8
Pacey
Three of the band members were sound checking their instruments.
Adam was still missing in action.
I listened to one of the guys play some chords on the keyboard. After spending so much time on the harp, I couldn’t remember the last time I played on a keyboard. The two instruments were similar in a lot of ways, but I loved the vibrant sound of the harp.
It’d been a while though since I touched the piano.
Every time I sat on a piano bench, it brought back too many painful memories to play anything. It was the reason why I turned to the harp. It gave me a fresh start.
The anticipation of Adam’s arrival was killing the crowd, and it was killing me too. People stood on their toes trying to glimpse behind the stage to see if he was around.
The smoke machine created a blanket of clouds on the stage that poured out onto the crowd. The white floodlight turned off. Everyone was in complete darkness.
Then, the light turned on again and Adam walked out.
The crowd erupted in screams. Women around me held onto their friends’ hands, barely able to stand from their excitement.
He walked to center stage and clutched onto the microphone on the stand. He looked at everyone, and above at the second-floor balcony where there were more people watching.
“Hello,” Adam said, casually like he was talking to a group of his closest friends.
The crowd went wild again.
“Beautiful looking crowd tonight, thanks for coming,” he said.
He wasn’t even singing yet but his voice sounded lovely in the microphone.
There were more cheers as if he was some kind of God.
“We’re in my home city, and I’m glad to be back,” Adam said.
He turned to his band and gave a signal to them, and the drummer started to hit the bass drum.
Adam looked so fine in his tight white t-shirt that showed off his muscles and all his tattoos. His skinny black jeans hugged his legs and his bulge. Even some of the guys in the crowd were mesmerized by him. A part of me wished that he was all mine, but instead, I had to share him with the hundreds of people who were there that night.
The bassist and keyboardist started to play the melody of the song. Adam removed the microphone from its stand and moved closer to the crowd.
Adam started to sing, and the crowd sang along.
His voice gave me butterflies in my stomach, and I could feel the goosebumps forming on my arms, then all over my body. I closed my eyes and imagined what he sounded like six years ago. His voice was deeper now and more developed, still beautiful as ever.
The speakers blared Adam’s voice in the music venue. Though it was a big space, it felt intimate because it was packed with so many people.
He reached the high notes with perfect pitch, and he hit the low ones just as perfectly.
It was definitely a gift he had that his vocal range spanned five octaves. His voice was one of the reasons for his success.
With his classically handsome good looks, he was meant to be a star. I knew that, but a part of me still felt bitter about what had happened in the past.
He raised his arm up and waved it in the air, and the crowd did the same. People jumped and danced in pure happiness. It was incredible how much joy he brought to everyone.
Not one person looked unhappy in the venue. Not one person wasn’t smiling.
Including me.
I started to feel the effects of the alcohol, and I loosened up as well. I moved my body to Adam’s voice and it made me feel things that I hadn’t felt in a long time.
His energy radiated in the room. I could feel the room heating up with all the people moving, bumping and grinding on to each other as Adam sang.
I wondered if he saw me in the crowd, but I was sure that it’d be impossible to find me in the sea of faces. Even if I was in the front row, I’m sure he wouldn’t have noticed, or even cared that I was there.
Adam had simply given me that ticket to thank me for helping him that night.
Nothing more.
But a part of me wished that the fantasy in my head was real. That Adam didn’t forget me when he left six years ago.
The first song finished, and the crowd cheered.
Adam took a drink from the bottle of water that he kept next to the microphone stand. Sweat trickled down from his temples and his wet pits stained his white tee.
I could only imagine how great he smelled up there.
God, I was obsessed just like the rest of the people there. There was no turning back now.
As much as I wanted to deny that I was too good for his music, I was captivated by his performance. There was something about the passion in his voice that made the crowd swoon.
He started his next song.
This one was at a faster tempo. It was a recent single that they put out that soared the charts, reaching number one in less than a day.
Once again, everyone knew the words and sang along. The crowd that echoed back the song made Adam smile on stage, and he smirked again, making my heart feel heavy.
I took off my coat and tied it around my waist. I felt more comfortable now that I knew people only cared about the show. No one was really judging me like I thought they were.
Song after song, hit after hit, Adam sang his heart out.
His bandmates accompanied his beautiful voice, as Adam owned the entire stage. Eyes followed him, and him only.
He jumped and spun, completely enthralled in his performance.
Bright visuals were projected on a white screen behind the band. The backlights that reflected off smoke made the stage hazy. It was yet another element that added to the stunning performance.
Halfway through the show, Adam’s sweat had completely soaked through his sheer white tee.
I could see his tattoos on his torso underneath his shirt. The gold chain around his neck slapped against his chest to the beat of the song as he sang.
His sweat glistened forearms that were covered in tattoos looked so lickable.
I remembered the days when he was seventeen and his body was still a blank canvas, free of tattoos. Now works of art in black ink covered almost every inch of his body.
I started to imagine tattoos he had in places I couldn’t see, like his legs, his sculpted thighs.
I wiped the sweat from my forehead. My mouth felt pasty and I wanted another drink.
But I knew that if I headed to the bar then, it would take me forever to get back to the same spot. So I decided to stay and enjoyed the music.
There was very little interaction between the members of the band. The truth was that the other members were replaceable.
The attention was solely on Adam.
I could see how much he enjoyed all the eyes in the room on him. His flirty smirk made women in the crowd go insane.
He lived off being the center of attention.
His walk was arrogant, slow and graceful with a bit of a lean to it. He teased the crowd by lifting his shirt up to wipe the sweat off his forehead. Every single lady in the venue screamed.
It was like a zoo filled with primal animals ready to pounce on him.
He had a way of making people fall on their knees while he performed. A guy in the crowd who’d come with his girlfriend rolled his eyes, obviously not pleased at her lusty eyes for Adam.
He peeled the shirt off his back slowly, knowing exactly what he was doing, and he tossed it into the crowd.
A lucky woman caught it and brought it to her nose, smelling his scent. Her friends fought over it but she clutched it tight and never let it go.
Adam’s jeans rode low on his hips, and it sagged to show a hint of his perfectly sculpted ass.
He was wearing white Calvin Klein underwear. The waistband soaked all his sweat that dripped down from his back.
When he turned around, his abs cast shadows onto itself, his pecs were cut to perfection.
I remembered the days when we were teenagers. He would run and exercise for hours. If he didn’t, he would be super aggressive and angry. It was his vice to relax and cool off.
As I was enjoying the show, bobbing my head to the music, there was a moment where Adam’s eyes met mine.