Tonight Again

Albania, making the finals, threw a spanner in the works.

“The next finalist to make it through to the...” The host continued.

I’ll spare you some of the drama.

These finalist announcements dragged on and on. I wish they would just say, ‘Here are the winners, goodnight’.

Seventh was Serbia, and eighth was Ukraine—no surprises for either of those.

“The ninth act to get through is… San Marino.”

San Marino? Another unexpected choice and another favourite would miss out. Would it be us?

Would I meet Marco in the final? There was no more margin of error. The next act was the final act. Eight countries were left, and Greece, Malta, and Poland, in particular, were all amazing. They were just as good as us. I felt sick. This was unbearable.

“One more country will join these nine countries until Saturday evening. It all comes down to this.”

No shit! We can count! Thanks for reminding us! Please hurry up and put me out of my misery!

“The final country that will progress until Saturday night is…” the host called.

We all leaned forward.

“Is...” the other host added to stall for even more time.

“Australia!” they said in unison.

Welp, that was it... wait? Were we called? Did they say us?

“Oh my God, we did it!” Stephanie screamed.

The two couples shared a kiss. Luca dropped his phone, and Pete remained fast asleep.

“Blake?” Luca asked.

“Yeah, what?”

“Are you okay?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You’re crying.”

Huh? Am I crying?

Sure enough, I could feel the tears fall down my face. I carefully wiped them away.

Shut up. Tears of relief are totally fine.

I had cameras in my face but couldn’t react much other than a quick thank you. I had done it. I had made it through. I was so happy, but at the same time, I also knew that the suspense I had just sat through would be repeated in a few days. In fact, it would probably be worse.

But at this stage, who cared? I was in the moment, living on the edge. If I could, I would do it again. That’s right, I actually wanted to get back up on stage and perform again. In a few days, I would have that chance. I was going to be on the same stage as Marco now. Our dream of performing together would finally come true. Now, all I had to do was win.

─── ༻ ☼ ༺ ───

After the contest, we walked backstage to remove our costumes.

“Good job everyone. I’m so proud of you all,” Stephanie commented and gave a round of applause.

“Thanks,” I responded.

“They called you last in the announcement because you obviously did very well,” she smiled.

“Is that a thing?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright, can we go now?” I asked about to remove my wig.

“Don’t do anything!” Stephanie yelled, reaching towards me.

I froze. All of us did.

“Nobody take off your clothes. You touch it, and I will murder you,” she threatened.

“Like a little murder or a big murder?” I asked.

“Try me.”

I could see pure rage in her eyes. I did not want to test her.

“We aren’t done?” Jet asked.

“You’ve still got a press conference.”

“Now?” Luca asked innocently.

“The one for the semifinal winners,” she answered.

“Can’t we skip that?” Noah added.

“No.

“Please,” I begged.

“Absolutely not.”

Reluctantly, we went to the press conference. None of us wanted to be here; I don’t just mean our band. All the other contestants looked like they were about to crash. We were all on a scale of tired to pure rage.

To be honest, it was a massive waste of time. The only question we were asked was, “Why is Australia in the Solstice Song contest when we are not even in the summer solstice?” We’d heard that a thousand times before and would likely hear it again.

The stupid press conference lasted an hour. Once it was done, every act crashed.

─── ༻ ☼ ༺ ───

I don’t know how it was possible to sleep as long as I did. I was absolutely knackered. I was hoping to sneak backstage to catch the Jury performances for the second semifinal, but I was way too tired. Sue, it was in the evening the following day, but I just wanted to lie in bed.

I decided I would sneak in to watch the semifinal the following night. Marco performed his song during the voting period. It was a way for the Big Five to show off their songs and for the producers not to have to worry about filling in the time.

But that was future me’s problem. Current me just wanted to sleep. I rolled over and checked my phone for the time. I saw I had a few missed messages.

Sofia and Josh sent a group message to us and the Finland duo congratulating us on last night. There were also several group chat messages featuring a bunch of the other artists discussing last night. Some congratulations were expressed, and some disappointment was voiced, especially by those who didn’t qualify. I would love to respond to all of them and send them my love, but there were way too many messages, and I was tired.

I will respond to them later. That’s another problem for future me.

Besides, I had a message from Marco congratulating me. That had to take priority. In my sleepy daze, I wrote back my love to him and wished him well for the rehearsal.

With that, I was caught up, except for just one ominous message.

“I heard a little rumour. You may have caught up with Marco the other night. What did I say about filing a report? Thankfully, I am a generous person. Join me on the night of the semifinal. I just want to have a friendly chat. ~Valentina.”

I never gave her my contact information, so I had no idea how she got it. But I knew I couldn’t turn it down.

─── ༻ ☼ ༺ ───

End of Chapter 34