Never Beside You × 5SOS

What are you staring at? - Chp. 1

Dedicated to ellionashelf for being an awesome sister and for getting us tickets to the ROWYSO tour! Love you ♡

One month later

When we arrive at the "Olympiahalle", the venue of the concert in Munich, there are already lots of people standing in different rows. We have to go to the East Entrance, so we start walking and came past some girls that are talking french and I think: So many different people from so many different places, but they've got one thing in common. They all came here to see the same band.

Then I imagine what it'd be like to see thousands of people in the arena from the stage, knowing that they're here because of you only.

Just let that sink in.

After entering the hall, we find a merchandise shop, so Caroline buys a shirt and I buy a bracelet with the word 5SOS on it. It could be a nice memory to this day.

Now it got interesting. We have to find a way to get into the arena and to our seats.

We went stairs down, stairs up, asking people, stairs down again, toilet, buying water, stairs up, getting a view of the huge arena and the stage, taking pictures, toilet again, stairs down twice, until we finally found the entrance to the arena. On the other side of the hall. *sarcastic applause*

We sit down breathlessly, happy that we had bought water. I take a look around and the arena slowly floods with more people, Fall Out Boy playing in the background, to my surprise. They were one of my favorite bands, as well as Caroline's. She listens to Twenty One Pilots and Rise Against most of the time, but she likes FOB very much too.

Next to us sits a group of girls and they are all holding signs up into the air like "GERMAN LOVE AFFAIR", "PLAY THE PIZZA SONG" or "GET NAKED". I don't know why they wrote this on signs, but I didn't think about it any further.

I let my gaze go through the crowd, suddenly noticing some girls in banana or penguin suits running around and dancing. At this point I could only laugh, because it looks way too hilarious not to be cool.

The rest of the time I talk to Caroline and she shows me some songs of the band that would be opening for 5SOS, Hey Violet. I get the impression that their songs are pretty catchy and energetic, but when she accidently plays another song, I am totally stunned.

I ask her who it was from and she laughs and states "the guys we're here for, you little dork. It's called Rejects. So, what do you think of it?"

My eyes widen with surprise. "It's AMAZING!" - "You serious?" I nod repeatedly. "Sure! I just love it!".

I really do. The lyrics keep replaying in my head and I can't get rid of them... "What was I thinking? Everyone sees it. It's not a secret that I'm just a reject..."

Suddenly everyone screams and I don't even know what the frick is going on, I mean there wasn't anybody on the stage or something like that. Caroline's face shows me that she doesn't have a clue either. I looked around, still shocked about how loud it was. I hope to grow on that, because if they freaked out about the supporting act so much, who knew how loud it'd be when 5SOS arrived.

Everyone screams again, this time with a reason: Hey Violet comes on stage and the girl with the long black hair and the highlights starts talking and they introduce themselves. They seem to be pretty awesome.

Then they start playing "This Is Why" and a couple of other songs, which I enjoyed really much, but then the best part came: They will play music while they search for people to come backstage. To get noticed, you have to dance.

Caroline and I exchange looks and I understand immediately. We danced on the seats and headbanged while playing the Air Guitar. It must have looked like the biggest mess ever, but I didn't even care. I almost forgot that we were dancing because of the choice, until the blackhaired girl started talking again.

"Okay, so we've got it! The two girls in the fourth row aside from the banana suit rocked real hard! Have a nice time guys!"

We widen our eyes as we look at each other in disbelief, letting out gasps and ohmygods as if we would pass out at any given moment. Two security guards let us understand to follow them and we did. As we came to a door with a big fat BACKSTAGE on it, my breathing gets heavier.

I had never been backstage and I got slightly nervous. We enter and were told not to break anything. Then the two men leave, probably not wanting to deal with "fangirl shit". I let out a quiet laugh thinking about it.

Caroline turns around to me. "I can't believe that we're backstage. We could run in on 5SOS or just anyone that has to do with them!"

Right... but I didn't even know how they look, the only thing I knew was that I needed a toilet real quick and I told Caroline I would go look for one. She was like "yeah, I'll just wait here then," but I already knew she would go examine everything and I probably would have to search her later.

*3 minutes later*

Oh how I was right. She wasn't here anymore when I returned to the hallway, so I went around a corner and found a plan of the building on which I could get a view of the whole place.

As I think about how she can't have gone too far away, I notice someone at the corner of my eye, watching me. I slowly turn around, just to see a handsome boy with blue hair standing in the middle of the hallway, still looking at me.

"What are you staring at?" I give him a confused look, followed by a coy smile. He just stands there, stunned. "Oh, it's just... you're not allowed to be back here, but I might let it slide because you're – uh – very pretty". He seems nervous.

Still unaware of who I am talking to and slightly creeped out, I answer "Thank you." I give him another smile and his cheeks catch a little color.

Then I add: "And you are..." I look at him properly. "...wow." I immediately want to slap myself for my awkward behavior, but a big smile appears on his face and then we both stand there in the hallway, smiling at each other like some dumb idiots.

"I'm Jade Peterson," I finally say to break the weird silence, offering my hand for him to shake. He took it and introduced himself to me: "I'm Michael Clifford, but I think you already know my name, since you snuck back here." He grins.

"Oh, um, no, I don't - I'm here for my friend Caroline, but she told me about you playing in the band" I admit, embarrassed for not recognizing him at all.

But he doesn't seem to bother. Instead, he starts to talk again: "That's really nice of you! So... where do you sit?" - "fourth row, on the left side," I tell him. "Okay," there was the grin again. Why does he want to know that?

"Soo would you and your friend want to hang out after the show and get to know my bandmates and me? Just keep on sitting. If you want to, I'll tell the security guys that you're allowed to come backstage."

God, he's so nice. Caroline would love to and I wouldn't bother either.. .to hang out with a guy that's freaking beautiful and has a smile that puts the sun in his shadow, sure is a great way to spend my time.

"Sure! I'd love to. I mean - We'd love to." Can someone please. make. me. shut. up. I want to bury my face inside of my hands as I feel my cheeks catch fire. When I bring my gaze back to him, he outshines the sun even brighter this time.

Watching him smile is getting addictive already.