Children of a Lesser God

323  You Can Play?

Although Dean didn't know who was standing in front of him, he kind of remembered her from the photo he had seen on Stevo's phone. As for why she ended up standing in front of him? Well, he could only assume while at the same time knowing that he would never admit anything out loud.

"Yes mam?" Although she was obviously younger than him, as a guest, she was still treated to Dean's full curtesy and attention, even if he wasn't working.

Lyssa stared at this young man sitting in front of her with a smile on his face and gentle eyes. As soon as they had walked in to the room for Karaoke night, something that other girls wanted to drag her too, they had noticed him serving drinks to the guys on stage and pointed him out. That information had led to her coming up to him with the intention of saying something threatening to him.

Strangely though, she couldn't find the words.

Or, more accurately, she felt a strange attraction to him that she had never felt before.

"Uh... You... Umm... nothing..." Lyssa ended up not saying anything and fled back to the table where the others were sitting.

"So...?" Asked Mila, Rain and Tia all at once when she sat down. Due to the slightly lower lighting, they didn't notice her slightly red face.

"So what?" Lyssa shot back as she picked up a menu.

"What did you say?" Mila asked as Tia and Rain nodded.

"Nothing," Lyssa admitted, but didn't add why.

The girls looked at her in mild shock. Lyssa had always said whatever she wanted whenever she wanted when it concerned the band. While Mila was the face of the band with her idol like looks and awesome voice, Lyssa was the one who was actually in charge. She had gotten everyone together, finding in Tia a kick-ass drummer while Rain's fingers could do anything with strings. But Lyssa was the real genius. She wrote the music and even got them their signing deals, relying on her connections due to her time playing piano professionally after having been pushed into it thanks to her parents. Not only that, but there wasn't an instrument she couldn't play, giving her incredible insight when it came to writing the parts.

The only thing that ever haunted her was that she really couldn't sing worth anything. Sure, her voice wasn't bad... but just being not bad wasn't anything special and despite her love of music, she would never really be in the spot light thanks to this.

But even then, this band was hers and the girls and she would always be very protective of it with a maturity rarely seen in someone her age.

Warren got up and announced that as a special treat for the night, anyone who was willing to sing could do so with a live band and welcomed any and all who were interested to just let him know and give it a go. Although people were eating, this was normally the time where at least a couple people would stand up and put their names on the list while choosing which song to sing.

But strangely, no one was willing tonight, something no one expected.

Lyssa, Mila, Rain and Tia happened to notice this as well while they were ordering dinner and couldn't help but look over at their manager as though she had the answer. Their manager was a rather serious looking woman in her early thirties with glasses and soft brown hair. She had been eating a meal with a few others and discussing plans for the upcoming road tour when she noticed the girls looking at her.

She hadn't been paying attention to what had been happening, but quickly connected the dots.

"Actually, I think that people are nervous to get up and sing because of you girls," the manager commented.

"Us?" they questioned? n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Yes. With professionals in the room, how embarrassing would it be to sing poorly when everyone is watching. And what's more, even if they are somewhat good, it would not be at a professional level," she explained. Although she saw the girls looking rather down about this, she didn't mind as she felt like this kind of event wasn't worth their time. And she had, in fact, forbade them from performing themselves no matter what.

"Well this bites..." Mila said, handing her menu back to the waiter who smiled.

"I wouldn't be that worried miss. From my understanding of those guys on the stage, there is no way they would let something they got involved in flop," the waiter said rather mysteriously before leaving to fill their orders.

"I wonder what that means?" Rain asked while turning her gaze to look at the stage. In doing so, she, along with the others, noticed that Mike had covered the mic with his hand and was arguing with Dean who seemed to be half fighting and half agreeing with him.

"Fine.... you will get your own share of the pay and I promise to stop shaving my balls in the shower. You good? Yeah? Get your ass up here then...." Although they weren't using the mic or shouting, Lyssa and the gang were rather close up to the stage and could hear what was being said.

"Your kidding me...." Lyssa commented as Dean walked over to Warren and whispered something to him. Warren's response was a face that was both a mixture of cringe and laughing but Dean didn't seem to mind.

"Alright everyone. To start things out, I've haggled with my roommate to have him sing the first song with us tonight. I would like to apologize in advances as I have never heard him sing before so this could really go either way. But so what? Let's have some fun. Now my roomy has chosen his song which we will first see the parts for as they stream to these tablets in front of us. So until the song starts, we had no idea what we are playing. I hope you enjoy my roommate...  DEAN!!!!" Mike yelled while several members of the crowd started clapping. While the guests might not know the ones on stage, the staff did so it was up to them to be excited.

"Hey, give me a guitar..." Dean said as he got up on stage.

"You can play?" Mike asked, lifting both an acoustic and an electric and offering them. He had taken a couple of both from storage so that he could pick what he needed depending on the songs. Both him and Jason could use almost any of them, it was just a question of what they would need when they needed it.

"Maybe?" Dean's response was a little off as he grabbed the acoustic while Mike looked back at Jason who had grabbed a bass instead as they watched the instrument list show up on the tablets.

None of them knew what song Dean had picked until it loaded on their screens.

"You're shitting me right now. Tell me this isn't what we're..." Mike started.

"Shut up and play biaotch..." Dean cut him off as the music started. With Warren's tech, all the parts of the song were covered and there was even a light show to look forward too...

One that strangely matched the 80's song Dean was singing.

-It's all the same, only the names will change

Every day, it seems we're wastin' away

Another place where the faces are so cold

I'd drive all night just to get back home

-I'm a cowboy

On a steel horse I ride

I'm wanted dead or alive

Wanted dead or alive

Dean didn't give a damn what people thought about him, something that he had no real reason to feel. Therefore, he ended up getting more into the music, adding just a little bit of that 80's style flair into his body movements. Seeing him do this, even Mike, Jason and Stevo got into it. None of these guys were alive in the 80s, but that didn't mean that the style would ever be lost.

-Sometimes I sleep, sometimes it's not for days

The people I meet always go their separate ways

Sometimes you tell the day by the bottle that you drink

And times when you're alone, well, all you do is think

-I'm a cowboy

On a steel horse I ride

I'm wanted (wanted), dead or alive

Wanted (wanted), dead or alive

The crowd was rather in awe watching their performance. Mila had even taken out her cell phone to record things at first but soon she, Rain, Lyssa and Tia looked on with wide eyes and almost open mouths. Being fans of music thanks to their parents, they of course knew this song... but watching guys just a few years older than them playing while sometimes pumping their hips or tossing long hair none of them had was almost too much. They all  broke down laughing and they weren't the only ones. Even their manager was cheering the guy's outrageous performance.

-Oh, and I ride

Yeah

Oh, I'm a cowboy

On a steel horse I ride

I'm wanted (wanted), dead or alive

And I walk these streets, a loaded six-string on my back

I play for keeps 'cause I might not make it back

I've been everywhere, still I'm standing tall

I've seen a million faces and I've rocked them all

Dean was looking at the girls while he said this line which caused three of their faces to heat up while Lyssa just ended up getting angry.

-'Cause I'm a cowboy

On a steel horse I ride

I'm wanted (wanted), dead or alive

'Cause I'm a cowboy

I got the night on my side

And I'm wanted (wanted), dead or alive

And I ride (and I ride), dead or alive

I still drive (I still drive), dead or alive

Dead or alive

Dead or alive

Dead or alive

Dead or alive

(Bon Jovi-Wanted Dead or Alive)

When Dean finished singing while the guys finished the last few chords of the song, the audience went wild with clapping and cheers.

It wasn't just Dean's singing, as good as it was. It was the way they ended up making everyone smile with their antics that caused the crowd to enjoy themselves. Even the girls had stood up to clap at the end.

"YEAH! Told you my man could sing... Now then, who wants their time rock out with us up here. You don't have to be good, you just have to want to have some fun. COME ON!" Mike encouraged as Dean was about to get off the stage to sit down, having finished his job.

"Have him do one more by himself!" Lyssa called out to Mike who was taken aback. Obviously Mike knew who she and the other girls around her were along with the people at the table next to them. He wasn't trying to stand out to them, he was just trying to get everyone to have a fun night and maybe see an increase in his bonus.

But hearing this member of Cherry Bomb wanting to hear Dean sing again made Mike wonder just what her thoughts were.

Dean didn't bother thinking it over too much. Looking at this girl who seem... hostile/friendly towards him, Dean didn't know what to think. After the thing with her bandmates, Dean just wanted the problem to go away.

"If the lady wants that, the lady gets that. But I pick the song," Dean said with a smile to which Lyssa nodded her head.

"Hey. Something wrong? You're not usually this demanding," their manager pointed out, thinking that with Lyssa's love for music, maybe she was just having a celeb moment. Little did she know that Lyssa just wanted to see if he was actually good or if he would embarrass himself this time.

Sitting on the stool in front of the mic, Dean's fingers nimbly started playing the guitar while he started to sing.

-No one knows what it's like

To be the bad man

Behind blue eyes

And no one knows what it's like

To be hated

To be fated to telling only lies

-But my dreams they aren't as empty

-No one knows what its like

To feel these feelings

Like I do

And I blame you

No one bites back as hard

On their anger

None of my pain and woe

Can show through

-But my dreams they aren't as empty

As my conscience seems to be

I have hours, only lonely

My love is vengeance

That's never free

-No one knows what its like

To be mistreated, to be defeated

Behind blue eyes

An no one know how to say

That they're sorry and don't worry

I'm not telling lies

-But my dreams they aren't as empty

As my conscience seems to be

I have hours, only lonely

My love is vengeance

That's never free

-No one knows what its like

To be the bad man

To be the sad man

Behind blue eyes

(Limp Bizkit-Behind Blue Eyes)

Even once the song had ended, there was no loud cheering from the crowd. But there were one or two tears to be seen. After all, even if this wasn't Dean's song, nothing could hide his beautiful blue eyes or the emotion in his voice. This wasn't even his goal in the beginning. He just enjoyed the song and wanted to play it.

But somewhere along the way, the song took on a meaning he hadn't intended and the entire crowd was influenced.

When the audience finally did snap out of it, there was a lot of hard clapping as everyone once again stood. There was even some who walked up to sign up to sing later with Warren while dinner and a lot of drinks were being brought to tables.

The only person still frozen in place after the song was Lyssa. She felt that after hearing that, something had changed.

Within her... a candle was lit for the first time.