kiss the tears right off your face

i. show time

pull me close and i'll hold you tight

nick scrunched his face toward joe's direction, confused.

don't be scared cause i'm on your side

kevin plucked his bass and pursed his lips, his eyes darting to the fans at the upper level to his right.

know there's nothing i wouldn't do for you-ou-ouu

joe held out his hand for me to reach. i looked into his soft, dark brown eyes, and time froze as i slowly pulled my bangs away from my face. they were at that awkward length where they were too short to fit in my low ponytail, but long enough to be annoying and get caught on my eyelashes.

before i could put my hand in his, the screaming girls next to me grabbed his hand, holding their phones out to capture this heartfelt, one-of-a-kind moment. the smell of beer and hints of perfume turned my stomach.

joe turned around, took a deep breath, and began to feel each following lyric in his body.

pull me close and i'll hold you tight
don't be scared cause i'm on your side
know there's nothing i wouldn't do for youu-ouu-ouuu...

tears streamed down joe's face. his royal blue reilly's bar fitted t-shirt soaked up the tears and sweat he just produced. eyes all on him, the crowd cheered him on, and he leaned on the piano for support. nick came over and hugged him, patting his shoulder with his right arm.

i will take your pain
and put it on my heart

joe's shaky voice coordinated with his shaky hands, fans' voices drowning out joe's quiet singing. i could hear him perfectly though, being in the pit next to him.

i won't hesitate
just tell me where to start

he then finished the song off strongly, pointing towards the stage at the conclusion of the song. the fans at wells fargo center gave a standing ovation. feeling my face heat up, i prepared to wipe a tear from my eye when i dropped my phone. being on barricade, unfortunately, it dropped on the side of the barricade i wasn't on, closer to the stage. security was too preoccupied with getting the boys ready to walk to the main stage again, so i called out to get their attention. after pointing and yelling out multiple times in the loud arena, i was ready to give up until joe ran off the stage to grab my phone. he picked it up off the ground and was coming my way. a security guard promptly followed him and turned red upon arrival.

"i believe this is yours."

i replied, "yes, i dropped it i'm sorry, thank you so much joe!"

he smiled. "open your phone for me."

i reacted quickly, tapping the screen and getting my phone to register my face id. joe took my phone after he saw it was unlocked, and turned his back to me. the girls next to me were freaking out, touching his arms and tapping his shoulder. i bet they were crazy jealous. if i wasn't in this situation, i would be for sure. i wondered if they thought i threw my phone on purpose like those annoying people on tiktok. joe extended his muscular arm with my phone in his hand, the screen displayed my front camera's view. joe was taking a selfie on my phone! i wondered why it took so long for him to get to the camera. he didn't need me unlock my phone to do that.

"big smiles!"

the people behind me in the pit pushed tighter my way, inching closer to get in the shot. joe's curly hair covered a lot of the people behind him, so he bent down a little bit.

joe gave my phone back to me and whispered, "check your notes app."

i felt my face turning red at that moment, and nodded. i waved goodbye to him, too nervous to think of anything to say back, and he was back on stage in no time. the security guard stood closer to me the rest of the night.

"what did he say to you?" the girl standing next to me asked, desperate for an answer from me.

"oh, he just said to not drop my phone again, haha." this was my time to gatekeep!

she laughed hysterically and went back to watching the show. i was screaming inside, too excited to watch but so eager to open my phone to see what he could have possibly done in my notes app. i was positive that someone saw what joe was doing on my phone, so i would save it until after the show was over, as a private goodie bag per se. but what if it wasn't as important as i was making it out to be, like an emoji combo or a drawing? but also what if it was the most important thing ever like his phone number or an instagram handle to a joe finsta?

the anticipation was killing me, but i promised myself to check during jealous. unless joe was singing the second verse.