Page 80 of Rescue

“I haven’t been in a place like this in ages,” Paige says, looking around the room. The walls are painted purple down here too, making the space feel even smaller than it is. Then the lights suddenly cut off, and the crowd starts to cheer.

“Who are we seeing, anyhow?” I shout up to Lennon.

He shakes his head. “No idea. Someone Daltrey found.”

With that kind of recommendation, I’m not expecting much. Therefore I’m surprised when the band turns out to be pretty damn awesome. It’s obvious from the opening verse of their first song. The lead singer has command of the crowd from the get-go, and his voice is excellent. Even better, they’re tight, not always the easiest feat when playing live

“Who is this?” I ask Daltrey when he returns with our beers.

“Grand Panic,” he says, handing me a flimsy plastic cup. “Out of England. They kick ass.”

“I’ve never heard of them,” I tell Lennon as Daltrey moves past to bring Dylan and James their beers. “They’re good.”

“I’m not surprised,” he says. “Daltrey is really good at this—finding bands. It doesn’t matter what city we go to, if we want to hear live music, Dalt finds it. And they’re usually really good.”

“That’s a helpful trait to have around.”

Lennon slips his arms around my waist, pulling me against him so my back is pressed into his chest. “He’ll make a good A&R guy when his looks go and the girls stop screaming his name.”

I laugh, leaning into him. “And what about you? What do you think you’ll be doing when the glory days are over?”

“That’s the good thing about being the overlooked one,” he says into my ear, and I shiver at the closeness of his breath on my neck. “We outlast the screaming girls.”

I reach up to pull his head down so I can speak into his ear, knowing he wouldn’t hear me over the music otherwise. “I never overlooked you,” I say. “I saw you from the beginning.”

He tightens his arms, resting his chin on my head, and I decide I could stay like this all night. I’d forgotten what it felt like to watch a show in a venue like this, where everyone is right on top of each other. The way the noise of the amps and the crowd bounces off the low ceiling, loud enough to make my ears ring. Or how the entire room seems to vibrate with the pulse of the music and the movement of the fans. There’s something nice in knowing that this is how people have felt when they came to see our shows, that the experience is being shared right now, in thousands of venues just like this one all over the world.

“Nothing like live music,” Lennon says when the show is done. He’s grinning, all the distance in his eyes from this morning gone.

“Nothing at all,” I say, and I know I’m grinning just as wildly. Because Lennon gets it, the way that I feel about music and performing. He feels the same way.

“That was kick-ass,” Reed says, joining us. He has the same exhilarated, happy look on his face.They all get it, I think. “Daltrey is going to get Frank to see if we can go back to say hello.”

“Do they know you guys are here tonight?”

He shakes his head. “We just want to tell them how much we enjoyed it.”

I can’t help but laugh. I wonder if they have any idea what that moment will be like for the four guys who’ve just left the stage. For one of the biggest bands in the world to randomly show up in their dressing room to tell them that they enjoyed the show.

“What?” Lennon asks. “What’s funny?”

I stand on my tiptoes and kiss him full on the mouth, not caring that Reed is right there, probably shooting us those concerned looks of his. It’s still surprising to me how unaffected the Ransomes all are. And it’s awfully cute when they don’t seem to notice how important they are.

“Nothing,” I say. “I just like you.”

“Haylee!” Paige calls, running over to us. “The boys all want to go backstage, so we’re gonna take off and start our party early. Sound good?”

Shit. I totally forgot about the damn sleepover. Who has sleepovers at this age anyhow? Lennon squeezes my waist. “Sorry, babe. Guess you better go get your nails painted and stuff.”

“Have fun with the band. I’m going to tell the girls all about your performance in bed.”

He kisses the tip of my nose. “Just make sure you make me sound good. I have a reputation to uphold.”

I snort. “Oh, yeah, you’re definitely the one with a reputation.”

As Paige ushers all of the girls into the car, I can’t help feeling disappointed. I like the girls, particularly Daisy, but I would much rather stay here and meet the band.

“Oh, you have that look on your face,” Karen says, laughing as she points at me.