He Depends on You || Porter Robinson

Part Two

"Kate!" I heard a familiar voice call out. I smiled as I saw Porter jump down from ramp leading up to the stage. His eyes were wild and sweat was making his hair stick up in all crazy directions. He saw me and his face broke out into that goofy grin that I have grown to love.

"Did you fucking see that!?" He exclaimed and wrapped me in a sweaty hug.

"Porter, they loved it. You absolutely killed it!" I laughed and squeezed him back.

"Man...what a fucking rush!" Porter yelled out and started bouncing from one foot to another.

I smiled and gently shook my head as I took him all in. Porter had just debuted his new song, "Language" to a live audience. And although I had an entire string of interviews to coordinate with Porter's publicist, I had to watch from the side of the stage when I heard the first few notes of the song emerge from his set. And it was amazing. The crowd went wild once the drop came in. They already knew the song and they already loved it. I looked up at Porter who was sporting the smile I only see on him when he is performing or putting together a song for the first time. One of pure and undoubtable happiness. He was floating on air and soaking in every single second. It was moments like these that confirmed in my mind that he had been put on this earth to make music. I was in complete awe of him.

"You are really something Mr. Robinson." I said with a chuckle and lightly punched his shoulder.

"I was totally not expecting the reaction to be that great." He said and let out a breath of disbelief.

"They love you, Porter. And I knew they were going to love your new style." I said with a smile.

"Thanks, Bug," he said and hugged me again. "Now let's fucking party!"

And party we did. Of course, after all the interviews.

And yes, in case you were wondering, even since that fateful day in the 6th grade cafeteria, Porter had taken to calling me "Bug." It used to annoy the shit out of me. But I have since grown quite fond of the nickname because it was uniquely Porter's.

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Sometimes I think back to how Porter managed to win back my favor after damaging my fragile 12-year-old ego, but man am I glad he did.

It all started in the library, the day after Porter had sat down across from me at lunch and entered into my life.

I was absent-mindedly playing with the sleeves of my sweatshirt as I slowly wound through the bookcases in the library. I finally emerged with a familiar text in hand.

"Naruto, again?" Ms. Harper, the librarian, asked as I sat down at my usual table.

"Well unless this school decides to step up it's Manga game, it's the best I got." I said with a shy smirk.

"I'll take that up with the school board." Ms. Harper said with a chuckle and pushed past my table with a cart full of books.

I was about to dive into the familiar comic in front of me when I heard someone plop down next to me. I jumped and looked up to see none other than Porter Robinson. He looked at me with a sheepish smile.

"Oh, hi Porter." I said and tried to sound as disinterested as possible despite my heart beat increasing.

"You know my name!" he exclaimed which earned a stern look and a "shh!" from Ms. Harper. He slouched down in his seat and mouthed a "sorry" in her direction.