Free Time Tour - Ruel

1

When I was young, around twelve or thirteen, I found a boy named Ruel on Instagram. Ruel wasn't like every thirteen year old- he posted singing videos; as did I. Once I followed him officially (instead of stalking his page numerous days in a row) I had a notification that he wanted to send me a direct message. I was confused at first- not knowing why he had wanted to message me; but then again nervous too because I wouldn't know what to say.

Ruel continued to send me messages; eventually his page got bigger and bigger; more people interacted with him and I was a figment of his imagination. All of the FaceTimes; laughs; and moments we had shared were all gone. Although, I had never met him before; it still hurt to lose a friend.

I scrolled through my feed again- reflecting back on how we were three years prior. I thought about all the times he made me laugh when something bad (or what a thirteen year old would class as bad) happened. I saw his recent post which was a poster type thing. I scrunched my eyebrows up, scanning all of the dates on his "free time tour". Eventually I saw Manchester. My eyes welled up with tears as I slammed my phone onto my bed, laying back and resting my hands on my eyes as relentless sniffles and cries flew out of my mouth. I thought about what could happen if I went- if he would remember me; what he would do- what I would do.

I wiped my eyes and ran my hand through my hair. I grabbed my phone quickly and saw the post still open, "should I do it?" I questioned to myself under my breath as I pinched the bridge of my nose. The tickets came out the next day so I decided to go to sleep and wake up early and get them.

"Call me insane, I'm in love with your games" rolled out of his mouth- I was the only one in the crowd; yet he seemed unfazed by me. He didn't glance in my direction and when I tried to get his attention it would be like a metaphorical door in my face. I sat on the floor and huddled myself into a ball and cried. It felt as if the whole world had collapsed down onto me- my best friend had ignored me.

I woke up with cold sweats with tears running down my face. My breathing was accelerated as I reached over to my phone to check the time. I calmed myself down as I decided to go on a walk; it may be 5am, but at this point I'm too awake to go back to sleep, I thought to myself as I pulled my jumper over my head and walked down the stairs, opening the front door and locking it with a turn of my wrist. I walked down a long street with houses dotted along it, a notification rang out in my pocket as I reached and grabbed my phone. I peered down to my phone to see 'oneruel' has posted a photo. I quickly stuffed my phone back into the pocket on my hoodie before getting curious on what it was, so I whipped my phone back out and slid across the notification on my home screen as I continued shuffling my feet. The post loaded and it was a picture of none other than him. I turned my phone off immediately and put it back into hiding.

It was getting lighter by the second- it was around 7am now so I turned around to walk back home. I eventually got back at 8:30am, so I logged onto my computer and reassured myself that I was going the right thing. I thought about the positives- I'd be seeing him for the first time; I like his music; it would be nice to have a day out. However the weaknesses stuck out more- he probably wouldn't remember me; I'd most likely cry; I'd have to leave and waste my money if it got too much. The clock turned onto 9am when I had made my mind up.

I sighed as my mum looked at me with a concerned look on her face "what's wrong?" She questioned and then added "you're not eating" she dropped her tea towel onto the counter as she came over to me and engulfed me into a hug. "Is it a boy?" She questioned as I nodded, wiping my nose with my sleeve. "Do I have to beat someone up" she laughed lightly as I shook my head, looking around trying to conjure the words up to explain to her the situation.

"Well, he lives at the other side of the world" I glanced to her to see how she would react as a look of confusion wiped across her face. She nodded telling me to carry on. "And I used to be really good friends with him until he stopped talking to me and forgot about me" she rolled her eyes as she nodded again, "once he got famous" I sighed as she gave me a confused look, "and now he's touring here, and I might of" I paused to see her face again, she was staring at me directly as she scowled towards me, "bought tickets to see him" I gulped expecting her to begin to shout at me.

"Who is the kid?" She questioned "what's his name" as a spree of questions followed "where's he from" she continued "how old is he, when is his birthday?" She crossed her arms as I opened my eyes wide and shook my head back and turned back to my Cheerios in front of me.

"He's called Ruel Van Dijk" I sighed, "He's from London, but he lives in Sydney and he's sixteen, seventeen on the 29th of October" she hugged my head as she cooed into my hair, "I've just missed him for three years, and it's my only opportunity to see him" tears rolled down my face as she released me,

"You're going to that concert"