Hummingbird

So, I decided to stay for the rest of NeverShoutNever’s set. By the time their last song was done, it was almost a quarter after 3. The guys looked bored with piling all of their equipment off of the stage so I went and made myself useful. Grabbing Chris’s precious guitars before someone careless could, I went to go put them back in their hard-shell cases. Trudging my way back up the steps onto the stage I lifted some of the leftover cables and turned only to almost run into David from Breathe Carolina who had his own bunch of cables to carry onto the stage. I guess they were playing next. He smiled at me as he sidestepped around me. I had only met him once, and that one time was embarrassing enough. I quickly walked off the stage before he had a chance to catch up to me. Lucky me, Hayden noticed my awkwardness and its source. He waited until I set all of the cables into the marked box to come up and put his arm around me.

“So, did you officially meet my good friend David here?” He asked as David turned the corner. Sensing my dread, he tightened his grip and smiled. I looked at him with an evil glare and mouthed that he’d better not sleep tonight. Ohh what a Sharpie can do.

“Towel girl!” David shouted. He came up and smiled at me. I only blushed. “How’ve you been? It seems like you’ve been avoiding me.” He winked. WHY ME?

Actually, I had been avoiding him since Taylor, Caleb, and Chris had thought it would be funny to steal my clothes from the bathroom while I was taking a shower. They didn’t know that the guys from Breathe Carolina would show up so they could get to know each other. They didn’t know that I would walk out in a towel ranting about how childish they were. They also didn’t know that I would walk right into David while barely keeping hold of my towel. I had grabbed my clothes and ran into the bathroom making it a point to take extra time in there to clean my face and dry my hair. I only left my sanctuary when I was sure that Breathe Carolina had left. Taylor, Caleb, and Chris had each woken up with full makeup on (lipstick, eyeliner, blush, etc.) and their nails painted, each boy with a different color. I had only given them the nail polish remover back this morning.

“Actually, I haven’t been avoiding you,” I lied, “I’ve just been really busy with the merchandise and stuff.” He saw right through that one. “It’s 20 after, Dave, you should really get on stage now.” I panicked, okay? How else could I get him out of there?

David gave me a skeptical look as he ran off to the stage and Hayden only laughed. I hit Hayden in the arm and before he could hit me back, I ran off to tell the guys I was gonna walk around the place.

~-~

It took forever to convince Tyler to give me a set list. He was convinced that I had to buy it from him. For $2. When I had no money on me. I had a purple bracelet for freaking crying out loud!

I met Tyler on the first day of the tour when he wasn’t selling anything at that moment, and there wasn’t a line at our tent. We had talked and he gives me my water every day. For free. But not a stupid piece of paper with all the times. Gosh, this kid was insane.

I scanned over the paper for any bands that I might want to see. Immediately, my eyes found Escape the Fate. At 4:15. I checked my phone, 3:45. I would finally get to see them perform! I immediately sprinted off to find the Hurley stage.

When I got there, there was already a good-sized crowd. I had to get somewhat close. I walked around to the side of the crowd and found an empty path that got me almost five people away from the stage. I wormed my way through to my spot, and stood there. For twenty minutes. It wasn’t completely awful, I got to talk to this really cute guy named Dylan from Austin, TX, who’s friend was cousins with Ronnie Radke. How awesome is that? Finally, cheering erupted and Robert walked onto the stage, closely followed by Monte, Max, and then Craig. Seeing this, I let out my own scream. I looked at Dylan and he smiled at me, together we screamed our hearts out to the guys on the stage.

About five songs in and two from their end, I asked Dylan to lift me up. Grinning, he picked me up at the waist and somehow managed to get me onto his shoulders. I sat there for a couple minutes before feeling myself fall backwards, and then be pushed forward. I smiled like an idiot, I was going to land right by Craig! After being tossed around for another minute or so, I felt my feet hit solid ground. I looked up and saw the face of my hero mere feet from mine. Next thing I knew, a hard object collided with the side of my head. Stumbling, I quickly glanced around to find what had hit me. Wonderful, a half empty Monster can.

Before I could pick it up and toss it back into the crowd, I felt myself being pulled off of the stage. Instead of taking me back out to the crowd, the large Security Guard pulled me off to the side and told me to sit on the equipment crates. Another large, but less scary looking, Security Guard came up to us with a plastic Ziploc bag filled with ice. He handed it to me and gestured for me to put it up to my head. I did as told and grimaced when it contacted with my head. I guess I got hit harder than I thought for it to hurt this much. One of them noticed the purple band around my wrist and asked if I was working here. I told him that I was NeverShoutNever’s merch girl and the less scary looking one walked away talking on his walkie-talkie. I could tell that they were calling to get Chris or one of the guys from The Shout over here to help get me back to the buses. I winced as the ice hit a tender spot. After about 10 minutes, I heard the final screams, and the rush of band members walking off stage. I heard talking, and then I heard more footsteps, and finally a face appeared in front of mine, looking worried.

“Are you okay?” Craig practically screamed at me. His entire body tensed as he saw the ice pack and probably already-forming bruise on my face. Wonderful, I’m sitting here in front of my long time crush looking less-than-ideal. Out of nowhere, he poked the part of my cheek that wasn’t covered with ice. I grimaced, he did too.

“I guess, I mean, bruises go away.” I had to pretty much force myself not to stutter or say anything potentially embarrassing. “It was more the shock of getting nailed than the actual inpact, ya know?”

He nodded with understanding. “Look, I know that that can was pretty much meant for me, so I’m reallllyy sorry! I mean, who would hit a pretty girl like you in the face?” Awww man, not only is my face purple from the bruise, but it was most likely now beat red.

Wonderfully, magically, thankfully, Chris came running up to find me. He took one look at me, and then another at Craig. Sympathy at my end, dirty looks for Craig.

“Hey, dude, what the heck happened? I mean, out of no where a security guard comes up to me and tells me that my friend was hurt at the Hurley Stage, and that I better go help them back to the buses. What happened to her?”

Craig sent me a confused look, and then glanced down at my wrist. A look of realization crashed over him, and then he looked back up at Chris. “Well, she was crowd surfing, and like two seconds after she got onto the stage, she was nailed in the side of the head with a Monster can. It was aimed for me, but it hit her instead. Trust me, I feel really bad about it. Thankfully, its just a bruise though. It should clear up in a couple days.”

I looked from Chris to Craig, anticipating the worst. They both seemed resentful of each other.

I heard Chris sigh and next thing I know, his arm was around my shoulder pulling me up. I pushed him away, convinced that I could walk on my own, only to feel a wave of dizziness pass over me. My knees buckled and I started to fall. Here comes the best moment of my life.

Craig caught me.

I looked up at him and blushed. Ohh wow, that smile melted my heart. He helped me get my balance before passing me back to Chris who automatically put his arm back around me. We started to walk, but I stopped and turned to face Craig one last time.

“Hey, Craig?”

“Yeah.. uhh, sorry, I don’t know your name.” Finally! It was his turn to blush.

“Niki.”

“Nice name,” his blush was softened by his smile. Again, I blushed. I swear, I’ve never blushed this much in my life.

“Thanks, and thanks for helping me,” I told him.

“No problem.”

At that, Chris pulled me away, off to the buses. Where the jokes would start and the head aches would begin.