Summer Nights

Summer Nights

Setting: The Backstage Lounge on the Music Cruise
Date: July 25th, 2014
Time: 6:21 PM PST
(Point of View: Franky)

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“Hey, Franky,” Cadence called from across the room.
I jumped and put down my cell phone, which I had been scrolling through pictures on while sitting on a bright-blue couch. “Yeah?”
“Could you c’mere?” she asked. She was sitting at a makeup table or whatever those things are called on the other side of the room, getting ready for our next show, which was at 6:45. She and I were the only ones in the backstage lounge. I was trying desperately to get “Best Day Ever”, our song for the Music Jam, out of my head for a little while. It wasn’t working. At all.
“Sure.” I pocketed my phone in my jeans and waddled over to her. “Sorry I was ignoring you, I just… I’m bored.”
Shaking her head, she said, “It’s okay, I was being kinda antisocial.” She leaned forward, putting something on her eyes. I don’t know very much about makeup. “I just need an opinion.”
“Okay…” I sat down in the big, plush, hot-pink chair next to the table. This was Cadence’s end of the room, and the other end was the band’s. It’s not that we don’t want to be around each other, it’s just that we each have a lot of stuff and if it gets mixed, well, that could be a problem.
She turned to me, putting her makeup stuff down. Her eyelashes were significantly darker, longer, and had a hint of purple on the edges, which I assumed was purple mascara. She had on sparkly silver eyeliner and a little bit of pink eyeshadow, too. She looked beautiful. Well, she looks beautiful with or without makeup. “Do I need to put more on?” she asked.
“More makeup?” I asked, raising one eye.
“Yeah.”
I shook my head. “No, you look beautiful…”
“Aw, Franky.” Her cheeks went pink. “But really. This is a show thing, not an opinion thing. Do you think I’ll look dead on the stage?”
“Cadence, no.” I put one flipper on her shoulder. “You look great. Stop doubting yourself.”
“Thanks.” She beamed, then put her makeup into her little purple purse thing and set it on the table. “Now…” Standing up, she waddled over to the mirror next to the table and turned around. She was wearing a purple shirt with rhinestones on the neckline and left sleeve, and tight, dark jeans with her white sneakers. It made her look really pretty.
“In case you’re going to ask me, your clothes look good too,” I continued from my spot on the cushy chair.
“Read my mind.” She grinned and came back over to me, sliding into the chair next to me. (It was big, so it could hold both of us.) “So are you totally sick of the song yet?” For over a week now, we’d been playing at least ten shows a day with “Best Day Ever” as the main track.
I shrugged, putting my flipper around her waist. “I like the way the song sounds. I just wish I could get it out of my head.”
She giggled. “Same here.” Yawning, she leaned on my shoulder. “Last show of the night, though. I have some plans for afterword.”
“Yeah? Like what?”
“Like… well, I thought you and I and the guys could all hang out. Get some food at the buffet, go to the front deck and do that thing from ‘Titanic’... y’know, on the front railing?”
I laughed. “Yeah, I know what you mean.”
“And we’ll just… I don’t know. I want to make a memory. This summer’s been epic so far.”
“I agree.” I paused. “Sorry I wasn’t sitting with you earlier. I just--”
“Franky, shut up,” she said, but she was smiling. Leaning forward, she put her flippers on my shoulders and mumbled, “It was only for, like, five minutes.”
“Okay.” I grinned. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Does it involve kissing you? Because in that case, yes, very much.”
“Okay. Then yes. You’re thinking what I’m thinking.”

Laughing a little, I kissed her and sighed. Cadence is amazing.
“I love you,” she murmured, rubbing her beak on mine.
“I love you, too.” I kissed her again. My face was bright-red as I put both of my flippers around her waist. She was just about to say something when we got interrupted.

“Oh, would you get a room, you two?”
I turned. Petey K, G-Billy, and Stompin’ Bob were standing at the doorway of the room, newly back from their excursion to the engine room for who-knows-what reason. Petey, who had spoken, was grinning and had his flippers crossed.
“This is a room,” I pointed out. Cadence let go of me and sprang up again, waddling to her table and putting her green headphones on her head of brightly colored hair.
“How was the engine room?” she asked as the three of them approached us and sat down on a green couch next to my fluffy pink chair. She sat down next to me again, and I put my flipper around her shoulders.
“It was, well… stuffy and hot…” G-Billy replied. He was wearing his black-and-white plaid collared shirt with jeans, along with his big belt, lucky red bandana, and brown boots. All four of us were in our ‘standard band outfits’, which is just the outfits we’re wearing in our player cards and giveaway background. For me, that meant the white t-shirt with the orange penguin graphic, green hoodie with the fuzzy orange inside, jeans, and purple-and-gray high tops.
“And busy,” Petey added.
“Very,” Stomp mumbled. He looked like he was still recovering from the experience.
Cadence grinned. “Fun.” She brushed off her left flipper, then muttered, “I’m starving.”
“Same here,” I replied.
“Yeah, me, too,” Billy said. “We should hit the food court after this show. Their pizza is amazing.”
“Do you eat the pizza every time you go in there?” Petey asked.
“Maybe.” He flashed a lopsided grin.
“Oh, Billy.” Petey slapped his own face. “Billy, Billy, Billy.”
“Yes, Petey, Petey, Petey?”
“You’re crazy, crazy, crazy.”
“I know-ey, know-ey, know-ey.”
I laughed softly. “Wait, what time is it?” I answered my own question by looking at the digital neon clock on the back wall. It read 6:32. “Nevermind.”
“I can hear Cole right now…” Petey mumbled, half to himself and half to us.
“Same.” Stomp nodded. “Which means it’ll be him and then Violetta and then us. And the windows in between acts are really short, so…”
“We’ll make it,” Cadence said with a dismissive wave of her flipper.
“If you say so, boss.” I grinned.

A few minutes of waiting backstage later, we heard Violetta’s song end and the clicking of her purple shoes as she waddled into her dressing-room. That was our signal to go, so we all headed up onto the stage. My keyboard was waiting for me, as were Petey’s guitar, Stomp’s bass, and Billy’s drumset. Cadence only had a microphone.
The red curtain was closed, but I could hear a roaring crowd on the deck below the stage. It was Friday night, after all-- the most crowded night of the week. Last Friday, the room had been full, and it had just been another show.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, rubbing the yellow feathers on the top of my head. Even though it was just a little show, I was still nervous because I always get nervous.
“Ready, everybody?” Cadence asked.
“Heck, yeah!” Petey swung his guitar around himself ceremoniously.
“Somebody needs to give him a chill pill,” Billy called from behind the drumset. We all laughed.

The clock on the wall backstage was counting down. There were 30 seconds until showtime.
“Last show, Cadence. Give it all you got,” I said.
“I will.” She smiled and winked at me, and I winked back. Then she turned around, faced the curtain, and took a deep breath, looking down at her sneakers.

A few seconds later, the curtains opened and we started to play. All I could hear was the music and the cheering of the crowd. My part was almost automatic to me since I had played it so many times, so I watched Cadence dancing on the front of the stage instead of paying attention to my own flippers. She was still singing every note in perfect pitch, but managed to dance amazingly while she did it. I don’t know how that’s possible.
I looked over to Petey, who was in front of me a little to my right. He was flipping his head back-and-forth to the music, beaming widely. Stomp was stomping, as usual. And Billy was going crazy on the drumset.
Music can do crazy things to penguins. You would never know that I’m really shy, or that Stomp’s so quiet. It transforms you.

As the song ended, we waved to the crowd and the curtain fell for the night. I beamed and turned off my keyboard, lifting both flippers in the air. “Wooooooo!” As a post-show ritual, everybody else did the exact same thing as me, then laughed.

“C’mon, guys,” I said. I was the closest to the door to the dressing-rooms, so I left my keyboard and headed over. The guys left their instruments, too-- stage management would pick up and deliver them back to the dressing-rooms for tomorrow’s shows.

When we got back to our room, we all celebrated a little, partly because we didn’t have to hear “Best Day Ever” again for a whole 15 hours, and partly because the fun of the night was about to begin.
We headed to the food court, where we got a big seaweed pizza and brought it up to the deck on the front of the boat. There weren’t very many penguins there, so we found a table and sat around it.
I lifted my pizza. “To the-- I dunno. The band plus Cadence?...”
Cadence lifted her slice, too. “Sure!”
“We eat.” Petey took a huge bite out of his slice. “Oh, God, I was starving.”
“So was I,” Billy said, beak full.
I took my first bite. The pizza was delicious. We ate in silence for a few minutes, then I spoke again.

“This is awesome,” I said softly.
“Why do you say that? I mean, it is awesome. But why did you say it?” Billy asked me.
“Because, well… I mean, picture us ten-- even five years ago. Could you imagine being here? On a huge cruise boat playing music for all these penguins who really, really want to hear us play?”
“You’re right,” Stomp said.
“It’s a privilege, and the most epic thing ever,” Cadence added, raising both eyes at us.
“True that.” Billy lifted his pizza crust. It was just then that I realized we had finished the pizza. Apparently it wasn’t as big as it looked.
“That was fast…” Stomp mumbled, picking up the box and waddling to the trash can. When he got back, he sighed and sat back down. “That pizza was heavenly.”
“I told you,” Billy said.

After complaining about how catchy all the songs were for a few more minutes, Cadence got an idea.
“Hey, who wants to do something stupid?” she asked.
“I vote yes!” Petey cried.
“Me, too!” Billy added.
“It depends on what it is…” Stomp said.
“Would you all die if you got your clothes wet?” she asked.
“I think I know what she’s suggesting,” Billy said, grinning and turning to the door that led to the pool deck.
“Should we go?” I asked.
Petey looked around slyly, then jumped up and yelled, “LAST ONE THERE HAS TO LISTEN TO SABRINA’S SONG A MILLION TIMES ON REPEAT!”
“RUN!” I cried, getting up and sprinting to the door. The four of them piled in before I could, and as we ran through the hallway, I yelled, “I SUCK AT RUNNING!!!!”
“LOOKS LIKE YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE TO LISTEN TO SOME INTENSE SABRINA!” Billy cried as we reached the pool deck. I threw my hoodie and shoes on a lounge chair and catapulted myself into the pool, full-speed. I was the last one in, but I didn’t care. Popping up, I threw my flippers in the air and cried, “I lose!”
Cadence, who was a few feet away from me and had put her shoes and headphones on the side of the pool, laughed. Her hair was soaked, and most of her makeup had come off, but she looked beautiful anyway.
“Franky’s a loser! Franky’s a loser!” Petey joked. “I can’t see,” he said abruptly. “I should have brought contacts.”
“Ha-ha.” I pointed at him, then grinned. My shirt was soaked through, but I didn’t care.
G-Billy came sliding down the green slide and right past Petey, and soon after him, Stomp came. Now we were all soaking-wet. I didn’t think it mattered to any of us, though.

“Let’s have a cannonball contest,” Petey said, pulling himself out of the pool and waddling to the diving-board. He bounced up-and-down on it, then yelled, “FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!!”

A huge splash, and he popped up in the deep end. I laughed. “Me next!”

When we had almost drained the pool by creating huge waves, we decided it was time to get dry. We went back to the front of the boat with our stuff and stood against the railing. The ship had sailed a little bit out to sea, so we could see Club Penguin Island perfectly. There were lights shining everywhere, and behind it, the sun was setting. In a colorful display of orange, purple, yellow, and pink, it made the whole thing look like a painting.
“Check it out,” I said softly, putting my flipper around Cadence’s wet shoulders. She slipped her flipper around my back, and pressed her cheek to mine.
“That’s awesome,” Petey said. “Truly awesome.”
“Everyone always says how much of a loser island it is, but it really isn’t,” Billy added. “It’s the best island out there.”
“Small but mighty,” Stomp agreed, nodding his head.
Silence for at least a few minutes. We just kept watching the sun go down. Then Cadence said, “Guys, I think this calls for a selfie.”
“Oh, God.” I grinned.
“I want to hold the camera!” Petey cried.
“Okay, fine, you can hold the camera.” She took out her cell phone and gave it to him. “Everybody turn around.”
We all turned so the island was behind us, then Petey held up the phone. “Crowd in, penguins.”
It was easier than it looked to fit our five faces into the frame. “Say… Music Jam!” Cadence said.
“Music Jam!” we all said in unison.
Billy yelled, “Unison jinx!”

All five of us were beaming as widely as we could as Petey snapped the picture.
Click.

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