How A Heart Breaks

The line ups at concerts are always dreadful, and I’m usually one of the first people there. Don’t know why I do that if I hate waiting so long, but I do. I ate my breakfast and headed out to my car, and by the time I got to the venue, it was about ten in the morning. Which, by the way, is far too early for Nathan to be jabbering in my ear about pointless, stupid things that I cannot even imagine ever mattering. I’ve got no idea how his girlfriend puts up with him, then again, I don’t really talk to her.

I sighed, looking longingly toward the closed doors that I’m dying to kick open. Nathan was still talking when I nearly threw myself onto the sidewalk I had been standing on for what seems like days. And then he was still talking thirty minutes after that. Quietly, I reached into my front pocket to pull out my cell phone, not like he noticed since he was too busy looking toward the sky and telling me what each and every cloud looks like.

I went through my contacts, finding Nathan’s name and clicking it to send a text message. Thug aim. Say it out loud. I sent it, in hopes that it would distract him from talking, and that he would be somewhat angry with me for making him loose ‘the game’. Honestly, it’s a stupid concept altogether, and I spent an entire summer hearing it from him and his brother while I stayed at their house for weeks at a time. He was the first ever person I heard talking about it, and about three months into the school year, people had found this stupidity somewhat great, and then each and every person was saying it.

In the middle of a sentence, Nathan stops talking and squealed excitedly as he reached into his pocket- he loved getting text messages, and he still does. He flipped his phone open and read over the text, frowning. I smirked.

“Thug aim.” He paused, and then gasped. “You’re- You’re horrid!” He screeched when he turned to me. He then proceeded to cross his arms over his chest, and pouted. Which was fine with me, because a pouting Nathan means a non-talking Nathan. For about fifteen minutes.

At six o’clock, the doors finally open, and by then I’m hungry, and anxious. People screamed in the line up, out of joy- meaning people and Nathan, who was right next to me, screamed. He screamed at the top of his lungs, throwing his hands in the air wildly. I flinched from beside him and moved quickly with the line. As soon as I was in there, I lined up for merch, immediately spotting a Black Veil Brides top I wanted in my wardrobe. I paid for it, quite happy that I couldn’t hear Nathan talking to me because of the radio-music pumping through the speakers.

Once we walked to the stage area, we ran to the side, because that’s the trick at this venue. Everyone is always too packed to the middle, that the side allows room to get right up to the front, only about five feet away from the stage, but it’s the closest you can get. After thirty minutes of radio music, which just so happened to be some Katy Perry song. That Nathan seemed to know thoroughly. And you bet that he had no problem singing it for everyone to hear.

“I kissed a girl, and I liked it!” He shouted, and he proceeded with the rest until the song ends, and then he’s one of the three people screaming afterward. Figures, we’re here for Black Veil Brides and he’s singing Katy Perry. I always wondered why they play radio music in between putting together the bands set.

The first band comes on shortly after the Katy Perry song. And then the whole process is repeated until Black Veil Brides walk onto the stage, probably making a fair amount of girls piss themselves as Andy stared down at the crowd, a sort of twisted smile on his face.And I can’t say I wasn’t one of them.

The concert ended, and I was hungrier than ever, sweating like an asshole and pretty drained. Nathan was so tired, he didn’t talk. We were walking back to my car, that was parked a fair amount away from the venue. I was supposed to stay with Nathan that night. We walked the short-cut to my car silence, until of course we turn the corner and we see a little kid, and two older guys harassing him. Nathan was the one who noticed, he even had to stop me from walking.

“Whoa, we’re not going this way,” he said, backing away slowly. I raised an eye brow at him, and he jerked his head over to where that whole scene was happening. As soon as I saw, I turned to Nathan.

“We have to help him,” I had said. Nathan looked at me as though I were growing a couple hundred heads.

“I always knew you were insane,” he said, “And now, it’s coming forth. We’ll be screwed if we go over there.” I rolled my eyes.

“Then go hide and wait for me, you asshole. I’m not letting that kid have that happen to him.” I stalked off toward the scene without letting Nathan have a chance to really object to it. When I got there, I wished I would have gotten there sooner, that I was the one to see it first. I wasn’t close enough to hit them, or see their faces clearly, but the I heard the kids sobs and fabric ripping. It seemed my hearing was acute.

“Hey! What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I shouted, desperate to stop what they were about to do. My heart hammered in my chest, from rage. This stuff always upset me like this. I walked closer, both men freezing in their actions to look at me. “Get your hands off him!”

The two guys looked at each other, seemingly shocked that someone had caught them in their actions, or bothered to stop them. One stepped up, and growled.

“And what will you do if we don’t?” I was close enough now, to see the fear in the kids eyes, the sickness in this mans eyes. I didn’t answer him; I had just made hasty movements, throwing punches in that mans face, then his stomach. The second one moved toward me, and I almost forgot about the boy as I continued to kick and punch mindlessly at these two men. Once they gathered energy to stand up, they ran, making me trail behind them for a moment before I remembered why I had done this. My phone buzzed in my pocket as I made my way back, I ignored it, knowing exactly who it was.

When I got to this boy, I kneeled down to him, looking at his face.

“Hey…Are you okay?” I asked while I ripped my jacket off and settled it on his bare legs.

“I’m…I-I’m ok…t-t-thanks,” he said it quietly, and followed it up with a smile. I sighed, glad that I had gotten there when I did, but to this day, I regret not getting there earlier. It had been quiet for a second before I thought of a question.

“Are your parents here?” My voice had become a whisper, just as his, in fear of speaking too loud for some reason. When people lower their voices, the other person tends to as well. I suppose that’s what happened.

He shook his head, side to side, signalling that his parents weren’t around. I pursed my lips together in thought.

“Do you want to use my cell so you can call them?” His eyes widened at the question.

“No! If they found out what happened I won’t be able to leave home until I’m legal!” I had laughed then, finding it somehow funny that he was not concerned about telling them that he had almost gotten raped, but instead concerned that he wouldn’t be able to leave his house if they knew. My laughter died down to a smile.

“Then, if it’s alright with you, let me drive you home. After what happened, I don’t think it’d be good for you to walk the streets.” I smiled, then, hoping that he would trust me enough to take the offer. I had become less concerned with Nathan, who had probably called his brother to pick him up anyways. When he nodded, I kept in a smile, and turned so that he could put his jeans on. We both walked to my car, my jacket nearly swallowing him whole, but it was better than letting him be cold. I drove him home that night, and I cannot count how many times he had thanked me, but I didn’t do it to be thanked. It was about the best thing that I had ever done, I realized it a week or so later.