Chapter 324: A Duet?
What she felt was kind of strange and hard to describe. It wasn’t a spark of romance that was lit within her, more like a spark of energy but even then, it wasn’t something she understood so as far as Lyssa knew, she was just moved by the song. The spark of energy seemed to react to watching Dean, but that’s all that it was.
Either way, the night was getting to be way more relaxed with more people coming up to show their ability or lack there of and everyone had fun with it. Even if the singing was bad, Mike and the guys would just sing along in equally bad voices that made everyone that much more excited. Sometimes a girl would come up to sing and invite Dean up to sing with her, something he was more than obliged to do.
Sometimes it was good, sometimes it was bad, but it didn’t matter since they made sure everyone had fun.
Watching on, the girls around Lyssa ended up having a much different opinion about Dean as their somewhat embarrassing moments with him from before turned into more of a joke and Dean, in their eyes, was more like a big brother figure than an attractive man figure.
Even though their manager objected to it, Tia ended up going up to sing a duet with Dean of Whisky Lullaby. While Tia’s singing was leagues apart from their normal vocalist Mila, it wasn’t bad by any means and her interaction with Dean earned them a standing ovation when they had finished. Their manager then had to fight off both Rain and Mila’s wanting to sing with Dean as well.
Either way, as the night wore on and people drank more, the singing got worse and worse. Even the girls were able to get away with ordering drinks for themselves while their manager was away at the bathroom. Due to some well meaning ’please’ and convincing, the others in their managers group didn’t ended up telling on them and the girls got to enjoy their own adult drinks while being supervised.
The only one who seemed somewhat out of it was Lyssa, hanging back and not really interacting. This didn’t go unnoticed by her bandmates who asked her more than once if she was ok.
Her response was yes and she meant it each time.
Instead, she just sipped her oversized margarita and didn’t really pay attention to anything.
"I’m going to upload some of these videos. What do you girls think?" Rain asked, showing her phone around with the videos selected.
Tia and Mila both looked at the videos she chose and gave there input. Of course the one with Tia singing was going to be posted at the top, but she had also chosen the first two that Dean did along with a few others of rather talented singers. Even though Rain wasn’t the face of the band, she knew how to play the social media game and had more followers than the other girls. Only the band as a whole had more than she did. When Mila asked why she was only posting video’s of good singers, Rain responded,
"Would you like to see a video posted where people made fun of you for singing badly to hundreds of thousands of people? While those might get a lot of views, it also mocks people. I don’t want our base to be about that," Rain responded, to which Mila agreed.
"Then which one are you posting to the bands socials?" Mila asked.
"According to our PR and lawyers, I would have to get people’s permission first... we could just ask Dean since the video of him and Tia would be a hit. What do you girls think? Lyssa?" While Tia and Mila agreed, Lyssa was still lost in her own world and felt her body getting hot. But she just thought that was the side effect of the drink. Knowing that their manager was there with then, she didn’t care and just drank more.
"Huh? Yeah. Sure..."
"So then you’ll go ask him for us? Pretty please?"
"Yeah. Of course. Wait a sec..." Lyssa finally was paying attention, but the girls already had smiles on their faces.
"What do you..."
"Go ask Dean if we can post his videos to our bands social, especially the one with Tia. It will be a real hit that the fans will love. We already have permission."
Looking at their faces, Lyssa knew she couldn’t reject their request. Besides, due to getting up to sing a lot and grabbing drinks for the band, Dean was kind of sitting by himself at a small, yet tall table for two. Although he had been approached more than once by women wondering if they could join him, he had rejected them all in such a way that they all left smiling.
"Hey!" Lyssa said, walking up to Dean. As she watch him turn his head, she suddenly found herself staring into his icy blue eyes where she though she saw flecks of gold mixed in. It wasn’t until she felt something thump inside of her stomach that she snapped out of it, only to find him shaking his head with a strange look on his face. He then turned to look at her once again, but the gold was gone, leaving just the icy blue.
"Yes?" Dean asked, wondering if she had some sort of demand for him.
"I was wondering if we could use your video with Tia for our band’s socials..."
"Sure thing."
"And if you could perform a song with me..." Lyssa covered her mouth, not having intended to say that.
"Uh... yeah? Sure. You want to pick a duet or something?" Dean asked, confused by this change of pace.
"No. I uh... can’t sing well and I kind of embarrass myself. But I can play almost any instrument... so...." Lyssa found herself embarrassed, something she wasn’t used to. The funny part was that something inside of her was embarrassed and was dragging the rest of her down with it. She didn’t feel that way at all.
"Any instrument?" Dean asked, curious.
"Yes...?"
"Alright cool. I’ve got a song in mind. You just need to get a Cello. They should have one in storage..."
"A Cello? That’s what you want me to play?"
"Sure. Why not?"
"Ok. Umm... Do you... feel something when you’re near me?" This was Lyssa’s real goal. She had this feeling whenever she was close to Dean, but since she didn’t know what it was, she was wondering if he felt the same thing.
"UH... Look.... You’re way too young for me. I don’t really remember how old I am, but if my driver’s license is correct, I’m apparently pushing twenty two... so yeah..."
"That’s not.. wait.. you don’t? Never mind. That’s not what I meant." Lyssa stormed off to find the Cello with Dean’s directions. Since they had already been in there to steal instruments for tonight’s set, it was hard for Lyssa to find what she needed either.
’What the hell am I thinking? I was just suppose to ask him for permission but since I wanted to get closer to him now I am playing a duet with him and on top of that, he thinks I like him? I mean sure, he’s gorgeous, talented and sexy as fuck... but... FUCK!!!’ Lyssa’s thoughts were all over the place as she glanced down at her own outfit.
Lyssa never really paid much attention to her own looks. She dressed in what was comfortable most of the time and when it came to performing, her outfits were always picked out for her. On top of that, it was her mom who mostly decided on her hair style and makeup when needed. Currently, since it was just a relaxing dinner they were having, she was dressed in hoodie and jeans. While they weren’t trashy, they were far from nice. For the first time in her life, she wished she had worn a dress.
As for Dean, he had gotten up and went to request the song from Warren while some thoughts wouldn’t leave his head. He felt like... he should feel the same way about Lyssa, but not only did he not know why he felt that way but it also seemed to hurt him whenever he thought about it. Every time his heart would race and feel like it was going to explode out from his chest when he thought about the past he forgot.
It truly bothered him and he wanted to know the reason. Being around Lyssa had a way of sometimes making the fog just a little more clear. Dean didn’t learn anything new, but he felt like the answer to his past was coming closer.
As his turn approached, he saw Lyssa coming back with the Cello. She must had tuned it herself before returning to the room since the storage room for the instruments was just next store and it was already out of the case.
"Really. What the hell kind of song needs a Cello these days?"
"One very particular song which I’m guessing you’ve never heard. Honestly, kids these days need to have a larger exposure to the wide world that is music," Dean joked.
"Has anyone ever told you that you have a horrible personality?" Lyssa asked, feeling like her ego had just been slapped. Considering the number of instruments she could play, she felt like she, more that anyone, could appreciate all music.
"Nope. Not really."
"You must not have many friends, huh?"
"Nope. Just the guys you see on stage. And even then it hasn’t been that long." Although Dean was just being honest and answering her question, Lyssa got the feeling that there was a deep sadness in Dean’s voice, one that didn’t match his normal, carefree demeanor.
"Anyway, I will be right back," Dean said and walked over to where a grand piano was sitting by itself.
While Lyssa was just sitting there at Dean’s table and plucking the strings of the cello to ensure the right tuning, Tia, Mila and Rain all came over and asked what she was doing. They had been observing their friend ever since she got up to ask Dean’s permission and noticed that something was weird.
"Nothing. We are just going to do a song together," Lyssa responded, not really sure how to explain why it was happening as she wasn’t sure herself.
"But... you don’t sing?" Mila asked. She had made friends with Lyssa first when they were young so Mila knew her the best. Lyssa absolutely hated her singing voice even though Mila didn’t think it was bad. Mila often forgot that her own voice was usually praised as being angelic and therefore made Lyssa’s voice sound worse in comparison.
"Why do you think I got this?" Lyssa said, showing off the cello.
"Yeah. Why did you get that?" Rain asked, confused.
"Are you ready? Ah. Hello girls who claimed they were of age," Dean greeted the group with a smile while Tia, Mila and Rain all went bright red in embarrassment. They had believed they would never see Dean again after that morning’s pact had concluded so seeing him again in person was enough to make the girls blush all over.
"Enough. And you’d better know enough to keep your mouth shut!" Lyssa said, her tone turning unusually harsh towards Dean. He didn’t take offense to it and just nodded.
"Of course. Come on," Dean said, leading the way over to a stool he had set up for her with the tablet set up on a music stand in front of her. While he was trying to help her adjust the height, their hands touched for a single moment and with that, a strange burst of energy passed between them. It was like touching liquid lightning and caused them to quickly recoil and look at each other.
The next moment they were interrupted by Mike’s voice coming over the mic.
"And Now. We have a special performance by a woman who needs no introduction. I hope you all will put your hands together for the wonderful and talented Lyssa of Cherry Bomb, showing off her... cello skills? Ok, CELLO SKILLS!!!!" Mike yelled as the now highly intoxicated crowd went wild.
"HEY. ASS HAT...?" Dean yelled out.
"OH. Dean’s there too. But you can just ignore him! Seriously. He’s not worth it. He snores like a freight train and his feet smell horrible."
"And fuck you too!" Dean yelled back. Every time Dean went up on stage to perform, they acted like this and the audience loved it.
"What is she doing?" Their manager questioned the other girls as soon as they got back to the table.
"She said she want’s to play a song with him," Mila responded as she, Rain and Tia took out their phones to record it.
"She can play a cello?" The manager asked.
"She can play anything," the girls responded with a nod or assurance.
"Well... ok. I mean... it’s just playing an instrument. What’s the worst that could happen?"
