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Valentina beamed at Frankie then leant over to scream, ‘He blew me a kiss!’ in her ear.
‘I saw!’ Frankie shouted back, then settled down to enjoy the show.
Although there were four of them in the band, Frankie only had eyes for Jay. She loved the way his face creased in concentration during the guitar solos and the way he occasionally bit down on his lower lip. Those lips! Frankie became quite hot and bothered at the thought of kissing them.
She loved the little nods he gave the others in the middle of a song; a non-verbal message on when to ramp something up or tone something down. The group were so bonded they instinctively knew what each other was thinking. But in between non-verbal communication with his bandmates, Jay also had time to look up at Frankie and make her feel as though she was the only person in the room.
The band’s set was electric. Because a large chunk of the audience knew Jay, there was a lot of heckling, but all very good-natured. In between the songs, the band members chatted to the audience. As the guitar chords faded on their last single, Jay waited for the crowd to stop cheering, before speaking.
‘So, you all know by now, we’re splitting up the band.’
Cue boos.
‘This final tour, is very much a thank you. We’ve called it our Roots Tour because none of us have ever forgotten the places that helped us, that gave us a footing. Along the way, we’ve all played with some amazing people,’ Jay continued. ‘We didn’t just turn up to university on day one and form into a band without a long journey getting there. I had the absolute pleasure of starting my first band with my best friend. Rocco, come on up here.’
Frankie turned in shock to see her brother walk onstage.
‘Everybody welcome Rocco Bartoli-Barr.’
A cheer went up.
Next to Frankie, Alison put her fingers in her mouth and let out a massive wolf-whistle. Rocco winked back at her.
‘Did you know this was happening?’ Frankie asked Valentina.
‘Yup, I’ve been listening to them rehearse for the past three nights!’
Jay took the mic again. ‘Now, I know a few of you here tonight felt cheated on Hogmanay twelve years ago when me, Rocco and Scuzzy missed playing.’
‘YO!!!’ someone shouted from the back of the venue and the crowd parted to let a portly man with a receding hairline through. He rushed on stage as Arlo got up from behind the drums and handed him his sticks with a slap on the back.
Frankie did a double take. Scuzzy was quite different from the peroxided Mohawked skinny punk of over a decade ago.
‘Sorry, I’m late,’ Scuzzy said.
‘Thank God you’re here, thought we’d have to wait another twelve years!’ Jay joked. ‘Now, Rocco and I wrote this next song together. Some of you may recognise it.’ Jay held out his guitar to Rocco.
Being right at the front, Frankie heard Rocco say to Jay, ‘You take the lead,’ and Rocco picked up the spare bass leaning against the wall.
‘You sure?’ Jay asked, and when Rocco nodded, Jay said, ‘Okay, but we sing it together.’
Rocco paused then gave a brief nod of assent.
‘It’s “Twisted Serenade”,’ Jay said into the microphone as Scuzzy counted them in.
Everyone went wild.
Arlo took that moment to sneak up behind Valentina and wrap his arms around her, before they indulged in a full-on snog. Frankie smiled; this was them taking it slowly! No one else noticed as the audience was too occupied looking at the stage.
Despite still being annoyed with him, Frankie was incredibly proud of her brother.
After the song, and their set, had finished, Frankie cheered so loudly her throat hurt.
Arlo rejoined the band, relieving Scuzzy of the drumsticks, as Rocco waved at the audience before jumping off the stage.
‘This is our last song of the evening,’ Jay said. ‘I wasn’t sure we were going to perform it, but I hope it’s okay as it’s very personal, but I’m going to take the risk. It’s called “Love Letter” and it’s about the woman I’m in love with; Frankie.’
Valentina bounced up and down on her seat as she gripped Frankie’s hand. ‘That’s you!’ she squealed.