Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

“And I can feel you breathing
And it's keeping me awake
Can you feel it beating?
My heart's sinking like a weight”
- Yellowcard
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Remembering Benji was great and all, and so was being with Joel, but our number one priority was the show tonight. We headed inside the MI Center for our sound check. “Yo, Paul, you got my guitar right?” Paul glared at me from across the spacious floor, “Nah, I’m not your roadie. Billy’s got it, actually.” I went skipping over to where Billy was tuning my guitar. “Billeeeeee!” He turned around, “Yes Katiieeeeeeeeee?” I laughed and jumped into his lap as he put my guitar in the case beside him. “Hi.” He wrapped his arms around me, “What, are we relieving memories or something?” I shook my head, “Nah, but maybe you’ll get lucky later.” He grinned and whispered in my ear, “But what about Joel?” Joel was glancing at us suspiciously. I waved at him and blew him a kiss. He laughed and went back to talking to Chris about what song we should open with tonight. “Don’t worry about Joel” I whispered seductively in his ear, before bursting out in laughter and hopping off his lap. “You’re crazy!” He yelled after me as I went running off to beg Paul for some of his cheeseburger.

“Aight, testing, one two three. Testing, one two three. Can you hear me out there? Throw your hands in the air, and wave ‘em like ya just don’t care!” I was incredibly giddy tonight, all worked up about the show, so Joel let me test the mikes out. “I’m kind of regretting letting you test the mikes now.” I shoved Joel off the stage. “Hey! That hurt!” I laughed, “No it didn’t, you landed on a roadie. It’s okay. He’s having the time of his life.” The roadie pushed Joel off him, mumbling something about crazy kids. Billy, Paul and Chris burst out laughing. Joel pulled himself back up on stage, “Laugh it up you guys. Laugh it up.” I couldn’t help myself, he looked so sad. I threw my arms around him, “its okay babe, I still love you. Even if you are a goof.” He mumbled something into my hair. “What was that?” He pulled back and goes, “I know. But you’re an even bigger goof.” I just eyed him, “You want me to push you off stage again?” He laughed, “Nah, I’m good. Let’s rehearse, shall we?” He grabbed the other mike and turned to the rest of the band. “So, are we gonna play The Battle of Life and Death first tonight?” Billy nodded, “Yeah that would be good to open the show.” I picked up the other mike, “Yeah I agree. Um, can we play that new song I wrote second? You know the one I’ve been working on for a while?” Joel thought about it for a minute, “Sure, we’ve already worked out all the music for it so yeah let’s do it.” I cheered and jumped up and down, throwing my arms around him. “You rock.” He laughed, “No, you rock.” I grinned, “I do, don’t I?” Everyone laughed at that and I went back to the mike.
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Four hours later…

“My gosh that’s a lot of people. Hey, are we gonna go out and say hi to the fans before the show?” I was looking out the window at the huge crowd milling around in front of the center. Paul and Chris were standing with me, watching people buying stuff, doing things, drinking, whatever. All of a sudden, someone spotted us in the window. “Oh my god! It’s Katie and Paul and Chris!” The crowd started screaming and waving at us and holding up posters. I waved at them. They yelled even louder. “Um, I don’t know if I really wanna go down there right now.” Billy had come up behind us, and was watching the people. “Yeah, but we owe it to the fans don’t we?” Joel walked up to join us, sparking more yells from the crowd. “True, but can we wait until after the show to do the meet and greet?” I nodded. “Yeah, cuz it’s show time.”

The doors opened and the people started streaming in. We headed down to our dressing rooms. The bands who were opening for us tonight, New Found Glory and Simple Plan, were hanging out in their dressing room already. It was huge. Pierre looked up when we came in. “Hey guys, what’s happening?” I shouted “Pierre!” and bounded across the room to jump on him. I didn’t know Simple Plan had arrived yet, and I hadn’t seen Pierre in forever, so I was unbelievably excited. “Hey beautiful, how you been?” I pecked him on the cheek. “I’m good. Are you ready to do this thing?” Joel walked in and saw me straddling Pierre, “Hey what’s going on here?” I laughed, “Don’t be jealous Joel, we’re just friends. I’m an extremely affectionate person. I need to get ready anyways. I’m going to our dressing room, k?” I got up off Pierre and headed out of the room.

I got to our dressing room and went through my things, trying to find the right thing to wear. We hadn’t played a show in forever, and I wanted to look good. “Don’t worry about what you wear, you look good in anything.” I looked up to find Pierre leaning in the doorway. “What are you doing here? I need to get ready.” He smiled, “We’ve got an hour before the show starts. Do you really need that long?” I laughed. “Nah I guess not. Does Joel know you’re in here?” He shook his head. “I didn’t think so.” He sat down on the sofa, “He still doesn’t know huh?” I plopped down next to him. “No. I never told him. Never told Benji either, but it’s a bit late for that isn’t it?” While I’d been on tour with Good Charlotte a few summers back, Pierre and I had a bit of a tryst. We’d never said a word to anyone. In fact, we’d promised we would never, even on pain of death, tell anyone. He smiled sadly at me. “I miss that.” I sighed, “We can’t Pierre, I’m with Joel. It would kill him.” He got up and locked the door, “Not even a little bit?”

He kissed me, pressing me down into the couch, his hands resting on my hips. I kissed him back, scooting backwards on the couch until we were lying down. He slid his hand up under my shirt, his tongue working wonders with my own. Oh my god, this was wrong. This was so wrong. But it felt so right. He pulled my shirt up over my head, kissing his way down my neck and chest. I hooked my thumbs in his belt loops and slid his jeans off, throwing them in a heap on the floor. He found my spot, at the side of my neck, sucking gently at it, and I moaned, “Pierre, I don’t know…if I can do this.” He bit my earlobe, “Then let me do it for you.” He pulled my jeans off and let them fall on top of his. I yanked his shirt up over his head and threw it across the room. “Take me.” He pulled down my underwear with one hand, and his boxers with the other. I unsnapped my bra and let it fall off the couch, he moved his mouth up to suck my nipple. A moan was ripped from my lips as he bit down. “Oh my god, don’t stop. Don’t stop.” A mere second later, he shoved himself inside me. A muffled scream escaped from my lips where his were pressed hard. I titled my hips upwards, he slammed into me hard, pulling out and then pressing back inside. I felt the orgasm building up inside me, the hunger, the aching need, sending me closer and closer to the edge. With one last thrust, he brought me into oblivion, bringing himself along with me. He pulled out slowly. “Pierre…” I moaned into his ear, feeling him stiffen against my leg again. He gazed into my eyes, bringing his hand up to cup my breast. I shrugged away from him. “No baby, please. I need you. I need this.” He was throbbing against my leg. I had the power to take him where I pleased. I grinned as I flipped over, so that I was on top of him. He watched me with greedy eyes as I kissed my way down his body. I slowly licked along his lower stomach, feeling the muscles twitch and tighten as I did. He groaned and gripped the sides of the couch, pushing his hips upwards, his body squirming under the assault. I moved my mouth farther down, biting his hip. He swore hoarsely, gripping my head with his hands. I let my lips travel even farther, suckling at the base of his erection. He moaned louder as I took his length inside my mouth. I brought him to the very edge of reason, and then pulled away, replacing my mouth with my hot, wet core. He gripped my hips with shaking hands as I brought us both over the edge. He moaned my name as he saw stars. “Katie…that was…” I collapsed on top of him, “Amazing? I know. I’m hot, aren’t I?” He shoved my shoulder, and I rolled off him and onto the floor. “So that’s it, Pierre? You were hot now get out? God, I feel like a groupie.” He laughed. “Nah, I just meant you oughta go get ready. You have 15 minutes.” I leaped to my feet, “Holy shit! Get out! The guys are gonna be in here soon! Go!” He chuckled, giving me a quick kiss before slipping quickly out of the room.

I got in the shower quick, skipping the shampoo cuz I didn’t have time. I was out in a few minutes, toweling off fast and heading out into the other room to get my clothes. I pulled on my bra and boy-shorts, not the ones I’d been wearing before, but a new pair and went and grabbed my other clothes off the floor, stuffing them in a dirty laundry bag. Were they ever. I was bent over, going through my bags for clothing, very aware of how much butt was hanging out of my cheeky lace underwear when all of a sudden the door burst open and the sound of laughter filled the air. “Whoa!” I turned around to find Billy, Joel, Chris, and Paul standing in the doorway, mouths hanging open. “You’re gonna catch flies that way. Shut your mouths. It’s not polite to stare.” Billy punched Joel in the arm. Chris couldn’t tear his eyes away. He was the only one there who hadn’t seen me in various stages of undress, on the bus or wherever. “Damn. Joel, I hate you so much right now.” Everyone burst out laughing. I shook my booty at them, “What? You think I’m hot, Chris?” He gasped as I came over to him and rubbed my butt against him. “Yeah. Very, very hot. Damn girl, you gotta stop or I can’t be responsible for what happens next.” I laughed and threw my arms around him. “Aight. I gotta get dressed anyways.” I went back over to my suitcase and took out a brand new black tank top with the words Cinderella Punk on it, a hot pink miniskirt, a pair of black fishnet stockings and my hot pink and black Chuck Taylors. I got dressed quick and twirled around for them to see. “How do I look?” They laughed. “Amazing.” I tweaked Paul’s cheek. “Thanks babe. Let’s go, we gotta do this show.” We headed out to play. I grabbed my hot pink and black Fender guitar on the way out.
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“Hey you guys, are you ready to rock?” The crowd went crazy when Joel screamed into the mike. “Yeah, are you ready to roll? Are you ready to bounce to this, kids?” I cracked up into my mike. “Gosh Joel, you’re such a loser.” He stuck his tongue out at me. “Ain’t he sweet ladies and gents?” The crowd cheered again. “Yeah, aight we’re gonna start with this new song Katie wrote, it’s called Sympathize! Enjoy!” I played the guitar riff that started off the song.

“Welcome back to reality,
Just accept your own mortality.
Everyone is living the same lie.
Cry your tears you know we all do,
Everyone has the hard days too,
And we all hate this life.”

Joel joined in, harmonizing.

“I don’t want to go until I have to,
I don’t want to die without you,
But I accept that life moves on.”

I strummed my guitar, jumping around the stage as I yelled out the chorus,

“So I guess I should go,
So I guess I should know,
I guess I’m the odd one out again,
Once again.
I guess I’ll hide away,
Cuz one day I’ll fly away,
And leave this broken world behind,
Way far behind.
But until that day I guess I’ll stay,
Even though I don’t know why,
My life is just this way.
I guess that’s life.”

We head banged a bit as Billy and I played a crazy instrumental guitar solo. Joel started off the next verse.

“I know there’s a million reasons,
I know there’s a million seasons,
There’s a thousand things for me to say.
My heart is so full that it’s bursting,
My head is aching and I’m thirsting,
It’s just the way I want it today.”

I sang out with him,

“I don’t want to go until I have to,
I don’t want to die without you,
I’m so in love, I’m so in love with what we are...”

I riffed it up on the guitar, throwing us back into the chorus.

“So I guess I should go,
So I guess I should know,
I guess I’m the odd one out again,
Once again.
I guess I’ll hide away,
Cuz one day I’ll fly away,
And leave this broken world behind,
Way far behind.
But until that day I guess I’ll stay,
Even though I don’t know why,
My life is just this way.
I guess that’s life.”

The song came to an end, and I added the last flourish with my guitar. “Yeah! How’d you like that, kids?” They went wild. I laughed it up on the stage and we went into the next song, S.O.S. The concert went on until late in the night, and we had an absolute blast.