The Darkest Storm (Eric Secharia)

Chapter Two

 Chapter Two

 Last week I bumped into Eric from Midnight Red in LA. This week I’m in Portland with my best friend going to meet Midnight Red. Eventually I’ll be helping Kalli pack her stuff for LA, but today it’s all about fangirling.

 “Are you ready?” Kalli asks. “Let’s go,” I say. We head to Kalli’s Range Rover and get in. Kalli is just sitting there and not starting the car. “Kalli, you know you have to turn the key to make it move right,” I say to her. “I know, I’m just thinking,” she signs to me. “About what?” I ask her. “You and Eric,” she signs slowly. “What about us?” I ask. “Does he know you are deaf?” she asks looking at me. “No...He doesn’t even know my name,” I sign to her. “I guess what I’m really wondering is...Do you want Eric to know that you’re deaf?” she asks me. “No,” I say. “No signing around them. I can read your lips. I don’t want Eric to know,” I sign continuing my response. “No problem, I won’t sign,” Kalli says with a smile. “Thanks, we should get going,” I say to her and she finally starts the car.

We leave Kalli’s place and are finally on the road. I look at the time and start to panic. “Kalli, we are gonna be late,” I tell her. Kalli just waves her hand at me; basically telling me to chill out. Fifteen minutes later and we are at the radio station for the meet and greet. I get out of the car and start walking towards the doors. “Come on Kalli,” I shout. She runs up to me, “geez girl calm down,” she says. We walk faster up to the doors and I see a guy pointing at us. Maybe he’s waiting for us; I don’t see any other girls around. We’re so late that we are probably the last girls. Kalli and I walk up to the guy to show him our passes and he guides us to the table where Midnight Red is. I see Eric talking to Colton and I walk up to Joey so I can get a poster signed. “Hey there,” Joey says to me. Thankfully I can easily read his lips. “Hi Joey,” I say to him and he smiles. “Here,” he says and hands me the poster that he signed. I take it and it reads:

 Hey, you’re cute J -Joey

I give my poster to Thomas next and he looks at me with a smile. He hands it back to me and I read it.

Don’t be shy around us. We are all best friends now -Thomas J

Oh gosh, imagine being best friends with these five boys. I stop myself from fangirling and move onto Anthony. “Hey Anthony, I think you’re cute,” I say. Wait, did I just say that? I can feel my cheeks reddening already. “Awe, thanks,” he says smiling at me. I hand him my poster and he signs it.

You’re such a cutie -Love Anthony ;)

 Finally I’m in front of Eric, but he’s still talking to Colton. “Hey Eric,” I say. I really hope he remembers me else this will be really awkward. Eric turns around to face me, “Hey you’re the girl from the cafe,” he says to me and I just nod with a smile. “Colton, guys, this is the girl I told you about,” he says looking at me. I can’t believe he remembers me and he’s been talking about me with the other guys. This is gonna be a great day. “What’s your name?” he asks me. “Skylar,” I reply. He takes the poster from me and he starts to write on it. Eric hands the poster back and I read it right away.

 To Skylar:

I think you are beautiful! When I first saw you I knew I wanted to get to know you, but then you ran off. I’m glad fate has brought us together again.

Text me 555-0192

-Eric ;)

I can’t believe what Eric just wrote; plus I now have his number. I smile down at Eric and he gives me a wink. I move down the table to Colton, but I can’t stop staring at Eric. All of a sudden I’m being hit on the arm. I look at Kalli with a questioning look. “Colton asked you a question,” she says pointing to Colton. “Oh, sorry, here,” I say handing Colton the poster with a smile. He hands it back to me and I step towards Eric so Kalli can talk to Colton. Those two would look so cute together. I look at Eric and smile at him. “You’re going to the show right?” he asks me. “Yeah, I wouldn’t miss it,” I say with a big smile. “You should come backstage with us,” he tells me. “Can Kalli go as well?” I ask him. “Of course she can. It looks like her and Colton will be great friends,” he says looking over at Colton. I’m so excited to go backstage with the boys. “We’ll go backstage with you,” I say. “Bert, I need two back stage passes,” Eric says to some guy. “She’s the girl,” is the next thing Eric says. A big black guy –I’m guessing that he’s Bert– walks up to Eric and hands him two passes. “Here,” Eric says putting a pass around my neck. “Thanks,” I say looking at it. Eric hands Colton the other pass and gives it to Kalli. Kalli comes up to me and we just look at each other. All I can think is ‘how am I suppose to read their lips if I’m backstage?’ Kalli knows exactly what I’m thinking. Kalli looks away from me, back to me, and away again. What’s happening? What is everyone saying?

Soon enough Bert leads all of us backstage; the boys get set up with their mics. “Enjoy,” Eric says giving me a wink before going on stage. Eric is standing on stage and he smiles at me. Kalli faces me, “Thomas is starting to sing Take Me Home,” she says. I look onto the stage, but I can’t see Thomas’ lips. That’s when I start to cry. I push Kalli over to the side so Eric can’t see me crying. “I can’t see their lips,” I cry. Kalli starts to say something, but I can’t see her lips clearly. “I can’t read your lips,” I say. Everything is blurry from the tears. “We’ll move to the front,” Kalli signs. “We can’t leave backstage though,” I tell her. “Tell Bert that you are deaf and I’m sure we can get seats in the front,” Kalli says. “But,” I say and see Bert walk up to us. “Sky, tell Bert,” Kalli signs to me and I look at Bert. “Please don’t tell the boys, but I’m deaf and the only way I can enjoy music is if I can see their lips,” I tell Bert. “Can we sit front row?” Kalli asks Bert while signing to me. “Sure, I’ll take you front row and I won’t tell,” Bert says to me as I read Kalli’s signing.

We get to the front row where I can see all the boys lips. Eric gives me a smile and I smile back. They start to sing another song and Kalli tells me it’s called ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’. Every time Eric sings I’m looking at him and he winks at me. When Eric isn’t singing I look at whoever is singing. The boys finish singing and they thank the crowd. Once they are off the stage Bert leads us backstage again.

We get backstage and I go up to Eric. “Hey, I saw you in the crowd instead. Everything okay?” he says to me. I look at Kalli then back to him, “just wanted to see your faces,” I reply. I hope he believes that. Technically it’s not a lie because I did need to see their faces. “Did you enjoy the show?” he asks me. “I loved it! Thanks for all of this,” I say giving him a hug. He holds me longer than expected, but then let’s go.  “I gotta go, text me though... I left my number on your poster,” he says with a smile. I want to hang out with him more; I had so much fun today. “Are you leaving Portland?” I ask him. “No, not for a couple days,” he tells me and I smile. “I’ll text you and maybe we can hang out,” I say and he just smiles at me. I’d love to hang out with Eric more. I want to eventually be more than friends with him. “I’d love to hang out,” he tells me. “Great,” I smile. “I gotta go, bye,” he says walking away towards Bert. I take out my poster and add Eric’s number to my contacts. I bring up my messages and send him a text.

Hey :) -Skylar

I send the text and right away I get a text back.

 Hey cutie -Eric

For the rest of the day Eric and I text back and forth; just getting to know each other. It’s so easy to talk to him; our conversation never dies.