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Tina stands behind the keyboard, taking a deep breath after the jumping and moving all night. “Okay, everyone,” she says into the mic, looking out into the small but incredibly enthusiastic audience. Just seeing everyone brings a wide smile to her face, and their energy is unbelievable; Tina could do a high-energy show for hours with these fans’ support.
“We’re gonna take it down for a bit,” she says, looking down and starting to play simple chords, then turning back to the audience. To one specific face in the audience.
Quinn’s platinum blond hair in the center of the front row catches the stage lights, which made it easy for Tina to spot her at the beginning of the show, but hard for her not to perform the entire set right to Quinn and only Quinn. She catches Quinn’s eye now, who smiles and blows a kiss, and Tina beams back at her.
Quinn is here, and nothing could bring her down at this moment.
“I’m going to play a song I’ve never played before,” Tina says, letting her gaze wander again. “You guys haven’t even heard this one. And so I want to say a few words about it before I start, if you’ll let me…”
She trails off and grins at the encouraging cheers and applause that follow. She lets it fill her up, making her feel brave, invincible, like she can do anything.
“Okay, so, you all know that I keep my personal life pretty private, and firstly, I just want to say I really appreciate that you all have respected that. Honestly, you guys are just the best fans I could ask for, and I love you all so much.”
Tina pauses for another round of cheers and she gathers her thoughts. She takes another deep breath, more for reassurance than any nerves or fear… she’s ready.
“I want to share something with you all tonight, through this song. It’s something really very personal to me, and the other person involved, who also has not heard the song…” She smiles at Quinn again who looks at her with a loving bewilderment in her eyes. “I wrote this very recently and literally no one has heard it yet. So… this is called ‘In Her Eyes,’ and I wrote it about - wrote it for - the love of my life.” Tina bites her lip a little to contain her widening smile at the crowd’s roaring response, and she lets her eyes fall on Quinn again, whose mouth is open in wonder. She can see Quinn laugh a little in disbelief.
Surprise, Tina mouths with a grin.
She thinks of these past months - almost year - of their relationship, of keeping it secret from the media as Tina’s musical spotlight grows and Quinn is simultaneously and rapidly gaining fame in acting; of stolen moments in between flurries of interviews and red carpets and concerts and photoshoots. She remembers the relatively peaceful, quiet bliss, the calm before the storm that was the start of Tina’s US tour and Quinn’s first far-away movie shoot; the storm that tested them - tested their love, their patience, their devotion - the perfect storm of difficulty and work that nearly broke them but instead only forged them stronger. They refused - refuse - to break.
And now Quinn’s in her audience for her final show and she’s all she sees. All she needs.
“It’s you. It always has been,” Tina finishes quietly, gazing directly into Quinn’s eyes.
The crowd yells and Tina looks down with a grin to play the intro, but not before catching Quinn’s blinding smile and her shining eyes.