Ch 136 Change things up a bit

          Luke absently smiled at the crowd and mumbled to himself, “I gotta change things up a bit,” as he waited for the applause to die down.

“What?” asked Janet, standing by his side.

He looked at her for a long moment, then towards stage right where Alana stood with Billy. All of a sudden he bolted from Janet’s side and went back off the dais.

          “Luke!” Janet shouted, as the applause died down and nervous mutterings started.

Luke looked around, saw Stevie milling aimlessly and grabbed him by the arm, whispering something in his ear. Stevie looked stunned at first, but he nodded and ran off seemingly on some secret mission. Then Luke returned to stand next to Janet and miraculously the crowd started cheering again.

          “What’s going on?” Janet asked, covering up her mic to speak.

          “You’ll see,” he said, then smiled again and addressed the crowd. “How we doing, folks? Having a good time?”

          The resounding response made him laugh, but after a few minutes of what he considered excessive cheering--especially for two people who hadn’t done anything yet-- he impatiently held his hand up trying to stop it from going all night. “Good! That ought to get you in the mood to break open those piggy banks and give to this great cause.”

          Giggling, chuckles and outright guffaws broke out, but Luke continued. “Mr. and Mrs. Adams plus the entire Adams family have always worked diligently to ensure the Adams Foundation is always there with a hand up for those who fall between the cracks. We should all follow their example. I know I am, right, Janet?”

          Janet gaped at him, wondering what he was talking about. She smiled and said, “Yes, we all should…uh…do that,” which was the only thing she could think of saying.

          “That’s right,” Luke said, grinning at her. “I just discovered my agent has been secretly video-taping this performance without my knowledge or permission.” Here Luke glanced over at Billy, whose mouth hung open in shock then he saw a very guilty looking Janet slap a hand over her mouth. “So, it seems this performance will be available on DVD soon.”

          An excited whispering started amongst the girls sitting at the foot of the stage, then the loudest cheering so far erupted. Luke held up his hand again and spoke over the crowd. “And because I never tell others to do what I won’t, I’ll be donating to the Adams Foundation all proceeds of the sales of tonight’s performance.”

Luke's grin widened when he saw Billy muttering what had to be curses while he ran frustrated fingers through his long, wavy hair and attempt to pull it all out.

“So, you see, how much I get to donate depends on you buying the DVD and whether or not I do a good job up here singing for you,” Luke said, glancing at Janet.

          “Luke, you’re not really giving away all of it. You can’t! What about your album?” Janet hissed, again covering her mic so she could speak only to him and not be overheard by everyone staring at them.

          “Janet has just informed me that there will be a CD available as well,” Luke said, and he almost burst out laughing at the astounded expression on her face. “So, if you are interested in making a donation to the Adams Foundation run over to Billy Nickels and place your order for the DVD, the CD or both if you feel extra generous. Billy’s the big guy over there standing next to my manager, Alana Embrooke, the beautiful girl in the emerald green dress. They’ll help you out and I'll be my favorite guitar he's also got some...other merchendise for sale.”

          All the girls who had front row seats stumbled over each other and ran to Billy, nearly knocking him down in their eagerness to be first in line. That made Luke very happy. He hated having them so close to him, watching his every move. It kind of freaked him out! But he also liked the idea of Billy spending the rest of the evening taking orders. It served him right.

          “So, I thought we’d change things up a bit,” Luke said again addressing the audience. He gestured to Stevie and he came up the steps and handed over an acoustic guitar.

          “Got it no problem, Luke,” Stevie said, breathlessly.

“Thanks, Stevie,” Luke said.

“Luke, what in the world are you doing?” Janet mumbled. “We never practiced on the guitar. Should I leave you alone to do this?”

“No, of course not. I need you. Just go with it. Don’t worry, it’s almost the same as we practiced, just a bit different. You’ll see,” he said, then he turned back to the audience. “Just before we came up here, we got a request from Janet’s brother for us to sing a special song for a special person, and that gave me an idea. I bet some of you would like a special song too, maybe your favorite or one you haven’t heard in a long time or maybe a song with a secret message for a special person in your life. So, this is my idea. I want you all to write down the song you wish us to sing and hand them to my manager. She’ll look them over and pick a few of the best ones, then she’ll text them to me. Everyone okay with that?”

At first the audience seemed shocked into silence, but slowly they awoke to the possibilities and they cheered heartily. Then there was a mad dash for pen and paper.

“So, we’re just gonna wait until someone picks a song that we know?” Janet shrieked, forgetting to cover her mic, so her voiced boomed all over the room, butt he audience was too busy to hear her.

          Luke laughed, set the guitar on top of the piano and sat down at the bench, dragging her with him. “We’ll do our songs first until Alana gives us something. She’ll pick ones we know already, I promise. Alana’s good, remember?”

          Janet was not convinced, but then she looked over at the tables and everybody seemed to be having heated discussions and scrambling for paper and pens. They obviously were really into this. Then she spotted her mother who was never without either pen and paper. She was calmly handing out small sheets torn from a tiny notebook and everyone was scribbling furiously with pens she handed out.

          “This is crazy, Luke,” Janet said. “You know that, right?”

          He grinned at her. “Let’s hope so.”

*****

          “I have mine picked out,” Wendy said, writing it down. She then folded the paper and gave the pen to Jeff. “Do you have one?”

          “Yup,” he said, but he wouldn’t elaborate as he wrote his choice and folded the paper just as she did and handed it to her. "Don't look!"

           Wendy pouted then giggled.

          “Cindy, do you have one you want to hear?” Stevie asked.

          “As if you care,” she snapped, as she finished her own note. “I can take them all up to Alana if you like, Ms. Meadows.”

          “That would be fine, Honey, but wait until we’re all done,” Wendy said, giving over the slips of paper, then looking at her sister.

“Well, I know what I want to hear them sing,” May Lyn said, folding her tiny slip of paper and handing the pen to Donny.

          “So do I,” he said, smiling at her. “And who it’s dedicated to.” He then scribbled down his selection as the piano started a slow and familiar song.

          “Hey! That’s my song!” Stevie said, looking at Cindy. He then whispered, “It’s for you. It’s my way of saying I’m stupid and I’m sorry.”

          She said nothing and waited with her nose up in the air for her father to finish writing.

          “No, that’s your dad’s song, Stevie,” Wendy said, looking at Jeff then looking at the slips of paper in Cindy’s hand. “Is that what you picked?”

          “I ain’t telling,” Jeff said, smirking. “You’ll have to guess which one it is.”

Wendy stared at him and smiled at his sudden, playful manner. “Okay. You’ll have to guess mine too.”    

“Here you are, Cindy. Take them away,” her father said. “I’m hoping you like the one I picked for you, May Lyn.”

May Lyn grinned. “We’ll see. You have no clue what type of music I like.”

“Think so, huh?” Donny said, smirking. “You forget I spent a whole week with your little boy and don’t you know, Tristan likes to talk!”

May Lyn laughed as Cindy rushed off with Stevie tagging along beside her.

“What do you want?” Cindy snapped. “I think I can find Alana on my own, you know, but maybe you think I’m too stupid!”

“I never called you stupid!” Stevie shouted back. “Come on, Cindy. I said I was sorry. Please, give me a break. Listen to the song Luke’s singing. It’s my song to you.”

“Sure it is,” she mumbled. As she waited for the line of girls in front of Alana to dissipate, she did listen to Luke singing, but all the while pretending she wasn’t. It was a beautiful song and he sang it as if he really meant every word. She could feel her stone-cold heart melting, but she was still stinging from Stevie’s unprovoked rebuke, so she held onto her grudge…at least long enough to get back to their table after giving Alana the slips of paper.

Stevie smiled when she sat next to him again. “Thank you, Luke,” he mumbled to himself.

*****

          Luke slipped from one song to the next exactly as they had practiced, so Janet relaxed. Everything was back to normal. Except for the first song which Luke identified as Stevie’s request and sang solely, they were doing all the songs they had diligently learned by heart. The only difference was that each one now had a dedication attached to it; from John to Kate, from Mary to George, from Peter to Chloe and so forth.

It was only when Luke announced a double dedication—the same song from Wendy to Jeff and from Jeff to Wendy—that Janet stumbled. Surprisingly it was the same song Janet had picked out especially to get her parents back together. Janet searched for her parents in the crowd as Luke sang. She saw them and her heart jumped in her chest. They were sitting close together, apparently holding hands, staring into each other’s eyes and looking as if they were the only two people on earth and then they kissed.

“Oh, my God. It worked,” she whispered, tears obscuring her vision, her throat closing up. Just as the sax player from the orchestra came forward and played his solo, she shook her head at Luke.

“I have to go,” she whispered.

He looked at her silently asking what was wrong as he continued playing the piano.

“I can’t sing,” she mumbled, swiftly wiping the tears from face.

“Just look at me, only me. You have time. Just breathe,” he muttered quietly and he sang to her. ♪ ♫…I look in the mirror and all I see …♩ ♬   

 

Janet stared at him trying not to think of anything but what she should be doing, what she had to do. She just listened to him, watched his fingers moving effortlessly over the keys, and slowly the pressure on her chest eased, her throat opened up again, her eyes stopped leaking and her breath went back to normal. Right on cue, she could sing along as if nothing happened.

♪ ♫… Just a fool to believe, she’s like the wind…♩ ♬   

For whatever reason—perhaps it was her imagination or maybe it was a universal favorite—the applause sounded loudest of all for this particular song. She forced herself not to glance at her parents. She had to keep singing, after all. She looked down at the girls drooling over Luke instead, and that made her smirk. They were a good reality check for her, odd as that may seem.

Just when Janet was feeling back to normal, Peter Adams came up the dais steps and grinned his usual crooked smile at them, his pale green eyes shining with mischief and that adorable dimple in his right cheek.

“Can I play?” he said.

Luke laughed and said, “Sure! Come on up!”

“Are you nuts?” Janet said, covering her mic.

Peter put thumb and forefinger about an inch apart and said, “Maybe a little. Just wanted to say hello before I leave. You guys are awesome!”

“Thanks, Peter, but why are you leaving so soon?” she asked. “This is your family’s event.”

He grimaced. “I know, but my grandparents and uncle have it covered and I don’t really want to be around anymore. My father’s here and he’s a total ass,” Peter said. “Anyway, they don’t need me here and my friend Eric Monroe’s having a party at his place and I promised I would show for a bit. Hey, you’re invited. It’ll be wild. Tell Luke and the others. Eric won’t mind. He lives in a mansion. Please try to come, ‘Kay? I’ll see ya soon! Like next weekend. Did ya hear Miss Kim’s wedding’s back on?”

Janet’s jaw dropped. “You’re kidding!”

He shook his head. “My mom heard it first. They’re best friends. All next week we should practice. I’m definitely gonna be there! Okay, gotta go. See ya later!”

Janet opened her mouth, but Peter left before she could tell him there was little chance that she and Luke or any of the others could get out of the Gala in time for a high school kids’ bash. Besides, she’d heard tell what goes on at Eric Monroe’s no-adults-allowed parties. They were legendary! No way would her parents allow her to go to that kind of thing. Yeah, she would see Peter on Monday at school and tell him they couldn’t make it. No biggie.

 She sudden noticed Luke changing to the guitar and she knew this meant they were going off-script again.

“This is my dedication to the most beautiful girl in the world. She knows who she is,” Luke said, before he sang, ♪ ♫… Her eyes, her eyes make the stars look like they’re not shinin’…♩ ♬   

Janet watched the groupies whispering to each other and one finally say, “Maybe he means me!” Another girl shouted, “As if! He’s looking at me!” and the others obviously hoped she was wrong.

Janet never saw anything more ridiculous than those girls. She almost burst out laughing, but instead she smiled at Alana. She could see her cheeks glowing like the California setting sun even from this distance. That’s when she saw Wes approaching Alana and her heart skipped a beat. He whispered something to Alana and handed her a piece of paper. She looked at it and nodded. Then Wes looked up at the stage and winked at Janet.

Stunned, Janet watched him move through the crowd and disappear, probably to monitor the website. He obviously wanted Luke to sing a song for him. She was sure it would be for her. She could feel her heart swelling and that’s when she knew. She was in love with him, for sure and certain.

When Luke’s song was done, loud cheering from the crowd allowed him time to see the next text on his phone from Alana. He smiled and waited for the clapping to end.

“This is pretty good. We have another sort of double dedication. The first song is going out to May Lyn from Donny. I get the feeling he’s asking her a very important question with this song and the second song is her reply to him. These are two of my favorite songs. I’m hoping Janet will sing the second one for us,” he said handing her the phone.

“Oh! We sang this the other day!” Janet said, happily.

“Yep. This is great,” said Luke as he played the guitar for a minute than sang, ♪ ♫… I’m gonna be here for ya, baby, I’ll be a man of my word…♩ ♬   

Donny took May Lyn’s hand as Luke started to sing, he singing along. ♪ ♫…I’m gonna love you like nobody loves you and I’ll earn your trust making memories of us …♩ ♬   

Tears filled her eyes as she listened more to Donny then to Luke. When the song ended and the audience applauded, May Lyn touched his cheek with shaky fingers and kissed him lightly on the lips. “My answer is in the next song, so listen carefully, okay?” she said.

Janet smiled as Luke played the first few notes on the guitar. ♪ ♫… we could keep things just the same, leave here the way we came, with nothin’ to lose, but I don’t want to, if you don’t want to…♩ ♬    

Donny looked his confusion. "Um...you want to or you don't want to?"

May Lyn shook her head. “Yes.”

“Yes?” he said, definitely not understanding.

She grinned. “Yes, I’ll marry you. I want to.”

He stared at her, skeptical at first. “Are you sure?”

She nodded. “Wanna know why?”

“I don’t really care why. A Yes is all I need!” he said, thrilled to his toes.

She laughed. “Well, I’ll tell you anyway. That song you picked for me, that’s my favorite song ever and you picked it without even knowing that. That has to mean something.”

He gaped at her. “Really?” he said, stunned. “How do you know Tristan didn’t tell me.”

She shook her head. “He only knows it makes me cry,” she said, kissing him again and this time he grabbed her and kissed her back.

“Holy moly,” Stevie said, pointing across the table at them. “I think…”

“I know!” Cindy said, grabbing his hand and kissing his cheek. “They’re getting married! I’m so happy!”

Stevie smiled too. “Me, too. You forgive me now?”

“Guess I have to. We’re gonna be related, you know.” She giggled when he made a grumpy face. She then whispered in his ear, “Kissing cousins, remember?”

Though not entirely convince that was a good thing, he liked the feel of her hand in his and the way she smiled at him. He was sure going to try not to get her ticked off at him anymore.

“This next one is for Janet,” Luke said, grinning at her over his shoulder. “From a secret admirer.”

 ♪ ♫…we go to a party and everyone turns to see, this beautiful lady walking around with me …♩ ♬   

It was no secret admirer, she thought, as she concentrated on the song and sang backup for Luke. She was sure it was Wes’ request. She even searched for him in the crowd, but couldn’t find him until it was over. He showed up close to the stage and smiled. She could see him forming the words I love you just before turning away again.

Janet shouted to him, “Wes! Stay there and listen, okay?”

She could see how surprised he was, but he smiled and took a seat near the drooling girls and stared up at her.

Now nervous, Janet whispered to Luke and he set aside the guitar and went back to the piano. She took in calming breaths as Luke played the long intro, by the end of which she was ready to sing her heart out.

♪ ♫… With all my heart I love you, baby, stay with me and you will see, I’m in love, Sweet love, hear me calling out your name, I feel no shame, I’m in love, sweet love… ♩ ♬   

Wes stared up at her listening to every word in stunned disbelief. When the song was over he stood up and held out his hand to her. He thought she’d just reach down and grab it for a second, but that wasn’t Janet’s idea of enough. She launched herself off the stage at him. He caught her in midair and held her tightly against him, emotion surging within them both.

“I love you, Wes,” she whispered in his ear.

“I know, Baby. I always knew, but it’s sure nice to hear it from your lips,” he said, just before he kissed her.

Janet, his cute little yenta, had finally learned to love.

Epilogue:

“Janet…Janet, baby”

“Hmmm…” she said, still sleepy, even as the gentle, teasing voice nudged her wake. She snuggled into her pillow even as she felt soft lips on her cheek and then on her lips. “Mmmm?”

“Baby, if you don’t get up now we’re gonna be late for church.”

She grimaced then fluttered her eyes open. She then smiled. “Wes…hi,” she mumbled.

“Good morning, my beautiful yenta,” he said, now kissing her soundly.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, but suddenly her eyes popped open and she pushed him away. “Wes! What are you doing here? If my mom sees you here she'll…”

He grinned down at her and pushed the hair out of her eye. “Have you forgotten? You’re parents spent the night at the beach house. Starting their new honeymoon,” he said, pulling the sheets down and lowering himself and wrapping his arms around her, kissing her neck, his hands roaming over her night gown. “They’ll never know I was here.”

“But…Wes… we can’t just…”

Janet’s cell phone rang just then and she pushed him away again. “Omigosh!  It’s my parents and I’m gonna be in so much trouble cuz they know you’re here.”

He laughed. “How will they know?” he said picking up her phone. “You’re safe, Janet. It’s just Luke. What the heck could he want from you now? The gala’s over and done.”

“Yeah, but now we have Ms. Kim's wedding to practice for. I’m sure he’ll want to start right after church. Peter said he was all in so…” She took the phone and put it to her ear. “Hello, Luke, up a bit early, aren’t you?” she said, smiling lazily up at Wes. As she listened, her smile faded. “Oh, my God…is Peter…is he okay?” She pushed Wes’ hands off her and she sat up. 

Wes frowned. “What happened?”

Janet nodded and clamped a hand over her mouth. “We’ll be right over,” she mumbled. She hung up the phone and burst into tears.

“Baby, what happened?” Wes asked, pulling her into his arms.

“Terrible accident,” she said, sniffing and wiping at her eyes. “Peter….he's... he's hurt real bad...he might not make it.”

                                                 

                                                The End

This is the end of Janet’s story, An Ever Fixed Mark, but do not think for a moment she is gone forever. Not at all the case. Now begins Peter Adam’s tale in which Janet and several students of West-Castillo high and other well-known characters from An Ever Fixed Mar will often show up.

Stay tuned for the next novel in the West-Castillo High series:

                   When First We Practice to Deceive.

©2013 Glory Lennon All Rights Reserved