Gypsy Road

Second Wind

The gravel crackles beneath the tires as we roll to a halt in the parking lot outside the stadium.

"Ready?" Eric looks over at me as he shuts the car off.

"Ready." I smile, practically bursting out of the car from all the anticipation.

The eight of us meet each other near the entrance. Marissa takes my hand and Sarah takes the other as I almost drag them into the stadium. Eric jogs up behind us with Sam closely trailing behind him, dragging Fred along.

"Woah, hold on. Donna can we slow down?" Marissa giggles as she tries to keep up.

"Sorry! I'm just really excited I guess." I slow my pace a little, but it still seems hurried despite how much I try to remain calm.

"Ma'am, may I see your ticket please?" the middle-aged woman at the booth asks.

"Yeah, here." I grin, sliding the thin strip of printed cardstock across the table to her.

"You're good to go, enjoy the concert." She smiles.

"Thank you." I step to the next table and pass my bag to the guy standing there in a yellow security shirt.

"Enjoy the show." He gives me a small smile, passing me my now unorganized bag. I hate how they dig through everything, but I don't let it bother me too much. Nothing could ruin tonight. Absolutely nothing.

I step aside and wait for my companions. Eric comes through the line after Marissa and Sarah, followed by Sam, Fred, Jeff, and Tom.

"I'm so excited!" Marissa squeals.

"We all are, I can tell you that. Especially Donna here," Eric says, gesturing to me, then he turns his head to face me. "I swear to God, no fainting, okay?"

"I'll try not to." I smirk at him playfully.

"Alright gang, let's go!" Tom motions for us to move in.

As we climb down the rows and rows of seats down to the floor, my heart stops. I see the guys up on stage, working on sound check. Then I notice that we're the only ones here.

"Um, Eric, where is everyone?"

"Remember how I told you I pulled some strings?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, I got us another special deal to be here first and be able to be here during the sound check."

I start feeling dizzy; my head is spinning. "Oh my God! Eric you're telling me not to faint but here we are giving me more reasons to." I chuckle.

We make our final approach, and I am no more than 6 feet from the Geoff Tate. Emotion begins to overwhelm me and I feel tears begin to well up in my eyes. I quickly whisk them away, careful not to smear my eyeliner. Then Chris walks up to Geoff. Geoff and I lock in eye contact for a moment.

"Hello there," he says in his low voice, kneeling down to the edge of the stage. His fluffy brown hair bounces as the breeze tousles it.

"Hi, Geoff," I barely squeak the words out.

"Cinderella. Nice to see you all." He smiles.

"Thanks for taking my call the other night, man." Eric gestures to him.

"Of course, anything for a fellow musician. And quite the bunch of them too. I assume this pretty little number with our previous tour shirt is the birthday girl you mentioned." He raises an eyebrow at me and I have to restrain myself from clasping my hands over my mouth.

"Yep, that would be her." Eric nudges me.

"Why don't you come up here, sweetheart?" Geoff leans out, offering me his hand.