“How’s everybody doing tonight?” I call out. The response hurts my ears. “We’re going to play something we wrote together. It’s about second chances and finding your voice when you thought you’d lost it.”
Darian counts us in. Four beats and we’re playing. His bass line fits with my guitar work perfectly. We’ve only been playing together for months but it works. My voice is stronger now, and his harmonies blend until we sound like one voice split in two.
“This next one,” Darian says into his mic, “is for anyone who’s thought they had to choose between dreams and family.” He looks at me and we’re both remembering those early days when everything seemed impossible. Juggling Lily’s schedule with recording sessions.
But we figured it out. Morning recordings while she was in class. Evening rehearsals after homework. Lily doing math in the studio lounge while Darian helped with fractions between takes.
The sun sets during our fifth song, turning everything pink and gold. The crowd holds up phone lights.
“We have one more,” I say. “This is new. We finished it last week.”
It’s a risk, playing something untested, but Darian insisted.
The opening is just my guitar and his bass. Then my voice:
I used to think the music died
When love became a lie
But you showed me melodies
Hidden in goodbye”
His harmony joins the chorus. The entire festival goes quiet. This is what we are. Two people who found each other through music.
The last note fades and the crowd explodes. Twenty thousand voices calling for more. But I barely hear them because Darian has crossed the stage. His bass is still strapped on, my guitar between us, but he frames my face with his hands and kisses me right there in front of everyone.
The crowd loses it.
When we break apart, his forehead touches mine. “Listen to that,” he says. “The world is finally singing in tune.”
We bow together, hands linked. Lily meets us in the wings, nearly knocking us over with her hug.
“You were perfect,” she says, trying not to cry. “Both of you.”
Nina appears with contracts. “So, about that tour . . .”
“Family meeting first,” Darian says, his arm around Lily. “We all decide together.”
Nina nods. She’s learned we’re a package deal. Every decision gets made as a family. Tour dates planned around schedules and soccer games.
“The label will work with whatever schedule you need,” she says. “They want this.” She gestures between Darian and me. “They want all of it.”
Zara and Levi have made it backstage. Zara is crying while pretending she’s not. Levi has his arm around Darian, saying something that makes him duck his head and smile. Lily shows them videos from the wings, explaining the sound setup.
“Come on,” Darian says, taking my hand. “Let’s get out of here.”
The festival continues behind us as we walk to the parking lot. Other bands taking the stage. Lily chatters about sound levels while Darian’s thumb traces circles on my palm.
“Hey,” he says, stopping at our car. “We did it.”
“The performance?”
“Everything.” He pulls me closer. Lily’s already in the backseat, reviewing recordings on her phone. “We figured it out.”
He’s right. We built something real. We took broken pieces and made something new.
“I love you,” I tell him.
