“Sure, bro.”
“Not your bro.”
“Aw, was that a tear?” Gabe reached for Demetri’s face.
“Not the face!” he shouted.
“Guys.” I rolled my eyes.
Dwayne yelled louder. The screams were deafening.
“Give it up for AD2!”
Smoke filled the air as Demetri and I ran onto the stage. I grabbed my microphone and took my position as Demetri got on the drum set.
The count started. “One, two. One, two, three, four…”
The music climbed.
“I breathe… I breathe, I breathe, I take you in. I need, I need you more than I want sin… Be, just be there, don’t let me walk away. Baby stay… oh baby, stay.”
Demetri joined in with harmony.
“I die. I die. I die when you aren’t with me. I bleed, I bleed. Baby save me from my demise.”
The crowd roared as we both stopped singing. The music dipped again, the lights flashed, and then Gabe — or Ashton — appeared in the middle of the stage.
“Yet I rise.”
His voice was higher than both of ours, making the music crescendo in a way that was killer.
“I rise. Baby, I rise when you kiss me. I breathe, I die, I rise when you join your body with mine.”
This part usually wreaked havoc on my ears as the girls all but simultaneously broke our eardrums with their screams. We continued on in unison.
“Nothing, nothing can come between the love we’ve made, the love we gave, and I, baby, I… I swear that life won’t be a memory of what we could have been had we tried… ‘cause, baby, I died, I died, I’ve died. But because of you, I live.”
Demetri handed over the drumsticks to one of our band members then joined us in the middle of the stage for the chorus. The song we were singing, “I Live,” had actually been written by all of us, including Wes. It was the theme song for Jaymeson’s new movie and had debuted at number one on iTunes.
Over a million downloads later…
And we had an entire crowd, lifting their cell phones and singing the song with us while we all split across the stage and took our positions.
“I live! I live because you saved me. I live, I live. Please don’t ever regret me… ohh, whoa, ohhh, ohhh, ohhh.”
We waved our hands in the air as the crowd joined us. With a quick glance to the side, I saw Nat holding Ella’s hands into the air. A thrill shot through me.
Over a year ago, I’d thought I was going to lose my brother to drugs.
And now?
I had Gabe, Wes, Jaymeson, Demetri, Nat, Ella, Lyss, Saylor, Pris, and Kiersten. Our family was growing.
Tears welled in my eyes as I sang the last part of the song about living, moving forward, forgetting the past, and living in the moment.
And I was so thankful to God that I’d done exactly that.