Serge

The weeks after the competition are a whirlwind. I spend a lot of time with Tori, Onyx, and Luke — we invited him too, much to Tori’s chagrin — coming up with new songs and a new direction for this hodgepodge band of ours.

“You know, we need a name if we actually want to play,” Tori says. “I keep stalling with Bobby, but he’s saying he refuses to give us a date until we give him a name he can put on posters. Something about the four of us being the biggest draw he’s had in a while.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Onyx snorts. “I really don’t know why we still play at that shitty club.”

“Because,” Tori says, dragging the word out meaningfully, “Bobby’s always been good to us, always kept the drinks flowing for us, and I like to pay back the good fortune I’ve been given.”

Onyx shoots a look my way and I shrug.

“You’ve changed her, man.”

“Shut up,” she growls impatiently. “Naming a band can’t be that hard, can it? We’ve all done it before…”

I laugh. “Yeah, and Ian and I were high as fuck when we came up with ours.”

“You’d have to be for a name like Nuclear Kool-aid,” Luke jokes.

“You were in that band too, asshole,” I toss his way. The sun’s still up, so he’s actually not shitfaced right now.

“I didn’t have a hand in naming it though. I joined after that catastrophe.”

“I dunno,” says Onyx. “Voluntarily joining a band with that name might be even worse.”

Luke laughs and flips him the bird. Tori huffs, raking her hair away from her face.

I clear my throat. “Come on guys, Tori’s serious. We need to play some shows, get our band out there to generate some buzz before we try the benefit concert.”

“Exactly,” she says, sending me a grateful look.

Sober Tori is all about taking charge and focusing on the task at hand. And even though this whole scheme was kind of my idea, I have no problem with letting her take the reins. She’s way better at it than I am. Ian always handled that shit before, booking shows and whatever else needed to be done. I always just show up and bang some drums. Mostly useless if you ask me.

“Okay,” I say, “what were you thinking then?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know. Something alluding to how we’re two bands forming into one? Or it’s our second try… Um…”

Luke snorts. “Second time’s the charm?”

“Too long,” Onyx says.

“Obviously,” Luke tosses back.

“Redo?” I offer.

Tori makes a face. “Sounds too juvenile.”

“We shouldn’t make it about our fuck-ups,” Luke says. “Should be about how awesome we are.”

Onyx rolls his eyes. “If you say ‘Rehab’ or something like that, I’m going to punch you.”

“I’m not an idiot,” Luke says, tossing back his sandy blond hair. “I was thinking like how they can’t get enough of us, like at the last show?”

“When we had two encores,” I say, nodding. “That’s a pretty big deal.”

“Encore’s not bad,” Onyx says, mulling it over.

“It’s not,” Tori says, latching on, looking to me, then to Luke. When we both shrug, she grins.

“There, that wasn’t so hard, was it? How’s this Saturday for everyone?”

“You think you can get Bobby to book us that fast?” I ask, incredulous.

Tori bats her lashes at me. “Baby, I can do anything.”

I laugh, shaking my head at her, but I’m not going to be the one to argue with her. I know her, and she’s not wrong. I don’t think Tori Winters has ever met an obstacle she couldn’t overcome.

The first show goes great. We’ve got a modest crowd for that one, but then the word starts to get out, our songs start getting shared around the internet, and then suddenly we’re playing packed shows at The Sound Hole and getting calls from other venues, too. We play a few big shows and it’s enough to pay for our expenses and slip a little money to the center, but it’s nowhere near enough. I know we’re going to have to plan more, build the hype.

But for the time being, it’s going to have to do. I always knew this was going to take a while. We had a year before the center’s money ran out at the outset of this, and after a few months it feels like we’re making actual progress, but I’m not sure it’s going to work.

That is, until I get a call I’m not even expecting.

Tori comes to me, her face pale, holding the phone out in front of her.

“What is it?” I ask, but she just shoves the phone at me again, shaking her head. It’s not like her and she’s acting weird so I’m worried something terrible’s happened. Luke’s in jail or the hospital or something.

“Hello?”

“Serge? It’s Merrill, how’re you doing?”

“Uh… I’m good? What’s going on?” I say, Tori sitting down on the couch across from me, folding her legs under her, her fingernails between her teeth as she watches me like a hawk.

“Well, I was just talking to Tori about it, but I think I might have spooked her a bit.”

“Merrill?”

“I’ll cut right to the chase. Ian and Chelsea are headed back out on tour in a couple of weeks and they need an opening act. Thought it might be a nice reunion to have Encore on stage, maybe even get the gang back together for a song or two.”

“Seriously?” I ask, my heart stopped, frozen solid in my chest. Now I understand why Tori looks so stricken. This is a big fucking deal. And it’s not like it’s an easy choice. Being on the road again, being with my old band, I know it’s going to bring up some shit. For all of us.

“I’d also like to offer you representation. I’ve heard your girlfriend’s booking all your shows, and she seems to be doing a pretty good job, but you’re at the level now where you should really be handing that over to someone else and really focusing on the music.”

“It’s a great offer, Merrill, thanks. But we’re going to have to talk it all over as a group.”

“Don’t keep me waiting too long. I’ve got to fill that opening act.”

“Of course. Give me three days and I’ll have an answer for you.”

I hang up the phone and look at Tori, mirroring her expression back to her.

“Well?” she asks.

“What do you think?” I ask.

She shrugs. “We should probably ask the other guys, but honestly, I don’t know if I want to go out touring all the time again. I kind of like being settled. And I don’t want to be away from the center or the kids for too long…”

I nod. “I was thinking the same thing.”

“It would be fun to play with Ian and Chelsea some time, but I don’t think we should make it a whole thing. Maybe a couple of shows on this side of the country?”

“Might be a good compromise,” I say.

“This is all happening really fast,” she says, hugging her knees to her chest.

“Yeah, but you know if you’re feeling like it’s too much you just say the word and we’ll pull back.”

She nibbles her bottom lip, working on it in a serious way.

“Tori, I mean it. None of this, not even the center is worth you going down that spiral again.”

She sighs and nods. “I know.”

“Do you?” I ask, moving down the couch to pull her into me. “Are you sure? Because I love you and I don’t want anything to happen to you. Especially not if I can help prevent it.”

She turns to me and slips her hand around the back of my head, pulling me down for a slow, teasing kiss. “As long as you’re there with me, I can handle it.”

“I’d like to see you try to get me to go anywhere,” I tease, my hand sliding up her back, under her shirt. She shivers and bites her lip.

“I think we should do it. I mean, I know we still have to talk to Onyx and Luke, but I think we should do it. It’ll really raise name recognition for the big concert.”

“We should probably start planning that,” I mutter, my fingers dancing up her spine, my lips moving across her shoulders, up her neck.

“Mmm… Later,” she purrs.

We only manage to perform with Ian and Chelsea twice before the big concert, but each show is better than the one before. I’m so used to playing with Onyx and Tori, that when Ian joins us, it’s almost weird, but it doesn’t take long to fall back into old familiar patterns, and the fans are loving it.

The combination of new music and old nostalgia has our shows selling out, theirs too, even when we’re not playing together. But Ian and Chelsea are coming to our fundraiser. We specifically picked a date that wouldn’t interfere with their tour.

It’s been six months since Encore’s debut, but in that time we’ve managed to grow quite the following. We’ve even got a great social media presence, much to my mother’s approval.

We’re starting the fundraiser with a performance by the kids and I’ve got them gathered on stage, trying to quiet down their excited whispering.

“Remember guys, everyone’s just here for a good time. We’re all just singing and having a party, right?”

Kamala lets out an exasperated sigh, rolling her eyes. “We know, General. It’s about having fun.”

I look around surprised. “Have I said that before?”

She giggles. “Only every time.”

“Then I guess you guys know what to do, huh?”

They all nod, grinning and laughing and I give them a thumbs up before jogging out on stage to introduce them.

The crowd’s bigger than I expected and I’m not normally the one with a mic in front of me, so for a minute, I just stand there, dumbstruck and silent while the cheers slowly die down, people eager for what I have to say.

“Uh…” Feedback squeals and I wince, stepping away from the monitors as the crowd groans. “Sorry about that. I just want to thank everyone here for coming out to support this amazing program today. It’s not only helped me turn my life around, but it’s helped this community turn around. We’re really proud of the work we do here, and I promise we’re going to get to the bands, but we wanted to show you want we’re all about here first. Kids?”

Shyly, they come walking out on stage together, some of them waving to parents in the crowd. I direct everyone to their places and nod to the sound guy who starts our CD.

The crowd’s quiet at first, everyone listening to the familiar song, sung by these amazing kids, but by the second chorus, the crowd’s joining in and Tori runs out with a mic to hold out to them. The way the field erupts when we’re done hits the kids like a tidal wave. They’ve never had that kind of response and they’re all grins as they bow and the crowd keeps cheering.

“And now, Encore!” Tori shouts, shoving me away from the mic stand. I give her a playful glare and she sticks her tongue out at me. “Go hit things with sticks,” she says, away from the mic.

“Yes ma’am,” I say, stealing a quick kiss. I don’t even care who sees it. Our relationship hasn’t exactly been a secret since Tori got out of rehab and moved in with me. And while it was temporary at first, it’s become more permanent. She doesn’t even have her place anymore, though we are looking for something bigger for the two of us. Us and maybe a family. We’ve been really focused on the center and the fundraiser, but I know it’s been in the back of both of our minds. We’ve kind of skirted around the topic a few times, but I think after tonight, we might actually talk about it.

We play our set flawlessly, heading off stage for Ian and Chelsea to take their turn. Joey comes up to me backstage and stands there looking odd for a few moments without saying anything. Her mouth is working, like she’s sucking on a hard candy or something and she’s not making eye contact with me.

“Is everything okay?” I ask.

She looks up at me and her eyes are glossy and then she jumps in for the quickest, most rigid hug I’ve ever received.

“What was that for?”

“Don’t make a big deal out of it,” she grumbles.

I just lift my eyebrows, still waiting for an answer.

“We’ve been getting non-stop calls from people watching the live stream… We’ve got enough donations to keep us going for another year at least.” She sniffs, but she’s not crying. She’s as stone-faced as ever.

“So… Thanks. Guess I underestimated you, Davenport.”

“Happy to help, Carlson.”

She nods and disappears, probably before she can make the mistake of showing emotions.

“Come on, man,” Luke says, clapping my shoulder and steering me out on stage. “Showtime.”

“Didn’t we just—”

Then I see Ian there and of course we’re all going to play together for this concert. Why wouldn’t we? I don’t know why I didn’t have it planned in the line-up, but I guess they know better than me and went over my head anyway.

Ian nods to me, I nod back, and the crowd’s chanting Nu-clear Kool-aid, Nu-clear Kool-aid, over and over again. Maybe they didn’t plan this either. Gotta give the public what it wants.

We play a couple of the old songs, then Chelsea and Tori join us for a couple more to close out the show. We’re all ready to head off stage when Tori stops us.

“Wait… Uh… Actually, there’s one more thing,” she says, waving me over. I give her a confused frown, but she just waves more.

“Come here, you goof.”

Chelsea’s grinning and flits over, handing me a microphone.

“So, I know you don’t know what’s going on,” Tori says.

“Not at all,” I say, garnering a laugh from the crowd. I don’t know if they can hear the confusion in my voice, but I’m trying really hard to figure this out just by looks at Tori, but she looks so nervous I’m not getting anything.

“Today’s six months from our first performance as the new group, and I’d say things have been pretty great, wouldn’t you?”

“Yeah… Tori, what’s going on?”

She smiles and hands her mic to Chelsea who clearly must know what’s going on even if Ian’s looking as lost as me. Tori gets down on one knee and pulls a tiny box from her jacket pocket.

“Will you marry me?” she says, opening the box to reveal a glinting silver band.

“Are you kidding me?”

She frowns, looking down. “Is that a no?”

Neither one of us is talking into a mic anymore, so the crowd’s probably totally lost, but I’ve forgotten all about them. I grab her hand and tug her up, searching her face.

“No, it’s not a no, you crazy woman. I just didn’t think you wanted anything that formal. I thought we’d just… be together.”

She grins. “Well, it’s not just you I want… I want a family. And I’ve heard it’s normally easier to adopt as a married couple.”

My brows knit together, my jaw drops, and it takes a minute for me to piece everything together.

“Kamala?” I whisper.

“What do you think?” she asks, grinning.

I drag her into me, kissing her senseless, forgetting the whole world beyond the stage.

“He said yes!” Chelsea says, filling in the silence for us. The crowd loses it, but I don’t care, because I have Tori in my arms and the future’s brighter than ever.