"Oh come on Casey, you deserve a night out !"
"I just can't, Meredith! I have too much work to do !" Casey belied to her friend as the two left the dance studio where they'd spent most of their afternoon practicing. They walked down the busy New York streets on their way to the subway station that was just around the corner, relishing the cool air that February brought and the way it cooled them down post-practice.
"You always have work to do! I swear you work double as much as the rest of us" Meredith admonished.
"Well I'm determined to finish my novella by the end of the year"
"Well you're not going to finish it tonight, are you? So you can come out with me, just this once!"
Meredith stopped them both at the entrance to the subway station, holding onto Casey's shoulders to stop her from walking away.
"Please! They're a great band, you'll love them! I've been following their stuff online for a while now and they're finally coming to New York, and I don't want to go on my own. It's not even like you'll have to spend any money! The ticket's already paid for since Jeff canceled on me, and I'll pay for your drinks all night!"
Casey hesitated, but found her will crumbling under Meredith's pleading gaze. She huffed and then nodded, and was almost knocked over by the force of her friend launching herself at her and hugging her fiercely.
"Thank you thank you thank you!" She squealed as she clung to Casey, who hugged her back. "How about I come over to yours later and we'll get ready together? I'm so excited !" She clapped her hands excitedly and ran off down the steps of the station, leaving Casey standing there chuckling at the exuberance of her friend. She reminded her of Marti with her manic energy, always bubbly and optimistic, even when she twisted her ankle and was out of commission in the dance troupe for two weeks. Casey had to jog to catch her up so that she didn't lose her in the rush hour crowd.
8pm found Casey and Meredith stood outside the Spectrum concert hall, waiting in line to enter. Meredith was practically buzzing with excitement. She was jumping up and down on the spot, clutching the tickets so hard Casey was almost worried they're not going to be let in because the tickets will be too crumpled. They were let in however, and soon they were standing in the near-dark up near the front of the stage, half-empty cups in their hands (only soda for Casey, she wasn't of age and didn't want to try and lie to the bartender) and brows already sweating from the close proximity of other people. Casey wasn't a crowd person by nature, and was really hoping the band was as good as Meredith claimed.
A chord rang out from the speakers that silenced the crowd for a second, before the roaring and screaming started. Casey was glad to have bought her ear plugs. A voice rang out loudly: People of New York, are you ready?" the crowd responded with another round of screaming.
"Then welcome to the stage, Purple Fog !" The stage lights turned on abruptly, exposing the band who immediately started to play their opening song. It was a hard rock song, but not too shouty or violent. The crowd immediately started moving to the beat of the song, jumping up and down and shaking their heads in rhythm.
Casey stood still among the dancing masses as she watched the band in front of her play, unable to tear her eyes away from the sight in front of her. The singer of the band was also the lead guitarist, and he was currently jumping around the stage for his guitar solo, bouncing up against the other band members and having the time of his life. His face was lit up in joy and laughter. It was a face she hadn't seen for half a year, but it was a face that she'd recognize no matter what. She found that she couldn't look away as he strummed his guitar and sang into the microphone mere meters from her.
She got quite literally knocked out of her stupor when a man dancing next to her accidentally elbowed her in the ribs. She clutched her side in pain, but waved the guy off when he stopped to make sure she was okay. She decided to escape from the mass of people and retreated to the bar that stood at the back of the room. She shouted her order of a soda over the noise to the barman and stood there sipping her drink delicately as she decided what the hell she was going to do. She was angry and wanted to leave, but she had come with Meredith and she couldn't abandon her friend, and expect her to walk home alone in the middle of the night, what sort of friend would she be? Plus, Meredith had said how much she loved the band and was looking forward to seeing them play live, Casey just couldn't ruin her night for her own selfish reasons. So, she sighed and resigned herself to watching the band and the crowd from afar.
She was distracted from her drink as the bass player took the mic.
"This next song is something a little different to our usual stuff. As you probably know, all our original songs are written by the band as a whole. But this one was written solo, by our favorite frontman. So if you don't like it, it's all on him" He paused while the audience laughed. "This one's called 'Never off my mind'"
The song started slow, more a ballad than a rock song. Casey found she liked this one the most out of all the songs they'd played, but then again she always did favor softer music. It sounded almost like a love ballad. Casey was entranced by the singing, the tone of his voice one she'd never heard before, much softer and emotional. It was a side of him she'd only seen on sparse occasions. She couldn't take her eyes off him, even after the song ended and moved onto a much rockier song called 'Far from home'.
She watched alone from afar, right until the end, Meredith only appearing next to her once the band finished their third encore.
"Come on, the band's packing up. We should go hang out over there and if we're lucky they might chat with us for a while"
"I don't know Mer" Casey started "it's getting late and-"
"Come on Case" She pleaded, grabbing Casey's hand and pulling slightly on it. "It's fun being a groupie for the night. Let yourself live in the moment, just once" She relented and let herself be pulled over to the raised platform that was the stage where the different band members were busy putting away their instruments and rolling up cables. Casey noticed that they weren't the only people hanging around the foot of the stage; a gaggle of giggling young women stood there hoping to catch the eyes of the band. She stood a little ways behind Meredith, who looked ready to jump onto the stage at any moment. She tried to look disinterested, choosing to look around the room rather than at the musicians.
Finally the band finished up their packing and ambled over to their adoring fans, signing CD covers left and right, giving out smiles and handshakes freely. Eventually they guitarist came over to where Meredith stood and took her offered hand.
"Hi, my name's Meredith. I love your music and I'm so happy you finally came to New York. I even persuaded my friend to come along with me tonight, and this is definitely not her kind of music. Case, say hi!"
He looked past Meredith's head to where Casey stood, hands in her pockets, trying desperately not to be noticed.
"Casey?" He gaped, his eyes wide.
"Hey Derek"