“Yeah, but the view… No, Andi. Just no.”
“Fine. What if we go to an after-hours club and dance? Surely you have some moves you can show off on the dance floor?”
“No,” Drew says vehemently, causing all heads to jerk in his direction.
“You can’t dance?” Andi snorts.
“I don’t dance,” Drew corrects.
“You dance tonight.” Andi nods. “Tonight, we all dance. It’ll be fun. This is Miami—we have to go to a good salsa bar while we’re here. It’s the law.”
“The law? Really?” Kale asks.
“Yep. Check the books.”
The guys look at each other and then at me. Andi follows their gaze and quirks her eyebrow up at me.
“What do you say, boss man? You up for a littledirty dancingtonight?” she asks with a playful twist of her hips.
“Absolutely. Salsa dancing for everyone, it is,” I confirm. Mike and Kale flash their cocky, shit-eating grins, and Drew looks absolutely sick.
This after-party idea just got a lot more interesting.
* * *
Sound Bar takesthe stage and the crowd goes wild for us. The noise level from our screaming fans is deafening, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Their excitement feeds us, and we give them our all in return. Our playful banter and spirited antics onstage keep the crowd begging for more.
When I get to “Should’ve Been Me” in the lineup, I can’t wait to introduce it for the first time.
“So…MIAMI!” I yell, and the crowd screams in reply. “Since you’re the first stop on our tour, you get to hear something no other fan has heard yet. After tonight, I’m sure it’ll be all over the Internet. But for now, it’s our little secret.”
The guys laugh, knowing that most have their phones ready to record and that this very song will be available by the time this crowd leaves the building. Until then, it creates the feeling of being part of the secret club.
“Have you ever met someone who just took your breath away from the very first glance? Then, when you’re finally able to speak, you find that she’s even more spectacular than you first thought. As time goes on and you become better friends, you have to admit that you’re actually very much in love with her.
“But, she already loves someone else,” I say solemnly, and the crowd responds with a collective painful sigh. “This song is dedicated to those who are in love with someone who’s in love with someone else.”
A walkway from the stage extends out into the audience seated on the floor and ends with a large, rectangular area. As I pour my feelings into every word of the song, singing directly to the fans as I move past, I immediately see tears streaming down many of their faces.
Reaching the larger area in the middle of the floor, I drop to my knees as I belt out the lyrics full of yearning and need. The pain and longing in my voice is real, and the audience can feel it along with me.
Pick up the phone, give me a call
I’m here alone, I’ll give my all
He can’t love you, not like I do
But one day soon, I will show you
Arms extend toward me, hands groping and desperate to touch me as I keep singing. I purposely picked a place that’s too far away to be in any danger from the fans but still looks close enough to touch. It creates a frenzied audience, especially when the lyrics are as heartbreaking as these.
It’s too bad that’s not the reason why I wrote them.
As the last musical note rings, I stand and look off into the distance, playing up the tortured-soul look as the female fans scream out how they’ll take care of me. That used to be such a turn-on to me, but now their empty promises just fall short.
I’m turning into such a pussy.
“We have a couple more surprises for you tonight. We’re just full of it, huh?” I ask the audience, giving them a smile and a wink. The Jumbotron screens around the arena give everyone a bird’s-eye view of my every move, and I use that to my advantage.
