Page 23 of The Librarian and the Rock Star

An older gentleman poked his head into the room and announced, “Twenty minutes.” I looked up at Jack and realized that he was locking eyes with the other three band members, in an unspoken check-in. It was like they were all mentally asking each other, ‘Are we good?’ then they all subtly nodded.

“Have you eaten?” Jack asked suddenly.

“Well, no, but I figured maybe we could go out to dinner after the show, if you’re not busy?”

“Hold on,” he said, patting my knee. He went to the food table, fussing around quickly, then returned with a paper plate filled with half of an egg salad sandwich, some carrot sticks, and a handful of potato chips.

“Have a little something,” he said. “It’ll be crowded chaos after the show, and it’ll be a while before we can leave.”

I found it strange that he assumed I needed food, but perhaps he came from the ‘get it while you can’ school of thought. It likely wasn’t intended to be pushy, but it was still odd. I dug into the sandwich, realizing that he may have chosen egg salad because of my omelet last night.

It was all so strange and comfortable at the same time. A group of people hanging out with the vibe of a kitchen party, who in less than twenty minutes would be pouring their hearts and souls out to a few thousand people. They didn’t seem nervous at all. Jack’s fingers weren’t twitching. The band seemed remarkably calm, even though the people around them were getting a bit antsy.

I quickly finished my half sandwich and a few of the carrot sticks, then stood up and tossed out my plate. Jack got up, confused. “I don’t know where I’m going, so I should probably get out there.”

“Okay,” Jack said. He wrapped me in his arms, and gave me a quick kiss. “Can’t wait to see you after the show,” he whispered into my ear. “When we’re alone.”

“Me too,” I whispered back. “But I’m also looking forward to the show.” He let me go, after tweaking my nose.

“Um, do you know how I get out there?”

Kelly appeared beside me. “I’ll take you to your seat – I’m sitting right beside you.”

“Oh cool. My friend Sherrie should be there any minute.” Jack waved as we went out the door.

“Was that the girl hanging out with Marky last night?” Kelly asked.

“Yeah.”

“That was smart of Jack,” Kelly grinned, leading me down

a back hallway. “Most of the band is careful that no unescorted women are floating around.”

I glanced sideways to catch her expression, then instantly knew. “Would Paul have something to do with that?”

She shot me a look. “Yeah. He’s a bit of a… I shouldn’t say anything.”

“Predator? Selfish bastard? An insane person who is trying to sabotage the band?”

Kelly grabbed my arm and stopped. “What do you know?”

“Probably more than I should. We can chat about this another time,” I said.

“Yes, let’s do that,” she said seriously. “But right now, it’s almost showtime.” She pulled me along to our seats, and there was Sherrie, who was in the process of texting me.

“This is ridiculous,” she said, her eyes glowing with delight. “Front row?”

“Sherrie, this is Kelly, the publicist for the band.” They shook hands and said hello, just before the house lights dimmed.

14. The Big Show

I’ll admit, I haven’t been to a lot of rock shows, and I’ve only been to a handful of big concerts. But this was hands-down the best show I’ve ever seen, and not because I was staring at Jack through most of it.

All four band members seemed incredibly well-connected. Even more so than last night. Although the stage was much bigger, they kept moving around to interact and crack each other up with weird expressions, likely making a bunch of in-jokes that nobody else would understand.

At one point Noodle and Marky stood in front of each other and played each other’s guitars for the intro, looking comically awkward, but they didn’t appear to miss a note. A few songs later, Marky brought Tate a beer, pouring it into his mouth so that he could drink during the drum solo.

Jack and Noodle traded terrible breakdance moves during one of Marky’s guitar solos, with Tate laughing so hard I thought he was going to choke.

---