The Anti-Love Story

Experiencing the concert from the pits was amazing. I was directly in the front row. I swear i felt Michael's sweat fall on me like rain. Emily and I were especially excited for after the show. I made sure every so often that my phone was charged enough so it wouldn't die before we went backstage. It was eve better that we were in the pit's because the guard's were right there. We could show them the picture and they would lead us to Michael, Luke, Ashton, and Calum.

The band rocked out for a few more songs. A couple more mosh pits happened, i lost my shoe. The band said good night to the crowd and exited the stage. The arena began to empty as the audience dispersed. The thinner the crowd became the more I realized my fantasy was coming true. Every night that I cried myself to sleep while listening to 5 Seconds of Summer, I dreamed about one day meeting Michael Clifford and thanking him in person. I was about to go backstage with my best friend and spend some quality time with Michael and explain the note I wrote him using my actual voice. I could let go, I could let my heart out of it's cage for once. Michael might even comfort me with a hug.

Emily and I exchanged looks, we both knew what time is was. It was Summer Time, our vacation from our real lives. I pulled out my phone and brought up our 'backstage pass' as we walked to the nearest security guard. Em tapped this man o the shoulder, once he turned around i held up my phone, showing him the picture. "Follow me." was all he said. So we did just that, after silently squealing behind his back. We were brought behind the barricade ad led behind the all the equipment . We started down a long, narrow corridor. I could swear the sound of my heart beating so fast reverberated off the walls, but the sound just might have been in my ears.

We reached the part of the hall with multiple doors with signs on them such as maintenance, janitor, electrical, and finally we reached a door that said 5SOS. I could here voices just beyond the wood, I could hear the accents just underneath the sound of Nickelback playing on the other side. the guard who lead us to the door knocked. After a few moments the door swung open and Michael answered. the moment he noticed who he was looking at a Cheshire grin spread across his face once more. "Raynebow Dash!" he exclaimed. "Come on in." He stepped aside to let us through. He thanked the guard and shut the door once we were through the threshold.

"Hey guys look who it is!" Michael announced the the room. As soon as they looked up the three men erupted into hey's and hello's. They gave us some small hugs and greetings before going back to what they were doing. Emily and I stood a little feeling a little awkward. Michael was standing next to me watching me.

After a few more awkward moments of the three of us standing and looking at each other. Emily spoke, "Well... Imma go talk to the other guys." he said simply and walked away, leaving me and Michael alone.

The moment I was alone again i was in that frozen state of nervousness. i was speechless i had no words, my mind was blank the moment I was alone in his presence. I just stared at my shoes in hopes he would thaw me out like he did before. After a few, what seemed like infinite, moments. I couldn't take it anymore. I went to put my foot out so I could start walking toward my best friend, when I felt a hand around my arm pulling me backward.I lost my balance, causing me to fall backward. I closed my eyes, and waited for impact. When I finally hit what felt like a brick wall, I waited a few seconds, till i opened my eyes. I didn't want to because I was afraid, i had embarrassed myself, which is the last thing i wanted to do in front of Michael, but i felt a warm sensation on my neck. My curiosity got the best of me. I slowly opened my eyes and saw were the warmth was coming from, Michael's breath. He was breathing on me because that 'brick wall' was him. He had been the one to grab me, resulting in me falling on top of him on the couch. My body instantly got frigid. I was way to aware once again of all his body parts and where they were beneath me. My mind started to think about so many sexual things, so many scenarios could play out. I was so checked out of reality, with my head in the cloud's think of all the possibilities that could happen with the position we were in as well as all the position's we could be in.

We locked eyes and my heart melted immediately. He smiled a small shy smile that I never would have expected to see play across his lips. I wondered what was going through his mind when he looked at me. What was he thinking. At the meet and greet he said he was just as nervous as I was, but saying he was nervous wasn't something a nervous person in tat situation would admit. I had always dreamed of being in this situation, but now that i was here all the ways i hoped it would play out were irrelevant. I hoped I would be witty and humorous and make the band laugh but so far I've been nothing but a clumsy dunce. I hadn't said a word, let alone something that could be considered funny.

My heart my have melted and slowed down but my mind was working in over drive. I couldn't process all the elements that were so unfamiliar to me so my brain was working harder to try and comprehend what it had never thought would become reality. "What are you thinking?" he whispered in my ear in that tingles causing Australian accent. He was treating me like a normal person and not just some fan, so why should I treat him like a rock star and not a normal person. Michael and the others didn't even act like they were famous so why should i treat him like he was when he didn't even consider himself one. Suddenly I was rushed with memories of stalking him on YouTube and everything i loved about him and how he was himself and not what people thought he should be. I remembered everything he ever said about being famous when asked the questions in interviews.

"You." was all I said.

One corner of his mouth curled, "What about me?"

I wanted t choose my word's carefully before I spoke. After a few seconds of contemplating what to say, "How irrational I'm being about this whole situation. I'm freaking out about being this close to you and being here in general, but why? You are the one person I shouldn't be nervous around." I said

He looked at me, "Why is that?" He looked at me expectantly., I

"Because if you aren't afraid to be yourself, then why should i be afraid to be me. I may conceal who I am every other day of my life, but here with you is the one place I can be free." i could see in his eyes that I had touched his heart. He leaned in a little, his lips were so close to mine that we were almost kissing but we weren't.

"Be free my little pony." was all he said before he closed that small gap and our lips touched. We were tangled together still from the fall, twisted like a pretzel, but some how as we kissed I was the most comfortable I could have ever been. His soft lips moved with mine, the tips of our tongues touched and retreated. He pulled away and looked me in the eyes.

"Why do you call me Raynebow Dash?" I asked. I thought it was adorable and pretty genius, I just wanted to know why.

he paused and thought about it before saying, "Well i don't it was the first thing that came to mind when you said your name was Rayne. I thought about calling you Rose, ya know because of my pick up line, but I figured since you already told me your name that wouldn't work."

My eyes got wide in astonishment, "I wanted to tell you my name was Rose because of that line." His eyes got wide too, we began to laugh at the coincidence.I laid my head on his bouncing chest as we laughed together. It wasn't even that funny, the laughter was mainly at the relief that the ice was finally broken.

We finally stopped laughing and just continued to lay in our tangled mess, with my head on his chest and his face in my hair. We laid in our silence but we were surrounded by the others noise. After awhile Luke approached us, he came up and got Michael's attention, "Hey the place is clear we're heading to the hotel."

Michael nodded and said he'd be right there. He gave a apologetic look, we were both reluctant to leave each others arms. Sadly we separated, he helped me gather my bearings before we began to be escorted by security along with the band to the exit. Michael held my hand the whole time, rubbing circles on my hand with his thumb. The walk was almost in slow motion it was so depressing. I wanted more than anything to not leave his side, because if I did that meant i had to go back to reality. I never even got be free. I never even got to be my old self. Our time together was too short. It couldn't be coming to end this fast. I could feel the tears wanting to flood down my cheek. This couldn't be happening. We reached their car, the one they were taking to the hotel. It was official, we had wasted the night, and we barely caught fire like i hoped we would. We had sparks obviously but nothing like the forest fire I was wishing for, the time we had together wasn't long enough for the full potential of our flames to burn.

Michael hugged me tighter than he should have, which I wasn't complaining about. I caught one last sniff of his sweaty, cologne mixed scent before he turned away, saying good bye.

The door to the Suburban closed and started to pull off with 5 Seconds of Summer inside of it. Emily and I were then walked to our car by a singular guard. Our faces obviously long with disappointment. I was happy i had got to spend time with Michael, but was disappointed that it had to end. I knew this wasn't a fairy tale, but I was hoping for a longer escape from hell. I was hoping God would keep Heaven's gates open for just a while longer, and Satan would close his gates for good. We approached Emily's blue Honda with heavy hearts in a pitch black night.

In a moment our world's were lit again. Our darkness was literally full of light the next moment, as headlights approached. A vehicle pulled up next to us and i automatically knew who it was. Michael stepped out of the black Suburban and Ashton rolled down the passenger window.

"Come on girls let's not let this party end." Ashton said.

"Let's throw some kerosene on this bitch and watch the fire burn."

"Burn baby burn." Ashton yelled.

"Now get your asses in."