Set Fire to the Rain

Yes, I had made my decision about what I would do with the shows this week, although, I had not yet told Shannon what that was. I haven’t talked to him since he left my place early Sunday. Except if you count him and I texting at about 10pm on Sunday night, he insisted on saying good night to me and making sure that we had received the envelope. I think he was secretly looking for an answer to if I was going to the show on Monday or not, but I didn’t say a word. Jake wasn’t going on until the Tues show which was the 300 show, and he was taking his friend Ari. MJ had also said that she and Julie would go along with Evan who would also be around with Ryan. I talked to Scott, John, Jack and my parents and everyone but my parents accepted the invite for the 300 show. Scott and John were really looking forward to the big award and meeting the new man in my life. Kym said that she would go to all the shows except the Monday show with her boyfriend, Errik.

As for me, I had decided that I would go every night. This was so important to Shannon that I couldn’t bear not to be there for him. If it made him happy, then I would be there to celebrate. Besides, I couldn’t wait to see him do his thing on the drums. He was a fucking machine, and from all the videos I have seen, he kills it. So I can’t imagine what it’s like to see him play live. I want to surprise him tonight, but figure I will tell him about the rest of the week, so today I was going to tell him that I can’t make it, and just show up and surprise him.

It was a busier day at work especially with the big 300 show coming up tomorrow night and they were streaming that particular show virtually, in a new way. The guys were super excited about it, especially Jared, he had been talking about it at lunch the first day we met, and Shannon had been telling me that Jared was acting like a kid with a shiny new toy. If you ask me, they all were. I gave Kym her passes earlier in the day and we had talked about what my plans were for the week. Thinking ahead, I brought tonight’s outfit with me, saving me from having to make a trip home and then having to come back into the city. As the day progressed, I was becoming more and more, I don’t know, if I was nervous, or excited or maybe it was a little of both. Shannon called me late in the afternoon asking if I was going to be able to make the show, and putting on the most disappointed voice I could muster, I told him that I had a huge amount of work that I had to finish, and that there was just no way that I could pull it off. I told him that I would absolutely be at the show on Tuesday, and to call me after the show tonight if he wanted to, and he agreed. The hurt and severity of disappointment that he had in his voice made me feel extremely guilty, but I was really hoping that when I showed up and surprised him that all would be forgiven.

Doors opened at 7, and the guys went on at 8pm. So I was planning on getting there at 7:30, and hiding side-stage near Shannon, of course, and waiting until they were on stage before showing him I was there. Maybe it was mean, but I had never surprised anyone like this before, and I wanted it to be epic. Kym being the best friend that she is invited me to stay the night at her apartment that was in Gramercy Park, so I wouldn’t have to make the very long and tiring commute back into NJ after the show was over tonight. She was taking my bag back with her and we would come in to work together tomorrow morning. As for Jake, I had asked Jack to spend the night with him more as a safety precaution than anything else. I still didn’t trust David so Jack staying over was a must. It was about 6pm now and I had started getting dressed, freshened up my face and hair then deciding I would walk around the corner to grab something to eat at a local deli. It was a beautiful spring night and it would be a great night to walk the city streets. By the time I finished eating it was about 7:15 and it would take me about 20 minutes to walk to the venue, and I was running on time. I was putting my jacket on when my phone started to play ‘Dear God”, Shannon’s texting notification. Smiling immediately, I grabbed my phone out of my bag; sitting back down in my chair to read what he had sent.

S—Hey there! 

E—Hey there back! Shouldn’t you be getting ready for work or something? ;)

S—Nah, I’m good; I would rather b talking to you! Lol!

E—I have a feeling if you don’t show up to work, there will be some very pissed off people in the building…

S—you may be right. Don’t want to start a riot, do we? Or do we? Hehehehe! ;)

E—The 3 of you would, wouldn’t you! Hope you have a kick ass show!

S—wishing like hell you were here right now…

E—I will be there tomorrow, I promise. :D

S—I know. Shit, have to go get ready, the opening band is on, and we have to go get ready back stage. Talk to you after ok?

E—Have a great show, be safe with those crazy fangirls/guys. That sounds great. 

S—Talk soon Sweetheart.

E—Soon. 

Sliding my finger across the screen to close the conversation, I placed the phone back into my bag, I stood up and looked at my watch. It was now 7:25 almost 7:30, and I would hopefully get there by 7:50 and backstage with no problems and not be seen by Shannon. I walked quickly out the door of the deli into the chill of the night air and took off at a fast pace in the direction of the Hammerstein Ballroom. Along the way, I started to get that old feeling, like I was being watched. Glancing around the busy city streets and sidewalks, there were so many faces, and I was in such a rush to get to the concert I honestly wasn’t taking my time to really look around the way I should, and I knew it. That uneasy feeling stayed with me, I couldn’t shake it, eventually slowing down, and taking a deep breath in, I took a moment to look at everything and everyone that was around me, trying to find any sign of anything being off or out of the ordinary. Sounds funny when you try to accomplish that in the City, but it can be done. People were all focused on where they were going, stopping in shops, hailing cabs, talking with their partners, talking on cell phones, sight seers, it was all normal from what I could see. If Jack were here, he would probably be able to find something wrong, but as it stood, I couldn’t, and I had a place to be. There was no sign of David, so I pressed on quickly deciding that wasting any more time outside was not in my best interest.

When I arrived, thankfully there was no line to get in; I walked through the small barrier maze they had set up that led to the steps, first being stopped by security to check my bag and my pass. The large male security guard told me to talk to the security guard standing inside the main doors and that he would show me to the person in charge. I did as I was told after being told to stay put, the person in charge of VIP guests, Karen, walked over we made the introductions. When she realized who I was, she immediately became excited. I told Karen that I wanted to surprise Shannon, she said she could help me make it happen, and thought it was a sweet thing that I was doing. Apparently, ever since Shannon had found out that I wasn’t coming tonight, he had been in a slightly sour mood. Not his crazy, bouncy, out of control self. That is very hard to imagine where Shannon is concerned. The two of us walked through the crowd together and back towards the right. We went through an arched doorway, showing security our passes and continued down a long hallway that was empty of people, and down a few steps. Karen opened up a door that we came too, and we were back out into what looked like a behind the scenes type area. Walking down 3 more steps, we were on the main floor again, but I couldn’t see the stage yet, and had no idea where we were. There were industrial type riggings all around, lights, curtains, and safety rails, and tons of security. After we rounded a small corner, the stage was there on our left, and I saw a very large drum kit that was raised up on its own stage in the right front corner, but leaving enough room for someone to run around and move in front of it. I noticed a slight young man making his way up the stairs behind it along with a few others that were from what I could tell, making sure that everything was as it should be with Shannon’s drums. This was it.
“Come on hun, we are almost there. We need to boogie, if we want you in place before the show starts” Karen yelled over to me, quickening our pace. For some reason when Karen said those words, my heart began to race.

Taking a quick glance at my watch, I saw that we only had about 5 minutes before the show started and the feeling in the Hammerstein was indescribable. Karen and I walked up a ramp and directly onto the stage where the guys would be performing. Holy shit! I wasn’t expecting to get this close to Shannon. I thought maybe I would be standing across from the stage on one of the VIP seating areas or something, definitely not this. We walked around to a curtained area where Karen said I would be hidden from both Shannon’s view and the crowd. She introduced me to some of the crew that were beginning to gather around and get into their places one of which was Emma, whom I had seen talking on her cell phone and walkie talkie. She’s a beautiful girl. I remember Shannon and Jared talking about Emma and how she was the bomb as a personal assistant, how they would all be literally lost without her. She keeps them all in line, and on time, and puts up with none of their bullshit. However, she does love to dish it out to them. I happen to love that fact about her. Girl power!!! Emma and I talked for a few minutes and I explained to her what I wanted to try and do to surprise Shannon and she thought it was a fantastic idea and hopefully put the fucking dick mood he has been all afternoon back where it belong, in the fucking past. Emma suggested a great place for me to stand so that when Shannon came out on stage at the beginning of the show and began with his solo, he would be able to look up and spot me, if that’s what I wanted. The more I thought about it, I decided to wait until Shannon had finished playing his first song, and then I would may my grand appearance and pray it went well. I just want to see him smile.

“You know, he has been talking about you pretty much non-stop. And that’s a first” Emma said to me looking at the floor smirking.

I actually started laughing at that. “Um, yeah, ok. That’s really sweet of you to say Emma.”
“Seriously! You think I’m making this shit up?” clearly offended.

“Well, I don’t know! Look at me Emma, I am nothing special. I have a teenage son and a 20 year old daughter, why the fuck would he talk about me?”

“Because,” and her walkie talkie went off saying that the band was in their places and ready to come on stage. “Listen, Shann’s a great guy. Give him a chance before you write him off as another typical man, alright? Please.” Looking at me with pleading blue eyes, it was really hard not to hug the girl. I just nodded my head in acceptance, the conversation was over.

The crowd started to go crazy, chanting and screaming, throwing their hands in the air. Apparently tonight was a theme night, white night, which the band did often and I had unknowingly dressed in the right clothes for. I had on a fitted white button down shirt and black skinny jeans with black heels. As the lights started to go down, the crowd went berserk, the stage lights started to blink to the music that was starting to play, and Emma leaned over whispering into my ear telling me to have a great fucking time and make it count, then she disappeared behind another set of curtains, watching over everything to make sure that the show will run smoothly and we all waited for Shannon to appear.

I stepped forward in the darkness of the curtains trying to get a glimpse of Shannon and gently pulled the black curtain aside to peek at the drum set sitting not too far in front of where I stood and waited for one of the man of the evening to take the stage. Then there was a shadow climbing the steps standing tall behind his machine, raising his arms with drum sticks in hand, he brought them down and began the show.