That Blue Gibson: Another Round

five

The lights felt hotter than just minutes before, and the crowd seemed louder and somehow larger now that the stage was empty... Except for them.

Dave's demeanor had turned on a dime the moment the spotlights fell upon them and although his face had softened, the hand surrounding her's had not. There wasn't any time to summarize what was happening, all she knew was that Dave had her on a forced march and there was no getting out of whatever he had planned now.

Her mind was in a free fall, still trying to catch up to what had happened backstage with Taylor, Dave storming in out of nowhere in a rage and now to make matters worse, the heel of her shoe was tangled in a pile of amp cords and she was about to fall flat on her ass in front of three hundred screaming people.

But again, the man beside her had spent a great portion of his life navigating that kind of environment and his arm coiled around her waist to keep her upright, putting his face just inches from her own.

"Watch it," he said roughly before guiding her over to a black stool placed front and center on the stage.

She gingerly sat, keeping her eyes fixed on him as he sat on his own matching stool and leaned back to retrieve a black acoustic guitar from a stand. She watched him in a daze, the situation slowly creeping into her consciousness when he looked up at her.

"Is your mic where you want it, babe?" he asked, his own mic picking up his words and broadcasting them out to the crowd.

It was like emotional whiplash. By all outward appearances, he was charmingly tipsy, smiling sweetly at her while enjoying the hell out of his birthday party, but Liz knew him well enough to feel the vibe emanating from him and it was very different than what was on the surface. He was acting just as well as any professional she had worked with, maybe even better. An entire live audience was eating out of the palm of his hand, something many film actors could never hope to accomplish. Acting to a camera was vastly different than performing for actual people, it translated so differently across the mediums and Liz was beginning to feel like he had acted her directly into a trap. His guitar tech emerged from the shadows cradling a beautiful twelve string guitar complete with rich wood grain and perfect pearl inlays confirming her theory and she shot Dave a discreet glare. It didn't matter what he saw or thought he saw backstage, he had been planning this all along.

"Hawkins?" Dave called suddenly into the mic, making Liz jump. Oh shit.

She refused to turn around, busying herself with positioning the guitar she had played for him the night they met on her lap when the crowd's screams indicated Taylor had returned to the stage.

"Disco?" he replied into the mic beside the drum kit.

"Tell all these people what my wife told you earlier."

He put a direct emphasis on my wife that was unmistakable, making Liz look up and back to the kit where Taylor was watching her.

"What was it you said, Liz?" he teased, having played this game with Dave far, far longer than she ever had.

"One song," she called back to him, loud enough for the mics to pick it up. "And one song only."

Taylor grinned at her, but the worry was still surrounding his eyes. "One song, Disco. She only wanted to play the one song."

Superficially, it looked like their usual stage banter for the benefit of the audience. Just playful teasing from three close friends, two of whom just happened to be married and the other two being best friends for almost as long as the third had been alive. If it wasn't obvious to the mass of people watching, it was very clear to the three on stage that Dave had the upper hand.