A Witness to the Music
Part One
It had been yet another perfect show. The band was in amazing
synchronicity. The crowd was a sea of devoted fans that were hanging on to
every note and rockin’ together as one. Standing in the middle of all
that energy, there was an awesome sense of being the only one there, that
solitary fan with the band singing for me alone, yet it melded with the sights
and sounds of everyone around me, who no doubt felt the same way as I.
As I was singing along during the
encore, I noticed something peculiar. The lead singer, Kyle Montgomery,
had slipped offstage for a drink and never returned. Actually, I don’t
know how many people honestly realized this. Due to the history of this
band, the lead role could be handed to anyone on any given song and nobody would
think twice about it. So, for him to slip out was perfectly normal.
Just not tonight. Not on this song. It was the encore, and the eye
contact we’d had throughout the night was magical. I didn’t expect
anything to ever come of it, but I just wanted that magic back for one more
song. Looked like I wouldn’t be getting that chance. That was quite fine
with me, though…the memories would last me more than a lifetime.
I almost don’t even remember the
ride back to the hotel. Regardless of where my body was, my mind was still
back in the swaying mass of fans. Every heartbeat would remind me of the
pounding pulse of the music, filling my very being with passion and excitement.
And I could still see the color of his eyes. Those sensational storm-blue
eyes, staring into what seemed the deepest regions of my soul. He must
have been a witness to secrets inside that nobody else had ever known about me.
They were those kinds of looks, where eyes and smiles engage and reveal
mysteries and desires without having even spoken a single word. I got
chills all over again just thinking about it there in the car.
I brought myself back into reality
long enough to put a disc in the player. Smiling, eyes closed, I drifted
off into such a wonderful slumber, immersing myself for what would be the last
time this night into that miraculous scene. It didn’t last too long,
though, because sooner than I thought we were back at the hotel. That
would mean for the rest of the night, the only music would be my own.
There was no stereo in the room and the choices on television were less than
appealing. I sighed a hearty breath and began to cross the parking lot.
I noticed the busses at the far end of the lot and couldn’t recall their being
here earlier. There was probably a convention in town or something like
that. As fast as the thought had entered my mind, it made its exit and I
found my way to the lobby.
Inside there were only a
handful of people; a couple of employees, a few people who looked like they had
just come from the same concert as myself, and one man in a sport coat who
seemed to be checking-in. For the small size of the group, though, there
was quite an unusual amount of chattering and whispering in the air.
Everyone was looking in the general direction of the elevators that had just
closed, smiling like children from ear to ear. Everyone, that is, except
the man in the sport coat. He appeared rather unfazed by whatever it was
that had everyone so excited. Once again, the moment came and went in my
mind with great speed, and I boarded the next elevator and headed for my
third-floor room.
As the doors were about to
close, the hand of the man at the front desk opened them again and he entered.
He looked over at the floor panel, but didn’t say anything. When I asked
him what floor he needed, he simply smiled and told me he was headed to the same
floor, and returned to staring straight ahead. Hanging around his neck I
recognized a multitude of backstage passes allowing him into all the different
areas of a concert. Then I realized that the concert all these passes were
from was the exact one I had just come from…and that one of those passes in
particular had ‘MANAGER’ written in bold letters directly above the name of
the band! I let out a little chirp, but regained my composure rather
quickly. He just looked at me, smiled even more, and again didn’t say
anything. Neither did I. I couldn’t. I was left speechless.
When we got to our floor, he let me out first, and I simply smiled and told him
that the guys did a great job that night. He said he would relay the
message, and thanked me for being a fan. Then we each went our separate
ways. All I could think now was, “Whoa! What a way to end the
night – staying on the same floor as them!”
I somehow managed to find the
way to my room through this fog of disbelief that was now encircling my mind.
As I dropped my souvenirs on the bed, it came to my attention that I hadn’t
had anything to drink in a few hours. There were drinks in the room, but
they weren’t cold. Now I need to go and find the ice machine. So,
back into the hallway I headed. I knew it was on that floor, but I
didn’t know exactly where.
As I walked, I was still amazed
about the whole elevator incident. I didn’t know where they were on this
floor, and it hadn’t even really crossed my mind to find out. They have
their lives and I have mine, and just maybe that was how it was supposed to
stay. That’s how I had always thought about celebrities. Nobody
ever comes pounding on my door asking for autographs, or following me around
asking all sorts of questions, taking pictures, etc. So why should they
really be any different? Meeting them face-to-face outside of the concert
venue was something that I had never even thought about.
In the midst of all my
ponderings, I found the ice machine. I filled my bucket as full as I
could, and headed back. I hadn’t realized that I ended up on the other
side of the floor from my own room. No sooner had I turned the corner from
the ice room than I walked smack into someone else. Ice went everywhere.
It was all over the floor, all over me and on the front of him. It was
him. Oh no, this can’t be good. I cannot believe that I just
dumped half of a bucket of ice down the front of him. Kyle Montgomery.
As he smiled at me, the pieces that
had found their way down the front of my sport top quickly melted. I
managed to return a smile, while becoming some pretty brilliant shades of blush
and fire engine red. I could feel my embarrassment dancing with the heat
of ecstasy all through my body. I apologized, repeatedly, and knelt down
to start picking up ice. He came down beside me, put his hand to my face
and turned me towards him. “You were at the show tonight, weren’t
you?” he asked. “I remember seeing you, watching you.”
Now, how does one answer that?!
I regained my strength and answered with a simple “Yes, I was.” He
then helped me up to my feet, and told me not to worry about the ice for now,
that he would take care of it.
We began to talk as he walked
me back to my room. I mentioned to him that I noticed how he left during
the encore. His reason? Me. He was beginning to get such
strong vibes from me, and he wanted to return them with such desire. He
figured that he would never see me again, and he was trying to find a way to get
a message to me about where he was staying, a way to contact him, just anything
to keep that magic going. But, nobody was to be found that could handle
the task. It was sheer fate that we ended up at the same hotel, let alone
on the same floor.
Now at my door, I decided to
chance it and ask him in. Grateful for a dose of “normal,” he took my
hand and kissed it gently. Then ever so lightly, touching his lips to
mine, he led me into the room closing the door behind him. I was beginning
to believe that he had most definitely been witness to all my innermost desires
about him. And he was pleased.
©C.M.Bolyard, 2002
