Page 38 of Composed
Have Faith In Me – A Day To Remember
Ilingerattheback of the darkened room.
Heart in my stomach, my grip tightens around the beer in my hand as the excitable chatter from the crowd wraps around me.
Saint sending me a text to ask for one of mine and Cole’s unreleased songs the day after my alcohol-induced breakdown was a shock.
More surprising, though, I didn’t delete the message.
I ignored it for a day. Asked where he got my number on the second. Sent him a song on the third. Told him I couldn’t come to the show on the fourth. And when the sixth day rolled around, I got behind the wheel of my car anyway.
I sip my beer and glance over the heaving crowd. I’ve been to many concerts in my thirty years. There was a time I’d be squished into a crowd every weekend, screaming along to the music of my favourite bands.
But not a single one of those concerts comes even close to being at a Reckless Abandon show.
There’s something magnetic about those four men.
They’re notjusta band. They’re a family.
They feed off one another. One moves, the others follow without thought. They bleed music and it shows.
Strobe lights dance off the walls, illuminating the stage.
My stomach knots when Cole comes into focus.
Dressed in all black, rippling inked arms on display, he commands his audience.
A minute passes, the crowd buzzing, the stage still.
Then Saint brings his arm down and a heady riff explodes through the speakers.
The room hushes, anticipation thick in the air. The realization that they’re hearing a never played song ripples through the awed crowd.
Every bone in my body tenses, the plastic in my hand crinkling beneath my death grip as my throat dries.
Cole doesn’t just sing.
He ascends.
In this moment, he’s nothing less than a God, staring down at the kingdom he created.
My breath quickens. He caresses the stand before him, palm drifting up and down so slowly, a stark contrast to the raw, heavy sound passing his lips. I wrap my fingers around my wrist, pushing my thumb under the white beaded bracelet sitting there.
Maybe I’m about to make the second biggest mistake of my life when it comes to him. Or maybe this is how it was always meant to be.
Because Cole Hayes is extraordinary.
I knew it then, just as I see it now.
And fuck if I’m not going to try and make sure he stays that way.
My fluffy black slippers wear a hole into the carpet .
Silver moonlight slants through my blinds. Incense burns on the windowsill, a perfect blend of crisp apple and dry sandalwood scenting my bedroom room.
My guitar lays discarded on the bed, an unplugged keyboard next to it.
Paper crinkles beneath my foot.
