If I Die Tomorrow

“Nat! Laurie! Come on! LMFAO is about to start playing!” our sister Candace said as she dragged us towards the stage where they were performing.

“Careful, sis! You don't want me to drop my camera now, do you?” I asked her as I tried to get the strap around my neck.

She stopped dragging us. “Sorry. I'd feel bad if I broke your camera,” she said.

Laurie chuckled as I got my camera around my neck. “Well, luckily I have insurance on it so if it were to break, I'd be able to replace it,” I told her reassuringly.

She nodded before dragging us to the stage. You know, for a summer day, it wasn't sweltering hot. I like it. It's not too hot, yet not too cold. It was perfect.

We reached the stage and made it to the front. I had several people ask me if I would photograph them and their friends while we waited for LMFAO. I told them that I would and took pictures. I had them give me an e-mail address to get a hold of them so they could get copies and gave them my business card and they thanked me and complimented my camera. It's nice to hear things like that.

I had just snapped a photo this couple wanted me to take of them and got an e-mail address from the boy when Candace exclaimed, “There they are!”

I looked and saw that she was right. I handed the couple my card and started watching the band perform. They were really good live. I stayed near the front and photographed them as well as I could. After about six photographs one of the guards came over to me and asked, “Would you like on the other side so you can photograph easier, miss?”

I excited nodded and he helped me over the railing. Finally. No blurry photos. This is great! I kept up photographing when one of the guys looked my way and made a goofy face at me. I quickly snapped the picture before he went back to singing.

Once their set was done, I had gotten about fifty photos of them and they all turned out really well. I turned to the guard who helped me over the railing and said, “Thank you so much. My photos turned out so much better without having people bumping into me.”

“Eh, we know you photographers need good shots. Least I could do,” he said.

I smiled and thanked him once again before going and looking for my sisters.

“Nat!” I heard Laurie yell from one of the tents.

I walked over to her and Candace. “You are super lucky, you know that?” Candace asked.

“Eh, the guard was pretty chill,” I replied, “So who next?”

Laurie pulled out the paper telling who was performing and replied, “Well we can wait an hour and a half for Paramore, thirty minutes for The Used, or ten minutes for Asking Alexandria.”

“I wanna see Paramore next!” Candace said excitedly.

“Well I'm gonna go watch Asking Alexandria and photograph them. But first I think a snow cone is called for,” I told them.

“Snow cone it is,” Laurie said. She looked at Candace and said, “Wanna walk around and wait for Paramore to go on stage?”

“Hell yeah!” she replied.

I chuckled. “I'll try to meet up with you two during Paramore, okay?” I told them.

They nodded. “Now, snow cone!” Candace said before dragging us to where the snow cones were being sold.

***

Wow. The pit here is insane. I really hope I don't get dragged out in the middle of it with my camera. I'll be so pissy.

I was in the middle of photographing Asking Alexandria while they performed “Dear Insanity.” They were incredible live, too. Goofy as hell, too. I got several good photos of them with people bumping into me. If only I could get on the other side of the railing. That would be incredible.

As if they were reading my mind, one of the guard came over to me and offered to help me over so I could photograph easier. Thanking him profusely and thanking god that I wasn't going to get bumped into anymore, I was helped over and went back to photographing the band. Man today just keeps getting better and better!

***

I guess all the guards here are awesome. Well, at least the ones I've run into. They've helped me over railings and let me get close to the stage to get photos. It was incredible.

I was munching on a snow cone and walking around with Laurie and Candace after watching Falling in Reverse's set when I said, “Laurie. Hand me the paper.”

She passed it to me and I looked to see who was left for the day. Alright all we have left is Black Veil Brides, someone named T Mills, and Tokio Hotel. Oh yeah! I was going to watch them and figure out why the heck they sound so familiar.

“Hey guys? Have either one of you guys heard of Tokio Hotel? They sound familiar,” I told them handing Laurie the paper.

Candace's eyes got wide. “They're playing here?! We have to watch them! Oh my god we have to!” she exclaimed.

“They sound familiar,” Laurie replied.

Candace started going on and on about them being from somewhere in Europe and apparently amazing and this and that and another. I'm not saying I wasn't paying attention, but my snow cone was huge and yummy.

“Candace, calm down and we'll watch them,” Laurie said. She looked at the paper and said, “Crap! Their set starts right as Black Veil Brides' set ends!”

Damn. “Well we can watch half of Black Veil Brides' set and rush over and watch Tokio Hotel's, okay?” I suggested.

Candace nodded. “Sure. That works,” Laurie replied.

I chuckled and the three of us set out to watch Black Veil Brides for a bit.

***

Whoa. Almost missed the beginning of the set. Laurie wanted to hear “Rebel Yell,” which was starting around the time we were supposed to head over to Tokio Hotel's set. Luckily we made it over just in time.

“Okay, refresh my memory. Who's who?” Laurie asked for the sixth time.

Candace sighed. “Okay, there's the twins Bill and Tom. Bill sings and Tom plays guitar. Then there's Georg who plays bass and Gustav who plays drums. Got it?” Candace asked, knowing damn good and well Laurie didn't catch on.

“Yeah. Bill, Tom, George--” Laurie started.

“Georg! There is not e at the end!” Candace said almost having a heart attack.

“Sorry. Ge...Geor...pronounce it for me.”

I chuckled at Laurie and Candace. “Gay-org. Only more together.”

“So his name's Gay org?”

“Georg, Laurie!”

I couldn't help but bust out laughing. It was so funny to see Candace frustrated and Laurie confused. “Sorry. Georg and Gustav. Happy?” Laurie asked.

“Better,” Candace said as we heard music. I looked at the stage and barely had turned my camera on when a guard walked over. Oh great. Please don't ask me to turn it off. Please please please be cool.

“Miss? It's probably be safest for you and your camera if you didn't photograph on that side of the railing. I'll help you over if you wish,” he said.

I nodded and thanked him as he helped me over. The band walked out and I heard Laurie ask, “Which is which again? I only know names.”

Candace pointed to each of them and gave the names a face. You know, I'll have to admit that the guitarist was kind of cute. What did she say his name was? Oh well. I'll ask her later.

I started photographing the band as they performed when a guy walked up next to me with a Canon camera and started photographing. He didn't even look at me and said, “You better not be planning on selling any photographs of these guys.”

Okay? Where the hell did that come from? “I didn't plan on it,” I replied not taking my eyes off of the band, “This is just for me and my personal portfolio.”

“Good,” he said, “Because I'm the band's touring photographer and if anyone's going to make any money off of these guys, it's me.”

“Okay then,” I said as I continued photographing the band. Okay, so the singer and the guitarist are the brothers. I thought that's what Candace said. They would perform next to each other throughout the set. It was kind of cool.

I was in the zone photographing when the douche next to me said, “They probably aren't professional quality. It's cute that amateurs like yourself think that because you have a big fancy camera that it makes you a professional.”

What a dick! “Excuse me,” I said while photographing, “But I am a professional. Photography is my profession, not a hobby. I could give you my card if you want to check my website out.”

He scoffed at me and continued photographing. Whatever. I won't let a douche get to me.
I continued photographing as they continued. These guys were really good. And sound really familiar. I like it.

A ton of photographs and snarky comments from the douche photographing next to me later the band finished performing. The singer thanked the crowd and that's when I noticed his accent. Austrian maybe? I'll ask Candace in a second.

I went over to my sisters and couldn't help but chuckle at Candace. She looked like an excited puppy. It was funny. “I take it you liked the show, sis?” I asked.

“Liked it? I LOVED it!” she replied, “It was so amazing and wonderful and oh my god!”

“She's been like this the entire time,” Laurie told me, “Now let's head back to the car. I want some Five Guys in my stomach.”

Oh my god food has never sounded so good. I opened my mouth when I heard the douche say, “Hey! Girl with the camera!”

I groaned to myself and turned around. “Yes?” I asked trying to polite since I was with my sisters.

He walked over to me and asked, “So how about that card? I might check your work out and see if you're any good.”

I don't know if he was being nice or condescending. Either way, it was annoying. However, I pulled out my last card and handing it to him. “There you go,” I told him.

He took it and put it in his pocket. “Thank you. You ladies have a nice evening,” he said before walking away. Holy crap he was being nice. The eff?

“Nat?” Laurie asked, “Who was that?”

“Tokio Hotel's photographer. He was actually being nice,” I replied.

“I take it he wasn't earlier?” Candace asked.

“Far from it,” I replied, “But it doesn't matter. What matters is food.”

“Yes! We'll meet you by where we got snow cones,” Candace said before dragging Laurie away. That girl must love dragging people.

I turned my camera off and started to meet up with them when I heard an accented voice behind me. “Miss!” they said.

I turned around to see Tokio Hotel's guitarist with something in his hand. He held it up and it turned out to me a lens cap. My lens cap. Crap. “Is this yours?” he asked with his rough accent.

I nodded and walked over to him. “Yeah. I would have hated to lose that,” I replied.

He smiled and handed it to me when I reached him. “Well here you go. Wouldn't want you to lose it. That would be bad,” he said.

I nodded in agreement. “Thank you,” I said.

“You're welcome. Enjoy the show?”

I nodded. “You guys were really good. And easy to photograph. I'm sure these will turn out well.”

“That's good to hear. I hope Carl was nice to you.”

Carl? “You mean the guy who was photographing next to me?”

“Yeah. He was nice, right?”

“Not at first. But he ended up being nice. He said he wanted to look at my work.” I shrugged and put my lens cap on over my lens.

“That's good. He can be a bit of an ass, but he's a good guy.”

I nodded. I could see that. “Well, thank you again for finding my lens cap and it was nice to meet you. I've gotta get going though. My sisters are waiting for me.”

“You're very welcome. It was nice to meet you as well. Have a good evening with your sisters also.”

I smiled and started to walk away when I heard him ask, “What's your name?”

I turned around and replied, “Natalia, Nat for short.”

He smiled, his lip ring that I just now noticed glistened in the light. Damn. “Very pretty name,” he said, “Mine's Tom.”

I smiled. “Well, Tom, I hope you have a fun evening and a good rest of the tour.”

“Thank you.”

I smiled and waved before walking away, not knowing that I'd end up seeing him again before I knew it.

***

After arriving back at my apartment, I changed into comfy clothes as started working on the photographs I took at Warped Tour. I wrote a little blurb on my website describing Warped Tour and how awesome the guards were in letting me on the other side of the railing to photograph before really focusing on my photos.

I'm impressed with how well they all turned out. I have several where at least one member from each band looked my way and made a goofy face. All I did to those was add my watermark and saved them in a folder for Warped Tour photos.

Spending several hours on editing and adding watermarks to my photos, I was exhausted upon finishing. I saved my work in the Warped Tour folder and decided to treat myself with some ice cream. All work and no play makes Natalia a bored and tired girl.

I walked into my kitchen and grabbed what was left of my chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. I grabbed a spoon for it and headed into the living room to watch some tv. Hell, I'll put on a movie to watch while I eat my ice cream. I looked on my movie channels and all I could find was porn. Damn porn at night. Not in the mood for porn thank you very much.

I switched over to my DVD player and decided I wanted to watch “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” I popped that in, waited for it to get to the menu screen, and pressed play. The last thing I remember was Jack falling into Christmas Town and my spoon hitting the bottom of my ice cream tub as I fell asleep, unaware that, somewhere in the city, there was a photographer looking at website with interest.