AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You’ve really never seen Birdie perform? Like ever?” Shea yells over the noise.
I’m watching Birdie from the wings. The band just started their first song, and the crowd is going wild for them, especially for Birdie.
“No,” I confirm, not looking at the kid. My eyes are completely on Birdie, watching her do what she does best.
In the two years we were friends, I never would have imagined her being here now. She was a quiet girl back then. I mean, she was super passionate about music, and could talk to me for a long time about the bands she loved. She even sang me a couple of her songs, but a famous rock star? I never saw it coming. But seeing her now, on stage like this, I can see why she’s so good at it, why she’s loved by so many fans.
Birdie looks like some sort of voluptuous vixen, her hips swaying in time to the music. She’s got on a pleated evergreen skirt that’s swirling at her feet as she moves. She’s barefoot on a colorful area rug the crew has set up, and I think I see a toe ring glimmering on her pinky toe. She’s wearing a black T-shirt, cropped short, and when she reaches her arms up, I can see a small sliver of peach skin peeking out. My small brain starts to wonder what that skin would taste like; feel like.
“I can’t believe that! Not even on TV?” Shea yells again.
“Nope, never.”
“You’re in for a good show. Some of these people paid big bucks to see her tonight. But every cent is well spent, trust me.”
My eyes stay locked on Birdie as she croons a low beautiful note. I feel the soul of it vibrate under my feet. The crowd is cheering loudly, and I can’t help it, I smile. Her gift is beautiful, and her spirit on stage with her band is contagious. Just when I think it can’t get any better, Birdie sits down at her piano and starts pounding away. It’s insane to watch, and I can’t believe she’s hitting those pedals barefoot. She’s a beast and a musical force. Even though I’ve stopped listening to music like I had when I was younger, I still have a great appreciation for it and a knowledge that would never go away. Birdie Wilder and her band know their stuff, and the entire world loves them for it.
Song after song, I find myself unable to look away. The more she sings, and the more the band plays, the more I become enraptured by her sound. Shea mentioned she gets compared to Mama Cass and Janis Joplin a lot, and though I can hear that in her sound, Birdie is something uniquely her own. Like wild sex and deep love has been bottled up somehow.
“ATLANTIC CITY!” Birdie yells to the crowd, sweat dripping down her face, and a wide smile covering her features. I watch as her lips, the dark red lipstick now worn, move to the vowels of each word she speaks. It’s sexy as hell, and I can’t find any power to hate myself for thinking that right now.
The crowd goes wild, and Birdie eats it up.
“I keep hearing some loud requests for a certain song!” she yells again. The crowd gets crazier, and before long, the words,Desire Reigns, Desire Reigns, Desire Reigns, work through the crowd. “Should we give it to them?” Birdie asks her band.
“HELL YEAH!” They answer back. Jane does some crazy shit on the drums to rile them up even more.
Birdie motions for the crowd to calm down with her hands, and to my shock, they listen.
“Alright, we heard you, Atlantic City! We heard you!”
Birdie turns back to her band, and Jane counts them in. The song that they begin to play is one I know I’ve heard before. No matter how much I’ve tried to avoid everything about Birdie Wilder, this is her most popular song. It plays at the gym sometimes and on the radio—and even during commercials and some movies.
“This song made her famous!” Shea echoes my thoughts. “It’s amazing live!”
Birdie starts the song and the notes flow from her mouth in smooth succession. I focus on the words she sings, and they wash over me like an ice bath.
Hold on baby girl,
Look at what he’s put you through,
He’s broke your heart,
He’ll never like you like that,
So why do you let your desire reign?
He took your heart,
Held it in his palm,
Crushed it tight and let you die a little inside,
You should move on, yet you let your desire reign.
You’re the one who wants to be with him.
Deep inside you hope he feels it too,
