Strings

g i g

We arrived at the venue after a testosterone-filled car ride and started unloading the van with all of our equipment and instruments.

"Hi, I'm the manager," Greeted a tall woman with a clipboard "You can put your stuff in here and the stage is through the door on the left."

"Thank you so much!" I made a beeline for the door to the stage with the band hot on my tail. Upon entering the stage we were awestruck.

Twirling round with his arms out Gabe muttered, "Holy shit..."

"Holy shit is right." We had never worked in a space this big and I was honestly shocked by how far our band had come in such a short time.

There was a small platform for us to use as a stage at the front of the room, a dance floor, and some standing tables off to the side. The lighting was absolutely sick, it had a kind of purple and turquoise glow to it. 

We began to set up our stuff, fiddling with amps, tuning instruments, and figuring out our configuration. Running through the soundtrack was a mess, of course, we weren't the most professional group and were often getting sidetracked or distracted. Finally, we finished a messy run of our lineup.

The manager had instructed us to wait backstage until the show started. So now I was sitting anxiously on a couch backstage by myself. Chewing on the nail on my thumb, a bad habit I hadn't been able to break, I could hear people starting to enter the venue.

"We're gonna do great guys!" Miller reassured us pulling me into a team huddle.

A young woman with a headset popped her head in the door to inform us, "You're on in five!"

"Fuck this is it," Akira muttered.

"Yep, this is it." Agreed Gabe.

The woman popped her head back in to give us the queue that we were good to go on. The minute we stepped onto the small stage I felt my breath catch in my throat and my body go numb. It wasn't a huge crowd but it was bigger than we had ever had before. I could see my boyfriend cheering proudly in the audience with a few of his friends. Taking my place in front of the mic I gulped and looked back at my brother for the queue to start.

"One, two, three.." He slammed on the drums.

I've never felt so alive, my body was humming with excitement as I felt the vibrations of the drums course through me. I was high on adrenaline rush the whole show. Looking out into the audience and seeing people singing along to our covers and cheering when a song ending left me grinning widely. Before I knew it we had performed our last piece and people in the club began to disburse to talk amongst their friends. We ran off stage sweaty and exhausted but proud. The manager greeted us and expressed her compliments on our performance, she emphasized that she would love to have us back to perform again.

"We did it fuckers!" Akira and Gabe were slapping each other on the back in congratulations.

Gabe excitedly ran out to go greet his girlfriend, Akira sauntered over to flirt with some girls that were googling their eyes at him, my brother went to greet some of his friends from college and Tate was already making out with some random girl in the club. My boyfriend, Matt, caught my eye and grinned.

"Hey baby," He cooed putting his arm around my waist, "you looked so hot up there."

I chuckled, "were you even listening to the performance or just staring at my tits."

"Maybe a bit of both," Matt purred into my ear, sending a shiver down my spine.

Matt was great, I mean, really great. I was lucky to have him. Yes, lucky. We had been seeing each other for a month now and things were going pretty well. He was hot, funny, and got along with the band, for the most part, Tate still hadn't warmed up to him yet. This was understandable considering our situation. I knew I should have been paying attention to what he was telling me but I couldn't help my eyes drifting over to where Tate was practically sucking the soul out of a blonde bitch.

There was a weird feeling pooling in my stomach which made me nauseous. It was disgusting actually the way that Tate was groping and sucking on the girl. God Tate was insufferable, yes we kissed once but it was nothing more than that. Why couldn't she just let things go back to normal? I couldn't pry my eyes away from her and as I watch her hands roam the girl's body and I couldn't help my mind drift back to the other day. Fuck, I had a boyfriend. I had a boyfriend and I couldn't stop thinking about my brother's best friend. I mean I'm not gay and I definitely wouldn't risk messing up the band dynamic. But god I cannot stop thinking about how she kissed me so hungrily and passionately. My brain hurt from how confused I was.

"Baby, are you listening to me?"

"Huh?" I snapped back to reality. "Oh sorry, I zoned out."

"Let's say we get changed and then head to Exchange for celebrations!" Akira cheered with a girl practically glues to his arm.

We headed to the backstage area and changed out of our sweaty performance outfits. Exchange was a local club that we frequently enjoyed going to. It was a four-story party hotspot that could hold up to 1,500 guests in the service bars and rooms that span its 25,000 square feet space. With state-of-the-art lighting and sound systems as well as an enormous LED screen, Exchange LA's set-up is ideal for nights of EDM revelry. It often opened past 2 AM on weekends, Exchange is a great place for guests who are looking to get more action out of their night. I had brought a sheer cheetah print dress that nicely showed off my pink lace lingerie to change into. I applied a few more touch-ups to my makeup and hair then headed out to rejoin the group.

(Stevie's fit)

"Fuck... baby," Matt growled grabbing my ass to pull me towards him when I approached.

"I'm glad you like it," I smirked and pecked a kiss on his cheek.