Page 137 of A World Apart
“We literally talked about this an hour ago; I remember!”
“Take lots of pictures; I wanna see what I’m missing!” Becka hounded me to the front door.
“I’ll be back before midnight.”
“Don’t turn into a pumpkin!” Becka called, just as I closed the door on her.
Between the bus journey, the queue just to get into the Staples Center and then finding my way to my row, it had taken me hours to sit my happy butt down in this seat, and it wasn’t even a bad seat. Not quite centre-seating, a little more off to the side, but on a slope so I would at least be able to see over the heads of the people in the rows ahead of me.
I sent Becka a message to let her know I’d gotten here − finally, and then sent a selfie of myself to Jihoon, who to my surprise, responded almost immediately.
Joon
Nice t-shirt! But who said you could have such handsome men on your chest?
[Sent 16:21]
Me
You weren’t complaining the last time I had a handsome man on my chest ;) shouldn’t you be rehearsing, or whatever it is you idols do?
Joon
Behave ;) I can’t concentrate if I’m thinking about your chest. We don’t need to rehearse, we’re too good already. Plus, we can’t, someone let all the people in the arena already. lol
[Sent 16:23]
Me
How inconvenient for you! Come out soon, please, I’m getting bored, I wanna see my favourite band :D
Joon
You’ll be waiting a bit longer, jagiya, we don’t perform until near the end. Please enjoy the other performers while you wait for us.
[Sent 16:26]
Me
What if I like them better?
Joon
We’ll have to practice harder to win back yourheart.
[Sent 16:29]
I laughed, earning me a strange look from the teenage girl sitting next to me. She had a lightstick poking out of the bag at her feet, clearly identifying her as a Viber. She’d probably lose her ever-loving mind if she knew who was making me laugh right now.
Jihoon and I carried on texting until the lights in the arena dimmed, the music getting louder, subtle hints the show was about to start and, despite the fact it wasn’t going to be GVibes until later, I began to feel excited about seeing the other artists. The line up this year was fantastic.
Stage pyrotechnics went off, announcing the entrance of the first singer − none other than Haley, the American singer who’d collaborated with GVibes on their runaway hit, ‘Fall in Love,’ at the start of the year. She was met with loud screams from the crowd and went on to earn every, single one.
Each artist performing at the ball performed a handful of songs. I was honestly having a great time, even if I wasn’t a particular fan of some of the artists. But still, I was anxious to see GVibes. I texted Jihoon between each artist changeover, pestering him with ‘is it your turn yet?’
Until finally he didn’t respond. It was nearing the end of the night, already after 9:00pm. I knew GVibes were the second-to-last act playing tonight, the closing performance being from an artist who’d swept the Grammys this year. When he didn’t message me back, I knew they must be on next. I felt a frisson of excitement and impulsively I turned to the teen next to me.
“They’re on next!” The shared connection of fandom seemed to close the generational/stranger gap and she grinned a me.
