London Harmony: Roctoberfest by Erik Schubach Page A

took my finger out of her belt loop, where it was starting to feel natural and crossed over to throw away my empty beverage can into a bin.  Then held my breath and took her hand.  Good lord almighty, I may have melted into a puddle when she just stared intently forward as she laced our fingers.  The black and grey striped knit sleeve was between our palms and the heat of our fingers warming each other.
    I was all kinds of bashful as we stopped to listen too, and dance to Rayleigh singing with two bands.  They were pretty good and I wasn't sure they awarded the win to the right band.  But then Mei explained to me, “The other band was maybe technically superior with their instruments, but they were playing over her.  The concept of a backup band is to lend support to the artist, not to draw the focus away from them.”
    Huh.  I didn't even think of that.  We just sort of instinctively played to the strength of Caroline's vocals.  She had such a great voice.  I started wondering if we played over her but doubted it.  We had been together for so long we all instinctively played to her strengths.  Well except el douchebag who stormed off.  Good riddance.  I worried though that he'd have the last laugh.  I was afraid that we were going to see the last of the competition today.  It was all going to hell.
    Then we made our way back to Caroline, with me holding onto my belt loop.  Oh lord, I was claiming her belt loop now.  Like she was reading my mind, she grinned down at my hand then bashfully at me as we rounded the back of the other stage.
    We flopped down beside Carol on the grass.  “Hey,”  I prompted as I handed her the bag of food.
    She made a relieved sound as she grinned eagerly into the little sack.  “I love you woman, I'm so bloody hungry.”
    I made a silly face and then we all just sat there taking in the park around us as she ate.  I remembered to take a breath every once in a while as Mei sat back to back with me, supporting each other.  Caroline kept looking intently between the two of us with a smarmy smirk.  I'll have to remember to kill the woman and bury her in a flower bed later.   I blushed at the scrutiny but just basked in the heat of Mei's body contact with me.
    To my delight, she hung out with us until it was time for our second performance.  She was funny and kept me laughing.  If you didn't know better, you would have thought the three of us were old friends how she seamlessly added to any conversation.
    I was nervous up on stage with Tabby Cat.  I was in my element though, Tabby had that awesome fusion of thrash and pop that reminded me so much of Penny Franklin.  That meant lots of drums and cymbals!  I was in the zone as I wailed on the skins and bass.  I friggin' loved playing!  I caught a nod of appreciation from Tabby.  It made a silly smile spread on my face.
    My smile doubled when I saw Mei hiding in her corner at the front of the stage, rocking out with us, with a smile for me on her face.
    We were first to perform this time, and that compact Tabby Cat showed us why she was a superstar.  Every single note was pitch perfect, her tempo was spot on.  And she had more projection than a little thing like her could possibly possess.  There probably wasn't a band in the world that could play over that woman.  She strutted around the stage with a big smile on her face the whole time.  Her copper hair and eyes that matched, giving her an exotic look.  They had to be contacts.
    Caroline played the best I had ever heard her, she had a look of determination on her face the entire performance.  Her solo was a little flat though, it was a bit too fast, to intricate for her and she simplified it.  She always said she was rhythm guitar because she just couldn't pull out the dynamics needed for lead.  She came close though.  So we hoped we scored high enough to move on.
    When we finished and the crowd was applauding, we all swarmed Caroline to give her a group