Pickin Me Up (Ronan Keating Fic)

Pickin' Me Up

"Jane, come on, they're waiting for you!" I stared at Chris, his tone was gentle but firm, his eyes full of concern. I looked at the floor, if I looked at him again, I might cry.

"Sorry" I muttered, my mind barely on the job.

I wished that I had called him and said I was sick now. And I was, sick to my stomach at the events of yesterday...

I had found my fiancée and his cousin in our bed together, his cousin for gods sake! He didn't even have the decency to cheat on me with somebody good looking. I swallowed down the rest of my pint quickly, not really caring if I got drunk or not. I was just going through the motions, the sooner I could get out of here, the better.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, would you please welcome, The Brothers Blue" the crowd went mad, and I was forced onto the stage with someone's hand in the small of my back giving me a gentle shove.

"Chin up Jane" whispered Allison in my ear as she passed me to take her position. I gave her a weak smile and shook my head at her. "Just get through this, and we'll get pissed later" grinned Nick. 

I just glared at him. 

Nick was Jake 'Joliet' Blues and Gareth was Elwood Blues, and we were 'The Brothers Blue' a cross between a Blues Brothers tribute and a show band (there were at least 15 of us on a bad day). They stood in between me and Allison, the bands backing singers and waited for the lights to dim a bit more, they then made their way to the front of the stage and stood back to back and put their trilby hats and sunglasses on.

The first part of the set went a lot quicker than I was expecting and I was relieved when Nick announced we were taking a short break, I was desperate for a drink! Dan our keyboard player nominated himself to act as chief runner and went to get drinks for all of us. 

We were all stood in a group chatting when he came back and I began to feel a little more human. "I bought you this as well" said Dan as he handed me my pint, and a pink shot. I looked at him curiously. "I heard about what happened.." "I'm sorry Jane" I sighed "Thanks Dan" "You know I'm here for you, if you need a chat"

"Thanks Dan" I said, but was unsure how sincere he was. Dan was the biggest charmer I knew, and I myself had fallen for those charms, way back before I'd met my fiancée. We had had a brief fling, before his girlfriend had found out and threatened to kill me. you can imagine my shock, I hadn't even known he'd had a girlfriend! to say our relationship had been rocky since then, would be putting it mildly.

I smiled in spite of myself and raised my shot glass to his. "Cheers" I said. "Cheers" I grimaced as the warm alcohol hit the back of my throat. "Ugh, what the hell was that?" I asked Dan who was laughing. "Pink Sambuca" "Yuk!"

"Ready for part two?" asked Nick, "Um. yeah I guess so" I said. "Time for you lovely ladies to make your debut in this place" he said, putting an arm around me and an arm around Allison.

"God help them" I muttered. Nick laughed, the second half of our show was less blues brothers and more commitments style, myself and Allison both had a song each to sing. Mine was Etta James' 'I just want to make love to you'. It had been in the set for years but I had never really understood why to be honest.