U-N-I Ch. 13

If you can tell me that we're worth fighting for"

instead of

"if you can tell me something worth fighting for".

I had no idea he was gonna do that. The whole crowd screamed loudly. He repeated it a second time in the second chorus and received the same reaction from the crowd.

After the song ended, he ran to the main stage to start playing "Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall", which basically was our coming out song. I did the same as I started playing the song. He mainly stayed on the runway to sing. Halfway through the song, he went down into the pit between the stage and the barriers to grab a gay flag someone was waving. He climbed back up onto the runway and began singing the line while holding up the flag,

Every tear
Is a waterfall
So you can hurt, hurt me bad
But still I'll raise the flag

He ran up the runway to the stage and tried to throw the flag back into the crowd but it didn't work. So he picked it up again, ran over to me and tied it up to my guitar strap and then planted a kiss on my lips. Well, if anyone still had any doubt or needed confirmation that we were a couple, they didn't anymore!

I finished the song in a haze and began playing "Princess of China".

Rihanna appeared, calm and confident. She began singing and immediately put so much emotion and sensuality into the song that it was beautiful and hot at the same time. She was such a badass. The way she was singing, I was pretty sure she was able to transport the audience into the story of the song. She looked like she had actually been hurt as she sang the line "'cause you really hurt me" several times to Rob throughout the song, especially when near the end, they both pressed their foreheads together as they sang, making it look so passionate.

We finished the song and Rob thanked Rihanna for being here and we walked off stage.

"Oh my god, that was insane!!" Rob shouted as he immediately dropped to the floor and lay on his back, as he tried to recover from the intensity of it all. I grabbed his hand and pulled him back up.

"You're not done!" I laughed.

"Fucking hell, that was fucking insane, it seriously was!" he said again."You almost kissed me on stage!" he told Rihanna.

"I almost did," she giggled. "I would've if you hadn't pulled away. That's why I pulled you back."

"Really?" they both had a laugh. "Shit, I should've let you!"

"No no, it was more sensual that way. We were being watched," she told him, faking being shy.

"You totally pulled it off. I think you actually convinced them there was something going on!" he laughed.

"Totally, I almost got jealous!" I joked.

"I was so into it!" she said. "I felt genuinely heartbroken at the end!"

"This is is gonna become an iconic duet, let me tell you!" Jordan told them with a bright smile. "The chemistry and passion between you at the end was awesome! People are gonna talk about this tomorrow!"

We tried to calm ourselves down. We knew the break was short. We still had to play "Fix you" and "Up and Up" that we had written with Bono's collaboration.

The crowd was calling us back on stage and they were louder and louder with each passing second.

We walked back on stage, and were welcomed back with the longest and loudest cheer we had ever heard. This concert was just exceptional.

Rob walked to the runway and lay down on his back in the middle of it as we began to play,"Fix You."

As soon as he began singing the first words, the whole crowd sang it back to him, almost louder than he was. They sang it with him but it felt more like he was singing it with them. "Fix You" seemed to be having the same effect as "The Scientist" on the fans. I had hoped it would but not to such an extent.

After the first chorus, he sat up and said with a slight giggle,

"First time ever singing that song live, and that's what it sounds like! Unbelievable! You sound incredible!"

During the interlude, he didn't have to sing so he ran over a thick white drape we had hung on the side of the stage and started spray painting 'Love is Love'.

When came the last line of the song,

"Lights will guide you home,

And ignite your bone,

And I will try to fix you,"

he let them sing and when they were done, he said, "Thank you so much everybody!" and then turned to us, "This is why this is our favourite place on earth guys!"

It was truly amazing.

We finished with the icing on the cake. We began playing "Up and up", and shortly after Rob had begun singing, Bono walked on stage, surprising the shit out of us. We seriously had no idea that he would. Rob stopped singing and just watched and listened to Bono sing as he walked closer to him, in shock. He slightly rubbed Rob's shoulder and it took a moment for him to register what was happening. Bono was actually on stage singing with him. We were all so surprised that we almost stopped playing, but we managed to pull through and Rob began singing again, along with Bono.The song seemed to go by so fast that it was a bit of a blur to be honest.

When we finished it, Rob said to Bono,

"Shit, we've come to the end!" to which Bono answered,

"In fact, you know what? I don't want this to be the last song. Can we do one more song?" he asked as he looked over at us.

Obviously, the crowd screamed and we nodded in agreement.

"Alright, we'll do one more song!" he said. "What would you like to hear?" he asked the audience, but it wasn't like we were able to play any of U2's songs with no rehearsals beforehand. Jordan and I moved close to Damon's drums and we talked together and agreed on "One". I knew it by heart, I knew Rob knew the lyrics by heart as well. Jordan was pretty sure he could remember it too without messing up, and Damon just agreed but he seemed a bit worried. It was the safest choice anyway.

During this time, Rob and Bono talked to the crowd. Rob thanked all the people who had worked hard so that everything would be ready for the concert and Bono thanked them for the support they were giving us,

"These boys will have an amazing career!" he said, "One of those careers that you just don't deserve you know, no one deserves it like this... but you're taking it alright!" he said to Rob, who just nodded and smiled.

Then, Bono turned to us and we just gestured "One". He understood right away.

"One"? Alright, let's sing "One", is that alright with you?"

Shit, I couldn't believe this was happening. We were about to play "One", which was like my favourite song of all time by the way, and Rob was going to sing it along with Bono. I could tell he was nervous as hell, but I knew he could do it and hold his own.

Playing the song was amazing. We didn't mess it up and I could tell Rob enjoyed every note of it, even though I couldn't really concentrate on him. His voice was almost as strong as Bono's. I would have to watch this later. When it was over, Bono left the stage. He was applauded and acclaimed by the crowd of people, who were probably just as surprised as we were that this duet had taken place.

Dylan played "Up and Up" again and Rob sang the last verse and thanked the audience again.

Fixing up a car to drive in it again

When you're in pain

When you think you've had enough

Don't ever give up

Don't ever give up

When it was time to come off, we stayed on the stage longer than we were used to. The crowd wouldn't let us leave. We all took bows together and thanked the audience as we waved goodbye. The applause was thunderous. Just before walking off, I went over to Rob and we hugged tightly. "That was sensational," he said. "You were amazing," I responded. I grasped his face and planted a kiss on his lips, not caring about the fact that we were still on stage. Then I put my arm around his shoulders, squeezed him to me and kissed the side of his head as we walked off stage.

Everyone chatted with us on our way back to our dressing room, congratulating us on a great show along the way. The hallways backstage were already jammed with people. We worked our way to our dressing room through a see of hugs and handshakes. We needed to quickly change and shower before going back out for food and drinks with all the people waiting for us backstage.

As we entered the dressing room, Jordan was laughing,

"This gig was something else!!!" he said as he plopped down on one of the dark red sofas, "I never wanted it to end."

"Tell me about it!" Rob responded as we all sat down, feeling ecstatic but at the same time, a bit drained of energy as well.

It was just the five of us. I think we needed to be alone together for just a few minutes, just to give us time to realize that the concert was over. It was always pretty strange to us, the difference between the silence in the dressing room to what we'd just come from: the noise, the energy and the cheering. It was weird going from total exhilaration to being alone in a room. And this time it was worse. That drop, it was such a surreal feeling ... and kinda dangerous for our sanity if I'm honest, especially Rob's. We were all slightly giggling and smiling, not knowing what to say. There was no need to talk. We knew how each one of us was feeling. We just needed a very rapid decompression.

Dylan spoke though,

"We are never gonna be able to top this, like never! This will remain the best gig of our lives, let me tell you!"

"Fucking amazing, guys! How did we get to this point?" I asked, taking a deep breath.

"Damn, that was ace! That really really was ace!" Rob said as he recalled what was indeed the best gig we'd ever played. "I was so at ease on stage. I had such a great time! I can't wait to go on tour now."

"Yeah, all to do with the audience!" Dylan said.

"So much to look forward to!" I added.

"Fucking ace being a rock star! No better job!" Rob stated with a smile. "And you know what?" he asked us, "If a few paparazzi take your picture..." he said, throwing his arms up in the air slightly.

"Yeah, so what?!!" Jordan exclaimed.

"So fucking what!" Rob responded. "You know what I mean! What's wrong with that?"

"There's nothing wrong with that," Jordan laughed.

We were constantly complaining about them, they were seriously driving us crazy sometimes, but it didn't seem to be very important at that moment.

"If you get onstage and enjoy something like that!" Rob added, slowly shaking his head. "Fucking hell, it was amazing, fucking amazing! It's gonna take me a while to come down. I'm first to grab a shower, I really need this the most."

"Yeah, I'm going with you," I said.

"Hey, no sex! We need to shower too!" Jordan exclaimed.

We chuckled as we entered the bathroom. We quickly showered and changed before going back out into the craziness. We emerged from our dressing room and started talking with a number of reporters.

Then, we had a drink, ate some food around yet another buffet and talked with the many celebrities, friends and family present backstage. We were a bit in shock over all the people who were coming to us to tell us how much they had loved the show and how great they thought we were.

At that moment, I really felt like we had done something really special and had this enormous sense that we had arrived. As a band, we had won the awards we were meant to win, we had sold the records we were meant to sell and I could honestly say that we were really doing it for the music and not for the fame or for the money. Now, I knew the next tour would give us the worldwide recognition we had always craved. We were going to have a great time, although I was a bit worried that we might find it hard to adjust to having an even bigger worldwide success. The only thing that reassured me was that we were not solo artists going through it alone. We had each other.

I gave Rachel a warm hug,

"You guys were terrific."

We talked and giggled about all the little funny things that had occurred during the gig when a guy came up to us,

"Rach, would you like a drink? I'm gonna get myself a coke."

"No thanks, I'm good," she answered and turned her attention back to me.

He looked at me with a smile and admitted to being a huge fan of our music and songwriting abilities. Like everyone else, he congratulated me, I thanked him and he excused himself to go get a drink.

"Who is he?" I asked Rachel after he had walked away.

"Just a guy I worked with in an art gallery last month."

I just gave her a suspicious look,

"What? He's really sweet. And handsome," she said with a smile.

"Yeah, he is. How long is he gonna last?"

"Don't know. Depends on how well he treats me!"

She was often dating guys but for some reason it'd never last very long. She didn't seem to want to date anyone seriously, and I was getting worried that I might have totally robbed her of her ability to trust someone. I was pretty sure she didn't allow herself to fall in love in order not to get hurt. I hoped I was wrong but I was gonna have to have a serious conversation with her about this.

I was actually about to say something to her when I heard a familiar voice say,

"Hey, amazing gig!" I turned around to face the person talking to me.

It was Damien.

"Hey," I said to him, and then briefly turned around to face Rachel again, "I fuckin' knew it!" I whispered to her.

She looked at me, trying not to giggle as she said,

"I think I'm gonna get myself that drink I don't want after all."

Damien stared at me with a small smile, indicating he was very happy to see me. I couldn't help but notice that he looked handsome as hell but I tried not to smile back at him as I didn't want him to imagine things. I liked the guy but he was way too into me.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

Considering how we had left things, he didn't seem very troubled by my question,

"I came to congratulate you guys!" he answered, "It was an awesome concert! I think one of the best I've ever been to! If not the best."

"Thanks."

"Damn, I knew you were good, but that was beyond good. I was staggered! And man, 'One' with Bono, fucking amazing. You must've been so thrilled!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, it was unexpected!" I nodded. "Glad you enjoyed it."

"I did. I'm so glad 'Rewind' got to be your support band, they did so well!"

"I couldn't watch them play, but Damon did. He really liked 'em."

"Yeah, they surprised me. I was worried they wouldn't be ready, but really, they rocked!"

I agreed and for some reason totally held his gaze a bit longer than normal. I wasn't sure what it was but there was something about him that made me want to be flirtatious, even though I honestly didn't want anything to happen with him. He had this self-assurance that I seemed to be attracted to. I looked away and spoke with a sigh,

"Damien, you shouldn't have come! It'd be better if you left now."

He looked at me confused,

"You gave me backstage passes, didn't you? What else was I supposed to do with them?"

I didn't respond and he sensed that I probably didn't want to hang around with him much longer.

"Mark, I'm sorry if you're mad at me about last time, but ... look, I just had to try. I just wanna be your friend. You know that!" he told me before adding, "I kinda miss you."

I raised my eyebrows,

"You kinda miss me?" I held his gaze again, "Stop pretending that you just wanna be my friend!"

He froze a little, not knowing how to respond but he quickly added, full of his usual confidence,

"Fine!" he gazed at me intensely and he stepped at bit closer to me as he said in a whisper, "You were fucking hot on stage! I couldn't take my eyes off you... and I had to see you... There! I'm not pretending now!" he stated with even more self-assurance.

"That's better," I said dryly.

"Why can't you just admit that you like me too!" he demanded.

"I do like you," I retorted as I stared at him, "I just don't wanna fuck you!"

"That's bullshit. You do! You would if you weren't with him," he whispered.

"Well, I am very much with him," I retorted.

"Come on, I see the way you look at me."

"It won't happen! So just stop hitting on me!" I objected, although he had noticed there was something about his assertiveness that I liked.

"I can't help it, I'm too into you. You'll get bored of him eventually!" he asserted, looking over at Rob, who was in the middle of a conversation with a bunch of admirers, but who had seen that I was talking to Damien. As I turned my head, I saw Rob looking briefly at me at the same instant, then at Damien, and I tried to make my eyes tell him that I needed a bit of help.

I met Damien's gaze again and let out a small chuckle,

"You should really get yourself a significant other of your own, you know. Have you seen him tonight? You don't stand a chance against him."

He gave a slight shrug,

"I was only looking at you!" he said, acting flirtatious.

My eyes left his gaze and he smiled as he raised the guitar case he was holding,

"I've still got this to give you! Please, accept it this time." he said imploringly, handing it over to me. I didn't move a finger as I saw that Rob was about to come over to us.

"Thank you," Rob said as he grabbed the guitar case and placed it on the floor next to us, then, he wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

"You can leave now," he told him nastily.

"Was I talking to you?" Damien spat back.

Rob chuckled,

"If you think you can just hit on him without me getting involved, you're wrong! Just leave. He may be too nice to say it, but he doesn't want you here!"

"Doesn't he?" he asked him and then stared at me, "Why do you let him talk for you?"

"He does it better than me!" I said, my voice full of sarcasm.

"He's not the boss of you," he said, looking straight at me and ignoring Rob.

Rob laughed and I replied,

"No, he's not! See, I never listen to him and he always listens to me. You don't know shit about us Damien!" I told him, in an attempt to make him understand that he really didn't have a shot with me.

"Yeah, so do us both a favor, and get the hell out of our lives!" Rob snapped, getting riled up.

He gazed at me again, clearly hoping that I might contradict Rob,

"You heard him!" I told him, getting a bit defensive.

He seemed to accept the fact that I agreed with Rob. He looked away with an air of disappointment but quickly turned his eyes to Rob. He leaned closer to him and kind of whispered,

"I can't wait for you to fuck up!"

"You bastard, get the fuck out of here!" Rob spat at him and took his arm off my shoulders to push Damien away.

I think Damien realized at that instant that Rob might actually start a fight with him and he gave up pretty easily, as we were surrounded by so many people and some were starting to turn their attention to us and watch the scene.

"Fine, fine, I'm leaving," he said, taking a few steps back. "Call me when he does," he said seductively but under his breath.

I fought back a smile. I had to admit the woman in me was having a bit of fun having two hot guys fight over me.

Rob turned to me, shaking his head,

"If I do fuck up and you wanna fuck some guy to get back at me, please, don't choose him!" he said with a laugh.

That was good, he was at least able to joke about this.

I laughed slightly, Damien had barely moved backwards so he heard him,

"Lucky for me, he never listens to you," he muttered under his breath.

"Alright, that's it!" Rob growled.

He took a few steps toward him before pushing him violently backwards. Jordan was the one to intervene, probably because Rachel had told him that something interesting might happen and they were the only ones who really knew what was going on.