CHAPTER FOUR

Charlie dived off the stage, practically bathed in sweat and grinning from ear to ear, earning him a sly smirk from Kaydee where she stood waiting for him with a bottle of water. He planted a grateful kiss on her cheek but she drew back with a wrinkled nose.

"Ugh! You stink!"

"Sorry baby, consequence of awesomeness," he grinned at her as she smacked his arm playfully. Charlie was like a little kid on a sugar rush whenever he got off stage. Kaydee was mostly just exhausted, but then she also had to perform for a lot longer than he did. Lately her concerts had been running close to an hour before finishing with their duet 'Against the World' and then Rags would cap off with one or two songs. Someday always got the biggest reaction from the crowd, but he liked to toss in 'Hands Up' or 'Not so Different' every once in a while too. "Hey, I was thinking at the next one I could maybe try out a couple of my new songs? Throw in something that they haven't already heard a dozen times before."

"I think dad was trying to save that stuff for the album release, but we can ask. I'm sure the audience would appreciate it. I think you are starting to get even more popular than me."

"Yeah right," Charlie snorted in that self-depreciating manner or his.

"I'm serious! Those girls in the front row certainly weren't there to swoon over me," Kaydee knew she was coming across as short when she saw the smile on Charlie's face grow into a teasing grin.

"Jealous?" Charlie teased as he stepped lightly into her personal space, making Kaydee blush.

"Maybe…" the softness of her admission spoke more to him than her words ever could and Charlie's grin lessened, content to smile back just as softly as she had spoken as he took her hand in his and took another step closer, pointedly ignoring how her dainty little nose wrinkled when she took in his post-performance stink and silently vowing to invest in a better deodorant.

"Well you shouldn't be. Cause the only girl I'm interested in isn't really the swooning type."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Kaydee said tentatively, biting her lower lip as she looked up at him with brown eyes so warm they made every part of him melt into her.

Just at that moment a crash came from off stage as one of the stage techs dropped a cymbal. Both Kaydee and Charlie started, jumping apart from each other, though their hands remained linked. Glancing back their eyes met and identical blushes spread across their cheeks as Charlie laughed nervously and Kaydee briefly ducked her head before clearing her throat and speaking up.

"Come on, we need to do the meet and greet with the fans if we still plan on going to talk to the opening band tonight or there is no way we are getting out of here at an even vaguely reasonable hour."

... Stay Tuned. Next update- Charlie and Zander meet!