Chapter Five
“I don't know if I can do this,” Dante insisted, pacing around the dressing room backstage. It was a tiny room and the circles were starting to make him dizzy. “I've never performed Unbreakable for anyone but you and the guys at the studio. This song's really important to me.”
“I know,” Hugo said with a smile and caught his boyfriend’s arm. He gently stopped him and turned him around. “And it’s gonna be great. You know it is. Besides, why should you be worried? Everyone loves you. It’s me who should be terrified.” He frowned in good humor and confusion. “Yet, I’m not. Could be denial.”
It was Dante’s turn to smile. No one had ever been able to calm his nerves as well as Hugo. “You’ll be perfect.”
“Well, I don’t know about that. I’ll settle for not falling off the stage or forgetting the words.”
“Are you sure anyone showed up?” Dante asked as one last wave of doubt washed over him.
“Dante, the club’s packed. It’s practically a fire hazard out there. You have a hit single, released an album on your own, and you’re now a social icon. I’d say it’s been a good two months. Ignore the naysayers.” He didn’t say anything for a moment and then quietly asked, “This is what you wanted, right? Control over your own life, freedom to be you?”
Dante glanced up with a look of determination in his eyes. Then he cupped Hugo's face and kissed him. “I have everything I could ever want.” Then he rolled out his shoulders like a boxer and skipped out onto the club’s stage.
A thunder of shouts, whistles, and cheers filled the air when the fans spotted him. It was a nice sized club with only a couple hundred people, but it was enough for Dante. He felt his heart swell. It was like being home for the first time in years. Though the light was dim, he could just make out a sea of rainbow flags being waved over heads and he brought his hand to his chest in surprise and love. Then he took his microphone off its stand and stepped up to the edge of the stage.
“Thank you so much for being here. You have no idea what it means to me.” He waited for the cheers to die down and then added, “It's been a crazy couple of months, hasn't it?” Laughter and whistles filled the air along with a cheerleading section of sequin-covered men, who were yelling something a little more risqué. Dante blushed and chuckled at their advances, causing that much more fanfare. Then he turned to his back-up crew and nodded. They started playing the first few bars of Unbreakable and the crowd erupted again.
Dante played it slow, putting in as much feeling as he could, trying to give the crowd a sense of what the song meant to him. It worked so well that the room was silent for a few moments when it ended. He opened his eyes to see tears streaming down the cheeks of everyone in the front row. He gave them all a grin and held up the mic in triumph as cheers erupted again. He eventually had to wave them down so he could say a few more words.
“This next song is brand new. You're hearing it first here, tonight.” He grabbed a couple of crates from the side of the stage and set them in the center, along with a second microphone. “This one's really special to me too and, as you can see, I can't sing it alone. So, I give you, Hugo Tagliatelle…my boyfriend,” he added with a cheeky tone. The introduction got the loudest applause of the night so far and Dante waved a hand to the side of the stage.
A hesitant Hugo appeared, growing more so as Dante began to beckon him over and the crowd began to clap in unison.
“Don’t make me come over there,” Dante teased.
That did it. Hugo found himself set at ease, somehow, as if he were simply going to sing in the shower with his boyfriend, or for a bunch of friends. As the fans laughed at the singer’s comedic threat, Hugo saw why Dante loved this so much. It was a kind of intimacy one could never get from a large, whirlwind tour, or by being a true superstar. Dante didn’t want to be separate from the people who listened to his music. As this revelation hit, Hugo walked over to his boyfriend and they hugged. He was amazed that this simple act would have people jumping up and down with joy, but he saw that it did.
The two of them sat and the band started a sweet, but catchy love song. It was a pronoun-less duet, written for anyone to sing with the one they loved. Dante sang first and then there was a pronounced pause before part two. He wanted there to be a buildup, a sort of shock and awe for people when they first heard Hugo’s voice. It worked too. A hushed surprise filled the club as his boyfriend’s warm, mellow voice came through the speakers. When it was over, Hugo took a bow and then slipped backstage, shaking like a leaf.
The next morning, it was like waking up from some kind of fantastic dream. Only there was no disappointment because the dream had been real. Hugo quietly slipped out of the bed, stopping to stare at his boyfriend’s sleeping form before wrapping the same old bathrobe around him. He walked into the kitchen, considering making breakfast, but was suddenly distracted. One of the perks of the old, beachside cabins was the windows. Though they were truly meant to capture sunsets over the ocean, a slight, broken cloud cover had turned to brilliant orange, purple, and pink in the sunrise. He rushed back to the bedroom and gently shook Dante awake.
Dante groaned and looked at his bedside clock. “It’s six a.m.,” he complained. “I’ve only been in bed for three hours.”
“I know, but you’ve gotta see this.” He pulled Dante up and tossed him his jeans. “Come on!”
“Okay, Okay.” He slowly stood and stumbled after his boyfriend, trying to tug on the jeans as he went. When he saw Hugo still as a statue and staring out the window, he realized what it was all about. “Oh my God,” he breathed and took Hugo’s hand. Then the two of them walked to the door and out onto the beach.
The morning was just the right temperature. There was no need for a jacket, no sign that the day was going to be too hot. The two of them walked, hand in hand, for a while without saying a word. Then, Hugo stopped, glancing over at the spot where he’d almost drowned.
“You know, I would’ve died if you hadn’t come along that day,” he whispered.
“I know,” Dante answered, gently, and pulled him close.
“Thanks for saving me,” Hugo said as their lips hovered close together.
Dante grinned. “You too.”