By the time we arrived at the place where the show was being held, a veterans’ hall, I was shaking. Muf and Dave arrived shortly after us, and they introduced me to a bunch of other bands there. All of them probably thought I was some obsessive compulsive freak. Dave wasn’t really drunk anymore, and I would have I tried to avoid talking to him because I was angry, but I followed him around for fear of being left alone. Finally, he started teasing me that I was a sad little puppy and told me to find Heidi.
I walked out into the room. People were gathered all around, and so it took me a little while to find Heidi. Alise put an arm around my shoulder when she found me, “So are you excited?”
“They never asked me to sing with them,” Heidi pretended to be jealous.
“That’s because Dave doesn’t want you,” Alise reminded her.
“Whoa... Dave does not want me.”
“Mmmkay,” Alise shrugged, but she winked at Heidi.
“”Hi, Ike!” Heidi waved Tay and Ike over to us,.
“Hi,” they replied as we all exchanged hugs.
“When are you guys up?” Ike wanted to know.
“It’s pretty crowded,” Ike pointed out. “Are you excited?”
“Um, yea,” I said sarcastically. “Too bad I’m going to like, pee my pants.”
“Nervous?” Tay asked.
“Just a tad.”
“When are you guys up?”
“Third.”
“You’ll be great,” he high-fived me.
“Your hands are freezing,” Tay warmed my frozen fingers with his hands.
“I’m so scared,” I leaned up against the wall because I was dizzy.
“I know that everyone’s been telling you, but you’re really going to be okay,” Heidi hugged me. “Tayler, you’re shaking!”
“I know I am.”
“You’re going to rock, Robinson,” Ike smiled.
“I feel like I’m going to faint. I’m dizzy,” I pressed my cold hands to my temples.
“Are you all right?” Ike asked.
“I told you I was nervous.”
Someone tapped me on the shoulder. I jumped about a mile high. “What up?” Dave wrapped his arm around my shoulder.
“Hi, Dave,” I tried to shrug his arm off as I glanced sideways at Tay.
“Don’t sound too excited... Ready to go back there?”
“Now?” my voice cracked.
“Are you okay? You look a little pale,” he pressed the back of his hand to my forehead.
I nodded. The butterflies in my stomach had grown into like, huge killer moths that were beating their wings so hard it controlled my heartbeat. Telling them we’d be back later, Dave lead me away. Oscar and Muf and Dave and I went over the set list about a hundred times for no real reason. No one else was in the little equipment room, because they all were out watching the bands. I think that Oscar and Muf and Dave were really nervous that I’d choke and their band would get a bad name for letting some little high school chick sing with them.
After a while of awkward silences and pointless conversations, the second band ended, and we had to go up. Dave needed to hold onto me as we stepped up on to the platform because I almost fell over. While the guys set up and tuned and stuff, I kind of hid in the back by Oscar and his drums. There were a lot more people since I had been out there, and I got more and more petrified as I waited for them. I started to get more dizzy.
“We’re ready,” Dave whispered.
“Okay,” I took a deep breath.
Dave went up to the mic and said, “Hi. We’re Total Concept. For those of you who know who we are, our lead singer Travis is currently MIA, and so my buddy Tayler here is filling in.”
“Hi,” I waved awkwardly, taking the mic out of the stand. A bunch of people cheered (probably Ike, Tay, Heidi, and all them).
Oscar beat the drums and we began. Dave sang with me on the first original, and so I relaxed a little bit. The people in the mosh pit bounced their heads. I really hoped I wasn’t sucking. When that song ended, we launched into another original that I had to sing by myself. It went pretty well. The people in the pit knew the words to the song, and so I held the mic out for them to sing with me. I was getting less and less nervous and more and more pumped. I began to get into it and forget about stuff, and so I was having a lot of fun. Then, Dave sang “Do You Wanna Die?” by the Toadies. Since he was singing that by himself, I guzzled half a water bottle and sat on the edge of the stage for a minute. I dumped the other half of my bottle on the moshers. Dave was just at the part where it goes, “I can promise you, you will stay as beautiful,” and yanked me to his chest. “With dark hair,” he pulled me so close to him that I was pressed up against his bass, “and soft skin,” he brushed his thumb over my lips. His face was like a quarter of an inch from mine, “Forever,” he bumped me with his hip and I stumbled away. The whole crowd cheered (probably everyone except Taylor). I laughed, although my knees had gone weak for a second. Luckily, I recovered so that I could sing “I Want You to Want Me.” After that song, we did one more, and then we were done.
I was so relieved that it was over that I almost collapsed when we were in the little back room. “Dude, you rocked!” Dave picked me up and twirled me around.
“Likewise,” I smiled when he put me down. I was so dizzy that I didn’t let him remove his arm from my waist.
“Yo, you were better than Travis,” Muf patted me on the back.
“Thanks,” I smiled. My head stopped spinning after a minute or two. I felt so happy. All the anxiety and crap was over, and I felt free.
“Wanna come to a party later?” Oscar asked in between gulps of water.
“Tay, you have to,” Dave urged, squeezing his arm around my waist, “It’s going to be phat as hell.”
“Heidi and Alise are going,” Oscar persuaded.
“You could even bring your posse,” Muf added.
“My posse?”
“Your little Hanson crew,” he laughed.
“I guess I’ll have to ask them...”
Dave let go of my waist and punched my shoulder, “Dammit, Tayler, you’ve got to come. If you don’t, I’ll...”
“You’ll what?”
“Kick your ass or something.”
“Yea, okay,” I rolled my eyes.
“Watch me,” he laughed and body slammed me into the wall.
“Stop! Yo, I can’t breathe!” I exclaimed as he pressed me harder into the wall. “I’ll go, I’ll go!”
“That’s what I thought,” he still didn’t let me go, though. I had to wriggle out of his grasp.
“Dude, I’m proud of you,” Oscar high-fived me as he left to go out and watch the next band.
“Thanks.”
Muf followed Oscar, and Dave started to, too. I wasn’t sure I was stable enough yet to go out there.
“You okay?” Dave’s voice was soft as he paused at the doorway.
“Relieved.”
“You wanna sing with us next time?”
“What about Travis?”
“Screw Travis,” he walked back over to me.
“Yea, sure...”
“No, really. They liked you,” he motioned to the door leading out, “and so if you want to...”
“Thanks,” I looked down, “but I don’t think that-”
“At least think about it?” he interrupted, “I could tell you were loving it out there.”
“Okay,” I said half-heartedly. I hoped he wasn’t asking me to actually be in the band. If Heidi and Alise were right about him liking me.... I grabbed a bottle of water and made my way out into the crowd, which had grown considerably since before the show. I couldn’t find anyone, and so I went into the bathroom to get a little air because I still felt a bit dizzy. As I sat on the sink, the next band started. I felt all right after a couple minutes, and so I went back among the moshers to look for my friends.
“Tayler!” I heard Heidi. “You were so great!” she hugged me.
“Thanks,” I smiled. We had to yell over the music.
“Seriously,” she patted my back, “I was proud to know you.”
“Thanks,” I blushed. I didn’t really want to talk about it. “So I hear you’re going to this party after?”
“Yea.”
“Me too.”
“You are?”
“Yea.”
“You know everyone is going to get drunk.”
“I’m aware.”
Heidi shrugged and said, “I won’t get drunk if you don’t want me to...”
“No, it’s okay. Tay and Ike and people are invited, so it should be okay.”
“Speaking of whom, where did they go?”
“In that general direction,” she pointed to the back. “Do you need a ride to the party?”
“Sure.”
“Meet me by the stage after this band.”
“All right.” I made my way to the back to find Ike and Tay. I found Zac first.
“Yo, Robinson,” he tapped my shoulder.
“Zac, you came!” I hugged him. “Hi,” I waved to his friends, most of whom I already knew.
“Your band rocked,” Frank said.
“They’re not my band, but thanks,” I smiled.
“Congratulations,” Zac gave me a hug.
“Have you seen my brothers?” Zac asked, looking around.
“I was looking for them. Heidi said they were back here.”
“I saw them up front before.”
“Do you wanna come to a party?” I asked.
“Sure,” Zac nodded, “I mean, if my parents say so.”
“The rest of you guys can come, too,” I said to his friends.
“Call your parents,” I said to Zac. The band on stage was almost finished. “I’ll meet you back here when I find your brothers.” I pushed and shoved my way up to the front, but I couldn’t find Ike and Tay there either. I went back into the little room where Dave and the band were chilling.
“Dave, have you seen Tay or Ike or Heidi or someone?”
“Nope.”
“I can’t find them.”
“Good,” he laughed, yanking my arm so that I fell onto his lap.
“So how long have you guys been going out?” the girl in the chair next to Dave asked.
I laughed, “We’re not-”
Dave interrupted me and said, “About three months.”
I elbowed him in the stomach as the girl responded, “You can really tell.”
“You can?” I asked incredulously.
“From the way you act when you’re singing.”
Dave held me on his lap and smirked. He started kissing my neck. “Okay, hon,” I said warningly, “Let me go. I have to find someone.”
“All right, babe,” he smirked evilly.
“I’ll see you in a bit,” I winked cutely at him, standing up.
He kissed my hand as I stepped toward the door. Just as I was about to exit, Heidi walked in with Tay and Ike trailing behind her. If they had walked in like twenty seconds earlier, they would have seen Dave all up and on me and I would have been in trouble.
