my lovely Bill.

Oh, listen to me. I’m calling him “my” Bill. I had no right to call him that any longer, not until all of this worked out.

But everything would work out, right? Everybody else was so sure of it, so what could go wrong that would ruin all of our feeble attempts?

Teniell jabbed me in the ribs. “Calla,” she breathed.

“What?” I whispered.

She pointed her index finger.

I glanced at the other side of the venue.

They were all coming around the bend, flanked by three bulky bodyguards.

I slid my hand over my mouth, trying to hide my gasp.

It wasn’t Georg, Gustav, or Tom that made me feel this way. No. It was…him. He was walking behind Tom, his head down.

Teniell leaned forward and whispered, “Is that him?”

“Big hair?”

“Mhm.”

I nodded slowly, not daring to tear my eyes away.

Georg waved upon seeing us again. Teniell waved rapidly back, but I didn’t look away from Bill, even as they grew much closer.

The security guards came to a stop side stage, where Teniell and I stood, and one of them motioned for Gustav to go out to his drums.

Georg and Tom, now flanking guitars, strolled out moments later, leaving Bill standing inches from me.

He still had his head down.

I was so close I could touch him. I could start talking to him, tell him that Finn wasn’t my son, that we could be together now, but I couldn’t find my voice.

I was making a complete fool out of myself! Here was my chance to set everything straight and I was standing, my feet rooted to the ground like a complete idiot.

Teniell was just as motionless as me.

One of the security guards, whom I recognized as the one from the convention, finally saw us and looked surprised.

“Calla Klein?” he questioned.

When he said my name, I broke from my mute state. I was able to choke out, “Yes, that’s me.”

Bill’s head shot up.

He looked straight at me.

My legs immediately felt weak again.

How he was able to do that to me, I would never understand.

“Calla Lily?” he asked, squinting his eyes as if he didn’t believe what he was seeing.

I waved my hand. “Hi, Bill.”

“What on earth are you doing here?” he questioned angrily. “I thought I got my point through yesterday. I want nothing to do with you if you—“

“No, Bill. You don’t understand!” I shook my head rapidly.

“What don’t I understand?”

I didn’t get to answer, however, because the security guard pointed to the stage and pushed Bill out.

I pressed my hand against my forehead.

That was the most stressful five seconds of my entire seventeen years.

Teniell put her arm around my shoulders. “Cute,” she said.

“Cute is an understatement,” I contradicted breathlessly.

The security guard waved for us to come closer.

Teniell led us over.

“Calla Klein,” he repeated. “My name is Saki.”

The other security guard whistled. “Calla Klein the author?”

I nodded. “That’s me.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Falken,” he said. “My daughter loves your books.”

“Aw. Thank you.”

Saki laughed. “I feel a little star struck. You’d think I would be used to seeing celebrities by now.”

I smiled and let my eyes wander over to the stage. The first guitar riffs of the song were being played, and I felt sick.

Why did they have to play “1000 Meere” first? That song already haunted my every thought.

“Bill loves your books, too.”

I didn’t try to hide the surprise I felt as I turned my gaze to Saki. “What?”

“Bill has every one of your books,” he explained. “And he reads them repeatedly. Especially the one called Forget To Breathe.”

I bit the inside of my cheek.

I never gave thought to Bill reading my books. When I wrote them, I didn’t think he would buy them, so I wrote what I wanted.

Forget To Breathe was my favorite project. It was about a girl who met this boy and immediately fell in love with him. The way the girl felt about this boy was the same way I felt about Bill.

I put every emotion that I ever felt toward Bill into the thoughts of the main heroine.

I looked back out at the stage, where Bill was singing beautifully.

I could hear Teniell’s voice as she talked to Saki and Falken, but I couldn’t make out what she was saying.

Bill, as he was singing into his microphone, would glance over at me and hold my gaze for the longest time.

He was all I could see on stage. Tom and Georg bopping around were not in my line of view, even though they were closer than Bill was.

All I could hear was his voice, even passed the thousands of screaming fans in the audience.

My thoughts were suddenly short, choppy, and shaky. I couldn’t think a full sentence and it made me dizzy.

Or that could have been that I wasn’t breathing.

I’m not sure how it happened, but the song ended amazingly fast and Bill raised the microphone to his mouth.

“Vielen Dank für Kommen heute Abend! Ich hoffe, dass jeder das Konzert genießen wird, das wir für Sie haben!” he yelled excitedly.

The audience erupted into loud shrieks.

He messed with his ear piece for a moment, letting the teenagers get their energy out.

“Dieses nächste Lied ist Ein den ich habe geschrieben für ein Mädchen, das ein Hauptteil von mein Leben zum den längsten Mal war,” he continued. “Wir haben Kontakt verloren, aber ich habe immer sie gewollt zu wissen, dass ich durch ihres seiten ewig bin.”

He was looking right at me.

Teniell slapped me in the ribs. “What is he saying?”

I forgot she wasn’t fluent in German.

“He’s saying…He said that the next song is written for a girl that was a main part in his life for the longest time. He said they lost contact, but he wanted her to know that he is always by her side, forever,” I answered, my voice cracking.

I blinked, letting the tears slide down my cheeks.

Teniell made a loud “aww” sound and clapped. “He’s talking about you!” she cried.

I nodded slowly. “He is.”

“Oh, that’s why he likes your books,” Saki breathed.

Falken laughed. “Wow. Never saw that coming.”

I cried through the whole song, holding myself together with my arms wrapped around my torso. It took everything I had to keep from passing out.

I’m pretty sure I cried through all the songs, right up to the last song of the night. That’s when Bill started talking into his mic again and I had to focus enough to translate for Teniell.

“Thank you again for coming out. You were an amazing audience,” I translated quietly. “We’re changing it up a little though. Instead of our usual going out song, we’re going to play something I wrote when I was younger. I wrote it for the girl that left me against her will, and I realized I was not me when she wasn’t with me.”

My breathing hitched in my throat.

Bill continued to talk, but I wasn’t able to keep translating.

He wrote Ich Bin Nicht Ich for me? That was hands down my favorite song by them. For years, I played that song at full blast as I wrote. It had been the reason I finished almost all of my projects.

Teniell shook me, but I couldn’t respond.

I wanted to run to him, to tell him I was here now.

Abruptly Bill turned toward the side stage where we stood and held out his hand. “Calla, will you come out here?”

I didn’t give it a second thought. I ran out onto the stage and he pulled me into his arms, letting me rest my head against his sweaty chest.

The music to the song began playing and Bill swayed us back and forth, completely off beat to the song.

When it was time for him to start singing, he put his free hand under my chin and lifted my head up so he was looking at my face.

He sang the first lines of the song, and I smiled through my steadily increasing tears.

His voice sounded more beautiful than it ever had before and the audience was strangely quiet as a million different cameras began flashing at once.

As the beat of the song started increasing, he laced our hands together and began bopping around, dragging me along with him.

I let him do what he wanted and went along with it.

I told you it would all work out! my good voice screamed.

Hey, it’s not over yet. Just because he is singing to her doesn’t mean they’re getting back together. my bad voice shot angrily.

Oh, come on! You’re in so much denial! He’s holding her hand, he’s singing to her, he reads her books. He loves her, and he always will. Are you blind, you idiot? the good one insulted.

The two voices started arguing loudly, but I strangely didn’t mind. They could think what they wanted, but I was just living in the moment. I wasn’t sure if I even cared what happened after this, as long as I could relive this moment as we bounced up and down on the stage, holding hands.

Bill held up the microphone to tell the audience to start singing.

They screamed out the lyrics from where he left off, and taking this moment to his advantage, he looked down at me.

“Calla Lily,” he said.

I smiled uncontrollably. “Yes, Billa?”

“Thank you for coming.”

I grinned again, and he started singing where the audience stopped.

During a break in the lyrics, Bill said, “Sing, Calla. I’ve missed hearing your voice.”

I did not argue.

I started singing perfectly in tune with him, having learned the song by heart now. He held the microphone out further so it could catch both of our voices.

I can’t be for sure that we were in perfect harmony, but no one seemed to care. The audience had stopped their silent streak and was now screaming out the lyrics and chanting our names rhythmically.

Something didn’t seem right, though. About me. I felt…different. Lighter, happier. My smiles were coming so much more natural and I was singing with emotion.

With a burst of realization, I understood that it was true.

The lyrics to this song were all true. I really wasn’t myself when he wasn’t with me. I was alone and sad, and the sky hung crooked without him.

I was finally Calla Lillian Klein again.

But how long would that last?

The song came to an end with the last fading guitar riffs.

I looked up at Bill just as he looked down at me.

Just like we had so many years ago, we leaned in and kissed.

My heart fluttered, my head spun, the knots in my stomach completely vanished.

My thoughts reeled with beautiful memories and I had to clutch at Bill in fear that this was all another one of my wild fantasies.

Though they had never seemed so real.

When we pulled away, everyone started screaming. I was able to hear Teniell scream over everyone else, and I heard Tom yell, “Finally!”

Bill shouted a final goodbye to the audience before handing the mic to a stage hand and carting me off to his dressing room.

He was apparently in a hurry to talk to me, because he didn’t stop until we were both in the small room with the door closed.

“Calla, why did you come?” he whispered.

“I should be asking the same to you,” I replied. “Why were you at the romance convention?”

“I wanted to see you. I had to see you.” He stroked my hair. “When Georg told me that you had gotten even more beautiful over the years, I couldn’t believe him. You were already so beautiful that I needed proof…And I missed you so much.”

I could tell he was babbling, a bad habit he had when he got too nervous or emotional.

I placed my hand on his cheek and whispered, “Calm down.”

Bill took a deep breath, slowly calming himself down at my wish.

“Okay, now listen,” I demanded. “I am here because I want to set a few things straight. I do not have a son. Do you understand?”

“You don’t?” He instantly took on an expression of relief. “Oh, gott sie danke”

I laughed at him. “If you were so worried about me having a son, then why did you ask me to come out on the stage with you?”

“When I saw you, I decided that if you did have a son, I was willing to help you raise him even if he didn’t belong to me.” He grinned happily. “But now I don’t have to do that.”

I giggled. “I’m so happy that were willing to make such a sacrifice for me.”

“Yeah, it’s because you’re my life.” He sounded so sure.

I pressed myself against him and he put his arms around me.

“I told you we would find each other again,” he murmured. “It only took five years.”

“I waited so long,” I whispered. “And I never thought we would find each other again.”

Bill shook his head. “I know. I thought I would have to live without you.”

I raised my head from his chest and stared longingly into the beautiful brown eyes I had only been able to dream about. They were beautiful; he was beautiful.

I was so much in love.

So terribly in love.

My chest ached as I watched him stare down at me.

“Bill!” A loud pounding started on the door.

Bill groaned, disgruntled. “What?” he yelled.

“We have to go!” Tom shouted back. “And, Calla! Your sister wants you home now.”

Bill and I both made idiotic whining sounds.

It was just like when our parents would make us come inside because it was getting too late…

Bill kissed my forehead.

“Calla, give me your phone number.”

I grinned and whipped out my Blackberry.