Onstage we were like satellites, orbiting each other but never actually making contact. So when Niall bumped into me, I looked up from my guitar, startled.

"Oi," he mouthed, lifting his chin in the direction of the wings.

Confused, I turned in the direction he was gesturing.

And that's when I saw her.

CeCe right there, standing just offstage, her fingers pressed to her lips as she watched us.

Watched me.

I fumbled mid-chord, wrenching a stuttering, dissonant shriek from my guitar. Somehow, from way back behind his kit, Jules caught wind of my stupor. He jumped up and raised his sticks to the heavens in the classic rock god pose, before launching into one of his famous standing solos to give me cover.

I yanked off my guitar, shoving it into the hands of a startled technician and sprinted off the stage.

"Oh my god!" CeCe shouted as I rushed to crush her to me. "Ewan! I'm..."

"Ssh," I hushed her, burying my face in her hair. "We don't have to talk about it now."

I felt her nodding against my chest and I wanted to hold her like this forever, but this wasn't the place or the time. I squeezed her tightly and then pressed a kiss to her lips. "Stay?" I begged her.

She bit her lip, looking up at me like she knew how crazy it drove me. "I'll be waiting," she shouted over the sound of Jules' thunder. "Downstairs."

My heart stood still. Grabbing her hands, I kissed them both before rushing back onstage. Lifting my chin to Jules, I held up one finger, signaling that this was our last one.

Jules segued his solo perfectly into the thundering intro to Spiraling Wings, a crowd favorite that we'd often closed with back in the days of Wrecked. Hudson's new growl replaced Jane's old banshee wail, giving it a completely new sound that had the crowd enthralled, but all I could think of was CeCe there in the green room. Four days apart hadn't dampened my need for her. If anything, that quick embrace was like trying to plug a dam leak with your finger. There was no way I could hold it back any longer.

In all the years I'd been playing, I'd never once thought of pulling a runner - making a dive for the limos before the audience realized we weren't playing an encore - but tonight was different. Tonight, everything was different and it was only the fact that I was a goddamn, fucking professional that kept me there until the bitter end.

When Hudson finally hit that last, sustained note, I slammed my guitar down, letting the feedback wash out. The crowd was an undulating, pogoing maelstrom and Hudson was basking in his first taste of glory, raising his hands to the sky with a bellowed, "Yeah! Fuck yeah!"

No one was looking at me.

And that was exactly how I wanted it.

I lifted my chin at Jules, who raised a sardonic eyebrow and rolled his eyes. I raised a discreet two-fingered salute and then dashed off the stage.

At that moment Jules and Niall, fucking assholes that they were, kicked into a drum and bass jam onstage that sounded just like the soundtrack to a seventies porno film. I laughed out loud as I clamored down the stairs, the muffled "bow chicka wow wow" following me as I sprinted down the subterranean hallway.

She must have heard my footsteps because the door to the green room suddenly flew open. "Ewan?" CeCe called from inside.

"Celia," I exhaled, tripping to a halt. And then time itself seemed to slow down so that I could take in every tiny little motion, every halting little step. I could see her eyes glinting, shining with either happiness or tears I wasn't sure. I could see the way her hand fluttered at her side like she wanted to reach for me but wasn't sure how I'd respond. I could see the way her tongue flicked out, wetting her lips in anticipation of the kiss I ached to give her. I saw all of these things and fucking memorized them, etching them in stone in my memory to hold on to forever. "Come here, lass," I begged.

She stepped out into the hallway, suddenly shy. Peering up at me, she bit her lip again and then looked down at the ground. "I got scared," she finally sighed in a soft whisper.

In two steps I was in front of her, tipping her chin up to peer into those soft brown eyes. "Aye lass, I know," I said. "But tell me, are you scared now?"

Her eyes flicked up and across my face. I held still as she peered at me and I got the sense that she was seeing me, really fucking seeing me, for the very first time. "Ewan," she finally breathed....

And I was fucking gone.