Page 63 of Broken Chorus

“Nice!” Cade said, but surprisingly, Declan said nothing, leaving Aaron to wonder if he was unsatisfied with Aaron’s performance, despite him having given it his all.

“We made some notes and a few changes after the first set,” Micah explained. “I thought maybe a wave in terms of the tone and pacing of the song lineup, would be better than running uphill then launching ourselves into the stratosphere.”

“Yeah, definitely, this is good, let me just commit it to memory,” Kelly replied as he studied it, then passed it to Declan before turning to look at Aaron.

“That was a good switch you made, with going to the ballad instead of saving it until the end and I love that you guys put Twisted Melodies as the finale in its place, since it’s got a mix of low and haunting and fast and utterly chilling. If we figure out which two songs to cut, I’d say we already have our lineupfor Rocktoberfest unless someone comes up with something that blows one of these away.”

“Let’s table that for once we’ve decided if we’re going to play the show or not,” Micah said.

“We should,” Aaron said, startling himself when the words came tumbling out.

“What, table it?” Kelly asked as Aaron pressed the cold water to his forehead, rolled it over his cheek and neck, then cracked it open to guzzle it.

Everyone was staring at him when he was done, even Cade.

“What?”

“Did you mean that we should table it, or that we should play Rocktoberfest?” Micah asked when no one else said anything.

Aaron found himself smiling, the nerves of earlier completely gone, and without him having to scarf any of the edibles he’d packed just in case he needed a bit of help to get through the evening.

“It’s an amazing outdoor venue and the energy, man those people, they make it feel like we’re gods when we’re up there. Last year’s show was easily one of our top ten and the fact that they’re letting us come back without an audition when we’re not even the same band, that’s something I don’t think we can afford to throw away, even with the few things we’ve still got to work out,” Aaron said. “So, yeah, I’m saying we should do it, if the rest of you still want to.”

“Fuck yeah!” Kelly yelled, so close Aaron stuck a finger in his ear and wiggled it around, ‘cause damn.

“Oh man, you just made my night!” Micah said, snatching his phone from his bag and tapping away at the screen. “Rebecka is gonna flip! We get comp tickets for family and friends, right?”

“Every band member gets two,” Aaron said.

“If you don’t have someone you want to invite, you can gift them to fans,” Kelly explained. “Last year Aaron gave his to acouple who were getting their engagement photos taken at the aquarium.”

“Hey, those guys were fans, man, one of them had the lyrics to Another Day tattooed around his wrist,” Aaron protested.

“Relax,” Kelly said as he draped an arm over his shoulder and lightly tugged, then stroked his hair. “I wasn’t giving you shit, just making a point about what could be done with the tickets if someone couldn’t use them.”

Relaxing into his touch, Aaron glanced at the clock and realized that they only had a few more minutes before they had to get back up on the stage. Declan noticed too and started for the door, Cade behind him, while Aaron let Kelly pet his hair for another minute before heading for the honey.

“Don’t forget to have some tea tonight when you get home.”

“I won’t, or I could just have some at your place while we burn off the excess energy withCall of Duty?”

“Bet.”

Out of reflex he checked his phone, and saw therock ongif Hawk had sent, along with a still someone had clearly captured from the show. That it was circulating the internet already was awesome, but the name and number below it stopped Aaron cold.

“You need to come home immediately. Do not ignore us this time, this is serious, Aaron you need to get here as soon as you possibly can! No excuses!”

“Shit.”

“What, what’s going on?” Kelly asked as he came over to stand beside him.

Aaron turned the phone so he could see it and watched Kelly’s face pale a little. “Are there any other messages explaining what the hell that’s all about?”

Gliding his fingertip over the screen, Aaron made it scroll back to the last message, almost two years before, berating him fornot showing up to a church function honoring his grandfather’s contributions as a deacon.

“No, just that.”

“What are you gonna do?” Kelly asked as the stage manger poked his head in and let them know it was time to go on again.

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