Page 60 of Lyric & the Heartbeats

“Okay,” she said moments later. It was only then she realized he was still holding her hand.

Nohen cocked his head as if he hadn’t heard her, and she squeezed his palm once before she broke the connection and summoned the others. Emerson with a tug on his dark colored button-up, Desi with a tap on her shoulder, and Adra turned as if he instinctively knew she needed him.

“Sixty seconds,” Henry shouted from his spot beside the stage entrance.

After giving him a sharp nod, she turned all of her attention to the band. As they stared down at her, as the lights behind their heads flashed once before lowering to darkness, as the wave of excitement seemed to drown the crowd awaiting them… it hit her.

She was about to sing to a venue full of people, thousands waiting for her to walk out on stage. Songs she’d written. Lyrics that spelled memories and fears and hopes and dreams and death onto the page from her soul.

Her eyes widened at the sudden smack of reality, and a smile took the place of the worry filled grimace she’d been sporting since she’d packed herself into her stage outfit.

Lyric put her palm face down in the circle between them all.

“Let’s kick some ass,” she yelled, a wash of heat rushing over her as adrenaline kicked in.

“Hell yeah,” Desi shouted, and slapped her palm down on top of Lyric’s.

The others followed suit just as Henry called, “Show time!”

Desi headed to the stage first, sneaking behind the curtain and cutting through the middle part to climb up onto her drum stage.

Excited screams.

Next, Adra gave her a wide smile before he entered the stage and calmly walked to his spinning station of keyboards and synths.

Elated shouts.

Emerson and Nohen entered the stage together, taking their places and wielding their guitars like weapons.

Heartfelt cries.

Finally, Lyric stepped forward, waiting for Henry’s signal as the anticipation burned her up from the inside out.

She slid the monitors into her ears, and if all of the noise was like a rushing waterfall, the monitors made it seem like she’d sank beneath the surface of the water. Everything seemed so far away even though it was within reaching distance. It was… calming. It drowned out the crowd, the chaos, the shouts, and the countdown.

Henry gave her a small push, her feet moved on autopilot, and then—light.

Cameras. Lenses from the photo pit reflected the stained glass backdrop at her.

Action.

The clicks of Desi’s drumsticks came through loud and clear before, one by one, they chimed in to play a show.

Her show.

Here goes nothing.

Gently, Emerson carried in the bass line, followed by the smooth rhythm of Nohen’s guitar, and finally, her and Adra began on the same beat.

The venue was dark, the only light shining from the plexiglass, reflecting a multitude of rainbows over the stage, past her feet, and onto the faces of the first few rows.

Halfway through the first song, she turned to face the band and the backdrop, and it took her breath away.

The stained glass had come alive with the lighting, casting a kaleidoscope of colors across Emerson, Nohen, Desi, and Adra.

Desi’s stage was alive with light, shining on the dark stage and turning the whole atmosphere into something ethereal. She’d picked a drum stage because the drummer was often eclipsed by the other members of the band. Now she sat five feet off the ground, high enough to be seen over Lyric’s head.

The photographers would get the best photos of her. It made her smile as she sang, and they finished the first song without issue.