Above the Noise (18 page)

Becki and I covered our mouths. We laughed so hard I thought we’d pass out.

“Ewwww!” A chorus of complaints erupted and was followed by insane laughter.

As soon as we heard the door latch and the room get quiet, we finished getting dressed and quickly headed up the back stairs to Becki’s room, since it was closest. No sooner were we inside, and we heard the familiar crescendo of foot thunder.

“Someone said they just saw him on this floor. Come on girls! Knock on every door!”

This whole touring band ride we were on was about to hit a new level, and I knew then there would be surprises around every corner. I just hoped they came one at a time and not as a whole team next time.

“COME ON, BECKI!
Tell us already.” Spider wasn’t one to complain, but I’d just gotten a really amazing tip from one of the contacts I’d made over the last month of us being on our own. I needed to tell them the news before they took the stage.

“Apparently the interview you did on KALA radio went viral on some rock website. You guys are getting a lot of attention these days. So much so that it’s rumored a big record label will be here tonight to check you out.” Their eyes all bugged out simultaneously, like little boys who just opened a new bike at Christmas. I giggled. I loved my job.

“What label?” Of course, Calon thought I was just holding back more news. But, I wasn’t.

“Actually, I really don’t know which one. My contact didn’t even know who it was, just that one of the ‘big guys’ would be at The Moondance tonight.”

It was our fourth show in ten days, and the guys had been on fire. They were at the top of their game. It was amazing to watch. Calon was so attuned to the fans and what they wanted to hear. Bones, Spider, and Manny played like I’d never seen. I’d taken a couple videos on my phone and texted them to Gracie. She was in awe. We thought we saw them at their best just before the news about the Smiling Turkeys tour came through, but damned if they hadn’t upped their game significantly.

I’d gotten them some live radio interviews and even one short segment on a UCLA campus talk show hosted by two adorable and very high strung Alternate Tragedy fans. So, to say we were tired and run ragged was an understatement. The guys played three kick ass, high energy shows so far, and on the nights they didn’t have a gig we went to check out other venues to play. During the day I made calls and filled in the master schedule with new interviews and gigs while they did radio shows or rehearsed. We were beat.

“Listen, we need to focus, be on our A-game, and play a fucking awesome show. Not just because of the label being here, but have you seen how packed this place is? People are coming out in droves, and we need to give them all we got. They’ll be back if we do it right.” The guys all nodded and fist bumped each other. Calon threw his guitar strap over his shoulder and winked at me. Like a team captain, he always gave the pre-game pep talks. He was adorable. Yet still humble, even though the demos we’d mailed out had gotten tons of air time on not only small radio stations, on big stations, too. It was rumored that ‘Fallen’ had gotten rave reviews in twenty-one states already.

“You guys are on in two minutes. You good?” One of the stage hands ran past with a headset on and didn’t wait to hear the answer to his question. There was no doubt, they were ready.

The music from the DJ booth turned from dance funk tunes to an electronic whammy bar kind of thing. Then a very deep voice that seemingly came out of nowhere introduced the guys.

“Ladies and Gents, finally the band you’ve all been waiting for. All the way from their home in Knoxville, Tennessee, the one and only, Alternate Tragedy!” The announcer had to yell their name over top of the roaring crowd.

Calon turned toward me with a smile that would light up the darkest chasm on the planet. He was living his dream, and I was thrilled to be able to watch from the wings. I stood on my toes and took his face in my hands. “Calon James, I couldn’t be more proud of you then I am at this moment. You deserve this. Go get ‘em, rock star.” I kissed him deeply and then shoved him toward the stage.

The roar of the crowd got louder and more fierce as the boys took the stage. Calon looked back over his shoulder as he walked to his mic. He gave me one of his ‘I
cannot
believe this’ smiles. I blew him another kiss and made a motion with my hand telling him to pay attention to the crowd, not me.

“Well, thank you.” Calon chuckled and looked around at the rest of the guys, who were trying hard to play it cool so they didn’t seem as overwhelmed by the response as they were. Spider marked a double beat with the foot pedal on his bass drum. Little by little the pounding got louder. It sounded like a heartbeat. It was a stunning intro and gave me goose bumps every time. The crowd quieted as the pulsing beat got louder and louder. They opened with “Tried”, a very unique but obviously punk inspired song, which matched the vibe of the crowd that was there.

I sucked down the last of my beer and fanned myself with my hand. The lighting on the stage made it feel like I was sitting in the Caribbean sun. I didn’t want to leave the wings of the stage. I wanted to be as close to Calon as I could. I got so incredibly turned on when I watched him, but I needed to head to the merchandise table. I snaked through the packed house and headed to the back of the club where I’d set up the t-shirts, stickers, CDs, and posters ahead of time. A scantily clad waitress grabbed the empty bottle from my hand, but didn’t ask if I wanted more. I really just wanted some water.

During the last three shows, after all the merchandise sold out, I’d make my way up to the second or third row and literally pretend that I was just a groupie and not Calon’s girlfriend.

I watched him like I used to when Gracie and I would go to Mitchell’s and see them, with fantasies running through my mind of all the things I wanted him to do to me if I ever got the chance. Recently, when I’d fantasize about still being a groupie, I tried to put myself in the mindset that he and I had yet to meet. When he would leave the stage, walk right over to me, and literally sweep my off my feet, the bottom of my stomach would drop out. By the time we’d get to my hotel room, I could feel my heartbeat in my panties. Then he’d make love to me like only he could. After he’d made me come over and over and we’d just lay next to each other trying to catch our breath, I would let myself come back to reality and realize how incredibly lucky I was to hold the heart of Calon Ridge.

“Excuse me. Are you Calon’s girlfriend? I saw you kiss him off stage just before they came out.” A tiny girl with long raven hair and bright red lips was pressed against the table waiting to pay for the t-shirt in her hands.

I remembered hearing once that if fans thought a musician was spoken for it could actually inhibit their rise to fame. I wanted the world to know that at night, I was bare ass naked with the hot thing stomping out the beat on stage, but I needed to show some decorum and respect her right to fantasize.

“Well, Calon and I go way back. He’s a good friend.”

“Oh, so that was a friend kiss?”

I smiled but gritted my teeth behind my tight lips. “That’s twenty-five dollars, hun.” She didn’t budge, just watched me. It was slightly creepy.

People called out sizes of shirts and handed money and credits cards over each other. Soon the raven-haired groupie was gone, which was probably for the best, or I may have let the cat out of the bag about me and Calon just to deflate her inappropriate thoughts.

At the end of their first set, I felt like I’d been working the table for twelve hours. A wave of exhaustion came over me, and I could barely stand. Like she fell from the sky to save me, Cyan showed up behind the table.

“Honey, go get some water and take a break. You look like you’re ready to drop.”

“God, Cyan. Thank you so much. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. It just hit me all of a sudden.”

“You take something?” She was mindlessly running credit cards and handing over CDs and posters as if she literally had two brains, one that did the math and one that talked to me.

“Take something?” I didn’t have a headache. I wasn’t sure why she asked that question.

“You know… downers or something?” She said it like she was asking if I’d had dinner, which come to think of it I hadn’t. The guys shared a pizza, which was so greasy it turned my stomach, and we ended up not having enough time to grab something else before getting to The Moondance.

“No, just a couple beers while the guys set up.”

She shrugged and then grabbed the wrist of some guy who tried to walk off with a t-shirt.

I scooted out between antsy fans waiting for their shit. I was immediately waited on by a tall blond, tattooed god behind the bar. He gave me a pitcher of ice water instead of a glass, which made me like him even more. The club was a nice one, so I just knew there’d be a couch or something in the ladies room, which was good because all of a sudden I felt so nauseous I couldn’t see straight.

I hit the stall door with one hand and held my water pitcher with the other. The door slammed into the wall, and I braced myself for what I knew was coming. I set the pitcher on the back of the toilet and pulled my hair back just as I lost what seemed like everything I’d eaten since we arrived in LA. I knew that wasn’t possible, but I had no idea where all of it came from.

Someone handed me a box of tissues from the counter, and I thanked them without turning away from the toilet. I wiped my mouth and the mascara that ran down my face. My body wracked with convulsive shivers, I longed for the heat I’d been complaining about just an hour earlier while in the wings off the stage.

I made sure there were no remnants of the contents of my stomach anywhere in the stall and turned to wash out my mouth at the sinks. For no apparent reason, I got a panic sensation in my gut but it took me a moment to decide where it came from. Quiet. There was no sound coming from the bar. No music. I rinsed and spit a couple times then checked myself in the mirror. I needed to get back out there. The music that was audible in the bathroom had been ear-splitting but suddenly was silent. I heard a low rumble. The crowd was booing. There were a few slurred expletives thrown out from very drunk patrons. I wiped sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand, rinsed out my mouth one more time, and grabbed a mint from the countertop candy dispenser. I washed my hands and checked my reflection again. Aside from looking exhausted, I was pretty sure no one would be able to tell how sick I’d just been. I headed out and prepared myself for the worst.

I hurried over to Cyan, who now had a crowd of patrons facing away from her. Every pair of eyes in the bar was fixed on the frantic guys up on stage. I watched Calon and Bones untangle some cords while Spider and Manny inspected the amps.

“What the hell?” I tapped Cyan on the shoulder.

“I have no idea. All of a sudden it went silent.”

There was nothing I could do to help fix whatever was broken, but I could at least make the situation a little less tense for the guys. I ran over to the DJ booth, flashed my VIP pass, and climbed up the stairs.

“Hey! Are your acoustics shot, too?” I pointed aimlessly, not knowing a whole lot about the wiring for sound.

“No, you want me to play?” He grabbed his headset and a couple vinyls. He was going to old-school it.

I hadn’t answered him, but the pumping sound of his signature DJ beat resonated through the bar. I headed through the crowd as best I could toward the side stage entrance. The bouncer at the door recognized me and opened the door before I had a chance to say anything. I ran up the couple stairs and stood just off the stage to see what was going on.

Calon, who usually kept his cool, was ripping at cords and flailing his arms as he talked to the other guys. They all shook their heads and headed toward me in the wings.

“What—”I didn’t even finish my question.

“I have no fucking idea! We were rocking the place, and then all of a sudden it was like the soundboard was disconnected. Everything goes quiet. We looked like fucking idiots!”

Bones held a cord for his bass that hooked to the amp. Everyone’s instrument appeared to still be connected to their amps. “We’re all plugged in. Nothing’s melted or cut. What the hell?”

Calon rubbed his face hard with both hands then put his hands on his hips and took a couple deep breaths.

“I love you, Becks.” He said it like he was thanking me for being something positive in the midst of a shitty situation.