Page 89 of For One Night Only

I throw a thumbs-up behind my back, and that’s that.

Valerie grins, and it makes my heart race. As the music builds for the cheeky bridge, Val flips her guitar around her back and steps over to my microphone. I let go of my bass as Jane takes over the line. Valerie’s fingers brush against mine as she leans in, and I can’t help but wrap my hand around hers on the mic. Her gaze glitters on mine under the lights.

God, I’m the luckiest person in the world.

We know exactly how to sing this together.

Valerie starts:

oh I like the way you haunt

stand behind me in the mirror

with your hands around my waist

phantom fingers touch my skin

I respond with a smirk:

oh I like the way you haunt

underneath a sheet like Casper

stealing covers from my bed

when you moaned there all night

And then we join our voices in a bright unison up the octave, leaning so close our foreheads touch:

if only memories remain

please haunt me

I’ll haunt you

please haunt me

I’ll haunt you (you) YOU

I adjust the mic so I can start playing the bass again, angling it carefully between us. Valerie swings her guitar around to layer her part back in, and we transpose up into the next key and bring the lead lines back into the repeated chorus. The fans go absolutely wild as our sound gets louder and fuller. I’m at the top of my range where I know my voice really pops, and Valerie sings a tight harmony instead of the unison. Even with our monitors in, I know our blend is perfect.

Like it always was meant to be.

I’m breathless with adrenaline as the final chords ring out.

After we finish “Ghosts,” we stop for some audience interaction. Riker and Jane vamp on a random chord progression that Jane’s calling into the monitor, and Keeley plays along on the kick drum. Eventually, they’ll transition us into “Summer Sunset,” but they don’t even hint that it’s where we’re going yet.

We planned a pause here, so I grab my mic.

“Well! That was a fun start. You’re all such a great crowd. Thanks for showing up tonight and making memories with us, Los Angeles!” Cheers resound as I free my mic and walk to the edge of the stage, reading some of the signs in the crowd. “I guess you’renot all from LA, huh?” I squint. “Seattle—hey, that’s our hometown!” The crowd roars. “Nashville, Denver, Tallahassee, New York!” I pause, turning to two fans on the left of the pit with something like disbelief in my throat. “Wait, did you two really come here from ParisandTokyo?”

The sign holders shriek in confirmation, and I almost tear up. It’s silly, but it means a lot that they traveled all this way to see us.

“That’s halfway across the world!”

I tilt the mic in their direction. The one with the Tokyo sign leans in. “We met in a Glitterbugs Discord and we had to come!”

The Paris sign holder grins and rattles off some rapid French. I studied just enough for my college vocal classes to understand they’re excited to be here.

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