Silver rushed around her dressing room backstage. She flitted over to her clothes rack and yanked a muted silver tank top and a sleeveless black silk vest off their designated hangers and went to change behind the Chinese folding screen. She carefully pulled the blouse over her head so as not to damage her meticulously applied makeup. She slid the vest over the tank top and knotted a black tie loosely around her neck. She rushed over to her vanity table and pulled her Doc Martens from under her bench seat. She yanked them over her jeans and did a quick double check in her full length mirror. Her short hair was spiked and mussed in a ‘just rolled out of bed’ style and her coal black eyes were rimmed in thick black eyeliner. Her full lips were painted blood red and her sleeveless top showed off the filigree and ivy tattoo that wound from the back of her neck, down her left arm and wrapped around her wrist. It takes a lot of work to look like you just woke up and picked up whatever was lying on the floor of the tour bus. She bolted for the door and ran smack into one of the stage hands. The poor kid looked like she was about 12 and she looked terrified.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t see you there.” the girl had a white knuckled death grip on her little clipboard. Silver almost felt bad for startling the poor girl.
“No biggie. Just be a little more careful next time, ok?” she put a reassuring hand on the girl’s shoulder.
“Ok. I’m really sorry. It won’t happen again.” The girl scuttled off quickly. Silver sprinted towards stage right, where the rest of the band was lounging on overly plush couches tuning their instruments. She pushed past the crush of assistants and stage managers and flopped down on the couch next to Adriane. She leaned over him and reached into the cooler sitting on a fold out table next to his arm and pulled out a bottle of water.
“You know there’s stronger stuff in there, right?” he asked.
“You know we still have a show to do, right? We’re not big enough to fall off the stage drunk yet.” she jabbed him in the ribs playfully. She wiped the cap of the bottle on her shirt in an attempt to make cracking the seal easier. After a couple of tries she finally gave up on opening the bottle and handed the bottle to Adriane. He gave her a self-satisfied smirk as he broke the seal with ease.
“Well, I loosened it for you.” She said stubbornly.
“Whatever helps you sleep at night babe.” He joked. Silver smacked him in the shoulder. She looked over at Ayden who was scribbling furiously in a tattered marble notebook. He twisted one of the silver studs in his bottom lip. He was probably already working on lyrics for the next album. He tossed the notebook and pen in his guitar case on top of his bass. He leaned back in the cracked leather chair and sighed in frustration. Janie sat her water bottle on the scarred wooden coffee table in front of her and jumped up off the couch. She lazily strode over to where Ayden was sitting. He had his eyes closed, so Janie flopped down in his lap.
“Oof! Lay off the doughnuts, will ya?” he huffed. She arched her eyebrow at him, and he laughed.
“Writer’s block?” she asked.
“Yeah, I just can’t seem to get the chorus right. It’s completely frustrating.” He sighed.
“Want me to take a look at it?” she offered.
“I mean, if you want to, you can. It’s pretty terrible right now.” Ayden said as he reached for the notebook.
“Dude, you’re an amazing writer. I’m sure it’s going to be great.” She reassured. He handed her his lyric book hesitantly, like he was afraid she would reject it and throw it in his face. She leafed through the journal and stopped on the page half filled with his messy guy script.
You took my heart before we met
Why did I let
Myself fall so hard?
You gave me one look
That was all it took
Darling, I love you
How was I to know what your love could do?
I fell hard and I fell fast
All the scars of my past
Healed at once
You’re the sweetest addiction
A beautiful obsession
But do you know I’m here?
Do you know of my undying love, dear?
“Ayden, this is beautiful.” Her eyes were a little misty. She blinked hard to try to clear her vision up. “I love it. This absolutely has to go on the next album.” She said.
“Thanks.” He tossed the notebook back in his guitar case. Their other band mate, Jason, walked over to the couch and sat down next to Adriane.
“Hey guys, we’ve got like five minutes left. The opening act cut their set a little short.” Jason pulled his drumsticks out of his pocket and started tapping on the coffee table. The water in Silver’s half drained bottle jumped in frantic little waves every time Jason’s drumsticks connected with the table. Adriane nailed him in the forehead with a neon green guitar pick.
“Dude, if you don’t stop, I will shove those drumsticks so far up,” he stopped mid-sentence and winced as Silver swatted him in the back of the head. “Hey, what was that for?” he asked, rubbing the spot where he’d been smacked. Janie jumped up off of Ayden’s lap, and walked over to the coffee table. She snatched her water bottle off the table and drained the remaining water.
“You were sitting there.” She smirked. Adriane flipped her off and she just laughed. She tossed her empty bottle at Jason, who swatted it away before it could make contact with his face. A stage hand walked in and told them it was time for the pre-concert interview. They all re-arranged on the couch and pulled Ayden’s chair around next to the side of the couch. The interviewer and his camera man walked into their lounge area with a smile on his face.
“It’s nice to meet you guys.” He shook hands with the band while one of the stage crew pulled up a folding chair for him. The camera guy was already setting up a stand for his bulky camera.
“Alright, we’re all set.” The camera guy said as he angled the camera at the band.
“Let’s roll.” The interviewer put on his best TV smile and held the monogrammed microphone in front of him. The camera guy nodded and the interviewer started in on his intro bit.
“I’m here with the alternative band of the year. We’re backstage at their sold-out concert in Austin, Texas for an up close and personal interview with the band. How’re you guys doing tonight?” he asked, holding the microphone out towards the group.
“We’re great. Psyched to be here and ready for the show.” Adriane answered.
“Awesome, so we had some fans email some questions in for us to ask you guys.” He said. The group nodded while internally steeling themselves for the possibly intrusive questions.
“Alright this is for Silver. Matt from Anchorage would like to know if you have a boyfriend.” The interviewer was looking at his note cards with the questions scrawled on them.
“No, I don’t have a boyfriend currently. They’re just hard to keep up with, especially with us touring and being on the road all the time.” She answered in her best matter-of-fact voice she could even though the question stung a little bit. I want one, but they don’t want me she thought.
“So how long have you guys known each other?” he asked.
“Well I’ve known Silver since we were five or six. We me Adriane and Jason in high school and we’ve stuck together since then.” Ayden took this question quickly.
“Yes, but they would be lost without me anyways.” Jason grinned at the camera in all his goofy glory.
“Sure we would.” Adriane said
“So tell us about the new album you guys just released.” The guy crossed his legs and leaned back in his chair.
“We wrote it for the fans like we always do. It’s kind of a view into our lives in a way. It’s all experiences we’ve had in our lives and we wanted to express it in such a way that the fans can relate.” Adriane replied.
“We want our listeners to know that they’re not alone and that what they are going through will pass and it does get better. We love it when fans walk up to us and tell us how our music affects them.” Ayden was leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, getting more restless by the minute.
“Silver, rock n roll has always kind of been a man’s world, so what is it like for you to be a female lead singer in today’s music industry?” the man looked at her, smug satisfaction settling over his lips.
“I don’t really think that rock n roll is strictly a man’s world. I party just as hard as these guys do and I work just as hard as they do if not more so. It’s not a matter of gender, it’s a matter of talent. I feel that I have proved that I can hold my own in this industry and I hope that my fans agree.” She said hotly. The interviewer looked stumped now that his question had fallen through. Jason chuckled to himself and Adriane just rolled his eyes in amusement.
“Alright, well you guys have a great show. I know we’re all looking forward to it.” The camera man cut the filming and began to pack up. The interviewer stood up and walked stiffly out of the room.
“Well, let’s get going. Got a show to do and fans to entertain. Let’s go little bro.” Adriane grabbed his guitar and sauntered off to the stairs leading up to the stage and Jason loped along after him. Ayden pulled his bass out of its battered case and walked toward the stage curtain. He paused and waited for Silver to catch up. The band lined up at the foot of the stairs, with Jason starting and Silver ending the line.
“Please give a warm Austin welcome to Silver Tears!” the announcer barked.The crowd exploded with energy as the band took the stage one by one. Jason went first, followed by Adriane. Ayden sauntered out through the heavy curtain and Silver followed suit. She ran across the stage and climbed up on a small riser in front of one of the amps that faced the out towards the crowd while Adriane began to play the intro to the first song on the set list. She felt the notes begin to float out from somewhere inside of her and watched as the crowd responded, singing along with her. This is where it really is. I was born for this.
Later that Night:
Silver walked back to the cooler and fished out another four ice cold bottles of water. She tossed one to Adriane and another to Jason, but held onto the last two bottles. She cracked the seal on one of the bottles and chugged its contents. The cold water soothed the desert storm that had been brewing in her throat halfway through the set. She wondered what was taking Ayden so long, so she walked back out on stage. The arena had been cleared except for one girl who lingered to flirt with Ayden. He sat on the edge of the stage, flirting with the bottle blonde groupie standing in front of him. She slipped him a small slip of paper, which Silver assumed had her number scrawled on it. She blew him a kiss before walking to the back of the massive theatre. Ayden stood up on the edge of the stage and turned to walk towards the side of the stage where Silver was standing. A flash of guilt passed across his face when he saw that she was watching. She sat his bottle of water on the ground, turned on her heel, and walked back through the curtain towards her dressing room. Why should I be jealous? He’s just my friend. We’re only friends. She wrestled with these thoughts as she pulled makeup remover and a couple of cotton balls out of the center drawer in the table. She poured a healthy amount of the cleanser on one of the balls and began to blot the makeup off her eyes. After five minutes of blotting and wiping she had the majority of the smeared makeup cleaned back to where it should be. She grabbed her ripped up messenger bag off the floor next to her clothes rack and walked out the door. There was a car waiting by the curb to take her to this week’s hotel. The driver stood next to the back door of the car with a hand poised over the handle. She climbed into the open door and pulled her Blackberry out of the front pouch of her bag. Her phone began to play her ringtone for Jason.