Voice of an Angel

Chapter 17- First Performance with the Band

"Pictures and things that I've done before

Circling around me, I'm here on the floor

I'm dreaming this and I'm dreaming that

Regretting nothing, think about that

I'm seeing waves breaking forms on my horizons

Yeah I'm shining

I'm seeing waves breaking forms on my horizons

Lord, I'm shining"

The Test, The Chemical Brothers featuring Richard Ashcroft

Jude POV

I was probably overstepping on multiple levels, but I felt this odd sense of urgency. It had been plaguing me already, but the last two weeks made it worse. I understood in my head that Grace and Violetta were two different people, but my heart seemed to think they were more connected than they were. They were very similar, even I had to acknowledge that. But finding out that at least at some point, Violetta had liked me? Double-edged sword. Of course. I was happy she'd had feelings for me, but I was sad I had't known, and missed my chance to date her normally. Maybe I could reawaken those feelings with this fake dating.

I was thrilled that she had agreed. After I dropped her off at home, I went to my apartment and chose my outfit with care. Our band had a rock-alternative vibe for the most part, but we went with the flow and played what came naturally. Eli and sometimes Ash did most of the music arrangement, while I was responsible for lyrics. In a way, my longing for Vi had been good for our music. Plenty of emotion to draw inspiration from. One of the challenges we all had was checking to make sure that somehow we didn't violate copyright laws or accidentally borrow a musical phrase here or a line there that felt natural.

With the sheer volume of artists and songs out there, it was a challenge. While we could just play our versions of songs that had already been written, essentially be a fancy cover band, it wasn't what we wanted. That didn't get you places. The only exception that I'd seen was The Black Keys. They'd been able to cover old blues tracks and people loved it. Van Halen kind of did it, but I personally felt that while they'd made their covers unique and awesome, they might have lost a few fans by not creating something totally their own. My favorite writers were Josh Ramsay of Marianas Trench and Matthew Bellamy of Muse. Obviously, I liked a lot more artists too, but these two inspired me to keep trying.

I decided to go with a slightly more polished look, with black skinny jeans, black converse, a crisp white button-up that had gothic motifs printed in black, a slim black tie (though I still left a couple buttons undone), and a black matte satin slim fit blazer. For accessories I wore black leather studded bracelets, and a similar belt with chains. I tossed my hair into a finger-combed man bun. Too smooth and it didn't look nearly as sexy. The only makeup I ever wore was black eyeliner, in a super fine line just around the top edge and inner bottom lid. I only ever used one pencil by L'Oreal. The other guys would scoff, but they did the same thing. I laughed internally every time they asked to borrow it.

I hopped into the shower, singing a few scales as a warm-up. Once I got out, I sent a message via What's App to Grace. Told her I was going a little formal in black and white, sending a selfie once I was dressed, and let her know it'd be cool if he coordinated. Ash and Eli already knew. We planned our set wardrobe out like a month in advance. She sent back a thumbs up. Hmm. Dang, I was hoping she'd send me a selfie too. As Ash and I drove to the bar, I got a case of nerves to rival the first time we ever played in front of an audience. Ash flashed me a look.

"Bro, chill out. We've done this hundreds of times now. Grace is gonna be great. We're gonna be great." He said, apparently trying to soothe me.

"I'm chill." I said, a little annoyed at his patronizing tone. "Oh by the way, I need to tell you and Eli about a thing I did." He huffed, his eyes still on the road.

"Is this going to get us in some kind of trouble, Bro?" He intoned, and I scoffed.

"No. Well, I don't think so, anyway." We were silent other than him grumbling incoherently under his breath the rest of the way to the bar. Eli stood outside waiting. He was dressed like me, except that he wore a black fitted vest and his shirt had no print. Ash was similar except that he wore no jacket or vest, and his sleeves were rolled to his elbows and he wore no tie. His jeans were also ripped decoratively, unlike mine and Eli's. "Hey, Eli. Um, before we go in I gotta tell you both something." We had thirty minutes until the bar opened, and forty-five till we had to be on stage. Eli lifted a brow. "So, I walked Vi to class today and took her to lunch." Eli's jaw clenched but he just nodded. "The thing is, just that made people give her a hard time. I bet it's the same as when you guys took her out." They both nodded, and I released a breath, glad in a way that it wasn't just me. "Sooo, to protect her I suggested we fake date." I rushed out. Ash grinned, and Eli groaned.

"Right. Fake dating." Ash said slyly. "Great idea." He said shaking his head. Eli huffed,clearly annoyed.

"I just hope neither of you ends up too invested and gets hurt, Bro." He said, patting my shoulder. I was certain he'd have more of an issue. Ash seemed amused by my confusion, but said nothing. We went inside to prep our stuff. I was doing my best meerkat impression, looking back and forth for our new member. "She'll be here in like five minutes, Jude. Chill." When I glared at him, he held his hands up. "She messaged me, sorry."

We were sitting on our stools chatting about nothing when she walked in. My head tilted and I was struck again by how similar Grace was to Violetta. Tonight she had no wig, but her hair was fifties retro, her bangs neatly styled with two victory rolls and the rest in a long curled tail over her shoulder, with two red fabric roses pinned just above the long portion that hung over her shoulder. Her mask was in place, her lips painted a perfect ruby. Her dress was a halter-neck fifties (rockabilly, I guess) style dress that had a completely fitted bodice with a swing skirt. It was a white dress with a black vintage rose print and black trim, other than red piping that edged the black portions. She was also wearing a full red petticoat that peeked out when she walked. Her shoes were black peep-toe stilettos with red bottoms. We were all speechless. She looked beautiful, sexy, and completely appropriate. I spied Samuel grinning at me over her shoulder.

"You ready?" I managed to squeak out as she came up on stage. Eli's brows snapped together as if I was- oh. I get it. I had been about to hold a hand out to her, but changed my mind. Ash shot me a look but darted forward to do it. She smiled gratefully. She turned to me and nodded.

"Ready as I'll ever be." I went over the song list with her and she seemed fine with it.

I don't know why I was so worried. We killed it. Every song, she added her part perfectly, and it was clear she brought in the fans we hadn't been able to- more guys were paying attention. We had a few, but our fan base had been primarily female. I'll be honest, it kind of made me wonder if they really liked the music, or they just hoped to hook up with the hot guys in the band. I can't say the guys looking at Grace were any better, but it seemed more balanced, anyway. She'd expertly handled the instrumental s**t I'd tossed her way too. Her skill level was through the roof if she could just belt it out and play without rehearsal.

One of the coolest things that had happened was during our break. Eli and Grace had danced some kind of ballroom or Latin stuff. People had loved it. Maybe I needed to take some lessons. Eli's parents had insisted that him and his twin take them. Most of the time we were playing instruments, but for a capella stuff, it would be cool to throw in something like that. For sure, Vi knew how too, and I wanted to dance with her like that.

Any excuse to get her closer, of course.