After another minute of playful pretend fighting, Kellan finally caved and grabbed her microphone. Twisting to the crowd, he muttered, “Hey.” His one word caused an ear-splitting shriek to rip around the bar. It made my ears ring. Kellan laughed. Holding a hand up, he told the crowd, “It is so fucking good to be back here at Pete’s!”
More shrieking. My sister held her fingers up to her mouth and whistled. It had always made me a little jealous that she could do that; I couldn’t whistle with my fingers to save my life. Kellan looked out over the bar, his deep blue eyes sparkling. “You guys mind if the D-Bags take over for a song or two?”
There was no doubt by the crowd’s reaction that they didn’t mind in the slightest. Kellan looked back at the other members of the girl band. They were all nodding, clapping or whistling, willing to share their spotlight. Kellan smiled, then indicated for his band to join him.
Griffin wasted no time hopping up out of his seat. He nearly toppled my sister to the ground in his excitement, but Denny caught her and helped her into a chair. She grudgingly thanked him while Matt smacked the back of Griffin’s head. The table next to us chuckled at the familiar sight of the cousins fighting.
Once all the boys hopped on stage, the girls handed them their instruments. Griffin frowned as Tuesday handed him her bright pink bass guitar. Blessing handed Matt her teal guitar, while Evan tucked himself behind Meadow’s drums; the band’s logo on the drum had a giant purple flower in the background. The girls shifted to the sides of the stage to give the boys room, while the crowd sniggered over the guys playing such feminine instruments. Rachel got such a bad case of the giggles that she started hiccupping.
Shaking his head, Kellan’s amused expression made my heart beat harder. Kellan on stage. Nothing on earth could compare. The crowd agreed with me. Their eruption of noise when Evan started the intro vibrated the windows and created rings of distortion in Anna’s glass of water. Running a hand through his hair, Kellan began to sing a popular D-Bags song. Every one of the old fans in the crowd started singing along, while the new fans continued shrieking.
Pulling the microphone from its stand, Kellan began his “strut.” It was a seductive back and forth saunter across the front edge of the stage that let every woman watching know that he was aware of them. He locked eyes with every single one of them, giving them half smiles and cocky grins between the words he was singing. At various points along his path, he would stop, put his foot up on a speaker, and lean over to extend his hand to a few fans. They always reached back for him, squealing as their fingertips brushed his.
It used to send tiny bolts of jealousy through me, but seeing his amusement and their joy, all I felt was happiness watching him. He had a beautiful, almost symbiotic relationship with his fans; they fed off his energy, he fed off theirs. As the song neared its climax, Kellan stopped in the center of the front of the stage. Face full of playful expectation, he sang the crowd a question, “Is this all you want?” They passionately shouted back their answer.
When the song ended, the D-Bags immediately moved into another one. I wasn’t sure if they were using a set song lineup, or if Evan just randomly decided which song to start playing next and the rest of them went along without hesitation. They’d been playing together for so long, maybe it was a little bit of both.
Their next song was fast and catchy, and Jenny and I dragged Rachel onto the floor to dance with us. Anna joined in, bumping and grinding despite her growing curves. I noticed Denny pulling Abby to the side of the crowd; they danced with bright smiles on their faces—no pain, no jealousy, just peace, which is what I’d always wanted for him.
When the song was over, Kellan took a quick bow, thanked the crowds, and then jumped right into the midst of them. He waded through a sea of wandering palms to get to me. Our arms wrapped around each other and eventually the friendly fingers of fans backed off. Kellan gave me a few light kisses as Rain’s voice broke over the microphone. “Thank you, boys, but it’s the girls’ turn to kick ass now!”
Kellan looked back at her, laughing as they started one of their driving beats. Jenny headed back to work while Rachel slinked off to join Matt at the table. Anna meandered to a stool to sit down. Griffin headed over to nibble on her ear for a while. Denny gave me a small wave as he headed toward the doors with Abby. Kellan and I stayed in the thick crowd, dancing to Poetic Bliss’s infectious beat. It had been a while since I’d danced with Kellan; the boy had moves. Sliding up behind me, he swayed his hips with mine in such a seductive way that I suddenly wanted to stop this public celebration and have a much more private one instead. Breath hot on my neck, he ran his nose up the side of my throat. Closing my eyes, I laid my head on his shoulder and reveled in the feeling of his body against mine. With a soft kiss on my jaw, he said over the music, “Wanna go somewhere with me?”