42. Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Lila
A s the clock ticked down before the start of the show, I hoped I wouldn’t disappoint my fans. I hoped that, despite all of the changes that had happened over the last few days, I could put on a good performance.
This wasn’t going to plan, but I would make it work.
I was in position under the stage, about to be lifted up into the lights and the screams of everyone who’d bought a ticket. My heart was pounding, adrenaline coursing through me.
With less than two minutes to go, Malia ran to my lift, ducking under the stage supports.
“I have good news,” she said, out of breath. “You’ll have a guitarist.”
“Barry, right? He’ll be backstage.”
“You’ll have someone onstage, actually.”
“What?” I asked. “And they know the routine?”
“Every note.”
“Are you sure?”
“Surer than I’ll ever be.”
“How did you make this happen?”
“Magic and a few strings being pulled.”
“Barry gets to see the whole show too?”
“Yes,” she said with a smile. “He has the best seat in the house.”
I shook my head, trying to understand how she had made the impossible happen.
“Lila!” one of the stagehands said. “You’ve got to go up.”
“Don’t worry about a single thing. Just focus on your performance. You’ve got this.”
I nodded and got back into position.
I only had one second to take a breath. This was all happening so fast. All I knew was that I was going onstage and I was singing.
I wouldn’t let it show that I was meeting my guitarist like this. I tried to channel Barry and all of his calmness. If he were here, he’d tell me I was Lila fucking Wilde . I could do this.
And I would.
The crowd screamed as I appeared, loud even through my inner-ear speaker. I gave them a wave, twirling on the stage as I’d practiced.
The first song was “Goodbye, Good Riddance,” which I stood in the center stage for. It was a guitar-heavy song, but I started it out with only my voice. A few seconds in, the guitar began. I breathed out a sigh of relief. It was definitely live.
My band was in the back on the right. I was too busy singing and interacting with the crowd to get a glimpse of the new person. Soon, I’d be able to spare a glance, but for now, I wanted to find Barry.
I spotted the Murrays in the front row. I’d been looking forward to seeing Barry there, but I’d put away that hope when Mickey was fired. All I wanted to see was that shocked expression he’d worn when I’d shown him the album.
As my eyes drifted over their familiar faces, I recognized Ruth, Tom, Max, Selena, Knox, and Lynn. I even saw Liam and Audrey all cheering at me.
But no Barry.
Disappointment hit me, but I tried not to let it show on my face. Where was he? Was he backstage for some reason? Was he late?
The song came to a close and I fought the frown trying to tug on my lips.
My next number was an older one, a pop song that would get people dancing. I performed the routine in the back of my mind, glad I’d practiced it many times. In my head, I was replaying what Malia had said about Barry. He’d have the best seat in the house. But where ?
I looked at Ruth and Tom as if they could give me some answers from all the way out in the crowd.
But they weren’t even looking at me. They were looking behind me at my band.
Ruth’s jaw was on the ground. She was shaking her brother, moving his entire body as he looked in a similar state of shock.
What the fuck? What was going on with my band?
Screw my usual steps, I had to know. I turned to face them. Everything was in order. My drummer was rocking out as usual. My background singers were having the time of their lives. I knew them all.
Except for my rhythm guitarist.
The newest member of my band was buff with shoulders that looked familiar. If it weren’t for his long, black hair, I would have said it was . . .
Barry.
My mind blanked and I missed my next moves. All I could do was stare at the man who played my music. He looked up, joining the thousands of eyes that were on me.
And I saw stormy-gray irises, the same ones I’d stared into for many hours.
Holy shit .
He was in a wig, almost unrecognizable. Like this, he was messy in ways he usually wasn’t. His arms were on full display while he was in a tight black shirt. He looked the part of a rock star.
And I realized exactly what Malia and he had pulled off.
I couldn’t help the smile on my face when I saw him.
The crowd, watching my every move, cheered at my newfound good mood.
The happy love song I was in the middle of suddenly was far easier to sing.
As energy sank into my every atom, the crowd got louder, as if they were feeding off of it too. My choreography was entirely forgotten as I ran over to Barry.
I wanted to ask him so many questions, but I could only mouth things unless I wanted the whole audience to hear them.
Luckily for me, the one thing I wanted to say was easy.
I love you , I mouthed at him.
His eyes widened and he almost missed a note. He recovered far faster than I would have.
I could have waited, but these words had been in my head for too long. And if he had found a way to be onstage with me, then he needed to know.
I love you too , he mouthed back. I wondered if I could say more, but he reminded me that I was performing by bobbing his head to the music and giving a pointed look to the crowd of excited fans.
Shit. I was about to miss an important mark. I reluctantly moved to go to the left side of the stage, but I couldn’t stop glancing over at him at every turn. It didn’t feel like I was singing for the crowd anymore. The world had fallen away, leaving only him and me.
It took another two songs for me to find a moment to get back over to him. I couldn’t say anything, but our matching smiles said everything we needed to. I danced to the rhythm, my feet moving of their own accord, and Barry joined me, moving his feet in sync like when I was Rose in his bar and we’d lost time dancing together.
I had to pull my mic away to let out a laugh of pure joy. I hadn’t felt this light onstage since I was just starting out, and all the lights and cheers felt new to me. We finished the song together and I reluctantly left, knowing I had to make my way to center stage to get ready for another song. I interacted with the crowd as much as I could, but he was constantly on my mind.
As the show went on, I pointed to him for every single love lyric I’d ever written. The crowd melted down each time.
Four songs later, it was time for a quick change, and while I was getting into the new outfit, Malia ran up to me.
“Like who I picked?” she called. She must have been waiting for me.
“He’s perfect,” I said. “If only he could do this every night.”
“This crowd gets a special show,” she said, smiling.
I only had time to give her one nod before running back out onto the stage.
Picking up where I left off, I sang my heart out for the crowd and flirted with Barry every second I could. I almost didn’t want the show to end, even though I was covered with sweat and out of breath.
When it was over, it didn’t feel over. I was set to leave the stage in the same way I appeared at the start of the concert.
As the lift descended, I was running to where I knew Barry would walk off with everyone else in the band.
The crowd was begging for an encore. For this tour, I hadn’t planned one.
But I couldn’t deny that it felt incomplete.
“Barry!” I called as I ran to him.
“What did you think?”
“I don’t want it to end,” I said desperately. “We have one song we didn’t do.”
He paused. “‘On This Night’?”
I nodded. “We have to do it once. Please?”
“Anything for you.”
“Thank you,” I said before turning to the band. “We’ll do the encore by ourselves.”
The crowd was deafening as we returned to the stage.
“Now, if you don’t mind, I have one more song for you. Please welcome my very special guest.”
I gestured to Barry and he took a second to absorb the thunderous roars of everyone in the arena. I elbowed him, mouthing, Have a name?
He nodded, giving me a heart-stopping smile.
“I’m Nyx,” he said into the microphone. He used a deeper, more sensual voice that made my knees weak. “I’m a little new to all this, but I hope you like this song we wrote together.”
He strummed, and as the crowd screamed both of our names, I could see his genuine, elated smile.
I started the song, wishing I could slow it down to make this moment stretch on forever. When Barry joined in, I wondered if he was thinking the same thing.
For a piece we only performed twice, we got it almost perfectly. Our voices enmeshed, even when I took lower notes to save my exhausted vocal cords.
And when it finally ended with Barry’s last guitar strum, I couldn’t hide the sadness I felt when the lights went out.
I let myself feel it for three breaths before I put my smile back on, determined to celebrate what Barry had just done.
He deserved it.
Barry
“I can’t believe you did that!” Lila yelled as we went backstage for the final time. “You went onstage ! And you killed it!”
“Thank you,” I said. “It was . . . life-changing.”
And it was. The way she moved, getting to dance with her onstage—it was one of the greatest moments of my life. I could see myself doing this forever if I got the chance.
I was pretty sure Lila wanted that too. In the darkness after our encore, I saw how her shoulders slumped. She didn’t think I would see, but I noticed everything about her.
I had a lot to figure out.
Especially about my future.
“Barry,” Malia said, interrupting my train of thought. “I know you just got offstage, but some visitors are waiting in the tour bus. Want to see them?”
“Is it my family?”
“I believe so.”
I hadn’t had a second to look and see their reactions. Tom and Ruth wouldn’t be fooled by my disguise.
“Let’s go then,” I said. “It’s time to face the music.”
Lila grinned. “Pretty sure we did that onstage.”
“Very funny.” I grabbed her hand. “Come on, sunshine. Let’s go see Tom and Ruth.
We made it outside, where security led us to the tour bus. I was ready to face a barrage of questions from my siblings.
Instead, I heard someone else speak.
“I fucking told you so.”
That was not Tom’s or Ruth’s voice. My eyes shot to the couch where Audrey and Liam sat.
“What the—how are you two here?”
“We have enough staff to where we could take a night off when Ruth asked us to come to the show.”
“ Ruth asked you?”
“I gave her enough tickets to,” Lila said. “They’re your family too.”
“Oh, wow. Lila Wilde.” Liam looked red in the face. “I should have known you’d be here. I love your music.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Audrey added, but her arms were crossed. “Even if I have questions for Barry about why he’s with Rose and holding your hand.”
I snapped to attention. Shit. I’d thought it was safe if it was just Ruth and Tom. “Um, Rose is . . .??”
“Also here,” Lila piped in. “I am Rose. Surprise. This is a wig. I’d take it off, but it’s kind of glued on.”
Audrey stared for a long time, but Liam burst into laughter. “Oh,” she said as he cackled. “Well, that explains so much.”
“You’re okay with telling them?” I asked.
“It’s my secret, and they kept Lila on the down-low for so long that I know we can trust them.”
“And it’s a good secret,” Audrey said. “We were all fooled, even when you came into the bar.”
“Thanks. And sorry for lying.”
“It’s okay. I’m about to get even.”
“Get even?” I asked.
“Yep. Because now you’re fully banned from Movers and Shakers.”
“What did I do now?”
“You became a rock star overnight.” She rolled her eyes as if it were obvious. “This is what you were meant to do. We all know it. You’re amazing onstage, but for some reason, you keep acting like you have to be at the bar every night.”
“Because I started the bar. I need to finish it.”
“You’re still the owner. But we can run it.”
“And we want to,” Liam added.
“Running it is different than me leaving it with you, even if I did it for a few weeks.”
“Yeah, but knowing you, you’ll give us a raise and it's not like you'll be dead. We can call you with problems. Hell, if we can’t handle it, we can talk about you coming back. But I don’t see that happening. You can live your dream. Just trust us enough to let us help you. Permanently.”
I opened my mouth, but no words came out. I looked to Lila as if she would give me answers.
“Barry,” she began, “I would never ask you to leave the bar, but I would also love for you to join this tour. Working with you is when this feels right.”
“And the tour doesn’t last forever, right?” Liam asked. “He can still visit. If Audrey lifts the ban, of course.”
“I’m only lifting the ban if he says yes to joining.”
“Why are you two so okay with this?” I asked. “You’ve done more for me than you ever should have.”
“Because we saw your smile onstage. You’ve never looked that happy.”
“Yeah,” Liam added. “And all we want is for you to be happy.”
“Wow, good answer,” I said quietly.
“We admittedly practiced this.”
“Yeah,” Liam replied. “We were kind of going to do this when you came back.”
“Kick me out?”
“Offer to take over so you could do this full time. We saw it.”
I wasn’t used to being noticed. It was a consequence of being alone, I supposed. Who could ever notice anything when you chose to be by yourself?
But slowly, I’d broken down those walls, and I’d done it for the right people.
“Thank you, guys,” I said, voice cracking. “Seriously. I can’t thank you enough.”
“Emotions are running high, huh?” Audrey asked.
“Shut up.”
“I’m not judging. But I almost feel bad for what I have to do next.”
“You’ve already kicked me out of my own bar. What else could you do?”
“Invite the rest of your family in. I’d wait, but I met Ruth and she seems like she’ll kick down the door after too long. She seems like a badass. We told them to give us ten minutes alone with you before they came storming in.”
“You guys can come in!” Liam called. The rest of my family piled into the tour bus.
“Oh my God!” Ruth yelled. She, of course, got in first. I only had a second to react before she pulled me into the tightest hug of my life. “That was so incredible! I had no idea you were so talented! And the wig! That was so fucking smart, dude!”
“I knew you’d come up with something amazing.” Tom walked in behind her.
“Get in this hug, Tom.”
“I don’t want to crowd.”
Ruth pulled him in with a glare.
When was the last time we’d hugged? It had to have been the night of the tornado when I didn’t know if I would make it to see the next day. But this was different. This was joy I felt.
“So, you guys liked it?”
“We loved it,” Ruth said. “I wish I had come into the bar more to see you live because then I could have told you that you were made to do this.”
“You are,” Tom added.
“Thank you,” I said. “I was worried it would be too much.”
“My brother’s going to be a rock star. It’s never too much!”
“And you get to have exactly what you wanted,” Tom reminded. “I told you that you’re the smartest one of all of us.”
“That’s really Uncle Barry under there?” Max’s voice asked from the door.
“I think it is,” Selena replied.
“Sorry,” I said, extracting myself from Ruth and Tom. “I didn’t see you come in.”
“You got a massive hug from Ruth and Tom at first,” Selena said, smiling. “I don’t blame any of you. But honestly, you were great.”
“Did you enjoy the show?” Lila asked.
“Oh my God,” Max said. “I didn’t know you were here.”
She laughed. “It was Barry’s moment.”
“It’s so good to see you again. And it’s so cool that you’re with Uncle Barry. I know I can’t tell anyone—Dad already gave me the lecture—but it’ll be my little secret.” He glanced at me. “Does this mean you and Rose broke up, though?”
Everyone held their breath. Was it wrong to lie to a kid? Because it felt wrong.
“Max,” Lila said, getting down to his height. “How good are you at keeping secrets?”
“Very. I didn’t even tell Tess I met you because I didn’t want it getting out.”
“Good. Tom, are you okay with him knowing?”
“I trust him,” Tom said. “He really didn’t tell anyone about that meeting.”
“What’s happening?” Selena asked. “What did I miss?”
“Yeah, I feel like a whole conversation is happening that we’re not a part of,” Knox added. I didn’t even know he was in here, but it made sense considering he never left Ruth’s side.
There was a beat where Lila bit her lip, and I wondered what she was about to choose.
“Max,” she began, “I’m Rose too. I’m wearing a wig right now.”
Max stared and then laughed. “That’s a funny prank.”
“I’m not kidding. I met you as Rose first. You told me you loved Lila Wilde, and I came to meet you as Lila.”
Max’s jaw dropped.
“Huh?” Selena asked. “You—what?”
“Holy shit !” Max yelled.
“Normally, I would tell you not to use that word,” Selena said, “but this is a good occasion.”
“You’re all a part of Barry’s family, which one day will be mine. I hope I can trust all of you.”
“I’m still really lost,” Knox added, “but I won’t tell a soul about your double life. I will, however, ask my girlfriend how long she knew without telling me.”
“You don’t wanna know the answer to that question,” Ruth replied.
“So, this means I get to hang out with Lila in secret as Rose?” Max asked.
“Yes.”
“And we don’t have to deal with all the weirdos with cameras?”
“Yes.”
“This is the coolest day of my life ! I know I previously said meeting you was, but this is better.”
“Does this mean Lila Wilde is gonna be my sister-in-law?” Selena asked.
“If things go well, yes. But Rose Hill is just as cool, I promise.”
“She’s way cooler than me. Both of you are! I think I need to sit down and process this.”
“I’ll give you the couch,” Audrey said.
“Would it be rude if I asked if you’re gonna make another album?” Max’s voice was hopeful.
“Not at all, and I will be.” She looked at everyone on the tour bus before her eyes landed on me. “I’ve got some incredible inspiration.”
Lila Wilde’s New Boyfriend? See the Stills of Her Concert That Show Us She’s in LOVE
By: Perez Adder
Lila Wilde has been in hiding, and it’s apparently been with Nyx Ronan. He’s a newcomer but rocked the stage and even stayed with her to pose for photos hours after the show. This writer has certainly never seen Lila look as happy as she did at that concert, especially with the dance moves they perfected onstage. Nyx has been added to her website and announced as her official touring partner. As for him, his agent (the same as Lila’s) released this statement he made about Lila: “For a while, I thought I’d only be with Lila behind the scenes, but I quickly realized I wanted to be there for her in every part of her life. I’m so lucky to have a woman like her and I can’t wait to see the world with the perfect person by my side.”
7,843 Comments
RealLilafan247: THIS IS WHAT I WAS WAITING FOR
Poproxxx: SHE LOOKS SO HAPPY! HAS SHE EVER LOOKED LIKE THIS?
Fangirlsweaty: seriously like I can’t get enough! Look at how loose she is! Look at that gorgeous smile!
Lilafan08: I just know they’re so wild together.
BlazeandLila1: he’s so basic. This is all for pR