Eric and Rylee are engaged in their usual banter as they set up the sound cables and media equipment with the club’s sound crew. Rylee, of course, is in her element, taking the lead in over-enthusiastically directing everyone around, and Eric is clearly enjoying the show. Some things never change.
“I can’t believe you’re here!” a voice says from behind me and Mia.
It’s the fan from this afternoon, Emily, whose father owns the club. She looks even more excited now than when we’d run into her earlier.
“Of course we are,” I grin. “We said we’d be here, didn’t we?”
She clasps her hands together and sighs happily as though I just promised her a new puppy for Christmas.
“Everyone’s freaking out. This is the coolest thing that’s ever happened at this place.”
“I promise we’ll make it a great night,” Mia smiles before I pull her towards the back part of the stage area to warm up.
“Alright, ten-minute warning guys!” Jake barks, waving his favorite clipboard around with one hand and grasping his hard lemonade for dear life with the other. “And Tony, Iswear to God—if you even think about getting naked in the ocean tonight, I will end you.”
I roll my eyes and wonder once again why I’d even told Jake about this show in the first place.
I run my fingers across the strings of my father’s guitar while Mia and I quietly sing through a few verses of each of the songs we’d decided to play. More excited fans come into the club—locals, tourists, the curious, more than a few decked out in our merch. They’re all chittering with excitement abouttheGrayson Harris andthat girl from the Philly videoperforming at their favorite spot. Eric perches on his stool with his guitar, waiting for us to join him, the rest of our group waiting in the audience with anticipation.
“You ready, beautiful?” I ask Mia, my hand brushing against hers.
She bites her lip briefly and the look in her eyes, the way they glow, reminds me how incredibly lucky I am that she's standing next to me.
“It gets a little more surreal every time I go out there,” she admits. “But yes. Let’s go crush it.”
I wink at her and smile, and we approach our mic stands. I pick up my dad’s guitar and we take a seat at our stools. The crowd is bigger than I expected—so much forlow-key—but it’s still relatively casual.
They’re spread out on beach blankets and all of the picnic tables are filled. The sunset casts a glow over the stage and we can hear the waves crashing behind us. I look over to Eric andhe nods. We’re ready to completely ruin people for any other live performance they’d ever see.
I lean into my mic. “Hey, Folly Beach. We’re Catastrophically Charismatic—or, what’s left of us when we go acoustic. Thanks for letting us crash your Wednesday night.”
A cheer erupts from the crowd, someone yelling out a loud “WE LOVE YOU, ERIC!” which makes us all laugh.
“Oh, and big thanks to Emily and her dad for setting this up,” I add, tipping my imaginary hat.
More cheers and clapping. The vibe is easy, electric. My favorite kind.
I glance toward Mia and grin into the microphone. “Also joining us tonight is our beautiful and multi-talented photographer, Mia Alexander. You may recognize her from that viral video of her completely stealing the show in Philly.”
The crowd whoops.
“She’s also my girlfriend… and the reason why our next album will probably be exclusively love songs. But you probably knew all of that already unless you’ve been living under a rock.”
Mia leans over from her stool to kiss my cheek, which makes the crowd explode.
“Anyway,” I say, strumming the first few chords of our opening number. “We figured we’d start with something you might know. This one’s calledCollapse Into You.”
Chapter thirty-one
"More than life" - mgk (ft. glaive)
Mia
“Thank you, Folly Beach,” Grayson says over the mic. “You’ve been the best unofficial stop on this tour. Goodnight!”
The lights go down and applause rings in my ears even after we step off the stage. The beach club isn’t a real venue, so we’re thrown right in the mix with the audience as Jake and the club’sstaff deal with our equipment. Fans line up around us, hardly able to wait to ask us questions and take pictures.
The most mind blowing part is, they don’t just want to talk to Grayson and Eric—they want to talk tome. We haven’t been allowed to interact with the crowds after the major shows for safety reasons, so this is my first experience being around their fans after performing.
