Free Straight from the Heart by Breigh Forstner

on the
bottom row of teeth. “Is that from…?”
    “No, I fell down the stairs a couple of
months ago at my parents’ house and lost the tooth. Dentist put
this thing in instead; I thought it looked pretty cool at the time.
Ladies love it.” Damon explained, and I laughed. He definitely knew
how to put on the charm that’s for sure.
    “Well it suits you pretty nicely,” I
replied.
    He put his hands in his pockets, shifting
his feet up and down like he was waiting for me to say something.
“So I was going to ask you, I don’t know if I should after what I
did to you, but what the Hell. I was wondering if you would like to
go out to dinner sometime coming up?”
     “I’d really like that, Damon.” I told
him shyly, and his face lit up.
    “You really just said you would?”
    “Don’t make me change my mind, mister,” I
warned him, and he reached for my hand.
    “Alright, alright! We’re in Chicago for a
break and then a show the next day, why don’t we plan on going
somewhere nice tomorrow?” Damon suggested. Chicago? I had never
been there before. I knew my parents had rich friends that would
visit from Chicago, but I assumed they were famous for pizza and
being the “Windy City.”
    “Sounds amazing, I can’t wait.” I couldn’t
contain my smile now. I felt like I was on Cloud Nine. Seeing the
rest of the members of Ignite the Flames getting ready to go on
stage, I waved to Lucy, who was dressed in a simple ripped up Guns
N’ Roses T-shirt and black jeggings. Gesturing towards them I said
“You should probably go,” I paused. “You know, sing your set and
everything.”
    Damon ran a hand through his newly cut hair
and sighed. “I should.” Wrapping his arms around me, he kissed me
on the forehead. “I’ll see you probably tomorrow, okay?”
    “Kay. Good luck out there!” I shouted, as
his band ran out on stage to dozens of bras and panties already
lying in front of them. Shaking my head in amusement, I went back
to the bus, where everyone was pretty much asleep. Asleep before
midnight? These guys? It was shocking and surprising, but yet now I
had a reason to call them old men. Not literally. Climbing into my
bunk, I prepared to change into a pair of shorts and camisole, but
not before I was interrupted.
    “Got good news, Schaefler, the label exec
liked your little stunt.” Cale peeked up at me, sounding groggy.
His hair was disheveled and wasn’t wearing a shirt.
    “HA! So what does this mean, we’re signed to
the label now?” I asked curiously. I never understood the whole
getting signed to a record label and how the details get worked
out.
    “Not just yet, eager beaver. That was just
one person that liked us. He has to go back to the label, and they
have to come up with a contract. They’ll present it to us. We like
the deal, we sign.” Looking at him dumbfounded, he cleared his
throat and replied, “Don’t worry; you’ll learn all about the
business in time, B. You’re still new at this, but that’s okay,
you’re doing fine.” He patted my leg and crawled back into his
bunk.
    “No goodnight?” I whispered quietly, trying
not to wake the other guys.
    He stuck his head out again and smiled,
“Good night, Bryn.”
    I giggled and sighed. “Good night,
Cale.”

Chapter 7: Lips of an Angel
    From the moment we rolled into Chicago, I
fell in love. From the way the high towers rose into the clouds and
the crazy amount of people on the streets, I loved it all. Luckily
it was closer to the end of summer and still sunny out so I
wouldn’t have to worry about bundling up for my “date” tonight.
Damon told me to meet me outside of the Hard Rock Hotel later on
tonight, where we all decided to stay in lieu of the buses. I was
invited to go out to a club with Cale, Raptor, Luke and Vince, but
I told them I was meeting up with Damon. Almost immediately they
were hooting and hollering, telling me it was a bad mistake. I knew
they were joking, but Cale was a whole other story. He