"If you love somebody, show it."
Kayla was wandering backstage trying to find AJ. She had tried to talk to him earlier but he had been avoiding her.
“Have you seen AJ?” she stopped to ask Nick.
“Uh...he’s in his dressing room. Getting ready for the show, kinda like what you should be doing,” Nick said quickly. Then he hurried off down the hall, probably to find Kristen.
It took her another 5 minutes to reach his dressing room. She could hear Eminem blaring from inside, so he had to be in there. She opened the door and walked without knocking. He might not open the door if he knew who it was.
AJ looked up in surprise when his dressing room door flew open. He lost all train of thought when he noticed who it was. Kayla.
“Alex! Are you there?” the person on the other line asked loudly.
“Sorry mom, I’m gonna have to call you back later,” he replied quickly before hanging up. “Ever hear of knocking.”
“AJ, we got to talk,” Kayla said ignoring his comment.
“I’m sorry, I don’t have time to talk now,” he said walking over to his gym bag on the floor. He began to pull out some clothes.
“Yeah, well, you better make time, because I’m not leaving until I say what I want to say,” Kayla said surprising him again.
“Oh, and what do you have to say?” AJ asked sarcastically.
“Don’t be an ass,” Kayla said softly. She took a deep breath before continuing. “AJ, why were dating Dani if you liked me?” “You must think a lot of yourself Kayla. Who said I liked you,” AJ said feigning indifference.
“Dani.” Kayla watched as AJ went from showing no emotion, to looking completely vulnerable.
“She told you that,” he said shocked. “I thought she was my friend.”
Kayla groaned. Sometimes he could be so frustrating. “She is your friend. Just because she told me something doesn’t change that. Now, why were you?”
AJ looked at everything but at her. He didn’t know how to answer that. He could tell the truth but then he’d be subjecting himself to another rejection. But if he lied, she would eventually find out the truth.
“Why? What, do you like the both of us and can’t make up your mind,” Kayla said blinking back tears.
When AJ saw her eyes watering he knew it was time to come clean. “No Kayla, God no. I don’t like Dani like that. We’re... just friends. Good friends.” When he saw her skeptical glance he closed his eyes and opened them. “I swear.”
“But...then why...why were you dating her?” Kayla asked sounding very confused.
“Because,” AJ started but then he froze. He didn’t know if he could tell her it. Now that he thought about it, his plan sounded stupid. Like something a high schooler would think up.
“Because?” Kayla prompted.
AJ looked her in the eye as he continued. “Because I liked you so much and you acted like I had the plague, or something to that regard. So Dani and I got to talking one night and I came up with this plan. It’s dumb now that I think about it, but we pretended to be dating to...well to make you jealous.”
Kayla was staring at him like he had two heads. “You’re telling me you only dated her to make me jealous.”
“That’s what I’m saying. And I know it was stupid-” he as interrupted by Kayla.
“It worked,” she mumbled loud enough for him to hear. “As soon as I heard you were dating, I flipped. Inside that is. I was mad at myself though. I thought I’d waited to long to apologize. Oh by the way, I am sorry about, well, getting in a fight with you over Dani’s hair.”
AJ smiled. “That fight was pretty lame.” Kayla nodded her agreement. “I’m sorry about being an ass earlier. I just, well yeah, ya know.”
Kayla smiled. “I know.”
A moment of silence passed before Kayla realized what time it was. “Shit, I mean crap! I have to be onstage in 10 minutes. Okay, um bye. Yeah bye!”
AJ was chuckling as Kayla ran out of his dressing room. He hadn’t lost his chance with her. He’d only just begun.
Sara was wringing her hands as the crowd chanted. She would be going out onstage by herself to sing a solo number. It would be just her and her guitar.
“Oh, you’ll do fine,” Dani said giving her a hug. “You’re going to surprise him, hug him, and then hopefully kiss him. All will be fine, you know that.”
Sara smiled. “God, I’m so nervous.” She took a couple deep breaths. “So, you’re going to be in the audience.”
Dani nodded. “Yes, I am. Front row. God, I wish I could be up there with you.”
“You are singing ‘I Don’t Wanna,” Kayla said joining the conversation.
“Yeah I am,” Sara said picking up her guitar. She strummed the strings and gave them all a tentative smile.
“Why ‘I don’t Wanna’? It’s not exactly a love song,” Dani said confused.
“No, because we decided the message should be I’m afraid, I need space but please don’t give up on me,” Kayla explained quietly. Brian had just joined them backstage.
“Hey Brian! Kayla said smiling.
“Hey, just came to say good luck and all that jazz,” he said staring at Sara as he said that.
After he finally walked away, Sara grabbed Kayla’s arm. “He knows doesn’t he? I’m not doing this anymore.”
Kayla rolled her eyes. “Sara you are paranoid. He doesn’t know, he couldn’t know. Non of the guys know.”
“Oh...good,” Sara said relaxing.
“Okay, Sara, it’s time to take the stage,” the stage manager said giving her an encouraging smile.
Sara took a deep breath and gave her friends one last smile before she took the stage. The crowd’s screams grew even more deafening. When she reached the center of the stage, there was a stool sitting there. She lowered herself onto it before she strummed her guitar again.
“Hey Greensboro!” she yelled laughing as the crowd went wild. “Well, normally all of Carpe Diem would be out here but we have a little surprise for a friend of ours. I have to send him a message and if it’s okay with you, I’d like to send it on this stage. So, is it okay?”
Sara smiled as the crowd went even wilder. “Okay thanks you guys. This song is one I wrote. Actually I just wrote it a week or two ago. It’s called ‘I Don’t Wanna’ and I hope ya’ll like it.”
As she began to play the opening bars, the crowd became silent. It was as if they knew that this song had to be heard by the mysterious “friend.”
Pre chorus
Baby, maybe, its just today,
that I feel, I feel this way
only baby I have to ask if you don’t mind,
I wanna be, I need to be alone
Brian had just finished putting on his first outfit when Nick through open his door so it smashed into the wall.
“What in the?” Brian yelled staring at Nick like he was insane.
“Dude...I mean...uh Brian,” Nick said breathing heavily. “You might want to come see this.”
“See what?” Brian asked but Nick had already left. He followed more slowly, but as he got closer to the stage, he heard Sara’s voice.
Brian was watching Sara as she sang. She looked beautiful in her whit vinyl pants and yellow sparkly top. Her blonde hair was down around her face. She was too busy singing to realize he as standing their watching her.
Pre chorus
Chorus
Bridge
I don’t mean to be this way
I’m not trying to play these foolish games,
I don’t wanna see you leave
I just need a little time to breath, some time to breath
chorus 2x
As Sara wrapped up the song, she began to remember her surroundings. The crowd was screaming and she noticed Dani and Wade in the front row. Dani was holding up a sign that said “Carpe Diem is #1.”
Sara laughed. “I happen to agree Dani. Thank you Greensboro! Carpe Diem will be back out here in 5 short minutes.”
Sara made it all the way off the stage before she noticed Brian. She froze and just stared at him.
“Nice song,” he finally mumbled.
Sara bit her bottom lip. “I wrote it...wrote it...for you. Well, more about you. Did you hear the whole thing?”
“No,” Brian said shaking his head. “I came in on the first chorus.”
Kayla hated to interrupt them but it was time to take the stage. “Uh, Sara, we kinda have a show to do and Brian will be here later. I promise.”
Sara nodded her and slowly followed Kayla onto the stage. She kept glancing back to see if Brian was still there. She wished she could say to heck with the concert and talk to him but it would have to be later. The concert must go on.