Just What I Needed

Just What I Needed (51)

Crinkling her nose considering at the thought, Keely stepped out of the change room as well, closing the door behind her. The last thing she needed was Mr James to find her alone in Marissa's change room, especially since she knew she was now lumped into a section with NSR in that man's head, because she'd heard he'd fired a sound technician off the tour for the same thing. Whether that was a rumour or not, she couldn't be sure, but it was still enough to send her away.

Pushing the thoughts from her mind, she started off, but in the opposite direction as her friend, singing a grouping of “Sha la la,” over and over again absently. Even then she was quite pleased with the fact her pitch was perfect. Her nerves of performing in front of a crowd were fading, and she couldn't help but think she was getting more skilled with her voice.

She would always be about freedom with your voice when you're singing, but it was nice that she was gaining even more control over it than before. Maybe it was just because she was using her singing voice so much more than ever before, even though it was a cliche, practice makes perfect had a good point. Although her ego hadn't grown to the point where she thought she was perfect. Plus she'd gotten to the point where her voice was accustomed to the stress on the road and had taken on a slightly used sound, yet somehow still smooth if she needed it to be when she sang.

“No shoes now?”

Cutting off in her daydream like singing, Keely glanced to her side as Colton fell into step beside her. “Yeah,” she told him, focusing once again, “I think I'm going to go hippie. No more electric instruments, just me, my guitar, barefoot sitting cross-legged on stage. How do you think that would go?”

He grinned easily, “I'm all for it. Just keep bathing.”

“That might be difficult,” she laughed before fully considering it. “I would have made an awesome hippie in the sixties, dancing naked in the mud, higher than the sky to Janis and Jimi at Woodstock. First thing that happens when Marco builds that time machine of his. Oh, plus I want to meet James Dean and have a long conversation with Billie Holiday.”

“He'll get right on it for you, I'm sure. You ready to take off? He's talking to one of the light guys and I've been sent to find Seth.”

Nodding quickly, they made a stop at her dressing room, Keely finally putting on her sneakers, before heading back down to NSR's.

As she gave a loud yawn, Colton looked at her with raised brows. “Didn't sleep well last night?”

Sending him a withering glare, she snapped, “And you bloody well know why.”

The boy just beamed at her, looking much to pleased with himself. “Oh, that was fun. Would have been better outside though, but Dave wouldn't stop.”

“Really? It sounded like you guys were trying to murder each other all night.”

Those words just made Colton's expression brighter. “Yeah, we need to do that more often. You should see the bruise that Seth has on his ribs from when Marco tackled him into the table. It's wicked.”

Although she winced at the thought of bruised ribs and still doing a show where you were the lead singer, Keely composed herself as she pushed open the door to the boys' change room, announcing, “Boys are dumb.”

But as she moved forward through the doorway, Keely found herself pausing in her step. This caused Colton to run into her, sending them both a clumsy step forward while the boy swore loudly. She on the other hand was much more interested in the reason she'd stopped in the first place, straightening and focusing her eyes forward.

The crowd was buzzing loudly, but as of yet Marissa's pop music hadn't started giving Keely a clear ear for the music inside of the change room.

She pulled in a deep breath at the sight of Seth sitting on the ground, his legs stretched out in front of him, his back propped against a chair with a guitar in his lap. His eyes were looking to the wall, but they seemed blank as if he really didn't see it, even his voice and guitar had taken on a faraway almost dreamy quality.