The next few weeks passed by in relative peace. Tharn's personality had done a 180. I no longer caught him sitting dejectedly at the balcony in the middle of the night. He'd just be sleeping peacefully when I woke up in the wee hours of the night sometimes. I was happy to see such a positive change in him. I didn't know he was such a giggly person before. He had started to constantly laugh and smile about everything. It warmed my heart to see him so happy all the time.
I was lost in thought as I was seated in the balcony after I dried my towel post showering when I heard an excited Tharn run out and sit next to me.
"Type, my band is going to perform at a college festival tomorrow. You want to come? I can finally introduce you to the girls like you wanted me to," he said happily.
My ears perked at the mention of getting to see Tharn on stage again and the prospect of meeting his fangirls. I grinned at him like an idiot.
"Do you even have to mention it, best friend?" I said, landing my hand firmly on his shoulder.
Tharn smiled and shook his head.
"You're only excited about meeting girls, aren't you?" Tharn said.
"No, I'm excited to see a rockstar-in-the-making performing again. The girls are an added benefit to sweeten the pot," I said grinning at him.
"You can't fool me with flattery, friend. I know you too well now," he said.
"Okay, you caught me. I'm in it for the girls," I said nodding my head. I did want to see Tharn perform again but the prospect of meeting girls had me feeling giddy.
"We'll go on at 1 PM. It's a Thursday afternoon so you'll have to skip class," he said.
"I have perfect attendance. Missing one day of lectures won't matter," I said, thinking about what I should wear. Tharn just shook his head again and chuckled watching me lost in thought.
-
On the day of the festival, I walked into the college with Techno after flashing our badges that Tharn had got for us. I felt a sense of pride at that because it felt like we were a part of a celebrity's entourage, which may come true someday because I knew that Tharn was destined for greatness. Techno decided to come with me when he heard that Tharn was going to introduce me to girls and Champ, in Champ fashion, decided to skip class too, but for a food festival happening in the outskirts of the city.
"Oh, my god! There are so many girls in this college! Why didn't I just take admission here?" Techno said looking at the crowd of people milling about the brightly decorated festival grounds.
"They could all be attendees at the festival, Techno. You don't know that they all actually attend this college," I said, trying to pull him out of his ridiculous thinking. I always assumed I was the girl-crazy one amongst our group of friends but Techno soon made me realise that he left me miles behind in that competition.
"I didn't think of it that way. Anyway, when is Tharn performing?" Techno asked, eyeing the booths around.
"He said they go on at 1," I said, glancing around to look for the stage.
"Oh, then we have about an hour before we need to get there. Let's take a stroll around the booths till then," he said as he bee lined towards the booth with the biggest crowd of girls.
I shook my head as I followed him. We arrived at the booth to see that it was a picture booth where you could take pictures with good looking guys. I groaned and looked at Techno who was eagerly standing in line, trying to chat up the girls around.
"Techno, this is a line to take pictures with hot guys. That's why there are so many girls here. Let's go find other booths," I said as I tried to drag Techno away.
"Hey, this booth has the most number of girls so we have a higher chance of hitting it off with someone. I don't mind taking a picture with a hot guy if I get to talk to the girls in line. It's working. Did you not see how excited that girl was to talk to me just now?" He said and turned back around to resume an animated conversation with the girl standing next to him, gushing about how good looking the guy sitting upfront was.
I shook my head at another one of Techno's brilliant ideas. He had forgotten to factor in the possibility that the girl was probably assuming Techno was interested in men because he was standing in line to take a picture with a hot guy. He didn't realise why she didn't hesitate to talk to him at all. I had half a mind to let him in on that fact but it was kind of funny to watch him think the girls around him were interested in him so I just stood by him and listened to their conversation.
There was a sudden commotion at the front and the girls started screaming. I turned my head to see the guy who was seated getting up and leaving. I was really confused till I saw a familiar face come into view.
"Okay, on popular demand, we have the drummer of Tae Faction here with us to take a few pictures before his performance. Please help me welcome Tharn Kirigun," the attendant of the booth announced. The girls around us started screaming their heads off as Tharn bowed and made a wai at the crowd. He turned his head to look at the crowd and his eyes met mine and he broke into a big smile as I broke into a grin of my own.
'I'm glad Techno dragged us here,' I thought as I watched girls excitedly jumping towards Tharn one after another to take a picture.
"You're one lucky bastard to be friends with Tharn," Techno said as the girl who was talking to him earlier had pushed ahead to get a picture as soon as they introduced Tharn.
"I sure am," I said smugly.
Tharn looked extremely handsome. He had done his hair in the same side parted bangs and the purple cardigan he wore complemented his skin tone so well. He looked like he was glowing. He was definitely a celebrity in the making.
We waited patiently in line and when it finally came to my turn, I sauntered smugly to sit down next to Tharn who had a grin plastered on his face too. The girls started screaming, probably at seeing a boy coming up to take a picture with him. We stared at each other with a knowing smile on our faces.
"Ready?" Said the photographer setting up the shot.
I suddenly had an idea as I grabbed Tharn's shoulders and made him face me. He looked taken aback but was still smiling. I put a hand up to cup one of his cheeks as I tilted my head and smiled looking into his eyes. Tharn's eyes went wide and then they seemed to relax as he put his own hand up to my cheek in the same fashion as he tilted his head the other way and smiled at me, understanding what I was doing.
The screams were deafening at that point. It took us a while to realise that the photo had already been taken and the main attendant was trying to calm the crowd down.
We let our hands fall down when we heard her screaming, telling the crowd to calm down, but we were still smiling at each other, knowing what we had just done.
"Okay, that's all for Tharn. He has to get ready for his performance now," the attendant said as the crowd started protesting.
Tharn got up and made a wai at the crowd again.
"Thank you for coming to this booth today. Our performance is up next so please don't miss it. I have to head to soundcheck now but I hope to see you guys there!" He said as he waved at everyone.
I was awestruck at how he looked like a real celebrity with the way he carried himself and talked to his fans. I had never seen Tharn in that light. He was so charismatic and the girls seemed to hang on to every word he was saying. To me, he was just my best friend who liked to giggle at stupid things and rant about weird topics like he was disecting a scientific theory.
I was still taking in everything happening before me when I felt Tharn pulling me to follow him out. He grabbed my arm and I stood up to follow him as I heard the girls starting to scream again, drowning the attendant's voice who was announcing the guy next in the line up.
Tharn put his arm around me as he laughed which pulled me out of my stupor. I started laughing too.
"Did you seriously just abandon me?" Techno said, suddenly walking up to my side. I jerked my head to face him.
"Oh, sorry. All that screaming made me really delirious," I said, which was true. I had never had that many girls scream for me in my life ever. It was exhilarating. Even though they were mostly screaming for Tharn, it was still quite an experience.
"Hi, Techno! So which guy were you lining up for?" Tharn asked, bending down to look at Techno, who was on my side, with a smile on his face.
"I was there for the girls, Tharn. Why would I be standing in line to take a picture with a guy?" Techno asked, confused.
Tharn's eyes narrowed as he calculated Techno's words in his head. He looked at me and gave me an amused smile at which I shook my head and rolled my eyes.
"How were you going to chat up the girls there? They were in line to take pictures with the guys so if you were there they probably assum…. Ow!" Tharn said as I pinched his side to make him shut up. He looked at me surprised, as if to silently ask me why I had stopped him from talking. I shook my head slowly, silently telling him not to let Techno know what he had done. It was more fun that way. If we were to tell him that his half-baked ideas never work out he might start putting more thought into them which would take the fun out of them.
Tharn understood and nodded. I smiled slyly at him, which he promptly returned, as we continued making our way towards the stage. We parted ways as he went backstage and we went to the front to find a place as close to the front as possible.
They started after a while and I was once again blown away by Tharn's performance. I couldn't help but feel he was meant to be on stage. The crowd was going wild for him again. I could hear how they screamed for Tharn. I felt it again: that building wave of want coursing through the crowd. I could finally understand it better the second time around because I wasn't in the same trance I was when I saw him perform for the first time. I could take in everything properly this time: his performance and the crowds' reaction. He had such magnetism when he was on stage. I could feel the crowd move to every beat of his drum. He captivated them with his rhythm. I felt myself being pulled under too as I saw the way he once again lost himself in the music. That girl I had encountered in the previous performance was right. Tharn performing on the stage was extremely…. sexy.
I started bobbing my head to the music as I felt Techno jumping to the beats of the song along with the entire crowd around us. I lost myself in the music as their set was longer this time. They must have played about five songs but the energy of the crowd remained the same from the start to the end. When they thanked everyone and started walking off the stage, the crowd continued to cheer for them long after they had disappeared behind the curtains.
I felt proud of Tharn again. I was so excited to have a front seat to watch his career trajectory because he was going to shoot straight to the top of stardom someday. I was still lost in thought when I heard Techno talking to someone as he vigorously pointed to my chest. I looked towards him to see he was talking to some girls.
"Are you really his roommate?" She asked. I snapped back to reality at that question.
"Umm… yeah. Yes. I'm his roommate," I said as I dumbly nodded my head.
"I told you. So are you guys fans of Tharn?" Techno asked.
"Yeah! We've been following him since he started his band. We go to every one of his performances. We're big fans," they said excitedly. Techno nodded and smiled, looking glad at finally holding some girls' attention for a considerable amount of time.
"So what is he like in real life?" One of the girls asked as she walked and stood in front of me, looking up through her lashes. I thought she was very pretty. She had a cute face and seemed tiny because I had to tilt my head almost all the way down to look at her. She had bangs that made her face look even smaller.
'Maybe if she parted them to the side like Tharn had, it would make her look even better,' I thought.
"Is it a secret?" She asked again. I snapped out of it for the second time and shook my head.
'A girl is talking to you, Type. She even approached you first. Get your head straight!' I chided myself.
"Hahaha… I can't give out such information without knowing the person better," I said, narrowing my eyes and smiling at her.
"You can get to know me better. I don't mind that at all. I would love to get to know you better too," she said as she shyly smiled up at me.
"But you might only be interested in getting information about Tharn from me. How can I trust that you actually want to get to know me better?" I asked, as I pulled my lips into a smirk.
"You can't know that until you try, now, can you?" She said as she tilted her head to one side and narrowed her eyes playfully as she smiled.
"You do have a point there," I said as I nodded. I was excited at getting banter going with her.
"Tharn!" Techno said and I snapped my head in the direction of Techno's eyes. I saw Tharn walking out from behind the stage. I immediately felt excitement at the pit of my stomach and I took quick long strides to get to him.
"You were amazing!" I exclaimed as I reached him.
"Thanks. Did you guys enjoy the set?" Tharn asked.
"I will be shocked if you guys are not signed after this performance. You guys are so good! I could picture you performing at big concerts all around the world!" I said.
Tharn chuckled as I excitedly talked his ear off about how enthralling his performance was. He patted my shoulder and put his arm around it to make us face the stands.
"So are you ready?" Tharn asked. I looked up at him in confusion.
"Ready for what?" I asked, furrowing my brows.
"For me to hold up my side of the bargain," Tharn said, smiling at me.
"What?" I asked again.
"Let's go introduce you to some girls," Tharn said as he led me towards the clump of girls standing around looking at Tharn. His words finally clicked in my head and I smiled.
I'm finally reaping my reward.
Tharn is the best best-friend ever!