Hello Readers! I am back in the writing mood, at least for now. So I am trying to ride this feeling as long as I can. I has been a long time since I added a story in this category, so I hope it was worth the wait. Enjoy and let me know what you think!
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"Alright," and the management-guy looked down at the contract I handed him, "Dani, drop your cell phone in the box. You can pick it back up when you leave," and he shoved a greasy cardboard box right under my face. I jumped back a half step, but then I reached into my purse, searching for my phone.
"Why do you need my phone?" I asked as I, nonetheless, dropped it into the box. It clattered on top of several others that were already collected there. I thought briefly of germs and then ignored it. The man was extremely bored by my question. He sighed and didn't bother to make eye contact.
"It was in the agreement that you signed when you consented to go into the green room and/or tour bus with the band. It included a non-disclosure provision. You have agreed not to discuss your interaction with the band with any third parties and have, further, agreed to not take or post pictures, videos or..."
"Yeah, okay, got it," I said. I didn't really care. I would have signed away every penny I had ever made or ever would make for the rest of my life to get back into the green room. To get into a room with Country Miles, the greatest band on the face of the Earth! I mean whatever I needed to do to actually get to talk to Joe Palmer about his lyrics! Or maybe sit right next to Dean McMurray on the couch while he strummed an acoustic guitar! To just stare at Max Fletcher when he wasn't basically hidden behind his stand-up bass. To ask Wesley Upton to tell me all of the instruments that he could play. Or, and this was what I really wanted to do the most, to act flirty, and playful, and sexy and ask Brent Corwin if he could keep time on something other than his drums. Seriously, this was a dream come true, they could shred my phone if they needed to.
Well, maybe that was overstating it just a little bit. But I guess I was euphoric in that moment. I mean, this was exactly what I had hoped would happen when I bought a Standing Room Only ticket to the show like four months earlier. However, the odds against actually meeting the band were pretty steep. I didn't have a backstage pass. I didn't have an expensive ticket.
Instead, I had my body and my persistence. And I had leveraged both of those for all they were worth. I was a short girl, around 5'2 but I was curvy, with large breasts, a small waist, and a round butt. I also had legs that looked longer than they should have given my height, with thicker thighs. I had accentuated all of this, wearing a flannel button-up shirt with no bra underneath. I hadn't bothered to button it, instead tying the bottom flaps above my bellybutton. My big breasts were just pouring out of the shirt and from the right angles my nipples were nearly visible. I was also wearing impossibly short cut-off shorts, something I couldn't really bend over in. I was also wearing cowboy boots and a cowboy hat. Beneath my hat were my loose, blonde girls. I had big green eyes with long eyelashes, a cute little nose, and plump lips. I knew that even short; I was going to stand out.
I don't want to give the impression that I was comfortable with these clothes. Far from it. In fact, I had purposefully decided to go alone to the concert, instead of with my best friend Angie, because I was terrified of anyone I knew seeing me dressed like this. It was totally outside of my personality. I just had a goal, to actually meet my idols, and I knew that I had get someone to pick me out of the crowd.
I had arrived at the concert several hours early and had fought my way through the crowds into the venue. Even then, there were a bunch of people up by the barricades near the stage. During the opening acts, I had meticulously inched my way closer and closer to the stage. Anytime someone shifted or went off to the concession stand, I slipped into the vacuum. I got dirty looks from groups as I crowded in on top of them. I didn't care, I ignored them. By the time Country Miles hit the stage, I was right against the barricade. And I would not leave. No matter what. If I had to pee, I would hold it. If I passed out, they'd have to pry my fingers off of the barricades with a crowbar. I was there to stay.
And oh my God, the show! It was awesome! The band had not released a new album in about three years, so there was no new stuff. Their most recent album was already written into my heart. I knew everything they played and I sang out to them, dancing as best I could and screaming after every song in just wild abandon. My throat felt raw, and there were tears of joy blurring my vision. But it was just...incredible. There was the band, right there! Just a few feet away from me playing so beautifully. I should see the sweat on their foreheads, hear them talking to one another between songs. By the end of the show, I had decided that even I didn't meet them, this would have been good enough.
But then, right after the band walked off the stage to thunderous applause, and before they came back out to play the encore, some guy in a band jacket and a pair of expensive sunglasses had come up to from the far side of the barricade. He was what I came to think of as "the management-guy" for some reason, I guess I figured he had some sort of administrative role with the band, he didn't look like a roadie. But he was definitely official. The security guys had moved aside for him. He leaned in towards my ear and my breath caught in my throat.
"Someone from the band saw how much you loved their music, they wanted to see if you wanted to come back and meet them," He had said. And I swear my soul left my body! I sort of floated outside of myself, not even sure if I had heard him right. But I didn't want to miss this opportunity if it was real. I said "yes" about ten thousand times in quick succession. He had pulled aside the barricade and let me slip through. He pointed me in the direction I needed to go, "follow the other girls," he said. And that was the first time I noticed that he had already let three or four other girls behind the barricade. By the time the encore was over and the management guy was back handing out contracts, there were ten drop-dead gorgeous girls preparing to relinquish their cell phones. I guess I should have been intimidated by them, but honestly I just felt flattered to be included. And just so amazed and grateful that I was really going to meet them.
"Alright, has everyone turned in their paperwork?" the management-guy asked, looking around at the girls. Everyone nodded or mumbled in the affirmative, "Alright, go ahead on into the green room. The band should be in at any time." The man pushed a door open at the end of the hallway and the giant pack of excited girls poured through the door and into the room.
I was in the middle of the group, and short. So I couldn't really see anything until I got through the door and the girls sort of spread out. It was a large, sort of non-descript windowless room. There were a few couches and chairs along the walls. There was a large table in the middle of the room and it was covered in food and alcohol. No one moved to approach the table, flanking out around the room. I took a small sidestep to the right as I came through the door and waited, my stomach knotted.
Another girl, a tall brunette in a miniskirt that showed off her incredibly long legs, stood a few feet away from me. When I am nervous, I sometimes get a little bit chatty. After a minute or so of waiting in silence for the band to arrive, I turn to the brunette.
