Chelsie tried her best not to fidget too much as she waited for 6pm to roll around. Tonight was opening day all over again, but with more customers at least. She had no idea if any musicians were going to show, but both Chloë and Aiden assured her that the word was out.
Chelsie glanced around and saw a guitar or two, but that was it. It didn’t look all that promising, but still, it could work out. She tried to remind herself about how far they had come from the first slow opening week. The music night could be much the same, a slow start, but then lots of recognition.
“Are you ready for this?” Aiden placed a hand on her shoulder and Chelsie gave him a big smile. It felt fake, but she was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.
“You bet.” Chelsie glanced at the clock. “In fact, it’s time.”
She gave Aiden another big, fake smile and walked up to the stage area. She got to the mic and gave Aiden a glance. He nodded at her as he flipped a switch to turn the power on. Chelsie did her best to stretch the fake smile all the way to her eyes and faced the customers.
“Good evening everyone. For those of you who don’t know, my name is Chelsie and I am the co-owner of Grounds to Leaves. I’d like to thank you all for coming here on the first night of our “Open Mic” nights. For those of you, who wish to perform, please sign up with that gentleman right over there.” Chelsie pointed at Aiden, who smiled and waved at everyone.
“We do have some instruments available to those who need them, but you will need to let us know what you need when you add your name to the sign up list.” Chelsie gave Aiden a nervous look and he gave her the thumbs up sign to show that they did indeed have a name on the list already. Chelsie went over and looked at the first name on the sheet. There were already three people on the list. “And first up for you tonight is, Jason Moore.”
Chelsie walked back to the stage and replaced the mic as a young man walked up to the stage, guitar case in hand. He gave Chelsie a wink as he walked by and she tried not to grin. He was a little young for her, but it made it her feel good; that, and the fact that people were willing to come up and sing.
Jason turned out to be a pretty good start to a night of good music. A lot of people did covers of songs and there were a few originals as well. Half way through the night they had already decided to create a small break so that Aiden could have a breather. After the sixth person had stepped down to a round of applause, Chelsie took to the mic.
“Thank you so much to all the fabulous musicians who have taken to the stage and to those yet to come. We are going to take a short break for a bit and for those of you who might have any suggestions, we do have a suggest box just to the right of the till on the wall there. Feel free to drop off any suggestions that you might think will make our open mic nights better.”
Chelsie was pleased at the round of applause that her statement was greeted with. She returned quickly to the other side of the counter, hoping that people would take this time to get new cups of coffee and snacks. So far, business in that respect had been fairly steady all evening.
After about 20 minutes, they started up again. There were another five musicians signed up to play for the night and each seemed to be as good as the last. Chelsie was amazed that everyone who wanted to play was actually good. She had prepared herself for a few bad singers at least, but it hadn’t happened yet.
Chelsie was about to step head up to mic after the last musician and bid everyone a good night when Aiden took the stage instead, carrying his guitar. She hadn’t been expecting him to go up. When they had talked, he had said he would only go up as a last resort. Chloë had already been up to sing a couple of songs earlier in the night.
“Evening everyone. Alexei Neboro was supposed to be our last performer for the night, but before we call it a night, I’d like to sing one song if I may. After that, we’ll be open for another thirty minutes or so before closing.”
Aiden pulled a stool up and adjusted the mic to the right height. He strummed a few random notes and then began the melody. It was different from the music he usually played and Chelsie listened excitedly. She had heard all his songs before, but this had to be a new one.
When you told me it was over
Didn't know what to think
Thought love would last forever
I was living in a dream
Everything you told me
Must have been a lie
None of it made sense
'specially when you said good-bye
I gave you my heart
And you gave it back to me
Left it in pieces
Right there in my hands
You never looked back
And gave me no reason why
Ohhh oh, you gave me no reason why
Is it to much to ask
Cause it's all I need to know
The reason why you left me
Standing all alone
With a kiss on the lips
And tears in my eyes
You walked out the door
And took with you my life
I gave you my heart
And you gave it back to me
Left it in pieces
Right there in my hands
You never looked back
And gave me no reason why
Ohhh oh, you gave me no reason why
Yeah you gave me no reason
Gave me no reason why
Chelsie stood stunned, not really sure what to say. The applause was plentiful and it was a few moments before anyone got up to order a last coffee or one more muffin for the road. She didn’t have much time to think until well after the doors had closed for the night.
“Hey Aiden?” Chelsie didn’t quite meet his eyes, but she needed to know. “The song you sung. Did you, um, did you write that after David left?”
“Yeah, I did.” Aiden look down at the floor and bit his lip. Chelsie hesitated for a second and then walked up to him and gave him a big hug. He froze for a second and then hugged her back.
“I didn’t know it was so hard on you. If I had known…”
“If you had known it wouldn’t have changed anything.” Aiden managed a half-hearted smile. “Besides, I’m fine now. Long over it.”
Chelsie didn’t believe a word of it, but she let him be. He wasn’t the kind of guy to air his dirty laundry. She had only ever met David one, and the way that Aiden had looked at him told the whole story. He had never said anything to her, but she was pretty sure that Aiden felt like David had been the love of his life.
“So, shall we call it a night?” Chelsie held out her elbow and Aiden wrapped his arm around hers.
“We shall.” Aiden laughed as they headed for the door and home.
