Wake Me Up

Tickets

I scoffed and threw the mail pile I held in my hands onto the kitchen table, ignoring when half of it slipped off the edge and onto the floor below. "You have got to be kidding me." 

"It's one night, Genevieve. I don't see what the big deal is." My dad crossed his arms across his chest, making the dress shirt he was wearing tighten across his biceps. It was moments like these, when he was tall and towering over me, that I realized how intimidating he was. It gave me no upper hand in my situation.

"The big deal is that I don't want to spend a night in a crowded room full of sweaty, angsty teenage girls, listening to someone I've never even heard of. It doesn't seem even remotely fun." Not to mention, I was terrified of large groups. I was terrified of loud noises. I was terrified of people, when it came down to it. I decided to try to seem uninterested, just so my dad didn't begin to think that I wasn't growing up more than he already believed. I threw my hands up, accidentally striking my sister in the shoulder as she passed me into the kitchen.

"It's Ed Sheeran, idiot. How have you never heard of him?" Thea stood next to my father and replicated his pose, but instead of intimidating me, she only annoyed me. Thea was 14, and she definitely lived up to every stereotype shined onto the age. Her walls were plastered with celebrity upon celebrity, and a majority of all time she's awake during the day is spent fawning over the same ones on social media. All of who I had no care for, but it didn't bother me as long as it didn't interfere with my sanity. Forcing me to chaperone a concert with five fourteen year olds was absolutely interfering with my sanity.

"I've heard of  him. But does that mean that I want to follow all of you around, stand for eight hours, and watch him all night? No." My attitude was rising, and I could tell my father wasn't having it by the way he stood straighter as I spoke.

"Macy's dad will be there too, Gen. I'm not telling you to babysit. I bought you a ticket as well so you can get out of the house and actually do something besides work. Maybe," My dad smiled sarcastically, "You'll enjoy it. Maybe your room will look like Thea's after the concert." I rolled my eyes. 

"End of discussion." Before I could whip up another defense, my sister came back towards me and set her hand on my shoulder.

"Try not to dress like a slob, Genevieve. I don't want you to embarrass me when I meet my future husband." I scoffed, but for more reasons than that terrible statement.

"So not only do I have to go to this tomorrow night, but I have to stand in a line to meet him too?" I bent over, picked up the stack of mail that I dropped and threw it back on the table, letting it scatter across. Without another word I spun on my heel and headed towards my room. 

The Next Day

It was clear that I wasn't going to get any sympathy from anyone on having to go to the concert tonight, so in hopes of not sounding like a spoiled brat, I shut myself up and just accepted it. Although when Thea came through my bedroom door, and hour before we were to head to Charlotte for the gig, I about flipped my shit all over again.

"What in the fuck are you wearing?" I screeched, sending my cat shooting off of my bed and out into the hallway. Thea, instead of being scared as well, crossed her arms. 

She had black lace gloves on that went up to her elbows, a plain white tank top, a black plaid skirt, and fucking leg suspenders on to somehow make the fact that her skirt barely covered her ass better. "Clothes, dumbass." I slapped my hand to my forehead, but she spoke again before I had the chance to. "Are you going to get ready, or what?"

"I am ready." I stood up to better show my outfit. I wore plain Converse, jeans, and a black shirt underneath my brown zip-up sweatshirt. An everyday outfit, as far as I was concerned, so I couldn't figure out why Thea looked so surprised. Seeing as she was already getting on my nerves enough for the time being, I grabbed my phone and pushed her out of the room, shutting the light off and the door behind me. "And I'm not changing. Let's go."

After what seemed like hours, I finally found myself standing in line with five teenage girls and a very uncomfortable looking dad waiting for Ed. The energy in the room was insane, and it was making my anxiety shoot off the charts. I knew I was going to have a problem with the amount of people in the arena, but I didn't even factor in the noise or the energy. I struggle with being in large groups, but that's just one thing on a very long list of things that can send me over the edge. Medication and therapy helps, sure, but it doesn't when you're faced directly with a fear. It only helps you forget how it feels when you're not in the situation. 

So while all of the girls around me were shaking and breathing heavily already, I was doing it, but not for the same reason at all. I came into this night thinking that if I kept my heavy attitude about everything high, I would be too irritated to even think about being afraid. But now it was all I could think about. My palms were sweaty, and they slipped off of my skin when I tried to grab my throat for any kind of relief. My sister was too busy with her friends to notice, so while we waited, I stood closed off from my group, feeling like I could pass out any second. 

Proving my point, when everyone in the room began to scream and flail around, probably signaling that the singer came into the room, that's exactly what I did. I fell to the ground, hit my head, and everything went black.