I grinned, my whole body vibrating with excitement and dread at the same time.
Me? Come up on the stage at the Winter at the Beach festival? Me? Playing alongside my favorite person? My favorite band!
“Yeah, but—” I gestured at the rest of the band, Zoe twirling her sticks, Vinny giving me a thumbs up, Jeremy waving for us to hurry.
“How?” I released a choked sound of disbelief.
“They know your song. We practiced.” Rick cupped my face and met my gaze, filling me with warmth from head to toe. “You can totally say no, but fuck, Ner, I’d love for you to play with us. Even just today.”
I nodded and cleared my throat to dislodge the lump there. “Fuck, yeah!”Just this once.
I kissed the inside of Rick’s palm and skipped to the stage after him. Rick pulled on the white sheet I’d noticed before, and revealed an organ just like the one I’d played at Paula and Penny’s place.
I couldn’t contain the grin that overtook my face as Rick’s hand rested on my lower back, encouraging. I traced the keys with my fingers and my stomach flip-flopped.
“You’ll be fantastic,” Rick said into my ear.
It was all that I needed and more so I straightened my back and nodded.
A guy in aCrewshirt ran up to me and handed me an earpiece. “Let me know like this—” He pointed his index finger up. “If you need the feedback louder and thumb down if you’ll need me to lower it.”
“Thanks. I will.” The moment I said it, the guy walked away and it all became real.
The enormous stage.
The band getting ready to play.
The blinding lights in my face obscuring the swarms of audience stretching farther than I could see.
Breathe, Ner. Just fucking breathe.
I planted my ass on the stool and expanded my gills to take in more air, forcing the woozy sensation to go away.
Rick was back at the mic, addressing the audience.
“As you all know, we haven’t recorded an album since my brother, Linc left.” His voice was steady, and I was so fucking proud of him, I forgot my own jitters. “Finally, we’re in the process of working on a new album. The next song isn’t ours, but it holds a special place in my heart as it was written by a dear friend of mine.”
My hearts pounded in my chest
“OctoRocker77 agreed to play his song with us tonight! Come, show yourself!” He turned to me and waved me over.
Fuck.
I shot to my feet, and my loose shirt caught on the edge of the bench. Pulling on it, I ripped a piece off. Whatever, I hated that thing anyway. I was unable to play without my tentacles out, so the stupid garment had to go. I refused to disappoint Rick, and playing required all of me. With sharp tugs, I unbuttoned the top three buttons as quickly as I could and pulled the rest over my head, flinging it behind me.
A mix of gasps and cheers erupted from the audience.
Relief flooded me as my upper tentacles let go of my waist to float up as I made my way to Rick.
The crowd roared with enthusiasm and my eyes blew wide as I realized I just stripped in front of thousands of people. Rick bit his lip and lifted his eyebrows, giving me a mischievous look.
“Give a warm welcome to OctoRocker77!” Rick said into the mic, and cheers and whistles broke out.
The sound fueled me. As if my hands, tentacles and my entire body became more alive and ready to rock.
I met Rick’s questioning gaze and nodded. His smile manifested in the way his eyes crinkled behind the mask.
He turned around and made a circling motion with his index finger to the band and they all gave a single nod.
