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She snickers at my awkwardness. “You can call me Lil; all my friends do.” Her sparkling eyes turn to Bobby. “Bobby Kincaid, seriously, I’m a fan. It’s awkward that you guys bought tickets to meet me, when seriously, I’ve wanted to meet you for ages. I had tickets to your fight, and I was gonna beg, borrow, or steal my way to the back to meet you. I was devastated when the fight was cancelled.”
Ouch.
She frowns at my guilt-ridden face. “Okay, listen. I know what happened to y’all. My security does a background check before I get to meet anyone, plus, I genuinely am a fan, so I was interested to know. I know you were in the hospital, and I know why Bobby forfeited. What I don’t know, is why you’re looking guilty like you killed his dog. It’s just a fight, babe. It’ll go ahead another day.”
“But he worked so hard for it. And everywhere we go, people say how disappointed they are that he forfeited.”
“People are allowed to be disappointed, Kit. Sometimes shit just happens. You didn’t ask him not to fight. He did it because he loves you. Don’t dwell on the negative, just treasure the fact you have a man so willing to sacrifice for you. The fight will happen. That’s not a once in a lifetime thing for him.Youare his once in a lifetime thing. He made the right choice.”
Andthat’show she can write such pretty songs.
“Anyway, come sit down. Let me sit before I break my neck in these dang shoes. We have twenty minutes to chat before I have to go, then y’all can go find your seats. I really hope you like the show.”
* * *
With fifteen minutes before the show is set to start, Bobby leads me through the rows of chairs until he finds our section and helps me sit in the plush chairs.
No nosebleed seats for us.
The opening act has already been up. The chairs surrounding us, already full. I worried this would be boring for Bobby, Lila Royale isn’t exactly Fort Minor, but he still smiles and brings my face close enough to kiss. “Are you excited?”
I don’t bother answering him verbally, because I’d have to yell anyway. Instead, I just nod and grin. His smile is dazzling in return.
A few minutes later, the lights dim and the crowd noise reaches ear-splitting levels. The excitement runs through my blood.
The opening notes to one of Lila’s songs begins, she rides a lifting floor to the stage, and she greets her screaming fans with a wave. I flip my gaze between the real-life Lila, and the Lila on the huge screens on each side of the stage.
The real-life Lila is barely forty feet from where we sit, but the TV Lila is so magnified, I can see the pearly white twinkle of her teeth. The blood runs hot through my veins and sends adrenaline pumping to every nerve ending in my body. I’m so excited I can barely sit still.
“Hey, y’all. How’s everybody doing tonight?”
I block my ears and lean into Bobby with a giggle when fifty-thousand of Lila’s loudest fans scream how they’re doing tonight.
“I’m so happy to have you all here! I’m going to start with‘Strong Love,’because I know y’all enjoy that one, and I like singing it, so…” She turns to her band and the lights flash on timers.
In teeny tiny little sequined booty shorts and super high heels, she sings and dances and smiles and waves like she’s not doing anything all that impressive. ‘Strong Love’transitions into‘Be My Boyfriend,’and the last notes of that song transition into the beginning of‘Blood Bonds’and sends my already supercharged body into excited convulsions. The bass thunders through the stadium and my teeth ache from gritting them together with excitement.
Lila stops her stride across the stage and brings her hand up to shield her eyes from the lights. “My next song was a request from a really cool guy for his very special lady. Kit, where are you, babe?” She points and smiles when she finds me. “He said you rock out in the car to this one. So, I’m singing for you.”
Okay, I’m done. I could die from excitement and that would be okay. She’s singing a song for me, and Bobby’s holding me. My face hurts from smiling, and my heart thumps painfully, but that’s okay, too. I’m so happy, I could cry.
“Okay, okay, okay.” Lila laughs and waves her crowd down. “Now that I’ve primed you…” the crowd roars to emphasize her point, and she laughs and struts confidently across her stage. “… now that I have you all primed, I want to say a few things. First, I want to thank y’all for coming out tonight. Thank you for loving me enough, for buying tickets and albums, for supporting me. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for my fans. I mean, what’s the point if there’s no one to enjoy the music?” She stops and smiles genuinely. “Thank you. You’ll never truly know how thankful I really am.” Her kind smile transforms back to her superstar smile. “Now, the reason for interruptin’ your evening – what kind of friend would I be if I didn’t help a buddy out? Right? So, I have some special guests here tonight. Kit and Bobby, please stand up. Stand up and just say a quick hi.”
My face burns hot, and as Lila laughs at my expense, the burn turns hotter. This is too much for a girl who enjoys anonymity. Even Bobby wears a set of rosy cheeks, and that’s never happened before.
Nervous Bobby is just plain weird.
“Stand up, guys!”
Bobby takes my hand and slowly pulls me up, and the cheers grow deafening, especially from those closest to us.
“Give ‘em a wave, guys!” She laughs maniacally. She’s feeding off our mortification. “Okay, these two hotties are my good friends, Bobby and Kit. They’re a couple of lovebirds who are belatedly celebrating their birthdays. Can everyone say hi?”
Fifty thousandRoyales– give or take a few thousand – scream in our faces and yellhappy birthdayat once.“Alright, I’m almost done embarrassing you Kitty Cat, but first, I’m going to need you to come up here.”
Nope. For twenty-five years, I’ve stood up and fought back. Every time something has tried to push me down, I’ve put my head down and forged forward. A bitch wants to cut my arm half off, I get up again and keep going, but to go on that stage? Nope. Not today.
I’m done.
