We strum the first chord together, and the hall goes silent. Or at least that’s how it feels to me. I meet Bastian’s gaze briefly, and he takes the cue. His deep, soulful voice sings the lyrics to “Only You.” My fingers do all the work because throughout the song, I can’t look away from Mik, and he’s the same.
In the background, I hear the crowd singing along to the music.
Mik smiles at me and then starts mouthing the words.
You were the prologue to my life,
You saw me through the dark,
You brought me into the light,
You, only you.
The declaration of my love for him repeated back to me.
A single tear runs down my face, but for the first time since I was sixteen, it’s not a tear of sadness. It’s a tear of happiness.
Completion.
Wholeness.
Freedom.
The crowd goes crazy, singing the song with us.
If I could ever experience flying, I think this is it. I’m soaring with every note I play. It’s perfection on a level I’ve never believed could exist before.
Do I get some notes wrong? Hell yeah. But my practiced fingers fix them, as I should have trusted they would. What is more important than getting all the notes right is being here with Mik and the band.
Do I wish I was part of it for real? Now I don’t think I do. My life has been wonderful in its own way, but fuck, this is one of the highlights of my life so far, and I’m going to enjoy every single second.
31
MIK
NOW
We made love on stage.There’s no other way to explain what just happened.
From the moment he came on, our souls locked, and what happened was beyond magical.
I always thought I’d reached the height of my life playing on stage in front of thousands of people. Hearing them sing along to a song I wrote or seeing the waves of lights from the audience as I played my solos. I always thought life couldn’t get any better than that.
I was wrong.
So wrong.
Because my heart latched onto Tyler’s from the moment I stumbled into that music room at twelve years old, and it hasn’t let go. Even when we were apart and feeling hurt, some part of me was always with him.
The need to hold him in my arms is so strong, but doing that would mess up the rest of the set.
Two more songs, and we’re done.
Deliriuswas outstanding, and I really want to collaborate with them. Maybe part of moving forward is mentoring a band that needs its own break.
The crowd shouts for the encore, so we’re barely backstage for a second before we’re back out again.
We’d already planned to play a rocked-up Ravel’sBolerobut in reverse so that each member of Deliriusleaves the stage one by one. Then it’s Tyler’s turn.
