Hollywood 1995
17-year-old Caitlyn Warren stood outside of the studio where her boyfriend and three best friends, who just so happen to be in a band called Sunset Curve practiced.
She had a smile plastered on her face as she looked at her boyfriend Luke "Tonight is the big night, you guys are playing The Orpheum that's huge and I know you guys are gonna absolutely kill it."
He gave her a goofy grin with a hopeful look in his eyes as he stared down into her eyes "you're gonna be there tonight right Cait? You gotta be there, you're my lucky charm."
The blonde pecked him on the lips "of course I'm gonna be there babe, I have practice at 4 so here in a few minutes but, just for this occasion I will cut it short and I'll be there before you guys do soundcheck, Promise. My boys are gonna make it big tonight, no way would I ever miss that." then she laughed at the second part of what he said smiling up at him "you are so cheesy, but I love it and you."
She kissed him again, he grinned at her as she pulled back "I love you too Cait"
She gave him another goofy smile before she walked away heading to the studio that her mother owned where her band Fear on Fire practiced.
Fear on Fire consisted of Caitlyn the founder and lead singer and guitarist, her younger brother Micheal who played bass, and her younger sister Melissa who was on keyboard and backup vocals. Mel and Mikey are twins and only 11 months younger than Cait. Melissa's boyfriend Tate is their drummer, and Michael's best friend Jordan is the rhythm guitarist. They mostly did Punk Rock music but they had several Rock songs as well Cait could write for different genres but they only played the songs that went with the sound they had, but Cait would play the others with an Acoustic guitar when it was just her or her and her siblings or her and Luke and the guys of course.
Mel gave her sister a teasing look "ohhh look at that our leading lady is on time for once." The others laughed as Cait rolled her eyes.
"Well my boys have a gig, they sold out The Orpheum tonight and there is no way I'm missing it so we gotta be outta here by 5 so I can get over there before they do soundcheck at 7, so yeah I am here on time."
Mel grinned "sweet, that's awesome Cait!"
Mikey smiled at her as well "one day that's gonna be us on that stage as well."
Cait nodded before grabbing her guitar and taking her place "Damn straight we'll be there one day."
After they finished band practice Cait ran into their house which the studio was in the backyard to get ready, she changed into her Sunset Curve shirt with a pair of black jeans and her combat boots.
Once she was happy with her look she grabbed her bag and headed downstairs her mother smiled "have fun tonight, tell the boys that I said good luck."
She kissed her mom on the cheek "will do mom, I'll probably be home late but I'll see you later, love you."
"Love you too." That was what she heard as she ran out the door and made her way to The Orpheum, to meet the guys.
She slipped in and smiled at the waitress, "they haven't started yet have they?"
She shook her head "no they were just about to start I'm Rose by the way."
Cait smiles "Good, I promised I'd be here before they started and I'm Caitlyn but my friends call me Cait."
"You their groupie?"
Cait laughed with a grin on her face "something like that, I'm their best friend, biggest fan and I'm Luke the lead singer's girlfriend, so I guess it's a three-in-one with me."
Rose laughed "you're funny, I have a feeling that we're gonna be great friends."
Cait smiled at her. "I second that Rose." Cait wrote her number down on a piece of paper giving it to the girl "We should definitely hang out sometime." Then Cait's smile widened hearing the intro riffs to 'Now or Never' it's one of her favorite songs that the boys have done.
Rose smiled at her putting the paper in her pocket "yeah we should."
Alex started them off with a count "One, Two, Three."
"Take off, last stop
Countdown 'til we blast open the top
Face first, full charge
Electric hammer to the heart"
Cait blew a kiss towards Luke as he caught her eye making him grin as he kept singing, with Reggie and Alex joining in.
"Clocks move faster
'Cause it's all we're after now, oh"
Won't stop climbing
'Cause this is our time, yeah
When all the days felt black and white
Those were the best shades of my life"
Cait had a huge grin on her face singing along with the boys from her spot by the table with Rose.
"Don't look down
'Cause we're still rising
Up right now
And even if we hit the ground
We'll still fly
Keep dreaming like we'll live forever
But live it like it's now or never"
Luke shot a wink at her, making her give him a laugh as they continued.
"We ain't searching for tomorrow (tomorrow)
'Cause we got all we need today (today)
Living on a feeling that's been running through our veins
We're the revolution that's been singing in the rain"
Rose smiled looking over at the girl who was as always mesmerized watching her boys perform. "They're really good."
Cait nodded with a smile not taking her eyes off the stage, "yeah they are."
"Don't look down
'Cause we're still rising
Up right now"
Luke grinned as he finally perfected his guitar flip, making Cait smile again "he's been practicing that flip for weeks and figures he nails it on their big night." Rose chuckled at the blonde girl's words.
"And even if we hit the ground
We'll still fly
Keep dreaming like we'll live forever
But live it like it's now or never
It's now or never (now or never)"
The song ended and Cait and the other people in the place cheered for them "Yeah!"
Reggie grabbed his mic looking at Rose "Thank you we're Sunset Curve."
Bobby looked at the boys as Cait made her way towards the stage "Too bad we wasted that on the soundcheck, that was the tightest we've ever played."
She hopped up onto the stage with them as Luke grinned "But wait until tonight, man when this place gets packed with record execs."
The blonde girl grinned at them fist-bumping, Alex, Reggie, and Bobby while she wrapped an arm around Luke "You guys rocked that, so hard!"
Luke wrapped an arm around her shoulders kissing her on the head "Of course we did, we had our biggest fan here to cheer us on."
She laughed as she pushed him off "Ew, you're all sweaty and gross."
He just gave her a look and laughed before wrapping his arms around her again picking her up into a hug this time making Cait laugh.
Reggie looked at Alex "Alex you were smoking."
The blonde boy defects the compliment "Oh no. I was just warming up. You guys were the one on fire." he motioned to three boys.
Reggie gave the drummer a look "Could you just own up to your awesomeness for once?"
Cait grinned at the blonde drummer "Dude, Reg is right, you gotta own up to your awesomeness Alex." Luke and Bobby both nod at him.
He turned back towards Reggie "All right, I was killing it!"
Cait grinned at him "Atta Boy, own it!" The boy laughed hugging the blonde girl that was like a sister to him.
Luke grinned at the boys and Cait "Well I'm thinking we fuel up before the show. I'm thinking, street dogs."
Alex and Reggie are both down for it "Oh!"
"Yes!"
Cait gave her boyfriend a look "Luke! Those things are disgusting and so unsanitary." He shrugged helping her down off the stage, wrapping his arm around her again, this was the norm for them to be touching almost constantly in some way or another whether it, be holding hands or arms wrapped around each other, it was something that the other boys were used to at this point.
"Bobby, where you going?" The four follow Bobby over to Cait's new friend Rose.
"I'm good." he passes on the street dogs. "Vegetarian, I could never hurt an animal."
Cait snorted at his attempt to impress Rose knowing good and well that it was a lie. "You guys are really good."
"Thank you."
Cait leaned into Luke's side a little with a smile on her face as Rose kept talking "I see a lot of bands, been in a couple myself. I was really feeling it."
"That's what we do this for, I'm Luke by the way."
Cait waves at her "Hello again."
Rose laughed "Hi there."
Reggie introduces himself "Hi, I'm Reggie"
Alex points to himself "Alex."
The last introduction is Bobby "Bobby."
"Nice meeting you guys." Cait laughed as Luke reached around her and gave Bobby a wet-willy, the boy sighed and gave Luke a side glare "I'm Rose."
Reggie gives her a shirt "Oh uh, here's our demo and a t-shirt, size beautiful." Alex groaned but Cait grinned reaching around her boyfriend to fist bump Reggie on that one. "Smooth Reg, real smooth." He fist-bumped her back.
Rose smiled at him "Thanks, I'll make sure not to wipe down the tables with this one." Cait laughed she liked this girl, they had the potential to be really good friends and Cait could feel it.
"Oh good call, whenever they get wet they just kinda fall apart in your hands," Alex told her.
Bobby looked at them "Don't you guys have to go get hot dogs?"
Luke nodded "Yeah" and pushed Bobby back slightly "He had a hamburger for lunch." Reggie slapped Bobby on the shoulder as they walked away, Luke looked down at Cait "You coming with us?"
Cait shook her head at her boyfriend "I'll pass on the street dogs, I suggest something a little more sanitary." She gave him a pointed look before she pulled Luke's face down and kissed him "I will see you when you guys get back and I know you're gonna kill it tonight."
Luke kissed her again "I love you."
Cait grinned at him "Love you more rockstar."
He gave her that goofy grin that only she can bring out "not possible princess."
She couldn't help but grin back at him pulling him into what they were both unaware would be their last kiss, "go on, Reg and Alex are waiting for you."
"Alright, I'll see you later Cait." Then Luke ran off to catch up with Reggie and Alex.
Rose smiled as the girl walked back over "You guys are really cute together."
Cait smiled back at her "Thanks, we've been friends our whole lives and we are coming up on three years as a couple in April. He is absolutely my future. I love him more than I ever thought I could love someone and I couldn't see myself with anyone else."
Rose smiled at her "That's cute, Cait, that's really sweet."
That is when they heard the sirens and Cait's heart dropped down into her stomach, the feeling of dread seeping into her bones, she bolted out of the theatre and towards the sirens, and what she saw when she got there was the boys being loaded into an ambulance.
She did the first thing she could think and ran towards the ambulance, frantically tapping one of the paramedics on the shoulder "my boyfriend and two of my best friends are in that ambulance... are they okay?"
"We have to go now if we stand a chance at saving their lives it doesn't look good but if we get there in time they'll be fine."
She saw the look on his face even as he tried to sound reassuring and she knew that they weren't okay, tears blurred her vision as her knees buckled, had it not been for Bobby who had followed her out of the place grabbing onto her and keeping her upright, her legs would have given out and she would have hit the ground.
The ambulance drove off, its sirens blaring.
Cait felt numb inside after getting the confirmation that Luke, Reggie, and Alex were dead, they never even made it to the hospital. She went home that night and collapsed into her mother's arms as sobs wracked through her body, not only had she lost the love of her life that night but two of her best friends as well.