I’m not exaggerating when I say that the four boys making up No Bull were every bit as hot as their music. Seriously. I thought Val was going to give herself an aneurism or some other serious medical condition as she looked around the small room and took in every detail of their hard bodies. And sure, I may have been doing my fair share of starring, but I actually had to look up at Val and quietly remind her that she needed to breathe. It took every bit of strength I had not to laugh at her as her eyes bulged from her head and I was sure that they would pop right out any second.

“Boys!” Mick shouted. “I have two girls that you absolutely have to meet! This is my niece Elizabeth and her friend Val,” Mick introduced us.

All four boys turned to stare at us and for a reason unknown to me I felt my face changing colors to a nice shade of pink, probably matching Val’s hair.

“Hi,” the boy closest to us greeted. He was the most boyish looking with soft features and kind eyes. He had short blonde hair covered with a baseball hat and his eyes were the same shade of brown as my beloved lattes with flecks of gold in them. He was tall, but then again, compared to me, most people were. I guess he was about 5’10” wearing a simple outfit of jeans and a tee shirt that matched his hat. “Nice to meet y’all. I’m Bryant.”

Bryant extended his hand to me and I shook it. He looked at Val and then back at me with a puzzled look. “Is she okay?” he asked. Her face was turning a rather brilliant shade of purple from the lack of oxygen getting access to her brain.

“She’s just special sometimes,” I told him with an eye roll. “She’ll be fine in a minute,” I assured him.

“So, girls, what brings y’all out tonight?” another of the boys asked as he threw one arm over my shoulders and the other over Val’s. He was taller than Bryant, maybe six feet. He was bald as a queue ball but still had a soft face. He had a mischievous smile and even though I got the feeling that all of these boys were nice guys, I felt sure that his smile could get a girl in a lot of trouble. It was pretty much irresistible and very suggestive.

“Gee, I can’t imagine,” Mick chuckled. He looked me in the eyes and I knew he must have already told the band what huge fans Val and I were. As if Val wasn’t embarrassing enough in moments like that, I could always count on Mick to make an awkward moment even more uncomfortable.

“So what all has Mick told you guys about us?” I asked the boy with his arms around my shoulders. Again, I felt my cheeks begin to glow a gloriously embarrassing shade of pink (something that didn’t happen to me in front of musicians often) and I couldn’t help but giggle.

“Nothing too embarrassing, I promise,” the boy assured me. Somehow, I highly doubted that. “Would you ladies care for a beverage?” he asked. I shook my head. “Well, at least come have a seat,” he offered.

Val sat with Mr. Flirtatious on a couch on one side of the room while I took the only available seat between two of the boys on another couch. “I’m Brandon,” one of the boys next to me said, extending his hand.

Brandon was probably the oldest of the boys. He had harder features than his friends, though they were still very kind. His blonde hair hung just past his shoulders and he had piercing green eyes. He had the biggest muscles of any of the boys and I think his biceps were very possibly the same size as my head. He had on an outfit very similar to Bryant’s: a simple pair of jeans with a deep red tee shirt.

“It’s nice to meet you Brandon,” I said, taking his hand. It was strong, comforting almost.

The boy on my other side looked stunned. It only lasted a second before he shook it off. He was the youngest looking. He had a boyish face like Bryant, though his features were sharper. He had chocolate brown eyes and long dark hair. He had on jeans and a dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He had about five necklaces on and they were all on brown suede cords.

“What about you? Do you have a name?” I asked, partly because I was interested and mostly because I wanted him to stop gawking at me.

“Oh, yeah, I’m Seth, sorry,” he introduced himself.

Seth was cute in a shy sort of way. When he stood up, my jaw could have dropped. He had to be at least 6’3’’. And he was definitely a typical skinny white boy if I ever saw one.

I was looking around, taking in my surroundings. That’s when I noticed it. Boots! Yup, all four boys were wearing cowboy boots! How cute was that? I tried my hardest but couldn’t help but giggle a little bit.

“What’s so funny?” Val asked me, one brow raised, finally able to breathe/speak.

“Nothing,” I lied. I tried to calm myself down and was finally able to breathe normally a moment later. “Sorry, I tend to laugh at inappropriate moments,” I explained. It was true. I was the weird kid who would laugh in the middle of church for no apparent reason or in class because I would think about some funny joke I had heard days earlier.

“So, Mick says you’re really into music,” Seth told me.

I looked around the room and noticed that Mick had disappeared quietly. He was probably trying to make it easier for Val and I to hook up with one or more of the boys if we so chose. He wasn’t particularly fond of Kevin either.

“Yeah, I have a local radio show actually,” I told him.

“Here we go,” Val sighed. “Do you realize that all she’ll talk about all night now is music?” she asked Seth.

“Don’t worry, Seth will be happy to talk to her about it,” Brandon told her.

“I don’t talk about music that much,” Seth claimed, mostly to Brandon.

“Come on Man!” the boy next to Val exclaimed. “You’re obsessed!”

“Shut up Jason! Like you can talk?” Seth threw one of the throw pillows from the couch at him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I guess Val’s comment broke the ice so-to-say. After Seth threw that pillow, the six of us started laughing and joking and talking. Seth and I talked music and I found out that the band actually owned a studio together where they produced their own albums as well as albums for a lot of the local talent where they lived in South Carolina. He played bass for the band, but on his own he played drums and piano as well. And he was a descent singer, even if he did only sing backup.

I told Seth about my radio show which he found impressive. At least, I assume he did. His eyes got a little wide and he nodded a lot. He was kind of weird, so it was hard to judge him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Mick came back a while later to tell the boys they were up in just a minute. The boys were apparently supposed to be getting dressed to go on stage when Val and I distracted them. I was a little taken aback when all four boys stood up and began pulling their shirts off.

Trust me, it isn’t like I was complaining. It was a nice sight and all. But I thought Val was going to hyperventilate. Her face turned an instant shade of lobster-red and I could tell she had stopped breathing. She was so in love with the fact that they were “celebrities” (though they weren’t that well known yet, so I would hardly consider them celebrities) and she was so star struck.

“Val, breathe babe,” I advised her from across the room. Jason leaned over—still shirtless—and patted her on the back until she started choking a little. He began chuckling and continued to re-dress himself for the stage as if we weren’t there.

A moment later, Mick ushered Val and I out of the room. I’m sure that normally he would have let us stay until the band left to go to the stage, but it was in the best interest of Val’s health for us to leave promptly before she could have another episode of hyperventilation.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It wasn’t even five minutes after we had rejoined the still-growing crowd that the boys took the stage. The lights dimmed. The crowd erupted into a sea of applause. The boys played their first few chords. I was as breathless as Val had been at the sight of them shirtless.

Music does that to me sometimes. Musicians are great, sure, but unlike Val, they’re hardly the reason I spend most of my time at concerts or draining the battery on my iPod. No, for me it is my absolute obsession with music itself, not the people playing it.

When I talk about my obsession with music, don’t mistake me for one of the millions of teens today who always claim “Music is my LIFE,” because it’s the cool thing to say. In all reality this means they like to listen to whatever happens to be on the radio while they are in the car or they watch MTV (which doesn’t count because of the fact that they watch the horrible reality shows and then flip the channel on the rare occasion that a music video is FINALLY played).

That most certainly isn’t me. When I say music is my obsession, I mean a full-blown obsession that takes over every aspect of my life, which when you think about it, actually means that music really is my life.

And it’s moments like that—standing in front of the stage as No Bull played those first few chords—that my obsession truly takes over. I’m sucked into the music, the chords and notes. I’m not sure that I can totally describe it even. It’s like I’m in some other world comprised entirely of sound. Everything I have and know—my boyfriend, my family, religion, work—become a distant memory of the life I used to live and all that’s left is the music, taking over my body and seeping into every crevice of my brain.

And when it was over, all I could do was cheer like I had never cheered before.

A/N: The title for this chapter, The Heat is the title of a song by a band called NEEDTOBREATHE. I think the chorus to the song very much describes this chapter.

“Let the drum beats wash you over. Let the songs come and take you under. Push the life that brought you here away from you tonight. There’s a place where the pain can’t touch ya, and there’s a fire where the heat won’t burn ya. It’s in the sound of your voice tonight singing in one song.”