“Are you ready?” Lee asked as he stood by the bed while Hazel stood in front of the bathroom door getting ready.
She nodded, “Are you?”
“Okay … on the count of three, one … two … three …” Lee stretched out his arms to catch her.
Hazel took small running steps toward him and then leaped to his arms. He caught her and lifted her up to the air.
“This is where you will try and grab the edge of the stage … the bodyguards will try and catch you, you will use them as stepping stones to get to the stage … do what you need to do, and then they will probably detain you for violating concert rules and then they’ll take you backstage,” Lee explained while still holding her up.
“Do you think they will put me on handcuff or something?” she started to doubt her plan to leap her way up to the stage.
Lee put her down on the bed, he turned to look at her, “I don’t think so … you’re a minor … but I do think you should consider my idea, you can just get on my back and show him that poster you made … we’ll be there early anyway, we can get to the front, I can guarantee that.”
He had been trying to persuade her to reconsider her plan to jump on the stage and take a selfie with Harry. “If you get detained, you won’t be able to watch the concert ’til the end … if you sit on my shoulders, you’ll get a VIP view of him.”
“You would do that? I don’t want to burden you the whole night … I really want to get that selfie though,” she sighed, her mind wandered to what a wonderful night they will have.
Lee threw himself on the bed next to her, he pulled his sleeve up and showed her his biceps, “I can handle you Hazelnut … no worries.”
She laughed and slapped his arm, he had been mocking her ever since her mom told him that she was named after the Hazelnut spread her mom was craving for the entire time she was pregnant with her.
“Just don’t bounce around too much, I still want to be able to stand up straight after the concert,” he was casually laughing it off.
“Uurgh … I’m so giddy I can’t wait to get there … we have to stand in front of the stage, I don’t want to be late,” she squeezed his arms feeling exasperated.
He glanced at his wristwatch, “Let’s just get ready then … it’s only four.”
“You know what would be fun?” she spoke into his ear with a wicked smile.
He turned, their face almost touched, “What?”
“We can prank call their room … just to annoy them … they’re probably having sex right now,” she giggled.
He put his hand on his face, “You’re not seriously going to do that?”
“Actually, I am … ” she was laughing about it and she reached for the phone on the bedside table.
**********
She couldn’t wait any longer. She put on her best Harry-inspired outfit, her hiking boots, and her favorite bucket hat. She texted Max to meet her at the arena, she was going to check the premises with Lee and find exactly where they needed to wait before the gates were opened.
They turned on their GPS and walked their way to the arena. The sky was turning orange, but they could see from afar people were starting to gather and walking towards the same way. Hazel wanted to check out the merchandise shop before they go in.
Lee took her bucket hat and put it on his head, “I will claim this hat … you want to wear my beanie?”
The bucket hat fits perfectly on his head, he wore his hoop earring on one ear, and surprisingly, he was wearing Harry inspired outfit as well.
“That’s my favorite hat … only if you trade it with your T-Shirt, you know, the one that’s longer on one side?” she saw a window of opportunity to ask for Lee’s favorite oversized T-shirt that he bought in Korea.
“Deal … I’m going to Korea in summer anyway, I can buy another one … do you want a new one instead?”
“You are? With the whole family? No, I want the one you always wore … what if they don’t make the same one?”
He laughed, “I’m pretty sure that shirt is a massive product but okay … I’ll trade it with a new one if I can get one.”
She held his hand and swung it back and forth, “We’ll see,” she said with a smile. She really liked that shirt since the first time she saw him wearing it.
He laughed lightly, “I’m going with my dad to visit my grandma, my mom’s mom … I always go there every summer, even though we hardly have any conversation because she doesn’t speak a word of English.”
“Oh … that’s so sweet of you to visit her every year.”
“Yeah, I’m the only legacy she has left … my mom was an only child, and my grandfather died a few years ago, she’s really sweet though, we hire an interpreter every time we visit … she wanted me to go to college there and learn Korean, but … I don’t know …”
He seemed a bit torn about it, it was clear he really cared about his grandmother. She too was the only legacy he had of his mother.
“How old is she?”
“Seventy-nine… but very healthy, full of life, she’s always so happy whenever summer comes … I guess it makes me happy too, someone out there is glad to see me,” he chuckled.
“Aww … I’m always glad to see you too … how long will you be gone for summer? I was thinking we can go somewhere, didn’t realize you have other plans,” they’ve started to spend more and more time together, Hazel had forgotten to ask him about summer.
He glanced at her and smiled sweetly, “About a month or so … my dad’s leave is usually four to five weeks, where do you plan on going?”
“Oh … so we’ll have the rest of the summer then? My family always go to the lake house for summer … the lake boathouse actually, my grandparents owned a lake house and then Theo’s parents owned a lake boathouse … so it’s a big family vacation,” she explained.
“With Theo and his family too?” he was rather flattered that she considered asking him to join her family vacation.
She nodded, “Yeah, we usually stay there the whole summer, but maybe not this year, ’cause Max and Theo need to prepare for moving out to college … we’ll probably stay there for a month or so too.”
They finally arrived at the arena premises, she looked around for the entrance and found a small group of people had already lined up in front of it. She took her phone and called Max, “Max … what gate does it say on the ticket? I’m at gate 7 … are you already on your way?”
It sounded like he was walking, his breath was a little heavy, “Yeah, we’re on our way … hey, Theo … what’s the gate number?”
There was a mumble in the background, and then a rustling sound from the phone being rubbed against clothes or fabric. Max seemed to be discussing something with Theo, she couldn’t hear what it was.
“Hazel … can I call you back?” he said after a while.
“Why? What’s the matter?”
Max let out a long sigh, “Theo left the tickets at the hotel … we’re going back to get it.”
“What?” she shrieked.
“I know … we’ll be fast … just wait there, okay?”
She turned off her phone with a frown, she couldn’t believe they didn’t check to bring the tickets before leaving the hotel. But then again, she should’ve been the one to be holding the tickets. She will be collecting the stubs afterward anyway. So she took a seat under a tree, the sky was getting darker, soon the sun will be gone and the night will be ignited by the neon lights. She realized it was the first time she had ever been in that city, the neon city.