Chapter Twenty-Five

"My little runaway, my little runaway..." I muttered, my foot tapping to the beat of the music. Hellfire Society's remix of Ladytron's Runaway blared from my headphones. The song was coming to an end, so I quickly put on Bang Bang by Hellfire Society. I loved the song, but their cover of of it was amazing.

Amanda had stopped pacing, sitting on the ground next to me. There was still a gap between us and the people standing behind us; Amanda kept saying that no one wanted to stand near them because I looked "scary." My only response was a laugh, finding the thought amusing.

When I looked down at my phone I smiled and showed it to Amanda.

"Only fifteen minutes to go," I commented before putting my phone back in the pocket of my hoodie. Amanda was on her feet in a heartbeat.

"Fifteen minutes?!" she shrieked, jumping up and down as she clapped her hands together.

"You are such a kid when it comes to these boys," I laughed, shaking my head as I watched my best friend skip in a circle in front of me.

She was still going on about how the doors were going to be opening soon and how she couldn't wait to see what songs the boys were going to play. Amanda suddenly stopped skipping and walked back over to me, tilting her head to the side.

"When my boys get on, are you going to sing along with me?"

I knew that Amanda was going to be singing her heart out when the Jonas Brothers performed, probably even dance a little, but I also knew that Amanda would feel more than a little awkward about being backstage and singing. When singing in a crowd of people who were singing the same song, no one really paid any attention to the individuals of the said crowd, but when one was backstage it was completely different.

"Of course I'll be singing with you," I answered with a laugh. "I may not know all their songs and lyrics by heart, but I'll still sing along to the ones I know. Just don't expect me to start dancing with you."

Like Amanda, I always felt awkward about doing some things in public for everyone else to see. Singing and dancing were two of them, but they were going to a concert so of course I was going to sing along to the songs. Dancing, however, was something I wasn't about to do for some time. Amanda smiled and nodded before she went back to jumping around, pulling her phone out of her pocket to watch the fifteen minutes pass. I felt like watching a clock would make time go by slower but Amanda didn't seem to think anything of it.

When Amanda’s phone said the time was five-fifty-seven, I thought Amanda was going to have a heart attack or something out of excitement. I changed the song on my MP3 player, not really feeling up to listening to A Perfect Circle at the moment. Instead I put on Jesus On Extasy, smiling as Alone came on. I nearly jumped when Amanda suddenly latched onto my arm, jumping up and down as she squealed.

“Three more minutes!” I smiled down as Amanda let out her excitement. It was better that she got it out while we were still outside rather than while we were backstage. I really didn’t want us getting thrown out, though Amanda was more likely than not to get excited all over again once we were inside. “The doors open in three minutes!”

“I heard you. Just don’t get so excited that you die on me,” I laughed, not bothering to pull away from Amanda. She was still holding my arm, her grip tightening slightly.

“Oh please, I refuse to die until I’ve met Joe Jonas.”

“Yeah, ain’t that the truth.”

“True facts are true.”

I shook her head and walked forward a couple steps, looking at the people who stood in line ahead of them. Everyone was getting excited, moving forward every so often as they tried to get closer to the doors. I turned my head and tried to look at the back of the line but it went down the road and around a corner onto another street.

“I’m glad we got here early,” I commented, taking the time to put my phone on vibrate. “I mean, hell, look at all the people who are behind us.”

“We would have been farther up had someone actually gotten out of bed on time this morning…” she turned and gave me a look, causing me to roll my eyes. “You know that as much as I do.”

“Hey, it really didn’t matter what time we got up or what time we got here. We already have tickets to get in, and you don’t even have to sit in the crowd. We get the special privilege of being backstage.”

“True, but I still like being early to these kinds of things.”

I nodded but didn’t say anything; I liked getting to concerts early to look at the merchandise, and I loved staying late after the shows were over. There were times when I had managed to catch a band and get an autograph or a picture when they went to leave, though most of the time I just talked to them about music or how their tour was going, possibly get a hug.

“So, what are you going to do when you meet Joe, anyway? I mean, we’re going to be backstage the whole time with them while the other bands play. We’re going to be around all the bands the entire time we’re there,” I questioned, turning to smile at Amanda. “I hope you realize that he’s probably going to talk to you. They all might.”

“Don’t remind me! I’ve been trying to keep my cool over here,” Amanda quickly replied, her eyes widening as she looked up at me. “I’m already paranoid enough about making a mess of myself in front of him.”

“Keeping your cool?” I slowly repeated, not taking my eyes off Amanda. “You’ve been pacing and freaking out this entire time!”

“Exactly!”

I didn’t say anything more as I watched Amanda turn and start jumping as she tried to see over everyone. It wasn’t very easy and she grew frustrated, stomping her foot and let out a huff. She didn’t see the doors open, or the front of the line moving, but I did. I smiled and tapped Amanda’s shoulder to get her attention.

“The doors are open.”

The look on Amanda’s face was priceless.