Serendipity by the Sea

Chapter Forty-One

Sarah’s eyes immediately adjusted to the dark arena, as she followed behind John to their seats.  He led them to the left side of the stage and pointed to two chairs in the front row. Sarah grabbed Danielle’s hand behind her and squeezed by a few people in the front row to get to their seats.  The two girls sat down and Sarah glanced around the arena to neon signs, cell phones in the air and girls hugging each other.  Just as her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, the arena lights quickly went to pitch black.  Danielle squeezed Sarah’s hand and pulled her to her feet.

Sarah looked to the stage and saw five figures walk out to the middle of the catwalk. The lights were still off in the arena, but the screams of fans around her went to an all time high when the boys walked out.

“Los Angeles, how you feeling tonight?”  Harry yelled and the arena spotlights popped on and pointed towards the band.   The screams went louder and the music started to play.

It took Sarah a while to feel comfortable; she was amazed at the energy being tossed at her back from the fans behind her.  It was an incredible feeling and she now understood why Harry loved this part of his job.  He was so excited the past few days for the show; he could barely keep the smile off his face.  Sarah watched intently as the boys used the whole stage to reach every fan in the arena. Sarah was impressed by their stamina.  She was daydreaming and moving slowly to the music, when she felt Danielle elbow her.  As she looked up, Harry was standing right in front of them on stage.

He looked down and mouthed the words, “Enjoying yourself?

Sarah nodded and smiled. The fans sitting around Sarah all stared at her and one whispered to her friend, then pointed at Sarah and Danielle.  A few other girls started to stare and as a new song began to be played on stage, the girls’ attention went elsewhere.

The show was amazing; Harry continuously was on the side of the stage where Sarah and Danielle were seated. And when the band played two new songs that they were still working on, the crowd went insane.  Sarah’s ears were ringing when she saw Harry sit on the edge of the stage right in front her.  He smiled at her and playfully blew her a kiss, then mouthed the words “you look beautiful.”  She felt her face go red and she looked over to see Niall’s acoustic guitar was brought on stage.

As the boys sang along to the music, Harry caught himself starring at Sarah’s smile. He thought back to their time earlier in the evening and his eyes went wide as he remembered Sarah saying, “I love you.”  He couldn’t wait to hear those words escape from her mouth again.  He realized he had missed his starting point of his verse and realized the crowd had started to sing it for him.

“I can’t hear you L.A. Sing it for me!” Harry yelled to recover smoothly.  The rest of the band looked at him and then, saw Sarah in the front row.  They looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders, and then laughed.

“Looks like Harry’s distracted tonight, eh?” Liam yelled into the microphone at the end of the song, “Wonder what he’s distracted about?”

The crowd started to scream louder and Harry glanced at Liam with a smile.  “This crowd is so beautiful, that’s why I’m distracted.”   The screams grew louder and Harry pulled the earpiece out of his canal, as he held his hand up to his ear to make the crowd go louder.

Sarah watched him closely, as he pulled the attention away from him starring at her while on stage, to the next song.  As the music began, the boys each went back stage one by one to refresh themselves and change their t-shirts.  The band was so warm and friendly towards the crowd of people.  They drew attention to signs they could see and as the show neared the end, the crowd became more and more energetic.

“Sarah, are you ready?”  Danielle yelled, as she pointed towards John at the end of the front row.

Sarah nodded and reached down towards her seat to grab her purse, when she felt a pull on her shirt. 

“Excuse me, are you the girl that Harry is dating? We saw you in a picture with him.” A pre-teen girl asked Sarah with a smile on her face.

Sarah instantly became nervous, “How should I answer this question? What if this girl punches me? What do I say? We haven’t really talked about what I should say to people.”  Instead of giving an answer, Sarah leaned over and smiled at the girl, then whispered in her ear, “enjoy the show.”

John grabbed Sarah’s elbow as he led her down the aisle at the front of the stage, where tall security guards were standing.  She looked up and Harry was following their movements, as he watched Sarah exit the arena.  Danielle was close behind her and another security guard after that.  As they were being escorted backstage, up the stairs, Sarah looked back and marveled at the massive arena filled to the brim with fans screaming for Liam, Louis, Zayn, Niall and Harry.