And yeah, we’re getting stopped a lot more often for autographs and selfies.
Our social media accounts have even starting gaining more followers with hashtags like #leonorhasrisen or #longlivetheravens, and people are tagging us in all of it.
Norman thinks we’re going to go viral tonight.
He’s always been the one to handle our socials, most religiously anyway, and he’s been watching our numbers spike since I got branded at Morbid Ink.
I don’t really know what any of that means, not in terms of the band itself and making a comeback without a record label, but the boys are happy.
Even if I’m a little black cloud trying like hell to rain on their parade.
I just didn’t know if all of this would be enough.
We did months of promo depending on what it was for, and we busted our asses to get to where we were when our second and third albums went platinum. It’s how we toured as many times as we did, how a UK tour was even on the table.
Andthatwas all after ten fucking years of nose to the grindstone bullshit.
Three weeks to push a few pictures, some flyers, and a song? Yeah, I wasn’t sure about shit.
Did my boyfriends, the four absolute loves of my life, argue about all of this with my pessimistic ass until everyone exploded?
Yes.
But it didn’t last, not when deep down I know they’re probably right, and they know how to convince me they are, whether I believe it or not.
They have always had the utmost faith in our band, in our music,in me, and no matter what happened at tonight’s show, this was going to be a success in their eyes.
Until this very second, I doubted that.
Amongst all the screaming fans belting out lyrics to Pretty Boy Leroy songs, I see The Ravens.
T-shirts, tapestries, homemade signs. Someone even has a huge cardboard cutout of my dumbass that they’re waving around like the olympic torch.
And right down in the front, settling in with their headphones that will only muffle the music, are our biggest fans.
Norm’s mom and dad, both of Pete’s sisters and their spouses and… Oh my god, they even brought Nanny Vee. Thankfully her tits seem to be tucked in nice and tight but that doesn’t mean anything. We had lots of fans who whip their boobs out just for one of us to make a comment and single themout and if that happens, Nanny will take that as a sign to follow suit.
So be it.
I’m too nervous, too excited to think about Mark’s grandma flashing us in the middle ofYour StarsorBend Like Me.
To be totally honest, I’m sad, too.
This is the first home show Pierre won’t be in the crowd screaming his face off in French, belting out every lyric and throwing his devil horns while Justine kept him from getting sucked into the pit. It’s the first show she won’t be at either, because her flight was delayed and when I talked to her last, Justine had no idea when she would finally land in the States.
For the first time since I walked my ass onto a stage in the great state of Louisiana, my parents aren’t going to be here to support me, and I don’t really know how to feel about that.
Except heartbroken, and more like an orphan than I’ve ever felt before.
“New pre-show ritual.”
I damn near jump out of my skin at the sound of Lucky’s voice, spinning around so fast I nearly punch him in the gut and almost fall over. “Jesus, Lucius.”
“Sorry, cakes,” he says with a shit eating grin and zero remorse as he tugs me further backstage. “I thought you heard me.”
“I did not.” Not over my own thoughts. “The crowd is getting rowdy.”
Lucky’s smile grows as we duck into our dressing room and he closes the door. “They miss you, Leonor.”
