Back Into Your Arms

I looked at myself in the mirror.

I had ended up choosing a nice blouse, a nice blazer, skinny jeans, and my least beat up pair of Converse. My makeup was minimal. Helen had given her approval.

John picked me up right on time.

“Wow” he said as I got in the car.

“What's wrong?”

“Nothing's wrong, it's just for a moment I felt it was 2007 again, your outfit, the perfume you are wearing and this song playing in the background, gosh it took me back”

I laughed as I raised the volume of the song.
It conveniently was Coffee Shop Soundtrack by All Time Low.

“Gosh with this song I feel the need to bring my emo bangs back”

“Don't forget the thick eyeliner” he said laughing.

“And your v-neck” I added laughing harder.

“Remind me to dress up like that at one of my concerts this year”

“Oh my gosh, that would be so much fun”

We laughed as we continued listening to emo throwbacks on our drive to the venue.
Garrett and his girlfriend were waiting for us outside the venue. I had not met her previously.

“Johno my brotha” he said greeting John.

“Hello there Melody” he said smiling. His girlfriend smiled shyly.

“Falyn Snyder” she said sticking her hand out. I shook it and smiled.

“Melody Riley” I said introducing myself to her.

“Also known as my lady” John added.

I turned to him and he smiled proudly. I just blushed.

We walked into the venue, we didn't have to wait in line since we were there early and were listed as guests.

“We are going to go say hi to the guys, we'll be back” Garrett told us. We just nodded as we watched the guys walk backstage.

“Want a margarita?” Falyn asked me.

“Gosh I wish, but I shouldn't drink, I get drunk with like a sip”

She laughed.

“Soda?”

“Yeah, that sounds better”

She nodded and smiled, I watched her walk over to the bar. I looked around at the still empty venue. It was a bit hard for me to imagine myself enjoying concerts. The idea of being in a crowded room with a bunch of strangers didn't sound very appealing.

“What are you thinking about?”

I looked over at Falyn holding my drink. I took it and thanked her.

“It's my first concert”

“No way, really?”

“Yeah, I mean that I can remember”

“Oh it's so much fun, trust me”

I could only hope she was right. I looked at her wondering how someone so pretty ended up with a Garrett.

“How long have you and Garrett been together?”

She took a large sip of her margarita.

“5 years soon”

“Wow”

“Yeah they just kind of happened” she said as she moved closer to me. “I haven't heard the whole story about you and John but from what I've heard it's quite a dramatic romance”

I laughed shyly.

“Yeah, memory loss, teen romance, evil parents, rekindling the flame”

She laughed.

“We are going to have to go out for coffee because I want to hear the whole story”

“Just let me know when” I told her.

She nodded cooly.

I watched as Garrett walked over and wrapped his arms around her waist. I blushed at the thought of John doing the same to me.
John and I were still too awkward to get that close to each other but I was sure it was just me and not him.

“Mel I'm still upset you don't remember me” Garrett said to me snapping me out of my thoughts.

“Were we friends?” I said sarcastically.

He laughed.

“We enjoyed making fun of John together so yes, we were”

“I still find it hard to believe I'm older than you Garrett”

“It's the beard, under the beard is my baby face” he said stroking his beard.

“It's really not” Falyn interjected, we both cracked up, Garrett just made a face.

“Whatever. Anyways, are you ready for the concert?”

“I mean as ready as I can get, I'm more nervous about the fans that will be attending”

“Our fans? Don't worry too much about them”

“They're cool people, they might be skeptical of you at first but try to allow them to get to know you” Falyn added.

“So I shouldn't be scared of them?”

They laughed but didn't say anything.

I looked over at John walking towards me.

He was so giddy.

“Ready? Do you know where you want to stand for the concert?”

“I have a very tall date, so definitely not in the middle”

“I agree”

“Maybe over here on the left side towards the front”

“Sounds good my lady”

He looked over at Falyn and Garrett.

“You guys joining us or are you guys going to stay back here?”

Garrett looked over at Falyn for her opinion.

“We’ll join you guys, it's been awhile since we've been that close to the stage”

Garrett smiled excitedly and Falyn did too. John looked over at me extremely excited.

“I’m so excited”

“Yeah I can tell” I said and laughed as I reached for his hand and we walked to our spot.

“They're going to open doors soon, everything is going to be fine, enjoy the concert and if you no longer want to be here in the audience we can watch the show from backstage or from the back, okay? But please just try to have fun. It will be freaking rad”

I nodded and took a deep breath trying to have faith in him.
They started letting people in, but no one had paid much attention to us yet.

“Favorite song from the Technicolors?” he asked me. I didn't have to think twice about it.

“Tonight You Are Mine”

“I am?” he asked with a grin.

“John” I complained but laughed. He always tried to make things about him.

“What’s yours?”

“My favorite is a new one that you guys haven’t heard, but from their past album it’s probably Feels Like Trouble”

“They are honestly amazing; they deserve more recognition”

“Yeah, I agree. It’s hard though, given that we don’t have a label, we try to do the best we can to support them”

“Yeah unfortunately people prefer to listen to that trash on the radio” I said to him.

I took a moment to look around, I noticed someone staring at us, but it was just Garrett. He made an awkward smile and put his thumbs up.

I laughed.

“Garrett” I heard John whisper.

“I like his girlfriend, she’s cool” I whispered over to him.

“She’s his perfect match” he whispered back. I laughed as we looked at the strange couple. They were beginning to dance to the songs they were playing in the venue while we waited.

“Why do you say so?” I asked.

“Trust me, it takes a special kind of lady to put up with a guy like him”

I just laughed and leaned into him a bit.

I noticed one of the girls next to us looking at us. She just smiled politely and looked away.

“You don’t get to go to a lot of concerts huh?”

He looked down to meet my gaze.

“Not really, we’re pretty busy most of the time”

“Thank you for making time for me”

“I'll always make time for you and whatever concerts you want to go to”

“I want to go to one of yours”

“I want you to go to one of ours too, trust me, it's been my life dream”

He really meant it though. He had told me about how much he wanted to one day see me at one of his concerts, and how he always looked into the crowds hoping maybe one day I'd show up to one of them.

We noticed Garrett had turned around to look at us.

“Are you guys down to go get dinner after the concert?”

“More than down bro! But Mel has a curfew”

Garrett looked over at me confused.

“Oh…do you really?”

I just laughed and looked at John confused.

“No! she's freaking 28 years old” John said laughing. Garrett shot him a glare.

“I don't know why I believed it for a second, stupid John” he said with a funny voice. Falyn just laughed and shook her head.

The opening act came up on stage.
I looked at John shocked.

“Beach Weather?!” I shrieked.

“Yup!” He said beginning to bounce up and down.

I couldn't contain my excitement and screamed with the crowd. He hadn't told me who was opening prior to the show but he knew I had become a big fan of Beach Weather.

“You have cool friends” I said to him as Beach Weather began to play their first song.
It was their song “Swoon”

“Don't you know you're just another heart breaker” John sang to me. I made a face and sang the song back to him.

Garrett, Falyn, John and myself were singing a little too enthusiastically, but we couldn't help it, we were having a great time, but this made other people look over curious as to who we were.
We started getting noticed.

“John!” I heard someone whisper to him. He just smiled and waved.

“It's John and Garrett” I heard a girl whisper to another one.

“Who's the girl?” I heard the other whisper back.

I tried to block them out and thankfully The Technicolors came up on stage, directing the attention back to the stage.

“How's everyone doing?” Brennan asked the crowd. Everyone cheered enthusiastically.

“We hope you guys enjoy the show” he said as they began the concert by playing the very famous Tonight You Are Mine.

I started to dance along singing the song loudly and proudly and during one of those moments I felt John’s hand grab mine, he pulled me closer to him and smiled.

And that's how my first concert went, dancing and singing next to John.
When the concert ended I right away let him know I had to go use the restroom.

“I'll be back” I said to him and quickly hurried through the crowd to the restroom.

I was feeling so happy, I got out of the stall and proceeded to wash my hands, when a blonde came out of one of the other stalls. She began washing her hands next to me. I smiled politely but she did not return the smile. In the contraire she gave a bit of a glare.

She was tall, and curvaceous. Wearing a tight mini dress and huge heels, making her appear even taller.

She walked over to the paper towel dispenser and began drying her hands. I did the same, she then looked me up and down and started to laugh.

I was extremely confused.

“You're not going to last” she murmured and just like that she walked out. Her heels clicking behind her.

I was stunned.
I didn't know what she meant.
I even looked at my outfit since she had looked me up and down before she laughed.
I walked out of the restroom and looked around but she wasn't anywhere to be seen.

Falyn noticed me.

“I was looking for you!”

“Did you by any chance see a blonde woman walk out?”

“Blonde?”

“Yeah”

“No, I didn't, why?”

I debated whether it was of any importance, but decided to not give it much thought. Maybe she was a mean fan.

“No, nothing, where are the guys?”

“Taking pictures” she said and laughed and she pointed in the direction of the guys.
Both of them taking selfies with the fans. Making silly faces.

“You're used to this huh?”

“Yeah, and sometimes the fans even want to take photos with me”

“Really?”

“Yeah, it's fun but strange”

“Should we take a photo?” I suggested she nodded and took out her phone.

“Silly face?” She asked before taking the photo.

We took a photo as we pretended to be tough and I did the typical rapper album cover pose.

We were laughing so hard when we saw the photo. She said she would be posting it asap.

I looked over to John, he stuck out his tongue and I did so back.

One of the girls turned around to see who he was doing it to.

She looked over at me and then at John.
She then whispered something to him.

John raised an eyebrow and smiled, he nodded and whispered something back.

Her eyes went wide, and then she whispered something else that made John laugh.

“I think you've been discovered” Falyn whispered over to me.

“What, you think?”

“Definitely, but don't worry she's a cool fan”

I looked over to where John was standing, I noticed the fan walking towards us.

She smiled.

“I'm Heather!”

“Melody” I smiled shyly.

“Nice to meet you! Please, take care of our John”

“He told you” I asked shocked.

“I guessed right”

“Was it obvious?”

“Yeah, kind of” Heather laughed.

“Thank you for being so cool about it”

“Of course! We all want the best for our Johno, it seemed that everyone had somebody but him…but now he has you. But anyways, it was nice meeting you, don't worry I'll keep it between us”

“Thank you Heather, pleasure meeting you”

She smiled and waved.

Falyn looked over at me with “See, I told you so” face.

“Yeah, she was cool”

“I'm glad you had a good encounter”

I nodded and we continued chatting, waiting for the boys.
I had a good experience with the fan but I could not get the blonde out of my mine.

“You're not going to last”

I kept on hearing her words ringing in my ears.
She had said it with such confidence, not as a possibility, but rather as a reality.