Let Love In

“Well well well, if Garrett’s looking forward to seeing you tonight, what are you going to wear?” Riley dug through her bag, holding up various pieces of clothing, searching for the perfect outfit.

“What’s this Noah? You and Garrett?” Sarah appeared at the door, Colin trailing behind her. Noah bit her lip as she shrugged, unable to get a word in edgewise as Riley interjected.
“Oh my god, Sarah, it was so cute. Last night after dinner, I don’t know where you two were, but John and I were walking back to the car and we caught Noah getting Garrett’s phone number.”

“Reeeaaalllyyy…” Sarah dragged out her response, her eyes scanning over Noah’s shrunken posture. Colin’s expression was seemingly indifferent, neither excited, nor easily identifiable as upset. He remained silent, staring at Noah. A confusing mix of emotions crept under her skin as Riley continued.

Excitement and anticipation for seeing Garrett tonight was bombarded with a tugging feeling in her heart when Colin stepped further into the room to listen to the story, his hand still wrapped around her sister’s. She tried to push away the knot twisting around in her stomach as fabric was thrown into her face followed by an enthusiastic “Here, put this on!”, realizing Sarah had left Colin’s side, joining Riley in her quest for the perfect outfit for Noah.

“I’ll leave you ladies to it then…” Colin trailed off as he wandered out the doorway into Eric’s room down the hall.

As everyone piled into the car later that evening, heading towards the venue, Colin appeared to be in a better mood, or so Noah thought, allowing her to be excited for the show. She had heard a few of their songs when Riley forced her to “listen to John’s band.” In her opinion, they weren’t half bad, but she wanted to see them live before formulating a full opinion on the matter.

When they reached the venue, Noah was surprised to see a decent sized line forming outside, and was even more surprised when she was being shuffled straight through the door and down a side hallway without needing a ticket. “The guys got us all on the guest list for tonight.” Riley whispered into Noah’s ear as she pushed her along down the hallway.

“Wow, that’s really nice of them…” Noah trailed off as she took in her surroundings. Riley took off straight into John’s arms as everyone filed in the room.

“Yo, Pat, Jared, guys, this is my girl Riley, her friend Noah, Noah’s sister Sarah, and you all know Colin.” Within two seconds, Noah was being engulfed into a hug by the long haired boy John pointed out as Pat. “Back off Pat, Garrett saw her first.” Kennedy yelled from across the room. A blush crept into her cheeks as Pat let go, formally introducing himself followed by the ginger haired boy, Jared.

“Oww, I’m just sayin’ Gary, damn.” Noah glanced over to see Kennedy rubbing his arm next to an embarrassed and slightly irritated Garrett, causing her to let out a short laugh. “Shut up Kenny…” Garrett growled under his breath, walking away towards the couch.

Everyone sat down, slipping into conversation while they waited for their set time. Noah sat next to Garrett, listening while he and Eric talked about some movie they had recently seen. She felt Colin’s eyes staring at her as she looked over at the other couch, noticing in the process that Garrett’s arm was resting comfortably behind her across the chair. Noah made eye contact with Colin before he quickly turned his head, responding to whatever Jared had just said. She brushed it off, returning her attention back to Eric and Garrett, but felt his lingering stare return her direction a few moments later.

As the conversations progressed, Noah felt Garrett’s fingers graze against the back of her shoulder. She blushed at his touch, subtly biting down on her lip in a shy response. As his fingers continued to hesitantly glide back and forth across her shoulder, she decided to be bold (for once in her life) by brushing her fingers across his knee as she leaned into his side ever so slightly.

The girls were invited to watch the show side stage, but both Riley and Noah preferred the view from the pit. When Tim poked his head in the dressing room announcing the last song of the prior set, the girls got up to leave, agreeing to meet the boys after their set. “If we go now, we can push our way through the crowd as this set’s ending.”

“You’re not gonna give me a good luck hug since you won’t be watching from side stage?” John feigned a broken hearted tone as the girls turned to leave. Riley rolled her eyes as he pulled her into a hug and a kiss. Garrett stood awkwardly next to Noah, scratching the back of his neck, neither making eye contact before Noah pulled him into a quick hug. “See ya out there.” She mumbled as they pulled away, the two girls running off towards the stage.

Riley was ruthless in pushing her way through the crowd towards the front, making a few enemies as she ignored the “HEY”s, “WATCH IT”s, and “BITCH” remarks. Noah was dragged along with her, and mumbled a few sorrys here and there as they headed towards the front. “So, I saw you and Garrett getting close on the couch…” Riley elbowed her friend, raising her eyebrows, a smirk spreading across her lips.

“Yeah, I suppose so…” A small smile hinted its way into view as Noah chewed on her lip, giving Riley a knowing look that the pit was not the time to be discussing this. They were surrounded by fans of their band, and Noah didn’t want to draw any more negative attention to them than they already had while making their way through the crowd.

A group of girls just off to their right were gushing about the boys, anxiously awaiting the start of the set, rambling on about something said on twitter or in a blog. Riley laughed, overhearing them gossip, but immediately shut her mouth tight, pursing her lips with a bit of a grin instead of saying anything in response. Noah swatted her friend’s arm, rolling her eyes as the opening music started to play and a cheer broke through the crowd.

As the boys sauntered on stage, Riley pulled her camera out to take pictures. The two had weaseled their way to roughly the second row of bodies in the pit, how they got that far in Noah had no idea, but it was the perfect view of the stage and the boys. As the ending bars of the first song rang through the speakers, the girls to their right yelled out “We love you, John!” in a high pitch fashion, followed by “I want your bod.”

Riley and Noah busted up laughing as a sheepish smile spread across John’s lips as he replied, “Well, thank you, I think…” followed by a nervous laugh. John scanned the audience as he continued on, eventually landing his gaze on Noah and Riley a few feet away from him and smiled. “This song’s called, ‘I Must Be Dreaming.’” Garrett took a few steps toward the speakers by the end of the stage as he started playing, smiling straight at Noah before turning away again. A blush crept across Noah’s cheeks as she smiled back at Garrett, noticing Colin in her line of vision a few feet behind him just off the side of the stage, staring straight at her. She pushed the familiar butterflies away, focusing instead on the song and the energy of the crowd engulfing her in heat and getting lost in the show.

As the boys played their last song, John smiled his crooked smile, sending a wink in Riley’s direction, the girls behind her swooning, each of them excitedly rambling broken phrases of “oh my god” or “he is so…” to each other as he sang into the microphone. Noah turned her attention from the girls distracting her to the stage in time to catch Garrett smiling down at her as he played at the edge of the stage almost directly in front of them. The girls around them noticed him as well; a new wave of gushing over him ensued.

Noah was surprised at the response The Maine was receiving from the crowd throughout the set, and determined these boys were a “bigger deal” than she had initially thought.

Her arm was practically yanked out of its socket as the boys bounced off stage, the two of them making a b-line through the transitioning crowd towards the side door they had previously come from. “Riley, for the love of everything, you’re gonna break my arm. Slow down, woman.” Noah spit out, stumbling along behind Riley’s firm grip as they sped down the hallway.

“You’ll get over it.” Riley rolled her eyes with a smirk as they rounded the corner. “That was an amazing set, Babe!” Riley let go of Noah, wrapping her arms around John’s sweaty torso, pulling him into a tight hug, interrupting his conversation with Garrett and Jared. Noah smiled as she was engulfed into an equally sweaty hug from Garrett a moment later, followed by a “So what’d ya think?”

“Honestly?” Noah pulled her head back to look Garrett in the eye. “I think you guys are gonna be huge someday.” A large grin spread across his face as he gave her another squeezing hug. “You really think so? That really means a lot.”

The girls watched the headlining set from side stage with the boys like they promised. A smile took up a permanent residence on Noah’s lips after Garrett reached over to lace his fingers with hers a few songs in, gently rubbed his callused thumb across her hand, and quietly singing along to the music.

After the show, The Maine boys migrated to the merch table, leaving everyone else waiting around in the dressing room. There was a general invite to a post-show house party somewhere, which everyone agreed upon attending. Noah and Riley shot each other “Is this real life?” glances as they waited for their boys to return.

Several minutes went by before Noah decided to check out the merch booth and excused herself from the back room. As she made her way slowly towards the chaos and lingering crowd, she stopped to watch the boys interact with their fans. She fiddled with Riley’s camera in her hands for a bit while she watched them, observing their beaming smiles and proud “thank you”s to the fans before stepping closer.

Noah felt a hand on her shoulder, Riley appearing at her side. “Hey Jared, can you gather the guys for a group photo later before you guys are all done?” Riley called out to the boy closest to her. He nodded in response as he posed for a fan photo.

Noah was focused on Garrett talking to the group of girls from earlier in the crowd. They were each talking a mile a minute, Garrett responding when he could fit a word or two in.

Riley pushed Noah forward into the group, interrupting the girls. “Excuse me Garrett, but could my friend possibly get a photo with you?” Garrett turned his focus to her and responded “Yes, of course,” an amused smile playing on his lips. “Excuse me ladies, it was nice talking with you.” He stepped towards Noah and Riley, abandoning the other group of girls. “How’s this?” Garrett immediately wrapped his arms around Noah from behind as a huge grin spread across both their faces.

“Perfect.” Riley snapped away at her camera before handing it off to Noah. “My turn!” The three of them laughed as Riley and Garrett posed. The two girls excused themselves to find John as more fans appeared, waiting for their turn with Garrett.

John was more than amused at the girls’ requests for a fan photo, the end result being similar to their photo op with Garrett. The girls secured a whole group photo to commemorate the night; smiles were on everyone’s faces, and each boy’s arms wrapped around their special someone. As Tim snapped a few photos, Max reminded them of the time and they eventually broke away to grab their things from the dressing room.