The one you love should’ve been me
The one you love should’ve been me
I jump to my feet and clap furiously like a star-struck groupie. The song is just so hauntingly beautiful and I know it’ll be a hit, especially with Travis singing it. I’m picturing all the crying girls in the audience when they hear this song live.
Travis laughs lightly at my reaction and shakes his head. “Does that mean you like it?”
I quickly scribble a note for the sound man and have him read it to Travis.
“I love it! I’m not supposed to talk for a while, but if I could, I’d be screaming! It issoawesome!”
All the guys laugh at both my words and at the sound man reading it aloud with a girlie voice. Travis crosses his arms over his chest, tilts his head to the side, and continues to hold my gaze with his. The smile never leaves his face, but it suddenly becomes more sensual. After a couple of seconds, the intensity in his eyes makes me look away.
The sound man doesn’t seem to notice anything out of the ordinary as he tells the guys to take it from the top again. So, I chalk whatever I thought that look meant up to an overactive imagination after hearing their new love song. I take my seat and listen intently to his beautiful love song again.
Travis is handsome and sexy all wrapped into one, nice-to-look-at package. I see a difference in a man who’s just handsome or just sexy. He doesn’t necessarily have to be one to be the other. But Travis is definitely both, as his screaming fans will attest.
He’s probably around six foot something, but he’s not as muscular as Luke. Travis is more on the lean side but with a natural muscular build. Both of his arms sport tattoos—one arm is a complete sleeve and the other looks like it’ll soon match. His dark hair, eternal five-o’clock shadow, and bright smile are almost mesmerizing.
But his hazel eyes can be downright hypnotizing. All of his emotions show in his eyes. When he’s playful, there’s a sparkle of mischief in them. When he’s serious, they turn more brown than green. When he’s being flirty, they change to a beautiful dark green, slightly narrowed, and he tilts his head to the side. It’s no wonder all the girls fawn all over him and can barely speak in his presence.
Of course, his singing and onstage persona add to that overall sexy presence. I’ve watched videos of Sound Bar’s performances, and they give one hundred percent of themselves to their fans. Running back and forth across the stage to give everyone a good view, engaging the fans standing in the swarm of people on the floor, and pouring every ounce of energy into each song must leave them exhausted at the end of the set.
I’ve just realized that I’ll have to do the same while I’m onstage. The feeling of intense fear mixed with immense exhilaration fills me. In one way, this is the most exciting thing I’ve ever even considered doing. In another way, it’s the most terrifying thing I’ll ever do. These guys pack the huge stadiums, selling out every show with thousands of screaming fans. I just hope I can live up to their fans’ expectations.
Travis finishes singing the love song again, and this take sounds even better than the first. His eyes find me again and he grins at my ridiculously huge smile. I’m so green at everything, so I’m picking up a lot of tips from watching a seasoned professional like Travis. I’d swear that he feels every word of the lyrics in much the same way an actor puts himself in the place of his character. That gives me an idea of how to better approach my songs and strengthen my own voice. It’s actually what I’ve done during my karaoke skits, but I felt the words since I sang most of those songs to Luke.
“You like?” Travis asks through his studio headphones.
“Love!” I reply through the microphones in the ceiling of this ultramodern facility.
“Are you supposed to talk yet?” he asks then tsks me with a shake of his head.
When my hand jerks to cover my mouth, Travis tilts his head to the side and laughs heartily at my gaffe. Linda speaks up from behind me, holding back her own laugh.
“I think you’re safe to talk now, Andi.”
My cheeks feel warm all of a sudden, and I know they’re bright red from embarrassment. It’s rough being the newbie.
“Are you ready to sing to me, Andi?” Travis asks.
“Absolutely!” I jump up and grab the lyric sheets from the desk on my way into the soundproof room.
We haven’t rehearsed these songs together yet, so I’m anxious to hear how we sound. We’ve sung other songs together, but they were just short clips for the public service announcement commercials. This is very different because we have to hit the cues just right, harmonize throughout the whole four-minute song, and be able to pull it off just as well live.
Travis holds the second pair of headphones out to me as I approach him. Before I can reach out to take them from him, he fits them over my ears while his eyes never leave mine. As he moves my hair out of the way, his fingertips graze over the sensitive skin on my neck. I’m holding my breath as he inhales a ragged breath.
Normally, I’d completely dismiss it and chalk it up to pre-tour jitters. But standing this close to Travis, his eyes reveal the emotions he’s trying to cover up. There’s definitely pain behind those eyes, a deep sadness even. A broken heart, maybe? He hasn’t confided in me about a girlfriend or a recent breakup, but the tabloids always have him linked up with one model or another.
“Thank you,” I tell him once my headphones are in place.
“My pleasure.” He gives me a small smile.
Handing over one of the sheets of lyrics to him, I take my place at the second microphone. We stand facing each other as the music starts. The lyrics have strong sexual overtones and are between two people in love, even though they try to fight it. Travis sings first then my lyrics answer his.
After several times of singing this song in a row, we’ve both memorized the words and no longer need to refer to the written lyrics. Imagining I’m singing to Luke helps to put the song’s meaning into perspective. Luke and I have experience with resisting temptation, fighting the consuming urges, and then finally succumbing to the strong desires that draw two people together.
“How many times did the two of you practice before today?” Katelyn asks. “You know those lyrics were not to leave this building.”
