Authors: Breigh Forstner
Raptor scratched the top of his blond Mohawk and shrugged. “You know how forgetful I am.”
I glanced over at Bryn and she seemed more interested in the high risers than us talking about being wasted.
“Hey.” I gently squeezed her hand, bringing it up to my lips and kissing it. “Just thinking about how I’m going to be your New Year’s kiss tonight.”
The way her lips curled upward made my insides toss and turn. She really had a genuine smile and wasn’t afraid to show it. “I’m a little nervous,” she admitted.
“Why, babe? You’re experienced now, I mean besides it being a smaller venue and all that, those are the best places to play in sometimes.”
“No it’s not that,” she said. “I’m more nervous about meeting Kallie Cooper.”
For the longest time, Bryn was worried that Kallie was going to try to woo me over on tour because of how she heard about Kallie’s reputation with guys. Now she was nervous about meeting her?
“Bryn…you have nothing to worry about. She’s just very sure of herself. She knows she is good at what she does and that’s singing her ass off better than a lot of other people can. You’ll be fine,” I reassured her, hoping I was right about everything I just said.
We got to the Agora Ballroom in time to start dragging in equipment. It was going to be a nice change for a night since the Agora was a smaller venue to play in. Hal parked our bus over by another one covered in all black, silver angel wings painted on the side.
Angels from Hell’s tour bus.
“Hay boys, good to see all of you.” Louis, the lead guitarist from the band shouted to us as he walked off their bus smoking a cigarette. Shaking all of our hands, he smiled. “It’s been way too long. Can’t wait to see your show.”
“Thanks, man,” I replied. “It’s going to be a fun night.” I turned my attention over to Bryn. “This is Bryn Schaefler, my girlfriend and our lead guitarist.”
“Louis Smart. Nice to finally meet you.” Louis flashed a smile, reaching for Bryn’s hand. She looked over from me to Louis and shook his hand. “You are stunning.”
“Thank you. Good to meet you too,” she responded, stepping back to look around the parking lot
We were making small talk with Louis and Adam (the bassist for the band) when out came Kallie with her signature oversized sunglasses. In the middle of winter. She was pretty, I’ll admit it. Her fiery red hair cut short in the back and longer in the front accented her face, and she wore little make up. But that usually changed before show time.
“Short stuff! Good to see you after how long?” Vince teased Kallie as she took off her shades and placed them on top of her head.
She scowled at Vince and said, “Shut the hell up. You know I don’t like being called short stuff. If there weren’t people around, I’d say much worse to you.”
Tyler put his hands up and backed away. “Wow, sounds like someone hasn’t had a drink today, or you just slept like shit.”
“Okay, enough. Seriously,” she said. “I had like, two hours of sleep because of these idiots bringing girls onto the bus at three in the morning.” Kallie groaned. She finally noticed Bryn and started to eye her from head to toe. “I’ve heard about her. Bryn isn’t it?”
I could hear Bryn’s teeth chattering beside me, but I couldn’t tell if it was from nerves or the cold. I watched her stand a little straighter and brush snow off her loose fitting jeans as she inched closer to Kallie. Bryn had a good six inches on Kallie, but Kallie had a way of intimidation like I’d never seen before. She used her short height to her advantage.
“Yup. Bryn Schaefler, I…uh…I really love your voice,” she muttered, suddenly seeming embarrassed.
Kallie tipped her head back and laughed. “You are too cute. Seriously.” She walked up to Bryn and hugged her. “I like the new album by the way. Your voice is so different. I can’t put my finger on it, but take that as a compliment because usually I’m a bitch.”
Bryn let out a nervous chuckle. I wanted to tell Bryn that it was the truth, and she had to watch her back. Kallie could be sweet and nice, but most of the time it was just to your face. Behind your back, she showed her true colors.
“We better get inside before we get frostbitten,” Tyler joked. “Are Flynn and Krystal already in there?” He was referring to the drummer and rhythm guitarist in Kallie’s band.
“You know it. They’re already up at the bar getting loosened up. They’ll be totally wasted before our set,” Louis teased the two other members, patting me on the back. “Remind me to buy you a drink later, Pelton.”
I chuckled and said, “Alright man, sounds like a plan.”
***
It was a night like tonight I wished Gina and Bethany would have tagged along with us. Minus the fact that we couldn’t drink at the bar, even if I wanted to. Meeting Kallie Cooper, my soon-to-be tour mate, was intimidating. She was a lot shorter than me, but the way she carried herself like she thought she was the greatest singer in the world threw me off. I had to tell myself to just try to get along with her or stay out of her way during tour, or else she would probably kick my ass without warning.
I liked the other members so far. I could tell Louis and Adam were genuinely cool and easy going guys from the way we were talking as the equipment was being set up. They had all grown up on the coast of Maine, where there wasn’t much of a music scene.
I treated myself to some sliders, taking in the crazy atmosphere being that it was New Year’s Eve, while another band took the stage. Luke sat down beside me and took one of the tiny burgers off the plate and ate it.
“Sooo little sister…” Luke draped an arm around me. “You look especially nice tonight.” I decided to go simple tonight and keep on my pair of loose fitting jeans with a plain black t-shirt and let my hair down in a side ponytail resting over my shoulder.
“Even though I’m not dressed all crazy like I’ve been doing?” I asked.
“Mhmm. I like this look on you. I’ve said it before, but if Cale ever screws up and breaks up with you, I’ll be next in line,” Luke said jokingly. “No, I take that back. You’re too much like my sister. Besides, I like Bethany. Why couldn’t she make it tonight again?”
“Because they had some invite to a fancy party in Detroit and couldn’t turn it down,” I reminded him. Even though Gina and Bethany had gotten out of modeling for now to focus on getting more stable jobs, they still had connections with some pretty big people in the fashion world. “It was totally last minute or else they would’ve come down, I swear.” This guy had it bad for my friend, but Luke was a nice enough guy for Bethany; I was all for them getting together. It was just a matter of time.
“Yeah, now some other guy will get to give Bethany her first kiss of the New Year and it won’t be me.” Luke contemplated what he said for a second and took off his thick rimmed glasses. “Damn, I really sound smitten, don’t I?”
I laughed and hugged him from the side. “It’s okay. I have never seen you like this so I keep it going.”
He squeezed me tight and kissed the side of my head. “This is why I love you, little sis. You’re way too nice to me.”
“I could say the same thing about you. It’ll be fun tonight I promise.” I said, and we finished my plate up and headed back towards where we were hanging out on our bus until it was time to go on.
“You didn’t bring anything back for your amazingly wonderful boyfriend?” Cale teased me as he picked me up over his shoulder as soon as I stepped onto the bus.
“Put…I…down!” I squealed as he started tickling my rib cage from under my t-shirt. “I just ate so you better not do that.” I swatted at his back as he carried me towards the very back where the bedroom was. Setting me down gently just outside of it, he pulled me into a deep, passionate kiss.
He pinned me against the wall and held my hands together above my head as he invaded my mouth. I wanted to melt right there. I hadn’t kissed anyone other than Ethan or Damon from Ignite the Flames, and there was absolutely no comparison. I was secretly glad he had a hold of my hands because I could feel that my knees were about to buckle under me at any minute.
“Damn, we should totally get into this bedroom before we have to play,” Cale breathed into my ear. “I don’t even want to go out there now. Can’t we just say I got sick?”
I shoved him playfully and straightened out my shirt before kissing him in the crook of his neck. “Wasn’t it your idea?” I reminded him.
He scratched the top of his head and groaned. “Yeahhh, I suppose it was. But tonight this room is ours. I don’t even care if the rest of them hear us. I’m going to have a few drinks and I’ll want to have some amazing drunken sex.”
“Drunken sex? Really?” I giggled. “That is so not romantic at all.”
“Well anything on a tour bus isn’t really romantic. I mean, I don’t have any rose petals or fancy smelling candles to make it ‘pretty.’” He air quoted pretty and I couldn’t help but smile. “We’ll have to save it for when we stay at a hotel.”
“I’ll hold you to that.” I smirked, and he slapped my butt as we walked back inside, where everyone was having a few drinks by our small table to loosen up.
Hal told us the owner of the venue wanted us on stage in about twenty minutes, so we cleaned up our mess on the bus and hurried off to tune our instruments. All of the members of Angels from Hell were sitting right in the corner by what would be my side of the stage.
Oh great
I groaned to myself as I strapped on my new purple guitar Cale had promised he’d buy me since our time in St. Louis. He called it a late Christmas present and had it shipped from the guitar store we visited down there on the previous tour.
The lights were dimmed and I started playing the opening riff to “Mayhem,” a new song off our album. It had a combined sound of Hinder and Avenged sevenfold—as odd as that sounds—but it kicked off the album just right. Tyler started pounding on the bass, the lights flickering on and off in time with the beat. We all started playing the notes in perfect unison, and that was when Cale’s voice shook up the small club.
You want mayhem?
Well you got it
I’m a walking basket case
Never know when I’m going to crack
His voice growled as I swayed along to the beat, keeping my eyes on the crowd in front of me. My fingers were sliding along my new guitar strings like butter, and my nerves quickly went away when I heard people actually singing along. The album hadn’t even been out for a month and a half; people already knew the words to this stuff?
My eyes caught Kallie’s from where she was sitting by the front of the stage and she gave me a slight nod as if she was saying she liked my guitar playing. I still had to figure this girl out. I didn’t know whether to like her or hate her yet. Cale walked over to my side of the stage in between songs where he had a bottle of water standing a few feet from me.
“That guitar just makes you look even sexier up here,” Cale whispered into my ear, kissing my cheek before we went into “You Were Young.” I loosened up more through the song and when it came to be my turn to sing, I gave it all I had. I could hear Louis say, “Damn she can sing.” I didn’t even want to see Kallie’s expression at that point. I didn’t care. I was in my element and nothing was going to ruin my night.
By the time we wrapped up with “Away from you” everyone was on their feet screaming like we were in a big arena and not a small bar. I waved to everyone, shouting “Thank you!” into my microphone and quickly stepping off the stage while Cale was boasting to the small crowd about buying shots for the prettiest girl in the place. I rolled my eyes, hoping he meant me, but I knew he wasn’t actually serious.
Raptor and Hal were taking care of most of our equipment while I hurried back to the bus to put on a zip up hoodie I packed in my overnight bag. Running back outside, I high-fived and hugged the guys.
“That set was awesome. Good job guys.” I muffled in between hugs. Vince roughed up my hair and I wiggled out of his hold.
“I’m going to steal your guitar,” he replied. “It looked like it played really easily…”
“I’ll let you borrow it for the first show on the tour, how’s that?” I asked.
“That’d rock.” Vince smiled widely. Cale walked outside from the club talking, to Louis and Adam with Kallie right on their heels. She was on her cell phone, but her eyes were boring into Cale’s back. Suddenly I felt jealous. I decided to stake my claim.
“I think I changed my mind,” I said to Cale, slithering an arm around his waist and pulling myself as close to him as I could. “Why don’t you sneak me a couple of shots and after the ball drops and we can have crazy drunken sex?”
I said it as loud as I could, getting an evil glare from Kallie behind him.
“Are you being completely serious right now, B?” Cale asked, sounding surprised. “Let’s skip watching their set and just stay in the rest of the night, then.”
“Relax,” I whispered into his ear. “I’m just trying to make red head behind me jealous.”
Cale raised a single eyebrow and looked at me inquisitively. “Why would you need to do that?”
Right as I was about to give Cale an answer, Kallie walked around us so she was facing Cale and placed her hands on her bony hips. “So are you guys going to come watch the set in a couple of minutes? I’ll set aside a couple of drinks.” Then a pinky finger went up to her lip. “Oh that’s right I forgot, you’re only 18, am I right? Damn, I need to remember this kind of stuff.” Kallie smirked, and my hands were forming into fists.
She’s not worth it, Bryn,
I had to remind myself,
she’s just miserable with her own life so she has to bring you down too.
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” I put on a fake smile, gripping Cale’s hand as if my life depended on it. “Weren’t we just about to go back inside and sit down
honey
?” Cale bent down to kiss me on the cheek, only making her squirm.
“Yeah, just let me get a hoodie too. I’m freezing with this on,” Cale said, telling Louis good luck and that we’d see them in a bit. I waited outside the bus for Cale and everyone else to grab warmer shirts before they came back out, cracking up about something.
“What’s so funny?” I asked, placing a hand on my hip.
“Inside joke.” Tyler smirked, clasping a hand on my shoulder. “I shouldn’t admit to this but I actually slept with that short red haired
thing
way back in the day.”
My mouth dropped. No wonder Kallie couldn’t stand the sight of Tyler. I found that pretty funny and let out a giggle. “Really.
That
was the inside joke?”
“It was back like—what, our first major tour or something like that?” Tyler asked the guys.
“All I remember is you called her ‘fire crotch’ afterwards and she slapped you in the face when she overheard you,” Luke said. “She’s way too moody for me.”
The rest of the guys slapped each other’s backs, laughing their asses off.
“That’s not even funny,” I replied, stepping back into the warm venue. “You’re such an ass, Tyler.”
He gave me a cheesy smile and simply shrugged, not giving me another word.
We all sat down at the same table Angels from Hell were sitting at previously at the front of the stage while Cale went to get a pitcher of beer for the guys and a diet coke for me. By the time he got back, Kallie was commanding the stage with a powerful high-pitched note I envied. Listening to them play a song I didn’t know at all, I watched her prance around the stage in big black boots paired with grey leggings and a ripped up band t-shirt. Only she could make that outfit look right.
Okay, earlier I was saying how bitchy she was to me, now I’m secretly complimenting how pretty she looks?
“Thanks for coming out everyone,” Kallie said into the microphone. “We’re Angels from Hell and this is our last song. You can come hang out with us after the show before the ball drops!” They launched into “Freak,” the single that made them famous a few years ago. It had the same feel as Halestorms ‘Freak like Me’ and coincidentally Kallie’s voice reminded me of their singer. I sipped on my diet coke as the guys were drinking away beside me, making comments here and there about how Louis was screwing up a chord or how Kallie missed a note. The half hour couldn’t have ended any quicker.
After they were done with their set, the make-shift stage was taken down and replaced with a guy using a fancy laptop computer to play music. Nearing midnight in about….five minutes, Cale pulled me closer to him as the rest of the band went to play pool.
“I love you,” he murmured before leaving a slow, but sensual kiss on my cheek. I let myself relax against his front as his back was against the wall. We swayed to our own beat as the rock n’ roll music blared, but I didn’t think either one of us were listening fully.
The single TV that was in the place was turned on just in time to start the short countdown to the New Year. The two of us shouted when it came down to ten seconds left. Then Cale started whispering into my neck, “3…2…1…”
Happy New Year.
He spun me around with one arm so I faced him and he kissed me instantly. My lips welcomed his as he wrapped his arms around my waist and mine curled around his neck.
“Happy New Year, fuckeeeeerr.” Vince purposely pushed into Cale, holding onto his head and giving him a kiss smack dab on the side of his head. Then he immediately turned to me and kissed my cheek. “Not meaning that towards you, Bryn, but Happy New Year.”
“It’s okay, Vince. You too.” I chuckled, stepping away from Cale. We continued celebrating for about the next hour until I noticed how tipsy the guys were. Cale and I walked out hand in hand back to the bus and towards the bedroom in the back. I slipped out of my clothes to put on a nightgown I had packed and laid down beside Cale, who still had on his jeans, but nothing else.
“Come here,” he said, lying down and drawing me closer to him so my body conformed against his chest.
“I had fun tonight,” I said, feeling sleep starting to take over. Just a single touch from Cale’s fingers jolted me awake, at least for a couple more minutes. “And thank you, by the way.”