A Dream Meeting

I didn’t waste any time getting in touch with Jackson, I e-mailed him the pictures the next day and as promised he did respond…and kept responding. We stayed in touch that way for weeks while he was traveling around with his band. When they finally had a show in Ohio he invited me, and my sister too of course, to come see him.

When you get invited to a show by a band member you don’t say no, you just don’t. My husband refused to tag along while mumbling something like ‘Silly wife likes Jackson more than me’, but I wasn’t really paying attention as I packed my bag.

Early on a Saturday afternoon Sammie and I headed up to Cleveland. It was a three hour drive and by the end of it I was ready to pull my hair out. One can only listen to the Twilight soundtrack so many times and Sammie hadn’t listened to anything else in months! I had convinced her to listen to my 100 Monkey’s CD a couple times, but other than that it was all Twilight all the time.

We checked into our hotel, quickly took showers and got dressed. I had bribed Sammie, if I bought her all the way to this concert with me she was not allow to wear sweats! I’d managed to get her in a pair of jeans, a rare occurrence, which she paired with her Edward t-shirt and black Converse. With her hair in the usual ponytail of course. She had wanted me to match by wearing my Jasper tee, but I refused. I’m not that much of a dork. Instead I went with jeans, a simple black fitted tee and my chunky boots.

We arrived at the venue just as fans were starting to pour in, too late to see Jackson before the show sadly. I decided to play it cool, and consider Sammie’s size, so we hung back a bit from the stage, out of the mass of people.

The lights went down and the band finally came out. Jackson looked so amazing and right at home, up on stage. I was in a trance as I watched him. I was feeling a jolt of electricity pulsing through my body, just like when we had touched before, only there was no touching this time and yet the feeling was intensified. It was his voice, it was calling to me.

I stood my ground and denied the draw to him as long as I could, but when they started to play my favorite song, Small Lean, I just couldn’t stay away any longer. Still in a daze I began to head closer to the stage.

“Sissy, what do you think you’re doing?” Sammie asked. “You promised to behave yourself, remember!”

“I - I just can’t…help…it.”

Suddenly I didn’t even know what I was doing, like I wasn’t in control of my own body anymore. When I was a couple feet from the stage Jackson could finally see me and he smiled that megawatt smile down at me. I didn’t stop there. I kept going until I was climbing on the stage. The last thing I saw was worry crossing Jackson’s face before I was tackled by security.

The tackle brought me out of my Jackson daze and back to reality. My arms were painfully pinned behind me as I was dragged away. Away from the concert, away from Jackson and even away from my sister.

I was taken to a holding cell type area in the back of the venue, bleak and gray featuring a giant Plexiglas window with a great view of the hall. Before I even had time to process what was happening my blubbering little sister was brought in.

“Oh my God, Sissy! What were you thinking? You got yourself arrested!”

“Oh relax, I didn’t actually get arrested. This is just an arena holding room, it’s not even as bad as mall jail. It‘s not like I actually assaulted anyone and I‘m sure after I explain my temporary insanity to Jackson everything will be fine. You probably should call Trev and tell him what‘s going on though. He‘s going to have come up here and pay the fine I know I‘m going to get.”

A security guard let her out of the room so she could use a phone at the end of the hall, still within my sight. The call was short and the guard wouldn’t let her back in with me so we had to talk through an opening in the door, like I was in a nuthouse or something…maybe I should’ve been.

“Well Trev says he’s not coming to get you. He’s mad, Sissy. Really mad!”

“Ugh, great! Now I am going to be stuck here in concert jail,” I let me head fall against the door in frustration.

Just then a door opened at the end of the hall and I could hear the click of cowboy boots on the floor. It was Jackson. As he approached the door he just grinned and shook his head at me.

“Darling, I think you were entirely too excited to see me again,” he chuckled. At least someone was seeing humor in this situation.

I turned at least ten shades of red. “Uh yeah, I guess. I don’t know what the hell I was doing or thinking. I must have lost my mind for a moment there.”

“It’s alright, believe me, I have seen stranger things. Now let’s get you out of here,” he said as he motioned for the guard to come and let me out.

As I stepped out of the room Jackson put his hand on the small of my back and began to lead me down the hallway.

“Jackson, I didn’t have a lot of cash on me, I don’t think I can cover the fine or anything.’

“No worries, sweetie, I’ve taken care of it. It’s getting pretty late, we better get the little lady there home,” he looked over his shoulder, winked at Sammie and she shyly followed us out of the horrible concert jail.

That night after my little sister was tucked into bed Jackson and I sat and talked for hours. The charming southern gentleman had truly swept me off my feet. Our connection was instant, strong and undeniable. I knew then that there was no going back for me.

The End?