Page 315 of Rock Me All Night
Drew shifts, grabs the mic. He looks out to the crowd. "Let's not let Miles know how much you all prefer me, huh?" He smiles over the laughter and cheering. "I have one more song to sing—a cover. You'll like it. But first, I need your help. I need to find someone very important to me." Drew looks out at the crowd. "Kara Kendrick, where the fuck are you?"
Girls are screaming, cheering, swooning. There's a name for Drew's rumored girlfriend. I admit it. I read celebrity gossip.
Someone in the crowd screams something that sounds a lot like, “Is she your girlfriend?”
Drew blushes. He scans the crowd. “If she’ll have me, she’s my girlfriend.”
The fangirl squeals.
He wants me to be his girlfriend.
There must be six, seven hundred people here, and he’s telling all of them he wants me to be his girlfriend.
"Do me a favor." He motions for the crowd to part. "Make room for her."
It takes a minute but the crowd parts. There's an empty space going down the middle of the room. Must be three hundred people on each side of it and they're all waiting for me.
Drew motions to someone backstage. The spotlight cuts and something behind it flashes.
It's there in lights.
Drew and Kara Forever.
I melt.
I don't really have a choice. I move to the center of the room, to the line that's there just for me. One of the spotlights finds me. People gasp. It's like you can hear jaws dropping.
Drew's eyes find mine. I'm about ten feet from the stage, plus the five it's raised above the floor. I stare up at him. He stares back at me.
"Kara, come up here. Before the crowd gets restless and demands I strip to nothing."
The cheers are deafening. Drew makes a better frontman than I'd guess. But then offering to take off his clothes is a pretty powerful card to play.
The crowd chants. "Take it off! Take it off! Take it off!"
He blushes as he screams back. "Let's make a deal. You get her up here, and I will."
Someone pushes me forward. Then I'm being lifted and passed around. Weightless, hands on my back, moving me toward Drew. I'm stage diving from the damn floor.
There. I'm pushed onto the stage. My boots make contact with the ground.
His eyes find mine. "Where should I start?" He shrugs his guitar off his shoulders and hands it to me.
I hold tight.
He pulls his t-shirt over his head and tosses it on the ground.
The crowd screams.
Drew speaks into the mic. "The rest is only if this goes well." He winks at the crowd then looks back to me. "Kara, this is for you."
I hand back his guitar. He slings it over his shoulders. His eyes on mine, he strums.
The intro starts. It's a ballad. And it's familiar. Really familiar.
Holy shit, it's "Maybe I'm Amazed," by Paul McCartney. The song that pretty much screamsI Love You.
He sings. His eyes close. His heart is in every line. His voice is dripping with feeling. It's sweet and clear and perfect.
