It's Our Time to Shine
We've Fallen In Love.
”… Hey, it’s almost half now. Maybe we should get ready? We’re on in 5”, I heard Jepha say, now getting agreeable ‘yeah’s’ from Quinn and Dan.
“Hey, guys”, he then said, tapping me and Bert on the shoulder to wake us up. “We’re on in 5.”
“Oh. Oh, yeah – the gig”, Bert mumbled, awkwardly getting up from the couch while rubbing his eyes. “You’re comin´ too, right?”
“Sure. I’ll support Quinn on the guitar”, I replied with a humoristic voice and a smirk on my face.
“Anytime, babe”, he said grinning. “But you’re comin´, yeah?”
“Yeah. I’ll be back stage waiting for you guys. Good luck, okay?”
“Thank you. I’ll see you afterwards! I love you.”
“What?”, I then suddenly said.
Even though I knew what Bert had just said, I needed a conferment.
“I’ll see you afterwards.”
“No… The other thing.”
“Oh. I love you”, he smiled, imprinting a soft kiss on my lips before he joined the other guys behind the side of the stage.
I found myself a suitable place to sit down in the backstage area, now just waiting for them to start the show.
As I gazed over at the guys, I saw Bert blowing me a kiss before they al headed on stage, receiving screams from the thousands of Japanese fans that were there.
The guys immediately started playing ‘Hospital’, a song they hadn’t begun with at any of their other concerts on their tour before.
Some songs that followed were ‘Buried Myself Alive’, ‘Pretty Handsome Awkward’, ‘All That I’ve Got’, ‘Liar, Liar (Burn In Hell)’, and ‘The Taste of Ink’, before they suddenly paused and Bert had something to say.
“I am so happy today, Osaka!”, he began. “You wanna know why, huh? I’ve found someone special, a girl, in my life that I can trust. A girl who’s there for me at all time, and who’s loving and caring. A girl who loves me for the person I am. And you know what, Osaka? I’m in fuckin´ love!”
The crowd exploded into massive screams, cheers, shouts and applause, and the sound was so extreme that my ears rang.
I peeked unnoticeably between the curtains, seeing everyone in the crowd holding their hands and arms up and reaching for the stage.
“It feels good being in love, guys. It really does”, Bert said before ‘I Caught Fire (In Your Eyes)’ was played.
I knew he was talking about me. He had to be talking about me.
Still, the ‘I love you’ earlier left me dumbfounded.
Not of shock, but by flattery.
Throughout the song, I felt a tear running down my cheek, quickly making its way to my nose, before falling down on the floor.
I dried my eyes, feeling silly for even crying as I once more heard Bert talking.
I’d like to end this great night by dedicating this song to my girl. ‘Cause there’s nothing I would do, then to waste my time with you. Lina, this song’s for you!
And before I knew it, ‘Blue And Yellow’ was played.
I just sat there, on the chair, listening to the guys playing with tears running down my cheeks while trying to keep myself together.
I failed completely, without even trying.
“Hey, babe – we’re done now! Hey… What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”, Bert suddenly said worried, rushing towards me before kneeling down in front of me and placing his hands on my shoulders.
“Nothing”, I replied, wiping the tears with my sleeve as I smiled. “I just heard what you said when you were onstage, that’s all.”
“Well, I meant it. I’ve fallen in love with you, Lina. I really have.”
I looked over at Quinn, Jepha and Dan who all were standing next to the backstage curtain, eagerly trying to figure out what Bert and I were talking about.
They were obviously ease dropping as they were sending each other little smiles and pointing at us.
“It’s okay”, Jepha then said, followed by Quinn and Dan as they approached us.
“Yeah, we’re cool about you guys gettin´ together. Totally. And it’s about time Bert got himself a girl – he’s been jerkin´ off for too many years now”, Quinn added grinning.
I just rolled my eyes with a smile as I looked up at them before slowly turning over to Bert again.
There, I imprinted a soft kiss on his lips while placing my hands on his cheeks.
“I love you.”
“And I love you too, babe.”
“We love you guys too”, Quinn suddenly burst out, before wrapping his arms around me and Bert.
“Group hug!”, Jepha exclaimed, immediately being followed by Dan as they began hugging us, squeezing tight.
“Okay, that’s enough”, we all said, bursting into laughter. “Let’s not get too close now.”
“Hey, guys… Whaddaya say we go back to the hotel? Nothin´ special, just the five of us and maybe a movie, huh?”, Quinn then suggested, having a smile upon his face.
“Sure, dude! That sounds like a great idea.”
“Then what’re we waiting for? Let’s go!”, he said, making us all head out the backside of the building in an attempt of trying to avoid the crowds of fans that probably were outside.
We failed.
As soon as we got out, we were met by a handful of fans, all waiting outside the building for the guys.
“Go on”, I said. “Take a few minutes to say hi. I’ll wait here.”
“You’re the best”, Bert replied, letting go of my hand before walking over to the fans with the other guys.
I laughed at them as they now were signing autographs and taking pictures with the fans.
Even though either one of them knew any Japanese at all, with the exception of Jepha knowing a few lines, they still nodded and responded with small ‘yeah’s’ as the Japanese fans talked to them in their mother tongue.
Jepha, who had been in Japan many times, had as the years went by forgot most of the language.
Who could blame him, anyway.
“She come too? Yes, she come too!”, I suddenly heard someone say in a poor English accent.
“Hey, Lina – come over here!”
“What?”, I replied, looking at Bert with a question mark on my face.
“They wanna take a picture with you – come on!”
I walked over to him, seeing him being surrounded by fans, all girls, and sent him an unsure look while wondering what was going on.
“Why do they want to have a picture with me? I’m not famous or anything. They do know I’m not in the band, right?”, I joked.
“Well, I kinda told ‘em about you, about us, so they suddenly became interested in you”, Bert smiled.
“You’ll be in the picture too, right?”
“Sure! I’ll get the other guys to join too.”
“Okay, good. Then I guess it won’t be that weird”, I laughed.
“Hey, guys! Come over here. Group picture!”
Within seconds, Quinn, Jepha and Dan along with me and Bert plus some fans were all now standing closely to each other, trying to get everyone in the picture.
“Smileee”, a random Japanese guy said, snapping a shot with the lens.
“Awesome!”, Quinn exclaimed, now making the fan girls giggle.
I rolled my eyes with a smile, being grateful by the fact that I never was like that.
“Hey, guys. I’m sorry, but we gotta go now. But thank you so much for meting up”, Jepha then said, looking at all of the fans.
“Yeah, we love you all and we can’t wait to see you guys next time”, Bert added as he grabbed my hand, before we all left them and headed on the other side of the security fence.
“Fuck, I love Japan!”, Jepha commented. “I mean, the fans are nice as hell and the atmosphere is just so good.”
“Couldn’t agree with you more, my friend. But right now, I really wanna find some sort of video store and rent a movie”, Dan replied.
“Yeah. Where is it, anyway?”, I asked.
“Can’t remember. So I guess we’re just gonna have to look around.”
As the five of us were walking around in the streets of Osaka and feeling the warm summer breeze blowing in our faces, I just couldn’t think of a better place to be at that point…
“Hey, guys”, he then said, tapping me and Bert on the shoulder to wake us up. “We’re on in 5.”
“Oh. Oh, yeah – the gig”, Bert mumbled, awkwardly getting up from the couch while rubbing his eyes. “You’re comin´ too, right?”
“Sure. I’ll support Quinn on the guitar”, I replied with a humoristic voice and a smirk on my face.
“Anytime, babe”, he said grinning. “But you’re comin´, yeah?”
“Yeah. I’ll be back stage waiting for you guys. Good luck, okay?”
“Thank you. I’ll see you afterwards! I love you.”
“What?”, I then suddenly said.
Even though I knew what Bert had just said, I needed a conferment.
“I’ll see you afterwards.”
“No… The other thing.”
“Oh. I love you”, he smiled, imprinting a soft kiss on my lips before he joined the other guys behind the side of the stage.
I found myself a suitable place to sit down in the backstage area, now just waiting for them to start the show.
As I gazed over at the guys, I saw Bert blowing me a kiss before they al headed on stage, receiving screams from the thousands of Japanese fans that were there.
The guys immediately started playing ‘Hospital’, a song they hadn’t begun with at any of their other concerts on their tour before.
Some songs that followed were ‘Buried Myself Alive’, ‘Pretty Handsome Awkward’, ‘All That I’ve Got’, ‘Liar, Liar (Burn In Hell)’, and ‘The Taste of Ink’, before they suddenly paused and Bert had something to say.
“I am so happy today, Osaka!”, he began. “You wanna know why, huh? I’ve found someone special, a girl, in my life that I can trust. A girl who’s there for me at all time, and who’s loving and caring. A girl who loves me for the person I am. And you know what, Osaka? I’m in fuckin´ love!”
The crowd exploded into massive screams, cheers, shouts and applause, and the sound was so extreme that my ears rang.
I peeked unnoticeably between the curtains, seeing everyone in the crowd holding their hands and arms up and reaching for the stage.
“It feels good being in love, guys. It really does”, Bert said before ‘I Caught Fire (In Your Eyes)’ was played.
I knew he was talking about me. He had to be talking about me.
Still, the ‘I love you’ earlier left me dumbfounded.
Not of shock, but by flattery.
Throughout the song, I felt a tear running down my cheek, quickly making its way to my nose, before falling down on the floor.
I dried my eyes, feeling silly for even crying as I once more heard Bert talking.
I’d like to end this great night by dedicating this song to my girl. ‘Cause there’s nothing I would do, then to waste my time with you. Lina, this song’s for you!
And before I knew it, ‘Blue And Yellow’ was played.
I just sat there, on the chair, listening to the guys playing with tears running down my cheeks while trying to keep myself together.
I failed completely, without even trying.
“Hey, babe – we’re done now! Hey… What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”, Bert suddenly said worried, rushing towards me before kneeling down in front of me and placing his hands on my shoulders.
“Nothing”, I replied, wiping the tears with my sleeve as I smiled. “I just heard what you said when you were onstage, that’s all.”
“Well, I meant it. I’ve fallen in love with you, Lina. I really have.”
I looked over at Quinn, Jepha and Dan who all were standing next to the backstage curtain, eagerly trying to figure out what Bert and I were talking about.
They were obviously ease dropping as they were sending each other little smiles and pointing at us.
“It’s okay”, Jepha then said, followed by Quinn and Dan as they approached us.
“Yeah, we’re cool about you guys gettin´ together. Totally. And it’s about time Bert got himself a girl – he’s been jerkin´ off for too many years now”, Quinn added grinning.
I just rolled my eyes with a smile as I looked up at them before slowly turning over to Bert again.
There, I imprinted a soft kiss on his lips while placing my hands on his cheeks.
“I love you.”
“And I love you too, babe.”
“We love you guys too”, Quinn suddenly burst out, before wrapping his arms around me and Bert.
“Group hug!”, Jepha exclaimed, immediately being followed by Dan as they began hugging us, squeezing tight.
“Okay, that’s enough”, we all said, bursting into laughter. “Let’s not get too close now.”
“Hey, guys… Whaddaya say we go back to the hotel? Nothin´ special, just the five of us and maybe a movie, huh?”, Quinn then suggested, having a smile upon his face.
“Sure, dude! That sounds like a great idea.”
“Then what’re we waiting for? Let’s go!”, he said, making us all head out the backside of the building in an attempt of trying to avoid the crowds of fans that probably were outside.
We failed.
As soon as we got out, we were met by a handful of fans, all waiting outside the building for the guys.
“Go on”, I said. “Take a few minutes to say hi. I’ll wait here.”
“You’re the best”, Bert replied, letting go of my hand before walking over to the fans with the other guys.
I laughed at them as they now were signing autographs and taking pictures with the fans.
Even though either one of them knew any Japanese at all, with the exception of Jepha knowing a few lines, they still nodded and responded with small ‘yeah’s’ as the Japanese fans talked to them in their mother tongue.
Jepha, who had been in Japan many times, had as the years went by forgot most of the language.
Who could blame him, anyway.
“She come too? Yes, she come too!”, I suddenly heard someone say in a poor English accent.
“Hey, Lina – come over here!”
“What?”, I replied, looking at Bert with a question mark on my face.
“They wanna take a picture with you – come on!”
I walked over to him, seeing him being surrounded by fans, all girls, and sent him an unsure look while wondering what was going on.
“Why do they want to have a picture with me? I’m not famous or anything. They do know I’m not in the band, right?”, I joked.
“Well, I kinda told ‘em about you, about us, so they suddenly became interested in you”, Bert smiled.
“You’ll be in the picture too, right?”
“Sure! I’ll get the other guys to join too.”
“Okay, good. Then I guess it won’t be that weird”, I laughed.
“Hey, guys! Come over here. Group picture!”
Within seconds, Quinn, Jepha and Dan along with me and Bert plus some fans were all now standing closely to each other, trying to get everyone in the picture.
“Smileee”, a random Japanese guy said, snapping a shot with the lens.
“Awesome!”, Quinn exclaimed, now making the fan girls giggle.
I rolled my eyes with a smile, being grateful by the fact that I never was like that.
“Hey, guys. I’m sorry, but we gotta go now. But thank you so much for meting up”, Jepha then said, looking at all of the fans.
“Yeah, we love you all and we can’t wait to see you guys next time”, Bert added as he grabbed my hand, before we all left them and headed on the other side of the security fence.
“Fuck, I love Japan!”, Jepha commented. “I mean, the fans are nice as hell and the atmosphere is just so good.”
“Couldn’t agree with you more, my friend. But right now, I really wanna find some sort of video store and rent a movie”, Dan replied.
“Yeah. Where is it, anyway?”, I asked.
“Can’t remember. So I guess we’re just gonna have to look around.”
As the five of us were walking around in the streets of Osaka and feeling the warm summer breeze blowing in our faces, I just couldn’t think of a better place to be at that point…
♠ ♠ ♠
wow, i cant believe its been one week already since i sawe and met the used.it feels like it was yesterday!
man, its so surreal. <3
oh, im starting college next monday.
its all so terrifying and im moving nearly 2500 kms, about 1500 miles away from home. :/
as for now, i have no idea when i get to update or not.
but just keep on reading and comment, guys!
it means the world to me. (:
xo,
lina.