"Clare! Clare!" The petite redhead turned just in time to stop her boyfriend from running her over.
"Whoa, slow down!" Clare put her hands on his chest to stop him as he caught his breath. "What's the rush?"
"Guess who just got us tickets to Dead Hand?" he exclaimed breathlessly.
"No way, I thought that was sold out!"
"It is!" Eli replied. "In Toronto."
Clare froze, confused. "Wait, does that mean…"
"We are seeing Dead Hand in…wait for it…" He paused for dramatic effect. "Buffalo!"
Clare blinked. "Buffalo," she repeated. "As in…"
"New York, yeah!" Eli exclaimed.
"I don't know, New York is pretty far."
"Only two hours," Eli replied. "Well, and thirty minutes, but still. It was the closest place they were playing."
"And it's another country…"
"It's America, Clare. Not terribly far," Eli said, looking over her features. "Are you not excited? I thought we could cross two things off of our bucket list…"
"No, it sounds amazing," Clare reassured him. "I just…don't know if my mom would let me."
"Well that's taken care of," Eli smirked. "I talked to her already and she said yes!"
"You…you talked to my mom?"
"Y-yeah, why, was that not okay?"
"No, it was fine," Clare replied, finally getting excited. "We're going to New York!" She threw her arms around Eli's neck and he breathed a sigh of relief. That had gone better than he thought it would. "When is it?"
"This weekend."
"Oh! I have to go pack!" Clare exclaimed, running off in the direction of home. Eli laughed.
"Didn't you forget something!" he called after her. Running back, she planted a swift kiss on his cheek and began skipping home again.
"That was the most fun I've ever had!" Clare screamed after the concert was over.
"I know!" Eli hollered back, the two of them moving to the venue's exit. "Who knew you could be such a party animal?"
"It was fun!" Clare repeated, high off of the fun of the night. "Hey, isn't that the lead singer?"
Eli's head whipped around, sure enough, finding the lead singer of the band next to the merch table. "Yeah, it is!"
"We should go meet him," Clare suggested.
"What?" Horror crossed Eli's features.
"Oh come on. He's just a person, let's go!" Clare dragged her protesting boyfriend across to the table. "Hi, I'm Clare, this is Eli. Great concert."
"Thanks," he replied. "You guys want a picture?"
"Sure!" Clare exclaimed, handing her phone to a guy who offered to take it. The entire time, Eli was speechless.
"I just met the lead singer of Dead Hand," he muttered as they walked away.
"Yeah, and didn't say a word," Clare teased. "Star struck much?"
"Hey, what if you met Stephanie Meyer?"
"I would at least say hello." They were getting in Morty, on their way to the motel they were staying at. She grabbed his hand across the gearshift. "Thank you. That was a great night."
"You're welcome," Eli replied, kissing her at a stoplight. "So, we're in New York for another couple days. What do you want to do?"
"I don't know," Clare yawned, closing her eyes and drifting until they pulled up.
"There's a lot of great bookstores around," Eli suggested as they entered the room.
"Huh?" Clare asked in her sleepy state.
"Maybe we could hit a few bookstores tomorrow?"
"Oh, yeah, sounds great," Clare yawned, crawling on the bed and closing her eyes. Eli chuckled at his worn out, beautiful girlfriend.
"Goodnight angel," he muttered, planting a kiss on her forehead and curling up next to her.