By the Light of the Northern Star

Erik Danielsson sat in the bus getting ready for the show.

Anna was still on his mind, as he got ready to face the crowds. His thoughts moved to how beautiful and interesting she was. He knew that she was taken but he could not get her off his mind. He walked out towards the stage to play Watain’s set.

As he approached the stage, he noticed Héri and Anna hand in hand. A pang of jealousy ran through his heart. Suck it up, Erik he thought sourly.

“Hey Anna, I see that everything worked out for you.”

“Yes and it’s all thanks to you.” She said and hugged him.

Erik’s heart lightened up at the mere touch of her hands. He pulled her away and looked into her blue eyes.

“It was no problem. One more thing you might want to soak your shirt.”

“Why would I need to that it’s just fake blood? It will wash out.” Anna said dismissively.

“Um, that’s not paint all over me.” He said.

Erik gave her a wink and before she could reply, he was on the stage.

No wonder he smelt weird, she thought.

“Anna I cannot believe you hugged him. I was going to warn you about the animal blood but I thought you knew.” Elise said laughing.

“It’s okay; I never really wear this shirt anyways.”

Watain’s set was amazing. The onstage goat sacrifice was a little much. Nevertheless, its black metal what are you going to do. I was also glad to watch the whole concert with Héri. I was finally happy to have something good in my life for once.

“E that was amazing,” I said enthused as he walked off stage.

“Thanks I think it was one of our better performances. Uh, you still have some blood on your face.” He said laughing.

“Aw, I don’t mind much. It’s a strange feeling but you get used to it. Well, maybe not the smell.”

“Well I’m gonna change out of this. I’ll meet you here for the rest of the performances.”

As Erik walked away, I could not shake the feeling that something was different with him. I wasn’t sure what but I was not going to press the issue.

As Finntroll headed on stage, Vreth stopped to hug me. I wished him luck as I saw Erik coming back to see us.

“Héri I need to go back to the bus and change. I’ll be back soon.”

“Don’t be gone too long.” He said and kissed me longingly.

I ran past Erik and onto our tour bus. I felt Erik’s hand brush against mine as I ran past. I saw E blush. I knew exactly what was wrong.

He likes me, I mused as I entered the bus. I couldn’t believe he liked me. This felt like a bad movie and I was the lead.

I was finished changing and went out to tell Elise my delimma.

“Elise can I talk to you?” I said pulling her aside.

“Yeah what’s up,” she said.

“Well I talked to E and he was acting a little strange. I finally figured it out. He likes me but the thing is he knows everything about Héri and me. What should I do about it?”

“Well if it was me I would talk to him about it. Just ask him and when he’s ready he’ll tell you.”

“I guess that will work. Thanks Elise, I knew I could count on you.”

I decided to talk to Erik about his feelings and my hesitation.

“Héri I need to go talk to Erik about something. I promise I’ll be back soon.” I said and kissed his cheek.

“E we need to talk,” I said walking with him a bit. “Um, I’ve noticed something strange about you.”

“W-w-what do you mean by that.” He said stuttering nervously.

“I know you like me. I know you know about Héri and everything. I just needed to talk to you about it.”

“I know but I think you’re beautiful and sweet. At first, I liked your friend but I noticed she had someone and once I talked to you. I don’t know you seemed like the right one. I set you with Héri because I could see the chemistry between you two.”

“Good other guys would have taken advantage of my vulnerability.” I hugged him and thanked him once more.

As I walked back to the backstage, I was happy that everything was starting to work out for me.

The next acts were Goatwhore, Amon Amarth, and Cannibal Corpse. We had the greatest time. I was good friends with the two Johan’s from Amon Amarth, Sammy and Ben from Goatwhore, and Alex from Cannibal Corpse. Each band brought something different.

By the time Metallica was up, I was dead tired but I was not going to miss their performance.

“James have fun out there. Thanks for taking time to see how I was doing.”

“I was glad to. You remind me of my daughter because you look so young. You seemed upset and I couldn’t just leave you there.”

James hugged me. I lifted off the ground because he was so tall. I wished the boys luck. I even hugged Lars; he’s not such a jackass when you get to know him.

After that, I snuggled into Héri’s arms and he kissed the top of my head and gave me a squeeze. I was so happy. Lee stood by me and Gunnar took her other side.

During the set, it was fan girl central for Lee and me. We jumped, sang, danced, and everything in between while watching the scene unfold. Soon they invited everyone on stage. The last song was Enter Sandman and we all sang and played together. At the end of the song, the fireworks went off. Héri lifted my chin and gave me a chance.

It was amazing that he kissed me right then. The fireworks in my head and the real thing were equally amazing.

“Well that was unexpected.” I said as we pulled away breathless.

“Gunnar and I decided we should do that at the same time.” We turned to see them still kissing.

The crowd went wild as Héri gave me another mind-blowing kiss. I never wanted this night to end. I was a little troubled on how Erik was taking it. He seemed to fall into love very easily. I was going to talk to him before we leave.