She couldn’t tell who was advising her because the sunlight was sharp against her eyes, and she couldn’t see past the stage. She randomly strummed a tune until she realized she was playing a jingle she’d created for an all-natural toothpaste last week. She quickly flipped to a faster song, closed her eyes to find her center, and started singing. The feedback was too much. “Can you raise the mic and lower the amp?” she asked. She gave the techs a thumbs-up when she liked what she heard. She sang one song from start to finish and whirled around when she heard applause coming from behind her. Bristol and Lizzy were behind her onstage.

“That sounded great. You’re a natural onstage,” Bristol said.

“I had no doubt,” Lizzy said.

Annie blushed even though she knew they would be watching at some point, just not in rehearsals. “Thank you again for the opportunity. I think I’m ready.” Annie wasn’t sure she’d ever be ready for something this large, but she wasn’t going to shy away from it. It was her dream.

“Do you have a favorite party anthem? Like a cover song that you like playing that really gets your audience pumped up?” Bristol asked.

Annie laughed. “Yeah, yours.”

A smile and blush spread across Bristol’s face. “Okay, besides one of mine, and not ‘Baby Shark’ because I saw that video. What’s another song?”

Annie chuckled at the thought of Bristol bellowing out the lyrics to the earworm kid song. “Is this to get the audience pumped for the next band?” Her mind drew a blank on the name. Something like Kicking Tires or Burning Rubber. It had something to do with cars.

“No. I was thinking I could sneak out onstage and sing maybe half a song to get the crowd pumped up with you. If you want,” Bristol said.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” Annie said. She smiled as Bristol and Lizzy laughed. “Okay, seriously, I love a lot of classics from the Beatles to U2, The Pretenders, anything Pat Benatar.”

Bristol held her hand up. “Do you know ‘Brass in Pocket’?”

Annie tuned her guitar and started playing. It was a sexy song and easy to play on the guitar. Bristol nodded and grabbed an electric guitar from one of her roadies. She played but let Annie sing solo until the chorus. She jumped in, and their voices fused in such a beautiful way that Annie felt it all the way from her fingertips to her toes. She couldn’t take her eyes off Bristol. Her voice was sexy and confident, as if she was born to be in front of a microphone. Even though Annie knew Bristol preferred the piano, she didn’t make a single mistake on the guitar. She honestly couldn’t remember when the song ended, only that her fingers stopped strumming.