Merchandise
5 minutes 'til the show started. The crowd was screaming the band's name and Sharon felt her heart beating in the same rhythm. It didn't matter how much shows they played, the cheering of the fans still gave her a kick. She looked at the other side of the stage, where Jeroen and Mike were doing their pre-show rituals. Seeing the way Jeroen played his air guitar always made her smile, and while she watched Mike jumping around in the rhythm of the song in his head, she realized the other band members where nowhere to be seen.
The singer's own ritual was watching the crowd 'til the very last second before she'd to climb the stage, but since Ruud had the silly ritual to shower, she stared worrying he wouldn't be ready on time. When she looked at the clock next to her, she saw that there was only 1 minute left 'til the intro movie started, and there were 2 minutes left before they had to be on stage, and she really started worrying.
She respected the musicians' rituals, but they had to be on time. Should she go looking for Robert and Martijn and tell them they had to finish their chess game? Should she try to find Ruud? A panic attack started to rise, but before it could strike, the chess players stood by her side.
'You guys have no idea of how glad I am to see you!' Sharon sighed, hugging her boyfriend while the intro movie started.
'I get that you're happy to see me, but what's the matter with Martijn?'
'The movie already started! The show starts in less than a minute! Where the hell is Ruud? Is he still in the shower?'
The two musicians didn't answer her but just grinned instead, which really worried the singer. She heard the sign in the movie where they had to enter the stage, and when the fans started yelling, she assumed Mike already sat down behind his drums.
'Don't worry.' Robert said while putting his hands on her shoulders. 'We took Ruud's clothes while he was in the shower, but he said he'd find something.' He quickly kissed her and then run up the stage, leaving a really worried Sharon in the backstage.
She heard the music start had no choice than to start singing and follow the others on the stage.
She was used to the yelling of the fans when she appeared, but this time, all the camera's where pointed to something else on the stage. She followed the crowd's look and when she looked at her right, she saw something even her wildest imagination couldn't have come up with.
There he stood. Ruud, playing his guitar, in nothing more than his boxer shorts, and one of the band's t-shirts.
Once over the first shock, she sang her lyrics and ran over to Ruud during Robert's solo.
'We really need to add pants to our merchandise.' The guitarist stated and then ran to the front of the stage to play the rest of the song.