Monday, February 11, 2013

GRAMMY CELEBRATION: Another Sneak Peak from PLAY WITH ME by Kristen Proby

The song ends, and the room erupts into applause and whistles. I smile and back away from the mic to offer a little curtsy, and then walk to the end of the stage, ready to hand Leo back his guitar.
“We have to do a song together,” he says, his face serious.
“No, thank you.”
He takes his guitar and hands it to someone else, then grabs my arm and pulls me back to him and whispers in my ear.
“Megan, please. I’ve missed you. Let’s do the song we used to do at weddings back in the day.”

I sigh and tears threaten.
“Leo…”
“Please. You sound great. We’ll blow them away.”
“You don’t need me to do that, remember?” I ask, my voice cold. He scowls.
“I never said that.” He sighs. “Come on, people are watching.”
I don’t have a choice. I do not want to make a scen, so I follow Leo up the stairs and stand at his side as he speaks to the audience.
“Hey, everyone, are you having a good night?” He asks, and the audience applauds and whistles. “Good! I’m honored to be here tonight with my band to entertain you all and celebrate with you all.” He winks down at the audience. “We just came off a big tour, so being here with you guys is a nice and welcome change.”
He offers the audience that killer smile of his, and I swear half the women, including Samantha, look about ready to throw their panties at him.
I can’t help but roll my eyes.
“I kept Meg up here because Nash is that little local band she told you about earlier. She and I go way back.” He smiles over at me. “And she’s agreed to sing one more song with me before she joins you guys to get drunk and be stupid while I work my ass off up here.”
The audience laughs and I join them. I find Will in the audience, and he’s watching, standing still. I can’t read his face.
Someone hands me a mic, and Leo takes his mic off the stand and sets the stand aside.
“Don’t we need a guitar?” I ask into the mic.
“Nope, we have backup.” He winks and nods at one of the guys to join us on stage with a guitar. He leans in and whispers the song in the guy’s ear. I don’t know him; he must have joined the band after they got to L.A.
“This song,” Leo says into the mic and looks up at me, his dark gray eyes happy. “was originally done by a band who is also from Seattle, Train.”
The audience applauds again, and I can’t look away from Leo. We always nailed this song. It wasn’t originally written as a duet, but we alternate the verses and join together for the chorus.
I start, while Leo watches, lip singing along with me, his eyes bright and happy and encouraging, and I offer him a sassy smile as I start the song.
***May be changed or deleted prior to publication.

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