Love, Loathing, and Limelight

Chapter Fourteen

I've never gotten super excited when I see people because I've never been separated from those I love. I've always been able to see my friends daily at school. I live with my aunt, and I have no other family to speak of; everyone I love is all in one city. I've never had a long-distance relationship of any kind, and I've never really missed anyone. Seeing Noah again was the first time I've ever been that excited to see anybody, and that made me realize that maybe I like him more than I was willing to admit. I talk to him more than any of my friends, and we don't get sick of each other. That's so weird, considering where we started.

"So, what on earth are you doing here?" I asked him as we settled into my apartment. He didn't say anything. He pulled out two tickets to the Lana Concert that I wanted to go to. "No way," I said. He said nothing, only smiled. I didn't know what to say. "You did not."

"I totally did," he said. "And, tomorrow before the concert, I wanna do everything we were supposed to do on the day I left." I smiled.

"This is awesome," I said. "I'm so glad you're here," I said as I hugged him.

"So show me where I shall slumber," he said dramatically. I threw a pillow at him.

"I hope the couch will be adequate?" I said.

"Well, technically, I built this couch, so if it's not, then that's on me," he said. As he settled into his blankets, I leaned against the door frame and noticed that he was just a little too tall to be sleeping on the couch. He looked at me with his lips pursed before we both started laughing. "Too bad we're not dating," he said as he turned on his side. "A bed would be much more comfortable." I scoffed while laughing.

"You wish," I said. "Goodnight."

"Night, Sara," he said.

As I got ready for bed, I looked at the journal on my nightstand, which I hadn't touched in months. It had sat right there on the corner of my nightstand for years, but I picked it up and set it in the drawer underneath all the other books. Noah taught me to live in the moment and not worry about all the details in life because in doing that, I don't allow myself to live as life goes. Maybe it's time for me to lighten up and find a new way of living, one that makes things more spontaneous.

Music is my first love. It was my love for music that got me into dancing. When I realized that I could listen to my favorite song with my ears and entire body, I hit the ground running, and I haven't stopped since then. Music is also Noah's first love. He told me once that before he was into acting, he listened to music constantly, and it was his love for music that got him to do theater in school. One of my favorite things about Lana is its cultural music appreciation. That's why I wanted to take him to Chord Street. It's like a music city all on one strip of road.

For some reason, Chord street was bustling that day. It was the same day as the concert, and it seemed like everybody had the same idea as Noah. We managed to find a moment in the busy day to slow down and catch up in the busy day.

"What's new with you?" I asked.

"Nothing's new," he said. "We talk regularly. You know everything there's to know."

"That's a lie," I said instantly. How's season four filming going?"

"Oh my god, it's awful," he said. "Since I'm eighteen now, they want me to do more shirtless scenes, and they gave my character a love interest."

"Yikes," I said. "Alright. My bad. Shouldn't have brought it up."

"Huh?" he said. "Oh no, you're fine." That was a lie. He was clearly upset that I brought it up. Maybe not upset with me directly, but upset with what I did. "I actually kind of like complaining about it." I stared at him in disbelief. "What?" he finally said.

"You are a horrible liar," I said as we laughed.

"No, I'm a good liar. I'm an actor, after all. You just know me well enough to know when I'm acting."

"If you say so," I said. "What did you do for your birthday?"

"Talked to you," he said.

"Is that it?" I asked. I remembered when we talked on his birthday, but surely he did something before or after that.

"That's all I wanted to do," he said.

"Turning eighteen is kind of a big deal," I said. "No party?"

"Literally nothing," he said. "Why would I have a party with many fake friends when I could have a video chat with a real one?" I kind of blushed. Time passed, and it was time for the concert.

We could feel the bass shaking our bodies before we even got there. We showed the tickets, and we got something to eat before the music officially started. He looked really happy, and it hit me that it might be the last time I saw him for a while. I mean, I always knew he was only there for the weekend. But it had come so quickly, and it felt like he was leaving just as quickly.

"So you're not gonna miss me," I said jokingly. He looked up. He thought I was serious.

"What? Of course, I am," he said, concerned.

"No, I'm joking," I reassured him. "Why do you look so happy, though?"

He was now smiling even bigger. "I just have a really good feeling about tonight." I was confused.

"What does that mean?" I asked, but I was interrupted by the announcer's voice overtaking the speakers all around us. The festival was starting. Noah grabbed my hand and rushed me over to get lost in the crowd. The first act was always someone local and young. This girl had long red hair and wore one of those hipster hats. She was good but nervous. We were all kind of tense at first, but it didn't take many acts to get the entire crowd blasting 80s hits and classic rock songs.

The concert continued with people absolutely losing their minds, including us. It was crazy, but wonderfully so. It was more fun than when Megan and I had gone together. It was pushing midnight when this group of people arrived. I wasn't paying attention to them, but they were pushing their way through the crowd. They were walking with purpose, and I was sure it wasn't to get closer to the performance. Noah and I were dancing together when I saw hands pushing people around us. I saw behind us a head peep through other people. The man was looking around. His eyes wandered around until they found their way to me. Or, I thought it was me. It was actually Noah. The man's eyes widened, and I could faintly hear him scream, "There he is! That's him!"

I stopped dancing, and my face got hot. Noah stopped dancing slowly, then noticed my face. He turned around to the man getting his camera out, and many people were doing the same behind him.

"Oh shit," he said monotonically. I didn't know what to do. My knees went wobbly, and I couldn't think straight. "Oh shit!" he said again, this time screaming. "Go go go!" he said as he grabbed my arm, and we trampled through people. Of course, a group of three or four people came after us.

We made it off the bridge, and it started pouring down rain out of nowhere. We stumbled through people and food carts, running into people and knocking over chairs. I thought we'd lost them when I got on the bike, but they were running in the rain when I looked behind me. My bike doesn't get above fifty miles an hour, but I must have pushed it farther because we lost them. But we didn't know we had lost them. We were so shaken up that I didn't even set my bike up properly to park it. I let it hit the ground in an attempt to get inside quickly. 

*Hello, Lovelies! Hope you are doing well. What do you think is going to happen? Are people gonna find out about Noah and Sara? Are they still just friends or is there something there? LMK. Or don't. Live your life. Have a good day! :) <3 *