Ensnared

First Show and The Afterparty

I took a deep breath and headed towards the stage. I could hear the screams from the crowd getting louder and louder as I got closer. Suddenly a hand reached out and stopped me from walking. I looked over and saw Harry staring at me, his ear buds hanging around his neck.

"Good luck." He said. I studied his face for a second before smiling at him and resuming my way to the stage. I put in my radio receivers and took a step onto the stage. I was initially taken aback from the screams and took a second to admire my surroundings. All I could see were thousands of fans, the stadium packed to the brim with screaming girls. I sat on the stool and took a minute to breathe, letting the situation soak in. I could feel my nerves start to kick in and I closed my eyes, trying to zone out all the screams.

'Give em hell kid!' could hear Jimmy's voice and it made me take a breath. He'd give me so much shit if he could see me now. Good natured of course.

"Alright Max, can you hear me? Nod if you can hear me." Josh's voice came through my earpiece. I nodded and looked over to see him standing there, talking into a microphone.

"Good. I'll be here throughout the night, guiding you and such. Sound good?" Again I nodded. "Just remember what we went through today. You have the set list in front of you and I'll help you with the 'in between song' bits." I nodded again. I looked around, spotting the bottles of water next to me and moved them closer. I looked back out at the crowd, the boys hadn't even been on stage yet but these girls were already going crazy.

"Crazy isn't it." Josh asked, seeing me looking around in awe. I quickly nodded and took another deep breath.

"Alright this is it. The intro music is going to start with a video playing with the boys on it. It'll get a bit loud and shrieky but you can handle it." I nodded in agreement.

"The band is gonna start coming out and y'all are gonna start playing the intro music. It'll last for a bit but no worries, we already went through the basics." He said.

"You can do this." I said to myself. I'd practiced all the songs before we got here, I had the set list in front of me. I had everything I needed. Nothing to be nervous about. At the end of the day I knew no matter how many shows I played, regardless of the size of the audience, I'd always get nervous before a show. I hoped those nerves never went away.

"Here we go." Josh said right before the intro music began. I took a final deep breath and got in the zone.

I knew when the guys appeared behind me when everyone started screaming even louder than ever. Holy shit they were loud.

The beat of Midnight Memories came through my receivers and I began playing.

"Straight off the plane to a new hotel" Harry's voice came through. They were all smiles as they made their way down the runway. Zayn gave me a thumbs up as he passed and I laughed at him.

As the show continued I couldn't help but notice how different it was to how I imagined it. Each guy in the group brought something unique and connected to the crowd. Most importantly though, there were no terrible boyband choreography. Really the only one who attempted any sort of dancing was Harry. Despite his exuberance and the fact that he was well loved, the one that got the most and loudest shrieks was Niall. Probably cause we're in Ireland.

"You're doing great Max! I knew you were the best choice." Josh said during a break. I looked over and saw him giving me a thumbs up with a massively cheesy grin on his face.

"Doing alright back there Max?" Sandy shouted over the screams.

"Yeah!" I shouted back. He smiled and nodded.