Excluded and Uninvited novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: Here's the Rest

I took my arm back from him one finger at a time.

"Then I won't work," I said. "I'll stand there."

"Cal."

"Cal," Maureen said from the doorway of the green room.

Greg's head turned.

She was standing with her purse against her chest.

"Why is Caleb back here?" she said. "Gregory, what is going on?"

"Nothing, Mom. He's just visiting."

"I'm just visiting," I said. "Hello, Mrs. Bresnahan."

She looked from his face to mine.

Then a stagehand in a headset came running down the hall and said, "Two minutes, Greg. They're calling you."

Greg straightened his jacket.

He wiped his face with his hand, and the grin came back.

"Don't do anything stupid," he said to me quietly, and went.

I followed him down the hall, behind the curtain, in the dark.

Out front, two thousand people were screaming his name.

The house lights went down.

On the giant wall behind the stage, Greg's opening video began to play, with drums and clips of him doing pranks, falling off scooters and hugging strangers.

Then he walked out into the white light, and the room came apart.

I stood in the wings with my hat in my hand and watched the best performance of his life.

"Thank you!" he shouted. "You're the reason I get to do this! Half a million of you tonight!"

They roared.

He told the story of the channel, the first sketch, the first thousand followers.

He did not look toward the wings.

Then he lowered his voice and put one hand over his heart.

"And I want to say something about my friend," he said. "A very hard few weeks. Some of you saw the video."

A murmur went through the crowd.

Somebody booed.

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