Best Friends

You

I didn't see Ed again for a couple of years. At least not in person. But I was seeing him any time I got on social media, any time a TV was on, on little girls' shirts, on posters in my little sister's room, etc. He blew up! Just like I had joked about with him. I wondered if anyone would have believed me if I told my story about meeting him. I didn't try to find out though. I wondered if he remembered.

And – way less thrilling – I had ended up getting my dream career too! I was now an experienced traveling musician photographer. And I worked with my former mentor, Adam. His company was amazing and well-respected and thanks to that, I had a pretty good reputation too. The good news? I was very used to flying now. But the bad news? Adam could only give me part-time work. When a certain gig would come up, it was great. I would make a good amount of money. But you never knew when that would happen. Sometimes I could have three assignments in one month, sometimes I wouldn't have one for a couple of months at a time. It was exactly what I wanted to be doing, but it wasn't reliable enough.

I could usually find smaller assignments with local music magazines or websites, but again, that was never guaranteed. I had just recently really started to struggle with deciding what I should do. Stay working with my friend at a great company and hoping for the best? Or should I start looking elsewhere for full time positions and possibly risk losing what I was able to do now? I was hoping and looking for some sort of sign.

And that sign happened in the form of my electricity being shut off and then being put on an assignment with a couple of other photographers and videographers to cover a big Ed Sheeran stadium concert. Well I mean, at first it just made me more indecisive. I obviously wasn't even making enough money to pay my bills, but...I got to travel and combine my two favorite things in addition to getting a bigger check than I ever had at that point. But these things have a way of working themselves out.

After the concert was over, Ed and I saw each other. It was in a long hallway back by all of the green rooms. I was talking to one of the videographers I was friends with and helping him with his equipment when I heard the loud noise of a large group approaching from another hallway. They stopped walking not far from us and I looked over only to see a head of bright orange hair in the middle of the group, waving his hands as he spoke in that British accent.

He took the towel from around his neck and wiped his red face with it. His hair was all damp with sweat. Before I looked away, he casually glanced over to where I was and then quickly did a double-take. Our eyes locked and his eyebrows furrowed in a confused and curious look. He looked back to the person that was talking to him and interrupted him, telling him to hold on, that he would be right back. They all continued the conversation without him and he weaved his way through them and walked over to me.

"You," he pointed at me. "Hi. Don't I know you from somewhere?" He studied me.

"Uh, well, kinda. I met you once before. A long time ago. On a plane."

He looked down and saw my camera hanging from around my neck. Then his eyes got wide. "Oh my God, yeah! Yeah, I remember! Uh..." he was trying to place my name.

"Sam," I laughed.

"Sam! Of course!" He caught me off guard by pulling me into a big hug. But then he quickly stepped back, "Shit, I'm sorry, I'm super sweaty."

Before I could say anything else, one of the guys in his group shouted over to him, "Ed, c'mon mate!" He used his head to gesture to the others who were starting to walk away. Ed looked back and annoyingly waved him off then turned back to me again.

"Sorry. I have some stuff to take care of, but are you going to be around later?"

"Um, yeah, our hotel is just down the street." I looked over at Michael and saw that he was holding his cell phone against his ear with his shoulder, talking away while simultaneously trying to take apart his equipment and pack it up. "There are a few of us who came from LA to cover the show," I explained. "We could meet up in the hotel bar...?"