by Sarah Price
“We’ll get pummeled!”
“Dude!” I smack my hand against my head. Leave it to Cassie to chicken out. “We have to maneuver to the front. This is our only chance! We’re small, they’re tall. Get it?”
Jamie laughs. “I’m in. Come on, chicken,” she says to Cassie.
The next thing I know, the three of us are pushing our way through the crowd. We crawl between their legs, being careful not to get stepped on and squished. The closer we get to the front, the more dangerous it becomes. At some point, we get separated. But the destination is right ahead of us: the metal barricade.
Someone pulls at my hair and my bun comes loose. I try to turn around so that I can see who did it. But the girls are pressed too tight, facing forward and straining their heads as they watch the cracks in the white curtains next to the stage.
Oh, if only Aiden would pop his head out!
“Watch out!” someone screams in my ear and actually shoves me. Only, instead of shoving me away from the stage, I manage to fall backwards and through a gap in the mass of bodies. My head hits the metal bar, and despite the shooting pain in my neck, I realize that I’ve made it! I’m actually there, positioned in the most valuable of real estate: right in front of the stage.
I try to get out my phone so that I can text Jamie and Cassie. However, I don’t want to risk it falling to the ground and shattering. So I put my two hands on the top bar of the barricade and hold on for dear life. For the next fifteen minutes, I’m shoved, pushed, pulled, and even clawed at by girls behind me, trying to get me to loosen my grip.
Not. A. Chance.
And when the lights dim, there’s one moment of silence, just a split nanosecond, and then a scream in unison as a tall young man bounds through the curtain and takes the steps, two at a time, onto the stage. The noise is so loud that I can’t stop myself from laughing. This is more fun than I’ve ever had in my life, and even if my mom ends up grounding me forever or sentencing me to a chain gang to pay her back, it’s worth every ounce of punishment that might come my way.
I feel so alive!
“Welcome, everyone, to Rodeo Rage!” More screams.
He laughs and runs his fingers through his thick brown hair. I have no idea who he is, even after he introduces himself as Toby something-or-another. He’s cute, even if he is older. I like his smile and the way he talks to the audience.
“Now we don’t want anyone getting hurt, so no shoving or pulling hair,” he says into the microphone. Obviously, even though the tour is fairly new, the previous events received similar reactions from the mostly female—and all teenage!— audience.
The show begins and lights flash. Toby announces some super adorable girl named Chloe wearing rocking maroon Doc Martins, a red skirt with polka dots, and a white top. She bounces into the arena and the crowd goes wild.
Who is she?
Frankly, I have no idea who this Chloe chick is, but she’s energetic, dancing to the music as she makes her way to the center and raises her hand in the air. More wild applause.
And then she takes her place on top of an elevated platform where there are big speakers and other equipment. She puts on some earphones and suddenly music blares. Apparently she’s in charge of the music for the pre-rodeo show.
Within seconds of her taking charge, it happens. The stage is filled with boys. And not just any boys. Rodeo Rage boys. But where’s Aiden? For twenty minutes, they are waving to the crowd, taking selfies, shaking outstretched hands, all the while the security guards try to hold the crowd back. Several times, I notice that the stage thins out, and I realize that some lucky girls are meeting the boys behind a thick curtained area that is off to the side.
Argh! If only I had been able to buy the meet-and-greet tickets! I bet Aiden is back there right now, meeting dozens and dozens of rich, savvy fangirls.
But the energy in the building is so exciting that I still have fun.
That Chloe plays music—country music!—and several of the guys pretend to square dance. The crowd goes crazy, and I find that I’m laughing with them.
Another twenty minutes pass and the guys disappear. Still no Aiden. For a second I feel a flash of fear. What if he’s not here today? What if he’s sick?
Security begins to hold back the crowd so that the stage can be moved. Once the stage is gone, the crowd has free access to the arena. I push my way to the front and feel my body crushed against the arena wall.
The lights dim and more music blares. Suddenly a bright flash of white light illuminates the arena. I can hear the sound of the horses’ hooves before I see them. The Rodeo Rage guys ride their horses into the arena and race around the perimeter. Between the music and the pounding of the horses’ hooves, my blood races and my heart pounds.
I did it. I’m here at Rodeo Rage. I might have missed the official meet-and-greet part, but at least I’ll get to see Aiden. I hope.
I spot Bobbie on his bay quarter horse and I know that Cassie is going into cardiac arrest somewhere in the blur of people to my left. Clayton Wade is waving to the crowd, Brent Mayer and Bobbie Baylor are challenging each other to do the worm across the stage, and Andy Taylor defies the security guards by jumping off his horse and racing along the side of the arena, touching the outstretched hands of the girls in the front row.
Of course, security chases him back toward the center before Andy gets to me. Murphy’s Law, as my mom would say.
Where’s Aiden? Where’s Aiden? The screaming is so loud that there is no point in trying to understand Toby. Whatever he said, everyone else heard him loud and clear. As if it was possible, the noise rises another decibel. And that is the moment that two things happen.
First, the curtain splits and I see a familiar face emerge from backstage. My heart skips a beat and suddenly, I have joined the lemmings and I’m screaming too. It’s him. It’s Aiden Quinn! Seated on his favorite horse, he waves to the crowd and makes his way around the arena. Suddenly he digs in his spurs and Dexter is booking it, galloping at full speed. And then Aiden leans back, just a little, and his horse skids to a stop. He’s almost directly in front of me!
“Aiden!” I scream out even though I know it’s impossible for him to hear me. I don’t care! He’s really here. I think I’m going to die. And if I did, I would die happy.
And then the second thing happens.
Just as he is about to run to the edge of the arena where I’m standing—literally the only thing separating us is that dumb metal barricade and three feet of space—I feel an elbow in my cheek. Hard. As I fall down, someone takes advantage of the sucker punch to push me backward. I never hit the floor, but the girls squish me farther and farther away. It feels like they’re spitting me out of the crowd.
This whole scenario happens in seconds! I can’t believe it. My prime real estate disappears at the exact moment I would have made eye contact with the one, the only, my true love: Aiden.
Frustrated, I crawl my way back to Brooke.
She looks up and stares at me, her eyes wide. “What happened to you?” she exclaims. “You look like you went through a hurricane!”
“I was up front, Brooke! Right up front!” I clench my fists and growl like a tiger. “Argh! Those girls are vicious! They just yanked me away!”
She still has that shocked look on her face.
Jamie and Cassie emerge from the masses. Holding onto each other, they laugh as they run toward us.
“Holy Hannah!” I hardly recognize them. They, too, are in complete disarray. Hair a wild mess, their shirts hanging off their shoulders, and Cassie has a scratch on her neck.
“I touched him!” she screams. “I actually touched him!”
She better be talking about Bobbie Baylor.
“He’s so adorable!” From the flush of her cheeks and glow in her eyes, I can tell that she’s not talking about my Aiden. “I think I just went to heaven!”
Jamie laughs. “That is unbelievable! They’re crazy!”
“I’m in love!” Cassie is st
ill dazed from her Bobbie encounter.
“I was right there!” I say. “Right in front of the barricade as Aiden was coming up, and some wench decked me with her elbow!”
Jamie bursts out laughing again and points to my cheek. “There? Ha ha. You have a black mark there!”
For some reason, I join her and start laughing too. In a way, it’s funny. The craziness of the crowd is something I doubt I will ever experience again. Yet the event has only just started.
Wild-eyed and with crazy hair, Jamie looks at me and then we both look at Cassie. The three of us are glowing, excitement coursing through our veins. Without speaking, we grab each other’s hands and run, screaming, toward the crowd. We don’t look back as, once again, we dive into the mass of people. Only this time, we know what to expect: chaos and bedlam. It’s an every-fangirl-for-herself mob.
After the boys jump off their horses and race around with no real agenda, which I’m not really sure anyone in the audience cares about or notices, the boys start to disappear behind the magic white curtain. Two of them, Bobbie and Clayton, pop their heads back and the girls in the front row near the curtain start with the screaming again. Bobbie laughs and starts to walk toward the crowd, which causes a rush toward the barricade from the other side.
Security steps in, one guard pushing Bobbie back behind the curtain and two other guards holding the barricade in place.
Ah ha, I think. That’s why the girls were making such a ruckus earlier. The Rodeo Rage boys are just as playful in real life as they are on social media. That thought warms my insides: It’s nice to know that they aren’t faking their videos and photos.
Over the loudspeaker, someone announces that the meet- and-greet ticket holders need to queue up at the back of the room. The crowd thins out as a quarter of the girls rush to the back of the room.
It’s complete mayhem. Who the heck is in charge of organizing this?
I manage to catch sight of Aiden from afar, which does nothing to deter me from trying to meet him. A few minutes later, the VIP ticket holders are escorted through a roped-off section to actually meet the Rodeo Rage boys, during which a band plays on the stage. The crowd thins out to the sides and the three of us dance to the music, not caring that we don’t really know how to dance. We like the song and sing it at the top of our lungs. It’s like a giant, wild slumber party, and we’re having the best time of our lives.
Two more bands play before the boys return to the stage. Jamie gives me a piggyback ride so I can try to see over the heads of everyone in front of me. I catch glimpses here and there, moments that stop time and fill me with unbelievable joy. Whether he’s twerking or walking like a T-rex with his arms tucked against his body, Aiden is simply the dreamiest boy in the world. And here he is ... not on a computer screen, but right in front of me. Flesh and blood in all of his cuteness.
I can die now. My life is fulfilled.
“Cat!” Jamie accidentally drops me, and the two of us tumble to the ground. Somehow we avoid getting trampled by other girls. We crawl our way out of the crowd to safety.
Leaning against the wall, we are both laughing when Cassie comes up to us. “OMG!”
Are those tears in her eyes? Is she really crying?
“What’s wrong?”
She shakes her head and turns around. Something is scribbled on the back of her brand new Baylor shirt. Scrambling to our feet, both Jamie and I take a closer look. “Is that ...?” Jamie doesn’t finish the sentence and I feel my breath stop. Just. Like. That.
Cassie turns around and, yes, those are tears. She nods. “He signed my shirt.”
OMG is right! We don’t even have meet-and-greet tickets, so how she pulled off getting Bobbie Baylor to sign her shirt is beyond my comprehension. In a way, I feel betrayed. She never even talks about Bobbie Baylor. I didn’t even know she liked him until the other day, and now she got to meet him? That’s totally not fair. I’m about ready to cry too, but not for joy.
“How did that happen?” I try to feel happy for her, but it’s hard. It’s not like she’s the one who risked everything to buy the tickets!
She points toward the railing on the other side of the room. “I was standing there, watching him meet girls, and he just came over to the barricade.” She’s still crying. I want to yell at her and tell her to stop it. “Then he hugged me and signed my shirt.”
What? Did she just say he hugged her? Forget crying. Now I want to smack her.
“That’s it! I’m going to meet Aiden one way or another!” I storm off in the direction where I suspect that Aiden is meeting and greeting his fans. If she can get an autograph, so can I!
With full determination, I barrel through the mob scene, shoving girls aside and squeezing past them. One of them shoves her elbow in my back. Again! I just don’t care. Watch out, girls, I want to shout. Number 3,134 is coming through.
Just as I fight my way to the front of the arena, that Toby character is back, standing near the music area and talking into the microphone with Chloe dancing behind him. There’s an older woman with long blond hair next to her, taking photograph after photograph of Chloe as if she’s one of the Kardashians. She even walks in front of Toby as if he’s not even there.
The table where Aiden had been just moments before is empty. He’s gone. Apparently the MC Toby is announcing that the Rodeo Rage boys are coming back into the arena for the last time.
Great. All of that work and money to get here for nothing!
I feel as if I’m miles away from the edge of the arena now. To make matters worse, there’s a big security guard who positions himself right in front of me. Try as I might, there’s no way I can see around him. I catch a glimpse of a dark figure jumping through the curtain and bounding up the steps to the stage and then nothing. It’s just the broad shoulders of some very large man who looks like he could bench-press me with one hand while eating a sandwich with another.
Disgusted, I make my way back toward Brooke. To my surprise, she’s not alone but talking to a young man. He’s tall and thin, well dressed in dark jeans and a bright collared shirt that shows off his tan. He has a hint of a beard and mustache, a little on the grunge side, and wears awesome glasses. I love the dark frames. Several girls are taking photos of them and whispering while pointing. Who is he?
“Hey,” I say as I approach them.
Brooke flashes her prettiest smile and tilts her head. I can barely hear her, but it’s obvious that’s she introducing me. “Randy, this is my sister, Cat.”
He shakes my hand and says something, but the acoustics in the room are so bad, I can’t make out a single word that he says. He sounds like he’s talking in a tin can. So I smile back and nod. Manners matter, after all.
I lean over to Brooke, yelling so that she can hear me. “I got all the way up to the front to see him and he was gone! This sucks!”
She starts to say something when another one of those roaring screams starts again. It’s impossible to have a conversation. I shrug my shoulders and she sighs, pulling me closer to her so that her lips are right by my ear.
“That’s Randy Quinn, you moron!”
I blink twice.
“He’s Aiden’s older brother and the tour manager.”
Holy sweet mama! Did Brooke just say what I think she said? Is it possible that I misheard her? I can’t help my reaction: my eyes grow wide and I turn my head to stare at him. He laughs, clearly aware that I just made the connection.
“He’s going to take you back to meet Aiden after this set,” Brooke shouts into my ear.
Oh.
My.
Gosh.
It doesn’t matter that the music is blasting, courtesy of Chloe the DJ. I’m speechless and can’t believe what Brooke just said. It’s going to happen? I’m going to meet Aiden? Backstage?
I think I stop breathing because Brooke nudges me and snaps me out of my stupor. I gasp for air and sit down, my legs too weak to stand. Both Randy and Brooke are laughing at me, but I don’t care.
I can’t believe I just hit the lottery and all thanks to my older sister, Brooke. Who would have thought that she would be such an amazing asset to my fangirling? For a short while, I stare at them, watching as they talk to each other (or, rather, yell into each other’s ear). She laughs, he smiles. I can tell from the body language that sparks are flying. He hands her something that he pulls from his back pocket: a business card.
This is surreal. Aiden’s brother just gave my sister his business card? Why, that almost makes Aiden and me related! If Brooke marries Randy, Aiden would be like a brother-in-law, right? In my mind, I see the entire wedding unfold, Brooke in her white gown with a long train and poofy veil. She’ll hold a beautiful bouquet of pink roses with green ivy that hangs down to her waist. And when she stands at the altar, accepting this man, this wonderful Quinn man, as her husband, I will glance over her shoulder into the hazel eyes of Aiden, who will be Randy’s best man. Sparks will fly and then later, we will dance in each other’s arms during the entire reception as if no one else is in the room.
My dream is interrupted when the lights snap on and the crowd begins to thin out. Suddenly, there is no music and no screaming. Girls are walking toward the exit, some of them with mascara running down their cheeks, others with glowing eyes from having just met the Rodeo Rage boys.
“What’s going on?” I say too loudly before I realize that I don’t need to scream anymore.
Randy looks at his phone to check the time. “It’s over. We’ll wait until the fans leave and then I’ll take you backstage, okay?”
Okay? Okay! I nod my head, absentmindedly as I float on a cloud of happiness. I can’t believe it!
Jamie and Cassie run over to us. Thankfully, Cassie has calmed down from her emotional breakdown over meeting Bobbie Baylor. I pat the seat next to me, and when they sit, I give them a quick update. Jamie has the same reaction I did: she blinks in disbelief. Cassie, on the other hand, starts to tear up.
Once again, Brooke has saved the day. I think I’ll have to buy her a new car for a birthday gift!
The room is almost cleared of girls. Security guards are corralling them out of the room as if they’re a herd of cattle. Some of the girls slip away from the guards and try to make a clean escape back to the barricade, while calling out to the boys. But the security guards are on to them and eventually the room is cleared.