I looked in the mirror and smiled. I was satisfied with the way I looked that night; a black tank top, a fluffy black skirt that reached my mid-thighs, and my black and white vans. I wore my eyeliner in a cat eye shape with mascara. I kept the remainder of my face clean, however, with the exception of Blistex, which I always kept with me. I let my medium-length brown hair fall down curly and wild. The sides of my head were shaved, and my arm tattoos were fully visible. I was really into body modification, but more so on other people. I owned a tattoo and body piercing shop, and I was quite fond of it. I had my ears stretched, and I had stopped at my goal of 1.25 inches. Besides that, I had my septum, left eyebrow, lip, and belly button pierced. I had a few tattoos on my arms and upper thighs, but I certainly wasn't covered.
As I finished looking at myself, my phone rang. I had forgotten where I'd put it, and had to follow the sound of the classic Marimba iPhone ringtone. A few seconds later, I found it on my nightstand and saw that it was my sister, Drew, calling.
"Yeah?" I said, answering the phone.
"I'm parked in the driveway, come outside!" She said enthusiastically. I grabbed my black leather purse containing my wallet, keys, some cash, and our tickets.
Drew and I were going to a Pierce the Veil concert. They were our favorite band, and we needed to spend some time together, because it had been a while.
"Dylan, how are you?" She said happily as I climbed into the front seat of her purple SUV; she called it Jackie.
"I'm great! How are you?" I responded with equal enthusiasm while I hugged her.
"I'm swell, indeed, thank you," she faked a British accent and I chuckled.
Drew was two years older than me, and we were really close practically all our lives. Now, we both lived in San Diego, but she was in med-school as well as working part-time. She lived in a cute little house with her three-year-old son, Micah, and her fiancée, Jerry. Jerry taught online classes to homeschooled teenagers. I hardly ever got to see her, so going to see our favorite band together was gonna be a damn good time.
On the way to the concert, we talked about things like Micah and my work at my shop. I told Drew about some of my recent and more difficult tattoos. She seemed surprisingly fascinated.
"I'm thinking of getting a tattoo one of these days," she said matter-of-factly.
"No you're not," I said, chuckling.
"I am too! I'll get 'Mrs. Drew Hummington' wrapped around my waist once Jerry and I tie the knot."
"Drew, you don't even have your ears pierced!" We both laughed at this. Drew was quite conservative, whereas I was more aggressive and crazy.
Finally, we got to the venue. It was outside, so the crowd was just going to consist of a giant moshpit, which was very exciting. About a half hour later, the show was beginning. Drew and I somehow ended up in the front row. and we made it a point to not get separated from each other or lose our spots.
After their introduction, Mike, Jaime, Vic, and Tony came rushing on to the stage, and my heart collapsed. Now, don't get me wrong, I wasn't just some fan girl who was only in it for Vic's looks. I've loved Pierce the Veil since "A Flair For The Dramatic," their debut album. I was here, standing here looking up at my idols, and allof their looks were a bonus.
They started off with Caraphernelia, my favorite song off "Selfish Machines." I sang along out loud with Vic and the rest of the crowd: "Sunshine, there ain't a thing that you can do that's gonna ruin my night..." And then I screamed along with Jaime during the chorus, "What if I can't forget you, I'll burn my name into your throat, I'll be the fire that'll catch you."
The rest of the concert pretty much went on in that fashion; singing, screaming, dancing. Neither Drew or I crowed surfed; me, because I was wearing a skirt and didn't want to embarrass myself, and Drew, because she was afraid. We were pretty much content rocking out with our feet on the ground.
"Are y'all having a good time San Diegooooo?" Vic yelled into the mic, stretching out the last 'o'. The crowd went insane. Vic smiled, Mike beat his crash, Jaime did some awesome rockstar-like pose, and Tony shook his hair off his face and held his guitar in the air. "Alright, well we've got one more song for y'all tonight. I wanna hear your voices!" And with that, they started Bulletproof Love.
Bulletproof Love is a great song, arguably one of PTV's best. The contrast between the morbid lyrics and the happy tune is epic.
So Drew and I were in the crowd, still in the front and center, and all of a sudden, Vic looks at me. I've never even got the chance to meet them, and to make eye contact was just too much.
About halfway through the chorus, I was still singing, but this time with my eyes closed and my arm outstretched. Then I felt someone intertwine their fingers with mine. I figured it was Drew, so I turned to my left to see her dancing on her own, and her hands were no higher than the barricade. I looked ahead and saw that it was Vic's hand wrapped around mine. My smile widened, and his did too, once he realized how happy I was. Then he stopped singing and the band continued on with an instrumental version. "Would you like to come on stage to help us finish off?" he asked, his smile beaming.
I nodded my head yes, and with the joint help of the security guards and Vic, I was lifted off the ground, over the barricade, and on to the stage.