Chapter 12
The stadium parkinglot is crammed full when the girls arrive in their rented SUV. Elena’s in the driver’s seat, bitching under her breath as she inches along through the throngs of Reckless 3 fans. Everywhere Chloe looks, there are more fans just milling around, killing time before they can be let into the stadium for the night’s performance.
It’s practically indistinguishable from the other R3 concerts Chloe has attended. The same homemade T-shirts, the same excited fans singing off-key with their friends. No matter where they go, the love for R3 is universal.
It’s kind of sweet, actually. By now, Chloe knows how hard the band works, Luke especially, and now she can really appreciate how well their hard work pays off.
Still, it doesn’t mean she really wants to be here.
It all started a few days ago, when Devin stormed into their hotel room late at night, all but dragging Luke, Quinn and Maverick inside after their show. She was still dressed up, and somehow now had glitter smeared on her cheeks, having decided to take Luke up on his offer for free concert tickets whenever she wanted.
He offered it to all three of them, but really Devin was the only one who wanted to go in the first place. Out of the three of them, she was the only actual R3 fan. Chloe did spend a few nights backstage with Luke, but really hasn’t had any interest in watching their shows at all. Still, Devin tried to convince Chloe to come along, batting her eyes and begging, but Chloe had just snorted, unfazed.
‘You already managed to get me to go once and look where it got me,’ she’d said dryly, gesturing to her stomach and the half-eaten bag of dried ginger in her lap. It was a slightly better day, morning sickness-wise, but she was still feeling pretty sensitive.
But all it took was Devin bringing it up with the band in the room, and all Chloe’s protests died on her tongue when she saw Luke’s face at the suggestion of the girls watching the show.
And now, as Elena veers the car around the venue and parks it near the back entrance, all Chloe can think is, I really just can’t say no to Luke, huh?
The sun is hot above them, shining down relentlessly as Chloe climbs out of the car. She tips her face up towards it, relishing the warmth one last time before they head inside.
‘God, two concerts in a row,’ Devin muses as she steps beside her. She stretches, her crop top riding up even further as she reaches for the sky. Her red hair practically glows in the sunlight as she pushes it away from her face. ‘I’m about to be beat after this.’
Chloe snorts. ‘Imagine being the band and having to do this just about every night.’
‘Ugh, that would be the worst,’ Elena chimes in. She’s wearing one of Devin’s various R3 shirts, which she borrowed because Devin declared everything Elena brought with her as ‘absolutely awful, El! You’re going to a concert, not jury duty.’
Devin had offered Chloe a shirt as well, but she’d declined. It would make her feel too much like a poser, she thought, to dress up like one of these uber-fans.
‘You guys ready or what?’ Devin asks, clapping her hands together. ‘Let’s get this show on the road.’ She holds out her elbows and, with a shared look and an eyeroll, Chloe and Elena loop their arms in and allow her to lead them to the entrance.
This back entrance is clearly marked BACKSTAGE and has a security guard stationed outside, but that doesn’t stop a small group of fans from trying to get inside. As Chloe, Elena, and Devin approach, the fans’ pleas become audible.
‘I swear they were right here,’ one of the two girls in the group says. She makes a show of digging in her stadium-approved clear backpack, but there’s clearly no backstage passes inside.
‘I can show you a picture of our passes, if that would help?’ The teenage boy standing next to her holds out his phone, but the security guard doesn’t even glance at it.
‘No pass, no entrance,’ he tells them. ‘Sorry, kids.’
‘But we came all this way!’ the second girl whines. ‘Can’t you make an exception? Just this once?’
Chloe can’t blame them, really, for trying to get in like this. It’s the same move she did in Atlanta, but this security guard isn’t nearly as kind as the man Chloe dealt with. He just shakes his head and repeats himself. ‘No pass, no entrance.’
Elena pulls the three lanyards Luke gave them that morning out of her bag, passing Devin and Chloe theirs. The three fans look absolutely murderous when the guard nods once and, without even speaking, lets them inside.
‘Better luck next time,’ Devin clucks over her shoulder, flashing the security guard her sweetest smile.
‘Devin!’ Chloe chastises, elbowing her in the ribs. ‘Be nice.’
Elena shakes her head, looping her lanyard around her neck. The plastic pass bounces as she walks, and Devin snorts at the sight.
‘You look like a dweeb,’ she tells Elena, who rolls her eyes.
‘When you lose your pass and get kicked out, don’t come crying to me,’ she says primly. Chloe quickly puts her own lanyard on.
The entrance to backstage is bland and very similar to the other arenas that Chloe has been in. Concrete walls painted white, leftover posters and boxes of merchandise from concerts long past. In the distance, the faint hum of the audience drifts towards them.
Devin leads the way, just as she always does. She walks with purpose as if she’d grown up inside this building. And even when she leads them to a dead end with a locked door, she just whips around and tries a new path without a pause in her step.
As the bustling sounds of everyone prepping for the show grow closer, the space around them becomes more interesting. Elena gawks at the framed photos on the walls; all of them are signed headshots from people who have played here in the past.
‘Wow, look! It’s Janet Jackson,’ Elena says reverently. ‘Oh, and Kurt Cobain!’
‘Excuse me, you shouldn’t be back here,’ a stagehand with a bad mustache calls to them as he rounds the corner with a box of musical equipment. ‘This is authorized personnel only.’
‘We have passes,’ Chloe says, holding hers up for him to see. The shiny plastic glints in the light. ‘We’re friends with the band.’
The stagehand looks skeptical, but just shrugs. ‘It’s not my business,’ he mutters, hauling his box past them and down the hallway.
‘There you guys are!’ Luke says with a grin. Chloe practically jumps out of her skin when he all but appears beside her, one hand brushing her hip. ‘I tried to call you, but cell service in these venues suck.’
‘That’s alright. We got a little lost, but we were finding our way,’ Chloe says.
‘Well, then, why don’t I give you guys a little tour back here? Our opener’s about to start, so we have a little time before you need to get to your seats.’ Luke rests his hand on Chloe’s waist, leading the three of them down the hall towards the main backstage area. Chloe pretends it doesn’t send tingles up her spine.
Stagehands are everywhere, hauling equipment and readying Quinn’s drumset. Chloe spots a couple guitars near the curtain, but Luke leads them away from the stage as a manager calls, ‘Places!’
Luke points out the members of the show’s opening act, a local band full of kids barely out of high school.
‘We got our start doing gigs like this, so we like to do the same for other up-and-coming bands,’ he tells them. One of the kids waves, looking positively green.
‘Have they ever performed for this many people before?’ Elena asks lowly.
‘Best way to learn is to just jump in!’ Luke says cheerily. ‘Break a leg, guys!’
Luke leads them back to the dressing room the band is sharing for the night. Quinn’s already inside, brushing on some last-minute mascara in the room’s only mirror. She gives the group a nod before resuming her work.
‘I always figured you would have your own dressing rooms, being so famous and all,’ Elena muses, eyeing the printer paper that reads DRESSING ROOM taped to the door.
‘Sometimes we do,’ Luke says, ‘but not all venues have enough rooms. We gotta work with what we get usually.’
‘Ah.’
‘You should probably get to your seats soon,’ Luke says, glancing up at the clock. ‘Is there anything else you guys want to see before?’
‘How come I didn’t get a tour like this when I was here yesterday?’ Devin asks, sniffing. ‘It’s almost like you like Chloe and Elena better than me or something!’
‘We do!’ Quinn snorts, placing her mascara back in her bag. Devin’s jaw drops, eyes narrowing. She opens her mouth to bite back, but gets distracted by Maverick entering the room. He’s got a bottle of water in his hands, twisting the cap open and shut absentmindedly. Devin’s eyes light up and, after sticking her tongue out at Quinn like an absolute child, she skips up to him and meets him by the door.
‘Hey, Mav,’ she practically purrs, slipping her arm around his. ‘How are you this evening? Ready for the show?’
‘Yeah, it’s gonna be great,’ he says, glancing at Elena, who’s already pulling Devin off him. ‘You guys get the grand tour yet?’
‘Yes,’ Elena answers at the same time Devin chirps, ‘Nope!’
‘We’re just heading to our seats,’ Elena tells him, tightening her grip on Devin’s arm. ‘Have a great show!’
Chloe shakes her head at Devin’s over-the-top pout as Elena pulls her out of the room. ‘Sorry about her,’ she says, for the umpteenth time.
‘It’s really not a huge deal,’ Maverick answers easily. ‘I’ve had way worse fan encounters, trust me.’
‘If you just slept with her already, you could be done with her,’ Quinn mutters. Maverick gives her a look that Chloe can’t decipher.
‘You sure that’s a good idea?’
Quinn glares at him through the mirror, pulling out her eyeliner. She looks over at Chloe.
‘I can show you how to get to the front,’ Luke jumps in. Chloe feels very much like she’s intruding on something, so she just nods and lets him take her out of the room. Quinn immediately starts snipping at Maverick, the words low until they’re blocked by the door.
They dawdle for a moment at the door to the main concourse. ‘I’m really glad you’re here tonight,’ Luke says. ‘I hope you like the show, even if you don’t like our music.’
Chloe’s jaw drops. ‘How do you know I don’t like your music?’
‘You said so the day we met.’
Something warms inside of her at the thought that he remembers something she said so long ago when she was just a random hookup.
‘I’m sure I’ll have a great time,’ she says with a smile. ‘We’ll meet you here after?’
Chloe’s almost in awe of their seats—front row, dead center. Arguably the best seats in the house. Even sitting down, she barely has to crane her neck to have a perfect view of the entire stage.
‘These seats are epic!’ Devin shouts, clearly thinking the same thing. The arena is so noisy that Chloe can still barely hear her.
‘How were these still available?’ Elena asks. She holds her water bottle out for Devin to drink, who takes it without complaint. She shrugs while taking a big gulp and passing the bottle to Chloe.
‘Dumb luck?’ she guesses. ‘Last time, I was about five rows back. Still awesome, but nothing like this.’
Chloe drinks the water, feeling a little bad that they’ve gotten such good seats. All around them are die-hard R3 fans who would probably kill for these seats, and here Chloe is, just getting them for free because of who she knows.
The feeling doesn’t last long, though. The lights around them start to dim slowly, dramatically, and the crowd’s constant chatter morphs into absolute screams.
The show is about to begin.
A sea of darkness envelopes them, but one by one phones light up around them like stars twinkling in the night sky. Devin’s right on cue, her own phone thrust in the air, the flashlight dancing around them.
Elena follows suit, her phone illuminating the excited smile on her face. Next to her two best friends, Chloe finds that she actually wants to join in, too. As her phone lights up, there’s a bright moment where it feels just like it always used to—just Chloe, Devin, and Elena against the world.
Three beats pass, and then the stage lights back up in a flash. Luke, Maverick and Quinn are at their places, as if they’ve just materialized out of nothing. The cameras pan to Quinn, who gives the audience a haughty smirk as she swings her leg over her stool and settles behind her drumset.
If the screams were loud before, they’re absolutely deafening now. And instead of cringing from the volume, Chloe whoops alongside, caught up in the buzz that fills the air.
‘Isn’t this amazing?’ Devin shouts in Chloe’s ear. Chloe nods, bumping her in the hip in response.
The chords to R3’s first, and most popular, even all these years later, single reverberate in the air, Maverick’s fingers moving easily on his guitar. He’s a natural onstage, commanding the room effortlessly. It’s not surprising; he’s just as magnetic in person. He winks at a group of girls near him, and one of them swoons like she’s straight out of a historical drama.
Quinn sings backup, her drum so loud it’s a wonder the damn thing doesn’t break. For all her grouchiness and the general attitude she gives everyone on a daily basis, it’s clear she’s passionate about music—and for good reason. She’s never offbeat even for a second, showing off when her drum solo comes in halfway through the song.
And Luke…Chloe can’t keep her eyes off him. No matter what she tries, he just pulls her gaze right back to him. His T-shirt has the sleeves cut off, giving the entire arena a generous look at his biceps. But his dancing is what really gets her. It’s so fun and over-the-top in a way that Luke never really seems to be in person. Like he keeps this side of himself locked tight, only to be set free onstage.
Devin loops her arms through Chloe’s and Elena’s, dragging them up and down as she jumps along to the beat. Elena bounces with her, practically in awe over the performance.
‘But when it’s youuuu and meee…You’ll see!’ Devin screams at the top of her lungs, every bit the rabid fangirl. Chloe just laughs, throwing her head back and singing along.
Maybe it’s because she’s heard so many more R3 songs since coming on tour or maybe it’s just because she knows Luke, Maverick and Quinn, but there’s something different about being here this time around. It feels more…real. Electric, almost.
At the end of the first song, Luke finds Chloe in the crowd and winks. And even though the girls behind her definitely think it was for them, it warms Chloe from the inside out. She waves at him and, in a daring move that she normally would never do, winks back.
Luke’s eyes widen, a light blush flushing his cheeks and he stutters over the next line in the song. Maverick shoots him a look on stage, but Luke just shakes his head and keeps playing. He looks at Chloe once more, then resolutely doesn’t look her way again.
She can’t decide if she should feel proud or not that she was able to fluster him so easily.
Luke dances closer to the edge of the stage, kneeling down to be closer to the fans at the barricade. The fans push in close, trying to get a hand on him. As the song ends, he tosses his pick to a young girl and she cries when she catches it.
For the rest of the show, all Chloe can think about is this: Luke has nothing to worry about. His fans love him and any fears he has of being replaceable are utterly unfounded.