Page 42 of Goodbye Note

I pulled my hat lower. “It’ll be fine. No one will be looking for us in there.”

“Why not just watch from side stage like the rest of the bands do?”

I shook my head. “I want the full experience. I bet you anything once they get going the vibe in the pit will feel like magic. A spark of excitement, like all our beating hearts, combined to replace the base.”

“Sometimes I forget you’re an artist until you speak like that.” Vallen shook his head.

“He’s something else. I’m not the only one who sees it.”

My brother turned to look into my eyes. “Stop falling for straight boys.”

“It’s not just me. Look at how their album is selling.” I pushed my hair out of my eyes, avoiding meeting his. "Everyone is obsessed with him."

“This is different. I’ve spent every minute of your life with you. Do you really think I don’t know you by now?” Val didn’t keep looking at me. Eye contact made him uncomfortable, so it wasn’t surprising he didn’t push it.

“You don’t get to pull the ‘you’ve known me my whole life’ crap.” Even if it was true, I wasn’t giving in to the argument. I pushed further into the mass of people, and he followed. Finally, we stopped when we were near the stage. Since it was between bands, a lot of the people went to get drinks or merch.

“You know this is a dead giveaway, too,” Val said, leaning against the barrier.

“What is?” I didn’t think I’d done anything, subconscious or not.

“Getting this close to the stage.” He nodded to our proximity.

“Maybe I just want the music in my face.” I countered, still not admitting anything.

“That’s not what you want in your face.”

I gave him a flat look.

“The label told you to date women,” Val said under his breath.

“No, they told us not to date anyone. We need to seem single and available to women. They didn’t say anything about what I could do in my time.” I hated it, but it was a thing with all the up-and-coming bands. Sex sells or whatever, but what it really came down to was the music industry was massively homophobic, and we had a better chance of making it if we were viewed as straight.

“As long as you remember what we are trying to do.” He pulled at the neck of his shirt.

“Bet you didn’t cut the tag out of that before we left,” I said offhandedly, not answering his comment.

“I forgot.”

“Want me to rip it out?”

He nodded and turned around.

I flipped the tag and carefully pulled it out, trying not to fuck up the seam of the shirt but failed. “Sorry.”

He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. Half my shirts have holes. I’m starting to think it’s my brand now.”

“Since we lean toward the grunge side of things…” I moved closer to him as the lights dimmed and the mass pushed in. “Let’s do this.”

A single note played, and the crowd erupted.

“Fuck, they are loud.” I fought my smile and wasn’t surprised by the reception.

Vallen put his lips next to my ear so I’d be able to hear him. “Damn. We didn’t get this kind of reception playing to twice the people.”

I kept my eyes on the stage but leaned in so we could keep having our conversation. “They are going to be the poster boys for this scene. Just you wait.”

We all got our first sight of them.

---