Chapter 4

The crowed started to cheer. It was huge. I would say like more than 200 peeps. I walked fast to my mic stand next to Phil and tried to breath slowly. It was hot. Don't they have any airconditioning or something? A couple of lights went off and Eric started to play the drums. Phil and I started to sing: ''Aaaaawahaa aaahaa.'' The crowd went nuts. Then Bruno began. ''Truth of the matter is I'm complicated. You're as straight as they come.'' I felt more confident and enjoyed it.

After 'The Other Side' came 'Just The Way You Are' and 'Runaway Baby' and then Bruno slowed it down a little. he spoke: ''Oke, you guys. We're gonna play a little game. It's called dare.'' Eh, what?! we didn't rehearse this. What is he doin'? I thought. ''As you see we have a new bandmember. Our back-up singer Bre.'' bruno pointed at me and the crowd applaused. ''So you know what we do to welcome our new bandmember, right? We challange her.'' Er, what?! ''So Bre, we dare you to come here and perform. Alone.'' Bruno said, looking amused at me. No way! What is he doing to me?! ''No way!'' I yelled in my mic. The whole crowd cheered. ''Come on.'' Phil laughed. I shook my head.

''Aww, apparently our chicken is afraid.'' bruno pouted. Then he started to make chicken noices. ''Poc pppp poc.'' The band joined him and then the crowd too. I had enough, grabbed the mic and started to sing:''Heeeeyyyyyy yeah.'' The crowd went silent and then became excited. Bruno's jaw dropped and he stared at me. ''Ain't no other man.'' I said and gave the band a sign. Yhey started to play 'Ain't no other man' from Christina Aquilera. I backed away from the mic-stand and began to sing: ''Just do your thang honey! I could feel it from the start. Couldn't stand to be apart. Something about you caught my eye. Something moved me deep inside. Don't know what you did boy, but you had it. And I've been hooked ever since. I told my mother, my brother, my sister and my friends. I told the others, my lovers, both past and present tense. Everytime I see you everything starts making sense. just do your thang honey!'' I walked to Bruno and started dissing him. The whole crowd began to whistle and calling: ''oooohhh.'' I continued singing: ''Aint no other man, can stand up next to you. Ain't no other man on the planet does what you do. You're the kind of guy, a girl finds in a blue moon. You got soul, you got class. You got style with your bad ass. Ain't no other man it's true. Ain't no other man, but you.'' I finished yhe song with a high note and the whole audience went nuts.

Bruno laughed and applaused for me. Then he hughed me. ''Give it up for Bre!'' he yelled in the mic. The whole crowd and band cheered. I went back behind my mic-stand and the band began to play the next song. Bruno started to sing: ''Don't it feel good babe, don't it feel good baby. 'Cuz it's so brand new babe, it's so brand new baby.''

Through the whole performance Bruno caught himself looking at Bre the whole time. She's so amazing and fine. Dang. Why do I keep having this feelings. I'm not falling in love with her. That can't be. he tought to himself. He tried hard to put these toughts behind and to focus on the music.

And so the songs past by. We finished the concert with 'Grenade', thanked the audience for coming, saying goodbye to them and went backstage. ''We blew the whole audience away!'' Phil said excited. ''Expecially Bre.'' Eric said. ''yeah, we didn't know you had it in you girl.'' Phred said. ''Yeah, you totally blew Bruno away.'' Kenji laughed. ''You sure did.'' Jamareo joked. ''Thanks you guys.'' I laughed. Then Bruno came down with a big smile. ''You were amazing.'' he said to me and hughed me again. ''Thanks.'' I said and blushed. ''Now let's go celebrate this at the afterparty!'' he said excited.

We quickly went to our dressing rooms to change. Karen gave me a shiny black dress and I got changed. I met the band at the back door and we went outside. My eyes almost exploded. Outside infront of us, was parked a long black limo. We went inside the car as fast as we could, bodyguards protecting us from the paparazzi. We quickly closed our doors and the driver took of. The limo on the inside was stunning. There was a huge red couch and a minibar full of glasses, ice and champagne. We all took a glass and enjoyed our drinks. Jamareo made some crazy jokes and we all laughed with tears in our eyes.

We finally arrived at the party and went inside. The music was loud and the room was full of people dancing and drinking. As soon as they saw us they started to shake our hands and congratulate us. I let Bruno and the rest of the band in the crowd and walked my way over to the bar. I sat on one of the chairs and looked around. The DJ started to play a rock song and people started to take over the dancefloor. The bartender walked his way over to me and asked me if I wanted a drink. I ordered a strawberry cocktail and enjoyed my drink, until I heard someone call my name. I looked around and spotted Bruno. ''Bre, get you butt over here!'' he laughed. I took my drink and went over to him. he was sitting next to a couple of people on a luxe couch, in the corner of the room. He gestured me to come sit next to him.

''Bre, this is Matt Montgomery from our recordlabel. Matt, this is Bre Lake.'' He introduced me to the man that was sitting next to him. ''Bre, nice to meet you. It's such an honour to have you in our team. You were great tonight.'' he shook my hand. ''It's an honour to be with you guys.'' I said shyly. ''So, you're enjoying it?'' he asked me. ''Yes, the band is amazing, especially bruno.'' I patted Bruno on the back. Bruno blushed. We laughed. Matt's phone rang. ''I gotta take this, excuse me. It was nice to meet you.'' he said, stood up and walked out. ''Bre, you were very amazing tonight. I thought you wouldn't take the challange.'' Bruno laughed. ''You know I never let down a challange.'' I said cocky.

The rock song ended and a James Brown song came on. ''I love this song. Come dance with me.'' Bruno said and pulled me of the couch. I quickly managed to put my drink down and he leaded me straight to the dancefloor. he started to dance like James Brown and I just laughed. And then he did the robot and I laughed even harder. ''Your turn now.'' he said and patted his hat. ''Oke. I can do way better than that. Watch this.'' I started to dance like Elvis Presley and threw some of Michael jackson's moves in it too. ''Dang!'' was all he could say. ''You even beat me with dancing.''

We kept dancing close to eachother until 'DJ got us falling in love again' from Usher came on. Bruno stopped dancing and I was like: ''What?'' ''I don't like this song.'' he said. ''What?! Are you kidding me. This song rules!'' i said shocked. ''I don't know. I just don't like it.'' ''You're crazy.'' I laughed. ''Crazy about you.'' he wispered. ''What?'' I asked. ''Oh, nothing.'' he said quickly. ''I'm tired. Lets sit down.'' he said and we went to sit down at the bar. ''Two 'Fire' cocktails, please.'' he said to the bartender. The bartender nodded and returned with two red cocktails and put them down infront of us. ''You really gotta taste this.'' Bruno handed me one. I took a sip. ''Hmmm, do I taste cherry?'' ''Yes. It's made out cherry and mango.'' he said. ''It's really delicious.'' and I took another sip.

As our glasses were empty, Bruno ordered other ones. Bruno got a little drunk, as he started to sing 'Liquor store Blues'. ''One shot for my pain, one shot on my sorrow. I get messed up today, I'll be okay tomorrow.'' ''Oke, mister. I think you've had enough for tonight.'' I said and put his drink away. ''I've only got...'' he started to count on his fingers. ''Four.'' he pouted. That didn't make any sense, cause he was holding up three fingers. I took him out of his seat, put his arm around me and walked him to an empty couch. Wich was hard, cause he wasn't walking straight. I laid him on the couch. ''You go rest here for a minute.'' I said. ''Yes m'am.'' he did the military sign, patting his hat with his fingers and then he fell down, asleep.

I made my way out of the crowd, looking around if I could find anyone of the band. I saw Phil stand at the bar, talking to some woman, and walked straight up to him. ''Phil, can I talk to you?'' I patted him on his shoulder. he turned around, then excused the lady and turned back to me again. ''What's wrong?'' he asked with a concerned look on his face. ''Well, Bruno got drunk.'' I said. ''Dang. Not again.'' Phil shook his head. ''What? Did he do this before?'' ''Yes, that always happens to him at any party. Where is he now?'' ''I laid him on the couch. He's asleep now.'' I pointed in the right direction. ''We'll better get him out of here before he does something stupid. Wait, I'll go tell the rest that we're going to the hotel.'' and he walked away. 2 minutes later he came back. ''Let's go.'' he said and we walked to Bruno. He was still laying the same, where I left him. Phil put one arm of Bruno around his shoulder and I took the other arm. We walked to the exit. ''Where are we goin'?'' Bruno woke up. ''To the hotel.. Dude you're drunk.'' Phil said. ''No, i'm not.'' Bruno murmered. ''Yes, you are.'' ''No, I'm not.'' ''Yes, you are.'' Phil sighed. ''No, I'm...'' and Bruno fell back to sleep. We took him to the car and drove to the hotel. We checked in at the hotel as we arrived and took Bruno upstairs, to his hotelroom.

We laid him on the bed and he woke up again. ''Where am I?'' he murmered again. ''At the hotel, stupid.'' Phil answered. ''Go get some rest Bruno. '''We better get going now.'' I said to Phil. ''No, stay.'' Bruno stopped me. ''Please.'' He looked at me, with this big puppy eyes. ''Phil, you go back to the party. I'll stay here.'' I said. ''Are you sure?'' ''Yes. Go enjoy the party. I will be right here when you guys get back.'' I smiled at him. ''Oke, take care.'' Phil said and left the room. I turned back to look at Bruno. His eyes were blood shot red. ''Bruno, you really should get some sleep now.'' ''But I don't want to.'' He was acting like a five year old now. I started to take of his shoes and he grabbed my hand and looked into my eyes. ''Bre, I love you.'' ''What?!'' I opened my mouth. ''You're beautiful, funny, amazing. Words can't describe.''

Was he serious now, or was this just some drunk talk? ''I really love you and I want the whole world to know!'' he started shouting drunk. ''Bruno, calm down.'' I tried to lay him down. he finally listened and laid down. ''You really mean the world to me.'' he said, looking sad at me and then he went to sleep. I walked over to get a chair and sat next to the bed.

Did he really meant this? Does he really feel about me that way?