Wait For Me to Come Home (Noah Schnapp x Gay Male OC Story)

Part Twenty Three

Noah

It took everything in my power to not join in with the screams as the lights went down. I kinda had to resort to this excited sort of gasp and wriggled a bit in my seat, which obviously caught the attention of everyone in my family. Instead of making some sort of passing comment, they leave me alone, which I'm thankful for. Chloe and I look at each other in the darkened room, and she grins -- she looks almost as excited as I am.

We're seated slightly to the top left of the venue, and have a lovely view of the whole of Madison Square Garden, and the specks of people all crowded together in the central standing area. The spotlight hits the darkened stage, as Robbie appears from the side -- prompting the crowd to start its frenzy of cheering. This wave of sound is putting me off balance and I'm sitting up here, so God knows what it's gonna be like for Robbie.

It's almost like I'm watching back the first time I saw him come on stage - but he's a lot further away from us. The screens flicker on, and I see his beaming face. He fiddles a bit with an ear piece as he strides over to the microphones, clutching the neck of his guitar with his right hand. I love how he's this different person when he's in front of all these people. You couldn't tell that he's someone who struggles with anxiety and all the mental health problems. You can just tell that he was born to be up on a stage, making people's dreams come true.

He plugs in the guitar, and strums out some chords -- and I can already tell that he's opening with the same song he did back in Atlanta. The sound system here however, is much better than the Tabernacle, and just those opening chords are enough to start making me shake with excitement. Screams come from a lot of the fans near the barrier in the standing section, and I can assume they've also recognised what song it is he's opening with.

Robbie steps back towards the mic, a huge grin on his face. He takes a breath, and his biggest ever show begins.

I'd been hoping that Mom and Dad would like Robbie's music, and not have to pretend to enjoy themselves for my sake, but I didn't need to worry. By the end of the first song, they were both cheering and whistling just as loudly as everyone else. I can't believe that Robbie sounded better than he did in Atlanta. I watch him as he steps back from the mics as the cheers continue, grabbing a water bottle and slipping a capo onto his guitar. The screams don't die down for a while, and I clap as hard as I can.

Robbie takes a few huge gulps of water from his bottle, before dropping it on the ground next to him and looking out at us with a huge grin.

'New York, how you doing?'

A roar comes from the crowd, which my family join in with enthusiastically.

'I just want to say, I've been waiting to do this gig for a long time. So thank you all so much for coming out here tonight to see some short, British kid sing about being homesick for a couple hours.'

He's taken the mic from its stand and is pacing around the stage a bit, I guess to help with his nerves, even though you couldn't tell.

'I'm gonna play some songs tonight that hopefully you know, some of them you'll definitely know but it doesn't matter. I'm gonna give one hundred and ten percent tonight, and you can too. By tonight I want us to leave without our voices, does that sound good to you?'

Unanimous cheering and clapping confirms that everyone here is ready to lose their voices, me included. He steps back up to his mic stands, slotting the mic back into place. He looks out at us, his beaming smile having never left his face.

'This is the first song I wrote, and I wrote it for my nan.'

I join some of the cheers from fans who know which song he's talking about -- it's one of my favourite songs from his album. It's weird though as I watch him progress through the song. The song itself does hold emotional memories for him, but he didn't get that emotional whilst playing it. However tonight, as he hits the bridge after the chorus, I see him close his eyes to stop the tears from falling down his cheeks. It hits me then that his family couldn't be here to see him tonight, and that must be horrible for him. He's got me and my family here though, and I'm sure we wouldn't mind being the closest thing to a family he has out here.