No ownage of the JB still. Our bad.
Just as Lily was about to ask if Caleigh was really ok, her phone rang. Alas, it was Kyla, and she explained she had made it to the Hard Rock Café, and she already had staked out a table with a great view of the stage. After describing where, Lily took Caleigh's hand, strangely maternally, and lead her to the table with Maddie following closely behind.
"Hey," Kyla said tentatively, unsure of where she and Lily stood. She had thought that perhaps she had said something to anger her earlier.
"Hey," Lily replied softly. "Look, I'm sorry about today. I just… I can explain later," she finished, rubbing the back of her neck.
"Don't worry about it. Let's just have a great time!" Kyla said, wanting more to party all night that worry about explanations.
As the four sat at their table chatting and snacking on some appetizers, they waited impatiently for Rooney to come on stage and begin their set. As there was already a group of people gathering at the front of the stage, Lily tried her hardest to weasel her way in as close as possible, but it was no use. She would have to settle for about 6 or 7 rows of people from the front. She waved in the air madly, signaling for the girls to come stand by her, as the party was about to begin.
Trying to speak above the deafening chatter of the group, Lily yelled. "It's almost time you guys!!" Her face was covered in the hugest grin Maddie or Caleigh had ever seen, and at this point, they were just glad to see her happy. Kyla grabbed Lily's hands and they jumped up and down in a fan-girl style and screeched slightly.
It was then that the opening power chords of "I Should've Been After You" rang throughout the dark room and Lily screamed. She raised her hands and air drummed the opening and jumped around, not caring who she bumped into. This was her night. The night she had been waiting for. A night to let go of all the stress she carried about work, school, money, and life. As the lights flashed on, she felt the beats of the amps pulse through her body and she closed her eyes and danced. And on top of that, she sang, which was a rarity for her.
After much dancing and a rousing couple more songs, including "Are You Afraid of Me?" "Blueside," "Believe in Me," "I'm Shaking," and "Don't Come Around Again," Lily was readying herself for her favorite song. She had caught a glimpse of a discarded set list, and saw that "Help Me Find My Way" was going to be next. She looked over at her friends and for the first time in weeks, really appreciated what she had, instead of aching for more and more. In fact, there was always a way that Rooney had that effect on her. She smiled and looked back onto the stage and lost herself in the glare of Robert's guitar as his voice lulled her into a feeling of complete comfort.
However, all of that was ruined when from stage left, a young guy walked on stage with a guitar, followed by two others. The crowd erupted with cheers and the music slowed to a stop. After greeting the members of Rooney, Joe walked up the microphone as their back up band plugged in their guitars to the on stage amps. Nick and Kevin fiddled with their pegs and knobs, adjusted pitches and the like.
"Hey guys! How y'all feeling tonight?!" he yelled, getting an garbled response from the audience. Lily's skin crawled as she realized the people she least wanted to see were crashing the very song that she had longed to hear live. She'd never have that chance again, and she felt her spine spasm. And before she knew it, she lashed out.
"YOU! YOU KNEW ABOUT THIS, DIDN'T YOU?!" Lily shouted, partially to be heard over the even louder crowd, yet mostly out of pure rage. She shoved Maddie, and shoved her hard.
"What?! I had no idea!" she screamed back, suddenly angered that Lily had thought this was some kind of conspiracy against her.
"Yeah right! You work here!" She glanced over at Caleigh for support, but she was looking dazedly up at the stage, miming with her hands as if something suddenly made sense. Lily went back to rampaging. "I can't believe you, Maddie!" And with that, Lily tried to fight her way through the tightly packed crowd, using her elbows to move people out of the way.
Maddie grabbed Lily's arm as she tried to escape, but was only met with an icy look, accompanied by a few expletives.
On stage, Nick noticed some scuffling in the crowd and asked the light technician to spot light the trouble makers so they could be escorted out. Just as the white light fell onto Lily, roughly fighting her way back to her table, and Maddie attempting to keep Lily from knocking people out along the way, Joe recognized the mass of brown curls.
"Hey! Look who is here, guys! Feisty!" he shouted with a jolly laugh.
Lily stopped dead in her tracks and turned toward the stage as the people around her stared at her confused.
As Maddie reached the spot light with Caleigh and Kyla not far behind, Joe recognized the whole bunch. "Hey fellas, check it out! The whole gang is here! Maddie's here, who, by the way," he added matter-of-factly as he addressed the crowd, "was our server here last night! Excellent. Give her a raise!"
Without warning, the crowd erupted into chants demanding that Maddie get a raise. But as if they hadn't been harassed enough, Joe continued.
"And Caleigh's here! And even Kyla! Oh, those girls and their shenanigans. Our trusty welcoming committee! They've certainly made this weekend more than interesting for us!"
As the band waved to the girls, and the girls awkwardly stood in the middle of the crowd with a spot light shining on them, Lily exploded. A strangled scream escaped her lips and she stormed through the crowd, not caring whether she spilled a lady's drink or stepped on some guy's feet.
"Oh no! Feisty, where you goin' girl?" Joe called into the microphone.
When she got to the table, she grabbed her purse and screamed as loud as she could, "MY. NAME. ISN'T. FEISTY." Unfortunately, she went unheard and scrambled for the door, trying to hide behind her wave of curls. Maddie reached her side and tried to stop her, but before she could explain the situation, Lily had spoken. "Don't! Don't even call me or… or… TALK to me, alright?!" And with that, she stomped out the front door, absolutely fuming.
Joe had a confused look on his face, and began regretting calling any attention to them. He leaned down to security and whispered something in his ear before getting back up, apologizing for the delay, and rocking the club, opening appropriately with "Goodnight and Goodbye."
Lily made it to her car, just barely. She unlocked, entered, and closed the door in one swift move before letting herself be taken over by sobs. She turned on the radio to drown out her crying, because the more she listened to herself pathetically bawling over such a lame situation, the worse she felt and the harder she cried. This had been building up for years. In fact, she had made a point of not crying, because it never got you anywhere.
"There has to be a tipping point," she said calmly, trying to soothe herself. She gripped the wheel and tried to let all the small things that built up in her life, settle back into their places to let her resume her life. She checked the time. 9 o'clock.
'I had best be getting home. I've got to work tomorrow,' she thought calmly. All she wanted was for this weekend to be over, so she could go back into her routine life. And as she turned the key in the ignition, she wondered briefly how the appearance of the boys could suddenly upturn her safe, comfortable life.