If I looked back, I could see those moments where I started to slip and fall apart, but I didn’t do as much looking back these days.I preferred to see the potential in front of me.And I couldn’t have gotten here without Danny’s support.Without Reese’s.
Speaking of… I needed to meet them at the Salt Palace, watch their equipment check for tomorrow’s RinCon opening night.I’d dreaded RinCon a year ago, and now it was one more thing that proved we had so much of our lives ahead of us.
I couldn’t wait to experience all of it, with the people I loved by my side.
Danny
Reese’s and my childhood dreams never includedHeadlining one of the biggest gaming conventions in the country, but I loved that it was happening, and so did she.
We stood on stage, a curtain between us and the opening night celebration audience.Reese was on drums, with a mic next to her for singing, I was on lead guitar, and we had two new members—Maddox on bass, and Alys on drums, backing up Reese when she stepped out to take center stage.
Brandon didn’t perform with us, but he was as much responsible for the music as Reese, and he mixed all our masters.
The soft glow of light that filtered around the edges of the curtains vanished, and the dull roar on the other side dropped to a hush.The curtain rose, with faint lights playing around us, but keeping the band in shadows.
Reese started off with a simple beat, just three drums, and the instant I slid into the opening chord forGlass Slipper, the crowd went nuts.
We didn’t do many covers these days, and never as our first song, ever since the band took off.We weren’tplaying stadiumsbig, but we opened locally for some bigger names, and people knew our name.
This song technically made us.It had been almost a year since I wrote the lyrics to Reese’s Cinderella story.Once Brandon and Dustin got us on video, got the sound right, and got the video online, things built from there.
FromGlass Slipper,Reese joined me at the mic, and we moved into a few other songs by us, and then thebig dealfor this show.Brandon joined us on piano for the covers of the AcesPlayed songs, that I’d written lyrics to, and we had the main theme from Rinslet’s newest game in the mix too.
The excitement in the room was tangible, and Reese glowed.If they shut off the lights, her energy could probably brighten the stage on its own.
Reese leaned in closer, sharing my mic, pressing her cheek to mine.The fans were awesome, and I knew she loved them, but the one thing that mattered most to me was being on stage with her.With Brandon a part of this.
When the performance ended, Reese was practically buzzing with energy and it was giving me a contact high.The curtain closed us off from the fans, but I wasn’t surprised to find a large number of people waiting for us backstage.
A lot of them wanted autographs, and several of them were in Plaid Peanut Butter shirts.Adrienne and Phillip had made digital versions of the outfits we performed in, as bonus content for the launch of the game, and there were a few people cosplaying as us.How surreal was that?
One girl in aReesejacket that she’d made herself approached shyly and asked if the entire band would sign her coat.Reese beamed, signed first, then passed around the sharpie.
“Excuse me.”A smooth, quiet voice interrupted when I was done signing.
I turned to see a young man who wasmaybein his early twenties, wearing a leather bomber jacket that looked a lot like mine, with a guitar that almost looked real hanging on a strap around his neck.
How surreal was this?Someone was cosplaying asme.“Hi.”I gave him a warm smile.“What can I do for you?”
He shoved the foam instrument at me.“Can you sign this?Just you.”
“Sure.”I turned the guitar over in my hands.“This is amazing work.Did you do this?”
He blushed and ducked his head.“Yeah.”
“Wow.”I found a good spot on the back, where the coloring was lighter, and signed my name plus a short message.“Keep up the good work.”
“Can I ask you something?”He took the guitar and put it back on again.
“Sure.”
“The song is real, isn’t it?You and your prince found your Cinderella?”
Our relationship wasn’t a secret.I glanced at Reese, who was busy signing everything anyone put in her face, and Brandon watching from the sidelines, then back at not-me.“It is.”
“My dad says what you’re doing is disgusting and never works out.”
It probably wouldn’t for his dad.“Do you agree?”