Rise To Stardom - Chapter 154

Chapter 154: Are You Not Entertained?!
No sooner had Tyler’s group, vanished out of sight, Ryan, Steven and Joe, all of whom had done the gentlemanly thing by grabbing refreshments for the ladies, casually conversed as they walked towards the entrance of the stadium.

“Kyle’s phone has been unreachable all day.” Ryan stated.

“Well, the last episode of [The Curator]’s 10th season will be airing in two weeks’ time.” Steven spoke in acknowledgement while Joe added, his tone rhetorical;

“And then there’s the success of [Now & Forevermore]?”

“He’s probably far busier than we’ll ever be for the next few months.” Joe commented with another nod.

“I know. I know. It’s just, he said he would be able to make it to the concert at the very last minute before Katie and I left for L.A this morning and yet, I haven’t been able to contact him all day.” Ryan explained, with a hint of concern in his eyes.

“Oh? He told you that?” Steven curiously questioned instead.

He himself had contacted Kyle a few days earlier, to which Kyle had explained that he wouldn’t be able to join up with them due to his packed schedule.

“Yeah. Sent me a simple text saying we’d meet at the concert.” Ryan responded as they kept moving with the crowd.

Possibly due to the multitude of people present, no one had caught on to the fact that there were celebrities among them.

Not that the trio minded.

This was far more peaceful after all.

Added to that, they too did the smart thing and donned Carl Finch printed face-caps alongside the rest of the ladies.

Unsurprisingly, it did a good job of subtly masking their presence as the simple accessory was commonplace at a concert as big as this.

“Hmmm…” Joe let out a thoughtful hum as they filed into the stadium, Ryan and Steven quickly locating the ladies as Katie, alongside Lily, Christina and Jasmine waved from afar.

“Well, I’m pretty sure there’s a good reason he’s been unreachable since then.” the young man finally let out a comment, his tone of choice calm.

“Yeah.” Ryan and Steven subtly nodded in agreement as they finally, made their way over to the ladies.

Kyle wasn’t the type to make promises and then break it unless there was a really valid reason.

However, just before they settled into their respective seats, Ryan got a notification buzz from his messenger app.

“Speak of the devil…” he grinned as he read the text that wrote;

I’m here. Apologies for the lack of contact. Be seeing you in a bit though.

“That him?” Joe and Steven knowingly questioned with a light smile, to which Ryan simply nodded in response.

“He’s around, isn’t he?” Katie who noticed her husband’s grin, rhetorically inquired with a light smile of her own.

“Who’s around?” Lily popped her head out from the row of chairs while asking curiously, Christina and Jasmine, similarly sharing the same expression.

Liz, Amy, Ellen and Hannah, were just as curious too, their gazes inquisitive.

“Kyle. Said he’d be able to make it at the last minute and he did.” Ryan lengthily explained to which all the ladies present, Katie excluded, widened their eyes in pleasant surprise.

No sooner had Christina heard this though, her eyes darted to the empty seat beside her.

Swiftly, she placed her small handbag and printed face-cap there.

Sure she knew it was childish of her but honestly, she just wanted to reserve a seat in case Kyle arrived anytime soon.

Her friends who watched her though, couldn’t help but let out light, amusing chuckles and giggles.

And yet, just as the guys took their seats while distributing the snacks, the group watched as a fairly handsome guy, walked up to them, inquiring with a charming smile;

“Is this seat taken?” Tyler politely inquired while pointing to the seat beside Christina.

As for Seth, Nick and Troy, there were currently walking up the stands to meet with Tyler whom had already located the hot blonde.

Considering how many people had been filing into the stadium at the same time, they had lost sight of the clique of beautiful ladies and had to spend a few minutes locating them again.

Christina on the other hand, currently staring at Tyler with a troubled expression on her beautiful features, wondered if she should just do the adult thing and let go of the seat.

However, just as she came to the mature decision to do so, the audience’s attention was suddenly grabbed the moment they heard a mic-test from a certain male voice.

“Question. Why am I hijacking what should’ve been Carl Finch’s stage?”

“Conjecture. Possibly because…”

“Okay. Guess the mic-test was a success.”

No sooner had the crowd heard those string of words, what had originally been a stadium full of chatters, erupted into a full-on scream fest as Kyle stepped onto the stage, the session musicians, performing the instrumentals of [Needs To Be Loved]!

🎸🎶

Broken heart with smudged up make-up,

Tears streaming down her pretty face,

Tired of having her heart played with,

So done with all the lies and games, hmmm~

🎸🎶

Beaming with the most energetic smile on his features as he performed live, Kyle’s friend group watched on in utter shock as the rest of the audience kept erupting into excited screams and cheers.

Watching as Kyle moved on to the second verse of the song, Ryan, gazed down at the message on his phone once again, and then, gazed at the expansive stage in a daze before finally, letting out an audible curse, his tone of choice a mix of disbelief and excitement.

“Kyle Kristoff Kestis, you conniving bastard!”

At the same time, Steven and Joe let out one of the most excited laughter they had let out in years!

As for the ladies, Jasmine and her friends just watched on, speechless, although their expressions had morphed from shocked disbelief to pure excitement.

The same exact emotion, translated over to the other ladies as Lily, audibly began to sing along to the chorus alongside Amy and Katie while Christina, clapped rhythmically to the song with a dazzling smile.

🎹🎶🎼🎸🎤

Find the girl with a broken heart,

Hold her tight and never let go,

Tell her she’s a beautiful soul,

‘Cause she needs to be loved…

🎹🎶🎼🎸🎤

[Needs To Be Loved], Kyle’s pop-rock ballad which had a lovely yet exciting sing-along quality, was a perfect song to open up Carl Finch’s mini-tour.

As Tyler watched the female celebrities around him erupt into a sing-along episode while grooving to the song alongside multiple other ladies at the stadium, a completely shocked expression, painted his features as he took a cautious step backwards.

By the time the rest of the guys finally reached him too, they had the exact same reaction, Seth especially who instantly realized whom all of them were!

That moment exactly, was when it dawned on all four that they didn’t even stand a chance with any of the ladies here.

In fact, Tyler especially became very wary of taking his chances with Christina who seemed to have connections to all these high-class people.

As a result, still with a dazed expression on their features, he and his boys silently moved over to the other empty seats as Kyle kept performing with the excited crowd.

🎹🎶🎸♫

I know that you’ve cried, alone in the dark,

Ran around in circles for an answer,

Tried so hard to not give up on love,

So please save your tears for another day,

‘Cause in time, you’ll meet a man who cares…

🎹🎶🎸♫

And just as the instrumentals of the song took a brief pause, signifying a move to the final chorus, one of the stagehands who was informed by one of her friends in the stands, rushed in to whisper in the Video Director’s ear.

“Multiple popular celebrities spotted at two o’clock!”

Swiftly, the Director had the crew handling the rotating drones to focus on that particular part in the stands.

This was the kind of stuff they the production team of a concert loved to see as it would further boost the audience’s excitement.

Simultaneously, just as Kyle on stage picked up the song from where he paused, he watched as one of the dual-sided videoboards, cut to a group of people in the stand whom were singing and grooving along in the stands.

No sooner had he seen that, he instantly pointed to their direction in real-time as he sang with an even more energetic smile.

🎹🎶🎼🎸🎤

Found a girl with a broken heart,

Held her tight, won’t ever let go,

Told her she was a beautiful soul,

‘Cause she needs to be loved…

🎹🎶🎼🎸🎤

This change didn’t go unnoticed by a single individual in the stadium as they all, realized whom these people were.

Instantly, the increasing excitement in the stadium reached a new high as everyone watched Jasmine, Lily, Katie, Liz, Ellen and Hannah having the time of their lives as they sang along.

And yet, as if that had just been the start, no sooner had [Needs To Be Loved] ended, the crowd at the concert erupted into an even louder high as Carl finally made his appearance on stage with a burst of fireworks.

At the exact same time, the instrumentals of the song instantly shifted from pop-rock ballad to energetic pop-rock as Kyle’s vocal shifted from emotive and raw to powerful and expressive!

🎸🎵🥁 🎶🎤

Suddenly I’m in a trance!

She took my heart along for a joyride!

Watched as the spotlight shined on her!

Grabbed me by the collar and whispered!

🎸🎵🥁🎶🎤

From there on, Carl picked up the song as Kyle interacted with the crowd near the stage!

🎸🎵🥁🎶🎤

She said keep your eyes on me boy,

Blink even once and you’ll miss it!

🎸🎵🥁 🎶 🎤

And like that, the song continued on but this time, the videoboards focused on Ryan, Steven and Joe whose sing along was mirroring the energetic feel Carl and Kyle were putting on stage.

But even they, and even the audience, would’ve never expected the thing that happened a few minutes after;

“One! One, Two, Three, Go!”

Kyle executed a perfect backflip and landed with style, instantly complementing Carl who sang the chorus!

🎸🎵🥁🎶🎤

Cause she twirled around on her heels (She twirled around…),

Dazzled me with her bewitching smile! (Dazzled me with her smile…),

Dragged me to the dance floor (She dragged me along…),

And now I’ve danced off the edge (Completely fallen for her…)

🎸🎵🥁🎶🎤

To that, Ryan, Joe and Steven, let out excited cheers, a mix of shock and amazement on their features as Carl and Kyle, finally rounded up the song.

That same sentiment was shared with the crowd as the audience, despite knowing this was a mini-tour, felt like the tickets, albeit half the usual price of a $120.00, was absolutely worth it.

There was no need for Carl to have put in this much effort into giving them such a good time much less even having an opener for the show in the form of Kyle Kestis but still, he did.

That exactly, was why he was so beloved by his fans!

He genuinely cared that they had a good time and was even more considerate of where their money went.

“Everyone, give it up for Kyle Kestis!” the superstar, gave accolades to Kyle who waved to the crowd who kept cheering at the top of their lungs;

“Encore!”

“Encore!”

“Encore!”

To that, Kyle simply grinned at Carl who in turn, winked at him and instead, gestured to him to go have his fun with his buddies with a slight tilt of his head.

Kyle too, was just as excited to meet up with his buddies as he finally, walked backstage while waving at the crowd… only to pop-out in the front-rows of the audience stands who cheered even louder a few seconds later.

Sure he had a VIP tent where he could watch all the proceedings without issue, but, Kyle spared it no mind and instead, asked of Oliver to take his place.

Also, he wanted to be a good showman to rile up the crowd for Carl’s performances.

Currently at the front rows of the stands, Kyle while making his way up the staircase, started high-fiving people who held out their hands with an energetic smile.

And then, just before he reached his buddies, his eyes, locked onto Seth who instead, shrunk back in his seat with an uncomfortable expression, his buddies wondering what was going on.

Yet, with a natural indifference and the energetic smile still plastered on his lips, Kyle kept ascending.

Upon finally reaching his friends, he then gazed at them with mischievous smile while asking, arms spread out wide!

“Are You Not Entertained?!”