Midnight Rain

Chapter I

"THANK YOU MINNEAPOLIS!"

Her bangs were sticking to her forehead and her cheeks were sore from smiling so hard. A blur of faces, a rush of noise she could hear clearly even through her in-ears. She waved until the trapdoor in the stage closed above her and sent her into a dimly lit hallway before taking a huge breath and grinning widely.

Wow, another show done! The crowd had been crazy tonight—though they always were.

Turning quickly, Taylor thanked her crew as she jogged by them. There was no way she was going to get caught in that crowd outside the stadium tonight—her security had already been turned around once on the Minneapolis streets today due to construction and one-way traffic.

Reaching the end of the hallway, Taylor turned a corner to applause and more cheers from her team and parents; she grinned again and motioned for everyone to start moving their way out in order to beat the rush of people leaving the stadium.

"Taylor, I have your clothes laying out for you." Andrea pulled her sweaty daughter into a brief hug, propelling her toward the dressing room door. "You had better hurry!"

Giving a quick nod and wave at the dispersing group, Taylor jogged over to her dressing room door, sighing in relief as she pulled her in-ears off her neck and wiped her face and neck with a towel.

She wrangled her boots off and reached behind for the zipper which she always forgot to ask her mom to pull down quick on the way in to the dressing room—it always slipped her mind in the rush of adrenaline that filled her after a show.

Pulling on pants and a baggy sweater, she sighed in relief that she had remembered socks, which she promptly slid on—then quickly shoved her feet into the loafers she had taken a liking to recently. Grabbing her already packed bag and phone off the chair, Taylor glanced around and shook her head smiling a little bit at how even after all these years and hundreds of shows, the rush after a show never got old or less surreal.

"I'm here! I'm here!" she called out with a laugh as she saw Mike hanging out by the car talking to Tree. It was idling and waiting for her, but she knew it had been less than 5 minutes since she left the stage.

"Great show hon!" Tree motioned towards the car and Taylor gave a cheesy thumbs up before hopping in.

Mike shut the door behind her and jumped in the driver's seat. The stadium's garage door opened up in front of them, and slowly the car pulled forward into a complete downpour. Taylor leaned forward in excitement looking out the tinted windows at the few people she could see already sprinting out of the stadium into the rain.

"I didn't realize it was going to rain tonight!" she gasped. Mike just chuckled at her but didn't respond.

They stopped at a stoplight and turned onto a different street, and Taylor could see thousands of people filtering out of the stadium. She grinned at the ones she could see spinning around in the rain, so many laughing, and others running and holding hands and shoving each other in excitement.

Leaning back in her seat, she finally took a moment to relax. The tiredness hadn't hit yet, but it felt so good to sit down and melt into her seat. The hotel was about a 10 minute drive, and her team had rented out two floors for privacy and safety. Usually she would be headed straight to the plane from the stadium since this was the last show in Minnesota, but Justin Vernon had extended an invitation to come see his studio tomorrow where he lived in Wisconsin. She couldn't just pass up a personal invite from Bon Iver!

I can't stop grinning! She thought as she turned to look out the tint-darkened window.

She was giddy from the endorphins and excited that it was pouring as hard as it had been in Foxborough. Glancing out the window again, she craned her head back to see if she could see any sign of the concert crowd, but it looked like they had done it once again!

Everything looked otherworldly in a storm, and with the puddles illuminating streetlights, Taylor felt a momentary pang that she couldn't just be one of the people out there spinning around and laughing in acceptance that getting soaked was the only option.

As if manifested by that very thought, the car stopped at a stoplight in an area that seemed to be much quieter and still for this time of night in a city. There was a woman crossing the street alone, looking up with her arms spread out wide—utterly drenched from head to toe. She spun around once in the very center of the crosswalk, paused for a moment to get her bearings, and then continued on. As she hopped up on the sidewalk, she pushed her dark hair out of her face, and grinned widely in her own little moment.

Taylor almost felt like she was intruding by watching, but she couldn't take her eyes away. The girl looked so free and happy, and Taylor couldn't help but wonder what her story was. She had continued down the street in front of them at a slight bouncy jog, and when the light turned green, Taylor kept watching the rain-blurred figure jog up the street until they were passing her. Bright eyes glanced over at the car for a moment—perhaps curious at the blacked-out windows, before they had left her in the distance.

It was so odd to have these moments of such clarity perceiving another person, only to know she would never see them again—but for that moment they were so present and real to her.

Finally seeing the back entrance to the hotel up ahead, Taylor readied herself for the dash up to the room in the service elevator. She knew security and her parents would have already made sure it was clear ahead of her. And after her oddly melancholic moment in the car, Taylor was looking forward to just going up to her room and relaxing for the night with some wine and her guitar.

Mike opened her car door and gestured her toward the building entrance which had just opened to reveal another of the guys from her security team, John, who stepped behind her into the hotel. She slumped happily against the elevator wall, suddenly tired, and then waved to both men as she swiped her room key and breathed out happily at the sight of the bed.

As she flopped face-down into the pillow, she could still see the girl in the street smiling and spinning in the rain play through her head again.

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