Glass Hearts

The music got louder and louder with every footstep they took towards the main concert hall. Of Mice and Men were halfway through ‘The Depths’ by the time they got there. They cut through the crowd and quickly found the security gate that would let them backstage. She showed the security guard her employee pass, thinking about how important she felt as they slipped down the hallway to the backstage section of the stage. Mick opened the first door on the right and we followed the small stairway to the stage. The view was incredible. Even though it was dark, the dim red stage lights lit up the first few rows of the audience and the movement of at least 3 different mosh pits was going on in the middle of the sea of people. She felt so overwhelmed by the whole thing; all the people singing along to every single word or jumping around to the beat. Goosebumps flew up her spine just at the sight of the whole experience. She finally understood why these bands kept doing this night after night for weeks straight.
‘Alright! This is our last song for tonight!’ Austin screamed into the mic. He was stood in the middle of the stage with his arms spread open. Second and Sebring started playing and Austin jumped in action as soon as the rest of the band started playing. He screamed the lyrics and gave so much energy into his performance. She could feel the bass pump through her body as the band played each cord. The audience was so pumped up. She could see at least five people crowd surfing from where she was standing. Alan was stood on the right side of the stage so she had the best view of him as when he did ‘the guitar thing’. He flung his guitar over his shoulder and, as always, it landed perfectly back in his hands.
‘This is not what it is, only baby scars! I need your love like a boy needs his mother's side!’ The entire room was singing along to one of Of Mice and Men’s best songs. The song ended and the room went quiet. Austin’s voice rang out over the silence ‘Thank you guys so much! Have a great night! We love you!’ The crowd exploded as the band took a bow.
She got goose bumps as Tino threw his drums sticks into the crowd while the rest of the band started coming backstage. Alan and Aaron grabbed water bottles from one of the tables and headed towards their dressing rooms. Tino and Phil were right behind them as Austin finally came backstage as well. The crowd was still screaming as some of the lights started coming on.
‘So what did you think,’ Austin asked, noticing the huge smile stretched across her face, as he walked past her to the table.
‘Austin, you guys were amazing. The crowd loved you.’ She was still in shock from the whole experience. She knew that she wouldn’t forget that moment too easily.
He smiled as he grabbed a towel off the table and wiped off his face. ‘Listen, we have to head out pretty soon. We are flying back to the States tomorrow but I still want to buy you some coffee, to make up for the hallway thing? Would that be okay?’
‘Yea, sounds good,’ she said with a smile, trying to calm down. ‘You’re going to shower first though right?’ she added with a laugh.
‘No. I was going to stay all sweating and gross,’ he said as he took his shirt off. He started walking away as he said, ‘come to my dressing room in 10 minutes, okay?’
‘Will do.’ She felt like she was going to faint.
She took a few steps towards the stage and watched a part of the crowd when Mick came over. ‘What was that about,’ he said as he nudged her arm and winked.
‘Oh nothing, just asked me directions,’ she said, trying to sound as calm as possible, even though her heart was still pounding.
‘For some reason I don’t believe you. Maybe it’s the huge smile and the blushing? Anyway go home; you’ve been here all day.’
There was only a single light and it wasn’t very bright so the fact that he knew she was blushing either meant it was so bad it ‘glowed in the dark’ or he was just being an ass. Either way she had a date with Austin Carlile so she was pretty happy. She helped out Mick and the rest of the crew for about 15 minutes then slipped down the dimly lit hallway towards Austin’s dressing room, with her heart still pounding and her ears still ringing.

Notes