I stand up, watching her. Every few minutes, she looks back at me like she’s afraid to take her eyes off of me for too long for fear I’ll disappear. She wraps up the song and leads into another. I watch her and she watches me for the next hour. The show should be winding down any minute now, and finally, the music stops but the crowd cheers on.
She stands there, looking at me and then the rest of the crowd, waiting for them to chill. They eventually do and she steps up to the mic stand. “This is a really special night, because I’m going to play a song that’s not on our album.” The crowd goes wild. “Hell, no one outside the band has even heard it.” This only makes them cheer harder and louder. “But before I do, let me tell you a story about how this song came to be.”
She pauses for a moment then continues. “You see . . . there’s this guy.” There are a few catcalls and Luna cracks a smile. “And this guy wasn’t supposed to be much of anything, right? We were casual, but we both knew it wouldn’t last. I mean, how could it? The band and I were about to get signed by our label and go off on tour. We were so new that making any kind of commitment was silly. So we both agreed to be together while I was in town, then let go when the time came for me to leave. But here’s the thing about that . . .” She giggles into the microphone and it makes the butterflies in my stomach take flight.
“I fell in love,” she confesses, and I can’t hold back my smile. “I wasn’t supposed to, but I did. But I’ve never managed to work up the courage to tell him that I’m in love. Instead, I broke things off, thinking that would be the selfless thing to do. I mean, spending every day alone and waiting for your girlfriend to come home from tour is no way to live, right?” She looks at me and then around at the crowd.
“So I wrote this song, and I’ve been working on it for a while now to express how I feel about this guy. And it goes something like this.” Her hands start moving across the strings and it’s a much slower, sweeter song than what the band normally plays.
* * *
I was lost,
lonely,
broken when I met you, met you.
I was cold,
scared,
broken when I met you, met you.
You walked into that smoky bar
and sucked the air from the room.
You lit my world on fire
and suddenly
there was nothing but you, but you.
* * *
I used to think I was better off alone.
I didn’t need anyone holding me back or keeping me on the phone.
I was born to be free and left to roam,
stumbling through this empty world all alone.
* * *
I was lost,
lonely,
broken when I met you, met you.
I was cold,
scared,
broken when I met you, met you.
You walked into that smoky bar
and sucked the air from the room.
You lit my world on fire
and suddenly
there was nothing but you, but you.
* * *
Now I’m left living on my own again
and I don’t know where to go from here.
I thought I could always count on you.
Now I’m lost,
lonely,
broken again, again.
Now I’m cold,
scared,
broken again, again.
And I don’t know where to go from here.
I don’t know how we got here.
I don’t know how you expect me to make it on my own . . . again.
* * *
Now I’m lost,
lonely,
broken again.
Now I’m cold,
scared,
broken without you.
* * *
The chorus is repeated a couple of times and the instruments begin to wind down, coming to a soft close. The crowd goes wild with cheers and Luna steps back from the mic and wipes the sweat from her face. After taking a few moments to gather herself and let the crowd calm down, she’s right back in front of me.
“Now that you’ve heard the song, I need one more thing from you guys. The guy I’m completely in love with is here.” The audience goes wild. “Help me get him up on stage to tell him face-to-face for the first time that I love him and can’t live without him. Come on guys, let’s get loud!” She raises her arms up and down, egging them on.
I laugh and shake my head as I make my way into the aisle, where a security guard leads me to the stage. The longer it takes me, the more excited the crowd gets, and it’s so loud it’s almost deafening. But I finally make it up there, and I can’t help but look out at the large crowd of people. It’s hot being under the lights, and I suddenly find myself wondering how in the hell she does it. I already feel my legs shaking beneath my weight from having all these eyes on me, and I’m not even here to entertain them.
I’m on the left side of the stage and she’s standing in the middle, watching me with a nervous smile. I can tell she’s happy I’m here, but maybe a little nervous that I’ll turn her down.
The crowd gets quiet when neither of us moves or say anything. Someone hands me a mic but I keep it at my side, wanting to give her the time she needs to say her piece.
“I’m glad you came,” she says into the mic.
I offer up a smile and nod.
She wets her lips and takes a step forward. “Everyone, this is Daniel. Yes, yes, he’s the hot guy from the pictures.” The crowd cheers and laughs.
“I know I said I didn’t want you wasting your life waiting around for me, but I’ve never regretted something so much in my entire life,” she confesses. “I thought that saying those words would make me feel better about being on the road without you. But it didn’t. It made me feel worse because I was afraid of you moving on without me.” She shakes her head. “I now know that I don’t want you moving on without me. I want us moving through life together, even when we can’t be together. And I know this isn’t fair to ask of you, but will you waste your life with me?” She gives me a sweet smile and I can’t help but laugh.
I look out at the crowd and raise the mic to my lips. “What do you guys think? Should I take her up on her offer?”
They scream loudly—some of them jumping and making a loud booming sound that echoes around the theater. I laugh and raise the mic back to my mouth. “Luna, there is no one else I’d rather waste my life with than you.”
Her smile breaks free now and she runs into my arms. Her arms snake around my neck and her legs wrap around my waist. Her mouth smashes against mine and I kiss her like I’ve been dying to all this time. I pour out every last bit of love I have for her, and suddenly, the crowd in front of us vanishes and their screams goes silent. In this moment, there’s no one here but the two of us.
She pulls back and looks me in the eyes. “I love you, Daniel, and I’m sorry I didn’t say it sooner.”
“I love you too, Luna,” I reply, moving back in for another kiss.
“Carry me off stage?”
“I’ll carry you anywhere,” I agree, moving us back behind the side curtain where no one can see. The guys follow along behind us and I set her on her feet. They all greet me with high fives and fist bumps.