The Biggest Fan
The Used's US Tour 2008.
”Hey, has anyone seen my bag of carrots? Those little ones?”, Jepha suddenly asked, walking towards me, Quinn and Dan who all were sitting around the table and playing ‘Go Fish’.
“No, sorry, dude. Lost ‘em?”, Quinn said, before gazing unnoticeable over at Dan’s cards.
“Yeah, I think so. I mean, I know I had them with me inside, but I can’t remember where I put them.”
“Well, have you looked around?”
“Yeah, everywhere! Man, I really need them, or else I can’t relax. Fuck!”
Jepha was sounding pretty upset at that point.
“What about those?”, I said, pointing at Bert as he was coming inside after his smoke.
He was carrying something I presumed was Jepha’s bag of carrots.
“Fuck, Bert! Those are mine!”
“What?”, he responded. His mouth was full of carrots.
“Oh, sorry, man. I just found ‘em on the table over there. I didn’t think they were yours.”
“Well, okay, no harm done. Are there anyone left?”
“Yeah, a couple. You can have ’em, I’m full.”
“Thanks!”, Jepha responded, grabbing the bag out of Bert’s hand, immediately pulling a carrot out before starting to nibble on it.
He sure loved his carrots.
I could hear chit-chat from behind the backstage curtain now.
The area was beginning to fill up before the concert started.
There were only 30 minutes left and everything was set for The Used first concert as a part of their US Tour ’08.
As I sat there, hearing the guys getting told to get ready for the styling, I started thinking about how amazing this week actually had been.
8 days had gone by since I first met them and not one day had been like the other.
It was the first week of my summer holiday and already, I had travelled around Europe, visited countries I’d never seen before, and now I was in the US, a country I until now only knew from pictures on TV and Internet.
All these were dreams I’ve had, dreams that now had come true.
Most of all, I wanted to document this, take photographs, making it a proof that I wasn’t just dream.
That this was real.
“Hey!”, a voice behind me said, immediately interrupting my thinking.
It was Bert, looking down at me on the floor with a sweet smile upon his face.
“What’s up?”, he continued.
“Nothing much. Just sitting here. My legs hurt after our walk today”, I smiled, gazing up at him from where I was sitting.
I never really understood why Bert and the guys needed to be styled, I couldn’t even see the difference.
“Yeah, mine too! But it was nice, though. We should do it again sometime soon”, he responded grinning.
“We should…”
I was smiling into the air and thinking about the day I’d spent with Bert.
It was really a nice walk.
“Hey, you ready, Bert?”, Jepha asked, holding his bass. “We’re on in 5.”
“Yeah, comin´. Fuck, I’m so nervous, Lina.”
“Why?”, I asked him amazed, getting up from the floor.
“It’s just that this is ‘Frisco, you know. It’s the US, it’s home. We need to do it good here. It’s, like, our home ground. I wanna impress”, Bert said, nervously biting on his index finger nail.
“I understand, Bert… But you just gotta go on that stage and knock them out like you always do.
Just be yourself and play, well, in your case sing, and everything will work out, okay?”, I encouraged, looking at him with a shy smile.
“Yeah, you’re right. Thank you”, he said before opening his arms and wrapping them around me.
Yet another hug from Bert which was so warm, so welcoming and so secure.
Something they always were.
He finished the hug by imprinting a sloppy kiss on my cheek, making me giggle as he went over to Jepha who was standing next to the stage.
There, they were met by Quinn and Dan who had been outside, now about to get ready for the show.
I sat down again, looking at them as I saw them joking around, bumping into each other like four 10-year-old boys do when they play.
As they were signalized to go onstage, Quinn winked at me, later followed by a smiling nod.
Throughout that night, I just sat there behind the stage like I had done this week, listening to the guys play.
They were on fire tonight and Bert’s statement about him being nervous of performing faded as he suddenly stage-dived into the massive crowd of fans, all screaming and cheering.
In a couple of seconds, he was being carried away onstage again by the security guards, all standing ready to prevent anything from happening.
They couldn’t take any chances. Bert did. As always.
“It’s really fuckin´ good being here tonight!”, he screamed, making the crowd explode into applauses and cheers.
“We’ve been in Europe this week now and it’s just been great!”, he continued.
“But nothing beats the feeling of being home!”
And that was it; the start of The Used’s US Tour 2008.
I travelled with them for weeks, making us all bond even more than we’d already done.
At some point, the guys became my family, all four of them.
Even though I stayed in touch with my family and friends back home in Norway through Internet, Bert, Quinn, Jepha and Dan was all I needed.
I found myself during those weeks we toured around the States.
I became more like the person I wanted to be than the person I was struggling to become and the person I already was.
My insecurity faded away and the true me, the true Lina, began showing.
Even though I didn’t change much, I still improved myself for the better, of what was already there.
All thanks to the guys…
“No, sorry, dude. Lost ‘em?”, Quinn said, before gazing unnoticeable over at Dan’s cards.
“Yeah, I think so. I mean, I know I had them with me inside, but I can’t remember where I put them.”
“Well, have you looked around?”
“Yeah, everywhere! Man, I really need them, or else I can’t relax. Fuck!”
Jepha was sounding pretty upset at that point.
“What about those?”, I said, pointing at Bert as he was coming inside after his smoke.
He was carrying something I presumed was Jepha’s bag of carrots.
“Fuck, Bert! Those are mine!”
“What?”, he responded. His mouth was full of carrots.
“Oh, sorry, man. I just found ‘em on the table over there. I didn’t think they were yours.”
“Well, okay, no harm done. Are there anyone left?”
“Yeah, a couple. You can have ’em, I’m full.”
“Thanks!”, Jepha responded, grabbing the bag out of Bert’s hand, immediately pulling a carrot out before starting to nibble on it.
He sure loved his carrots.
I could hear chit-chat from behind the backstage curtain now.
The area was beginning to fill up before the concert started.
There were only 30 minutes left and everything was set for The Used first concert as a part of their US Tour ’08.
As I sat there, hearing the guys getting told to get ready for the styling, I started thinking about how amazing this week actually had been.
8 days had gone by since I first met them and not one day had been like the other.
It was the first week of my summer holiday and already, I had travelled around Europe, visited countries I’d never seen before, and now I was in the US, a country I until now only knew from pictures on TV and Internet.
All these were dreams I’ve had, dreams that now had come true.
Most of all, I wanted to document this, take photographs, making it a proof that I wasn’t just dream.
That this was real.
“Hey!”, a voice behind me said, immediately interrupting my thinking.
It was Bert, looking down at me on the floor with a sweet smile upon his face.
“What’s up?”, he continued.
“Nothing much. Just sitting here. My legs hurt after our walk today”, I smiled, gazing up at him from where I was sitting.
I never really understood why Bert and the guys needed to be styled, I couldn’t even see the difference.
“Yeah, mine too! But it was nice, though. We should do it again sometime soon”, he responded grinning.
“We should…”
I was smiling into the air and thinking about the day I’d spent with Bert.
It was really a nice walk.
“Hey, you ready, Bert?”, Jepha asked, holding his bass. “We’re on in 5.”
“Yeah, comin´. Fuck, I’m so nervous, Lina.”
“Why?”, I asked him amazed, getting up from the floor.
“It’s just that this is ‘Frisco, you know. It’s the US, it’s home. We need to do it good here. It’s, like, our home ground. I wanna impress”, Bert said, nervously biting on his index finger nail.
“I understand, Bert… But you just gotta go on that stage and knock them out like you always do.
Just be yourself and play, well, in your case sing, and everything will work out, okay?”, I encouraged, looking at him with a shy smile.
“Yeah, you’re right. Thank you”, he said before opening his arms and wrapping them around me.
Yet another hug from Bert which was so warm, so welcoming and so secure.
Something they always were.
He finished the hug by imprinting a sloppy kiss on my cheek, making me giggle as he went over to Jepha who was standing next to the stage.
There, they were met by Quinn and Dan who had been outside, now about to get ready for the show.
I sat down again, looking at them as I saw them joking around, bumping into each other like four 10-year-old boys do when they play.
As they were signalized to go onstage, Quinn winked at me, later followed by a smiling nod.
Throughout that night, I just sat there behind the stage like I had done this week, listening to the guys play.
They were on fire tonight and Bert’s statement about him being nervous of performing faded as he suddenly stage-dived into the massive crowd of fans, all screaming and cheering.
In a couple of seconds, he was being carried away onstage again by the security guards, all standing ready to prevent anything from happening.
They couldn’t take any chances. Bert did. As always.
“It’s really fuckin´ good being here tonight!”, he screamed, making the crowd explode into applauses and cheers.
“We’ve been in Europe this week now and it’s just been great!”, he continued.
“But nothing beats the feeling of being home!”
And that was it; the start of The Used’s US Tour 2008.
I travelled with them for weeks, making us all bond even more than we’d already done.
At some point, the guys became my family, all four of them.
Even though I stayed in touch with my family and friends back home in Norway through Internet, Bert, Quinn, Jepha and Dan was all I needed.
I found myself during those weeks we toured around the States.
I became more like the person I wanted to be than the person I was struggling to become and the person I already was.
My insecurity faded away and the true me, the true Lina, began showing.
Even though I didn’t change much, I still improved myself for the better, of what was already there.
All thanks to the guys…
♠ ♠ ♠
oh, my god. i'm actually crying right now. :'(i actually managed to convince myself that this story is over.
but don’t worry, guys; the story’s far from over!
haha, it wasn’t until now i realized that the end of this update
sounded kinda ‘and now this story is over’.
it’s not. (:
this story has gotten 10 out of 10 stars now. ::inlove:
thank you guys so much. i appreciate all you readers out there,
all of your comments and feedbacks and all of your subsricptions.
this really means a lot. truly. and it's coming from the bottom of my heart.
i'll continue to write this story as a sequel later on.
i'm not sure when i'll post the first update, but it'll happen soon.
in love and death,
lina.