“What the hell have you done?” Dennis yells at us as soon as we walk through the rehearsal room door. His face is red and it looks like he’s spent the last three hours running his fingers through his hair trying not to pull it all out.
“It’s good to see you too, Dennis! We missed you!” I reply and turn to wink at Cadence.
“No, no, no, there will be none of that.” He points at me, “You! Sit there.” He points at the sofa. “And Cadence. You.” He turns and points to the recliner opposite the couch. “You sit there.”
“Yes, Dad.” We move to sit in our respective assigned seats.
“Now, answer me this time. What the hell have you done?”
“What are you talking about, Dennis?”
“You disappear for three days… TOGETHER! And this morning, I get a Google alert to say that, and I QUOTE, “Sebastian Dupont from Grammy Winner Band Elopes with Oz High School Music Teacher!” He turns to us, his mouth dropping open.
Cadence drops her head, her hair falling in front of her face, a move I’ve become accustomed to now, when she wants to hide her expression. Her shaking shoulders however are giving her away.
“Oh.” I shrug, “That. That’s nothing.” I get up from my seat, “Anyone want a coffee?”
Dennis roars, “Sit your fucking ass down!”
I sink back down into my seat and bite the inside of my cheek trying not to laugh. “Chill, man.”
“I will chill, when you tell me what the hell’s going on! Are you two married?”
“No, of course not, you psycho!” I yell back at him. “We just went away for a few days!”
Dennis takes a deep breath, almost dizzy with relief and sits down in the empty seat next to me. “Then where did the rumor come from?”
“Dude, are you NEW? How many times have they come up with all sorts of shit?”
“Yeah, but this one… I mean, they mentioned Cadence. Not some random celebrity.”
“Um, yeah, well, lucky guess.” I shrug, biting the inside of my cheek. If Dennis knew I was the source of the rumor, he’d castrate me with a rusty knife.
“So… you’re not married?” He confirms.
“No.”
“OK. Yeah, OK, great.”
“Wait, hang on why? What if we WERE married? It’s going to happen to one of us at some point, ya know.”
“Then I’d want the story broken my way.”
“Fine. But you should know, while we’re not married, we are… together.”
“Well, yeah,” his face utters the silent ‘duh’.
“What do you mean, ‘well, yeah’?”
“I mean, well, we had a freaking pool going, for fuck’s sake, to see how long it would take you two to get your acts together.”
“Who won?” Cadence finally speaks up.
“None of your business.”
“So, what are we going to do about these marriage rumors then?”
“What we always do, ignore them.” He gets up and goes over to his laptop, his shoulders relaxed.
“You sure?”
“I guess, there was some other weird shit in the article as well, some stuff about you having some operation and just marrying Cadence to take care of her unborn babies.”
“Er, yeah, that is bloody weird.” I say as I get up and sit down next to Cadence, throwing my arm around her shoulders.
The door flings open and the band walks in, carrying take-out and drinks.
“MR. and MRS. Dupont! You are back!!” Marius bellows, walking into the room with his arms outstretched. “Can’t wait to babysit your bastard kids!”
“Oh, for god’s sake. I’m outta here.” Dennis moves towards the doorway, then stops, “Guys, what do you think, our concert next Friday, if we get Cadence up on stage for a song? I mean, the concert is mainly to launch the new band name and to test out some of the new songs, but a teaser for the piano pieces might be good.”
Brad shrugs and balances his bow on top of his head, “Fine by me, get the audience excited for our new album.”
“Guys, I don’t want to be stepping on any toes. You, um, hired me for the album, not any concerts. Maybe you want to keep performances for yourselves and just put me on playback or something.” Cadence offers thoughtfully.
“Are you kidding? You’re going to be a hit.” Marius smiles at her, and I’m grateful that they love her almost as much as I do.
“What should we play?” Jez throws out for discussion.
“I’ve got just the song.”
CADENCE
I don’t ever want this moment to end.
I can’t breathe deep and fast enough, I need more and more oxygen to fuel my eyes, my ears, my brain, to process it all, to imprint it in my memory forever.
The noise is deafening. Literally. I feel like it’s overloaded my eardrums and everything is just white noise now, or silence, I can’t differentiate it. I’m too busy looking out into the crowd and feeling the vibrations of their applause hum through every cell of my body.
The lights lash over my eyes and I’m turning to my left. Sebastian is grinning at me, his face glistening with sweat as he winks at me, holding out an upturned thumb.
“Yay, Cadence!” I can just make out a voice screaming, and I think it’s Marius to my right.
And then the crowd starts to chant, “Cadence! Cadence! Cadence!” and it’s taking me some time before I realize that’s my name.
“I think we can convince our guest to stay for one more song, what do you think, guys?” I hear Sebastian yell into the microphone, his voice slightly distorted.
The chants explode and suddenly, I hear the opening notes to The Verve’s “Bitter Sweet Symphony”. I turn back to the piano and let the music sing through me.
The song comes to a close and the audience drowns out the epic ending with their screaming.
I stand up, wanting to feel the power of their applause wash over me. I see Sebastian put down his cello and walk over to me. He stops for a moment and holds out his hands in the sign of a love heart to the audience. Then he turns to me, he pulls me into his arms and bends me over into a deep, deep kiss.
I don’t ever want this moment to end.
***
“You were sensational,” Sebastian, whispers into my ear as we go backstage, the sound of the crowd trailing us as the lights come up. His arms come up behind me as he grazes his lips against my neck. I shiver under his touch even though my body is burning from the heat of the spotlights and the adrenaline of performing.