St. Elsewhere
Part 8
Mia had never felt more out of her depth than at this particular point in time.
She was with Lauren trying to fight their way across the people crowded room, attempting to move through the masses towards the backstage door. The soles of Mia's bright blue TopShop flats stuck to the floor. Mia didn't even want to glance down at her feet for fear of seeing something that she really didn't want to.
For somebody who only really listened to Mozart and Tchaikovsky, this was a whole different world.
She wasn't sure if she liked it.
"Matt said if we hurry we can meet them backstage and I can introduce you to everyone." Lauren explained, having left her brother earlier at sound check to go and collect Mia.
"What's the band called?" Mia asked curiously, Lauren had never even mentioned their name to her.
"The Blackout." Lauren said grinning proudly.
By this time, Mia and Lauren were mere meters away from the almost insignificant backstage door when the lights dimmed and the band took their place on stage in a vivid frenzy, leaving no time for Mia and Lauren to dive through the door which was almost immediately guarded by a mean looking bouncer the minute the band had hit the stage.
The opening cords to a fast and slightly furious song started up and the mass of bodies that had rapidly congregated became one single body and moved in unison jumping up and down, the air became a sea of fists and hands moving to the rhythm set down by the guitars.
The lights flared up revealing six guys. Mia recognized Matt and Sean. Lauren shouted their names at Mia, explaining to her over the noise of the throbbing music, what each guy did in the band. There was James or 'Bob' on guitar with Matt, Rhys playing bass, a joint singer called Gavin who did more of the actual singing while Sean specialized in screaming and then there was also Gavin or 'Snoz' on drums.
Mia vaguely took all of this information in and carried on watching the band interestedly, whilst the mass of bodies around her carried on jumping up and down screaming the lyrics of the songs back at the band and clapping their hands in the air in time to the beat when ordered to by Gavin or Sean.
It was her first gig ever and she wasn't sure what to make of it, the boys clearly loved what they were doing. The passion and commitment was there, just in the same way that Mia's passion and commitment was in place when she tied up her pink satin ballet shoes. However this was all slightly too chaotic and riotous for Mia's liking. There was a lot of leaping about on stage, jumping on and off stacked amps, microphone swinging which could have gone horribly wrong and just… disorder. Something very unusual in Mia's structured and trained world.
Half an hour later the band had sung their last song, and after an triumphant encore the band exited stage left, leaving behind an exulted mass of people; all who had pink cheeks, and a strange glow to their faces. They made for the doors and flooded towards a merchandise table and mingled outside in hope of meeting one of their idols.
Lauren immediately grabbed hold of Mia and dragged her across the room, which was now considerably emptier and headed for the backstage door, which the bouncer had now moved away from.
So before Mia knew it she was tugged into a room filled with people. Or it gave that impression due to the size of the room. Crowded into the tiny dressing room where the six members of The Blackout and a pretty dark haired girl. Now with the addition of Lauren and Mia the room felt claustrophobic and compact.
Matt noticed Lauren and Mia enter, and a smile spread across his face.
"Hey baby sister! Did you enjoy that?" Matt asked eagerly, always seeking his younger sister's approval.
"Amazing as always." Lauren said smiling supportively at her big brother, then turning to the rest of the band members said: "Guys, this is Mia my friend from ballet school." And with that Mia was introduced to everybody else, with the exception of Sean who already knew who Mia was.
The pretty dark haired girl got up from her place on the sofa, which she had been previously occupying and gave a surprised Mia a warm hug.
"Hey I'm Nat." She said smiling. "Great to finally meet you."
"I'm happy to be here." Mia said shyly.
"Nat and Rhys have been going out for a year now." Lauren informed Mia quickly once she realized Nat wouldn't say it herself. Mia smiled widely at Nat who had blushed agreeably and her eyes sparkled.
"That's so cute!" Mia cooed and Nat laughed.
"You're not going out with him, if you were you'd be saying something different." Nat joked and sat down on the sofa again and gestured that Mia should sit next to her.
Mia took her place and with that one of the most memorable evening of Mia's life carried on. Everybody was unconditionally friendly to her and the conversation came easily especially with Gavin and Snoz who had her cracking up every time they said something.
And so for one night Mia forgot all her problems.
She was with Lauren trying to fight their way across the people crowded room, attempting to move through the masses towards the backstage door. The soles of Mia's bright blue TopShop flats stuck to the floor. Mia didn't even want to glance down at her feet for fear of seeing something that she really didn't want to.
For somebody who only really listened to Mozart and Tchaikovsky, this was a whole different world.
She wasn't sure if she liked it.
"Matt said if we hurry we can meet them backstage and I can introduce you to everyone." Lauren explained, having left her brother earlier at sound check to go and collect Mia.
"What's the band called?" Mia asked curiously, Lauren had never even mentioned their name to her.
"The Blackout." Lauren said grinning proudly.
By this time, Mia and Lauren were mere meters away from the almost insignificant backstage door when the lights dimmed and the band took their place on stage in a vivid frenzy, leaving no time for Mia and Lauren to dive through the door which was almost immediately guarded by a mean looking bouncer the minute the band had hit the stage.
The opening cords to a fast and slightly furious song started up and the mass of bodies that had rapidly congregated became one single body and moved in unison jumping up and down, the air became a sea of fists and hands moving to the rhythm set down by the guitars.
The lights flared up revealing six guys. Mia recognized Matt and Sean. Lauren shouted their names at Mia, explaining to her over the noise of the throbbing music, what each guy did in the band. There was James or 'Bob' on guitar with Matt, Rhys playing bass, a joint singer called Gavin who did more of the actual singing while Sean specialized in screaming and then there was also Gavin or 'Snoz' on drums.
Mia vaguely took all of this information in and carried on watching the band interestedly, whilst the mass of bodies around her carried on jumping up and down screaming the lyrics of the songs back at the band and clapping their hands in the air in time to the beat when ordered to by Gavin or Sean.
It was her first gig ever and she wasn't sure what to make of it, the boys clearly loved what they were doing. The passion and commitment was there, just in the same way that Mia's passion and commitment was in place when she tied up her pink satin ballet shoes. However this was all slightly too chaotic and riotous for Mia's liking. There was a lot of leaping about on stage, jumping on and off stacked amps, microphone swinging which could have gone horribly wrong and just… disorder. Something very unusual in Mia's structured and trained world.
Half an hour later the band had sung their last song, and after an triumphant encore the band exited stage left, leaving behind an exulted mass of people; all who had pink cheeks, and a strange glow to their faces. They made for the doors and flooded towards a merchandise table and mingled outside in hope of meeting one of their idols.
Lauren immediately grabbed hold of Mia and dragged her across the room, which was now considerably emptier and headed for the backstage door, which the bouncer had now moved away from.
So before Mia knew it she was tugged into a room filled with people. Or it gave that impression due to the size of the room. Crowded into the tiny dressing room where the six members of The Blackout and a pretty dark haired girl. Now with the addition of Lauren and Mia the room felt claustrophobic and compact.
Matt noticed Lauren and Mia enter, and a smile spread across his face.
"Hey baby sister! Did you enjoy that?" Matt asked eagerly, always seeking his younger sister's approval.
"Amazing as always." Lauren said smiling supportively at her big brother, then turning to the rest of the band members said: "Guys, this is Mia my friend from ballet school." And with that Mia was introduced to everybody else, with the exception of Sean who already knew who Mia was.
The pretty dark haired girl got up from her place on the sofa, which she had been previously occupying and gave a surprised Mia a warm hug.
"Hey I'm Nat." She said smiling. "Great to finally meet you."
"I'm happy to be here." Mia said shyly.
"Nat and Rhys have been going out for a year now." Lauren informed Mia quickly once she realized Nat wouldn't say it herself. Mia smiled widely at Nat who had blushed agreeably and her eyes sparkled.
"That's so cute!" Mia cooed and Nat laughed.
"You're not going out with him, if you were you'd be saying something different." Nat joked and sat down on the sofa again and gestured that Mia should sit next to her.
Mia took her place and with that one of the most memorable evening of Mia's life carried on. Everybody was unconditionally friendly to her and the conversation came easily especially with Gavin and Snoz who had her cracking up every time they said something.
And so for one night Mia forgot all her problems.