Page 56 of April Renegade

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

JUNE 2013

It had been thirteen months since Asher Lance walked into my life on that chilly night in Washington, D.C., and eleven months since he came to hang out with me at my house and never left. It only took us a little over a month to kiss, and from there, I was completely lost in him.

The only time my thoughts didn’t revolve around Ash was when we were playing live shows at local venues—in D.C., Fredericksburg, Alexandria, Boston, Richmond, even Baltimore and Philadelphia—still, during the rush and pandemonium of being on stage, my eyes still drifted to our lead singer, even when I tried to focus. Watching the transformation of Asher Lance to Ash Lancing, the stage name he chose as representation of his breaking away from parents as well as a reminder of his self-confidence and growth, was something I’d forever cherish. The young man who sang to me for the first time in my parents’ basement now belted his lungs out on stage almost every weekend, slick with sweat and soul ablaze from jumping around, no matter how big or small the venue was. And, once we exited the stage after our last song, his eyes glittered with something I’d never seen during those first few months after I’d met him.

Ash had come alive.

He had the same sparkle in his eyes whenever we were alone, which hadn’t been as often due to our busy schedules, which left us exhausted. I’d been promoted to manager at the gas station, and my hours had changed from during the day to a rotating schedule of early morning until noon, or midnight until the early crack of dawn. Ash continued to work at Dad’s office, and in his spare time, Ash practiced the piano and composed more songs.

Our first show of the summer was in Richmond. It would be our second show there, as the city had a lively music scene, and the drive wasn’t too far away. Somehow, Sean had worked his magic on the owners of a well-known, underground venue called The Antidote. I’d never heard of it before, and it was hard to find anything about it online. Sean said that the club was secretive on purpose—a lot of well-known artists performed at The Antidote, and only those who know about the club from word of mouth were able to buy tickets.

“How the hell did you score us a spot, then?” Ash balked after Sean came over and told us the news. Brian had to go over to his folks’ house, and it felt weird for it to be the three of us instead of our usual four.

Ash and I sat next to one another on the couch while Sean perched in front of us on the coffee table with a half-chugged beer in between his thighs. Ash’s face was littered with skepticism, and I feared mine probably looked similar. It seemed way too good to be true.

Sean huffed an impatient breath and took a swig of his Corona. He set the beer down next to him and leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees. “I need you both to look at me and absorb what I’m about to tell you.”

I shot Ash an inquisitive look which he returned. If Sean wasn’t there, I’d pull his sweet ass on top of me on the couch and kiss him. It had been a long work week, and I’d barely gotten any one-on-one time with him.

We studied Sean, ready to hear him out, despite our better judgment.

“Yes, a lot of famous artists and bands play there,butso do a lot of local bands. The venue is big on representing new talent. So, I was like, fuck it, I’ll reach out and see what happens, because the worst thing that can happen is they say no.”

I nodded in agreement. Perhaps we’d teased Sean a little too much. Though he was the joker of our group, whenever he put his mind to something, he tended to go all out.

Sean took another swig from his beer and then continued. “Instead of sending an email or calling them up, I decided to drive down and request to meet with the owner.”

“Wait,” Ash said. “Sorry to interrupt, but how doyouknow about this place?”

Sean flashed his friend a smile and a wink. “I have my ways.”

I ignored the urge to roll my eyes, but Ash couldn’t help letting out an impatient groan and a snarky shake of the head.

“Anyway—the two people who own the place were hesitant to meet with me, but I insisted that they just watch a couple of our live show videos, and if they didn’t like our sound, I'd peace out. They took me into their shared office connected to the club—they’re a cute, fashionable couple, did I mention that?” We shook our heads impatiently. “Yeah. They’re cool. Well, we all scooched around one of their desktops and I played one of the videos from our Baltimore show last month.”

The Baltimore show was easily our greatest performance to date. After having performed more than a handful of times on stage, we had become more comfortable and increasingly confident with each show that passed us by. Our music was crisper, we communicated better, and though we still stumbled with a few things, we’d improved immensely. In Baltimore, we played all of our own songs, with the exception of one cover. The venue was a large one, and the crowd was lively. Ash ended up crowd surfing after one of the last songs, and the memory of him diving fearlessly into a sea of rambunctious bodies would forever live rent-free in my head.

“Which song?” I asked.

Sean smirked. “The best one, obviously.” When I stared at him, expectant with a solid answer, he chuckled and said, “It’s One A.M. on Sunday Morning.”

The song had easily been a favorite of our growing fan base. It was also my favorite for reasons Sean was oblivious to. Ash presented me with the lyrics to the song only a few days after our first live show—after he’d spent the night with me in my room. There were secretive lyrics strewn throughout that only Ash and I knew the truth behind, even though it was obviously a song about love and sex. When Sean asked who Ash had written it about, he shrugged nonchalantly, winked at his friend, and snarkily told him to mind his business.

I wished people knew Ash had written the song for me, but Ash wasn’t in the headspace to come to terms with taking our relationship to the next level and coming out. Not yet, anyway. With each day that passed, I hoped he would tell me he was ready, but I knew better than to rush him with something like that.

“Good choice.” Ash nodded, bringing me back to the conversation.

Sean grinned. “Well, they thought so, too. Leah and Jeff—they’re the owners—were really impressed. So impressed that they’ve given us a gift even greater than being the second opener at their venue Saturday.”

The second? “We aren’t going on first?” I asked. At every show to date, we had gone on first in the lineup, which was custom for a newer band just getting started.

“Nope. There’s one band before us, then we will play, and then the headliner. Care to know who the headliner is?”

Ash and I leaned in so close to Sean in anticipation that our knees bumped into him.

“Sean,” Ash warned. Sean’s smile turned absolutely feline.

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