It's the day of the concert and I'm in my bedroom. It's already five pm and we have to leave in an hour, but I still have no idea what to do with my hair, makeup and clothes. Even though I had the whole week to think about it, nothing seems to be the right look. Larissa is a lot more relaxed and curling her hair, singing along to She Looks So Perfect. "We have to leave in an hour if we want to grab something to eat," she says and turns around, "So you better get ready now."
"Ugh, help me," I put my head in my hands, "Please, can't you just do my hair? That way I don't have to worry about that." She has always been good at doing hair. Somehow my hair doesn't work with me when I do it, but when she handles it, it always sits perfect.
Larissa nods and turns off the curling iron. "I'm done. Come sit down here." I do what she says and sit down in front of the mirror. She starts curling my hair, leaving one bit of hair straight. I wonder what she's going to do with that.
"Really, you shouldn't worry so much," Larissa says, "You're just meeting your boyfriend." That makes me sigh. "Everyone says that, but he's not, for the last time! I don't know why especially you and Luke keep saying that."
"I'm just kidding." she grins, obviously pleased with herself for making me irritated.
After ten minutes she has curled my hair and she starts braiding the one strand she didn't curl. She then secures it with a bobby pin. "Okay?" she asks and I nod. "Thank you."
"You're welcome. Now, for makeup I think winged eyeliner and pink lipstick is enough."
I'm lucky I already have foundation on my face, so my makeup takes a lot less time to do. Miraculously my eyeliner goes well on the first try, and so does my lipstick. A little bit of mascara is enough, so I'm satisfied with that. Now onto my clothes. Calum ordered me to wear the sweater, so I toss it on my bed. I pull out a pair of skinny jeans. Maybe it could work. Since it's always hot at a concert, I decide to only wear a black tank top under the sweater. I have to wear it for now, though, because it's November and that means it's only ten degrees outside.
"Perfect. Now put these on." Larissa grabs a pair of naby blue ankle boots that perfectly match Calum's sweater. I smile and grab the concert tickets, which are on my desk.
"Let's go."
We then say goodbye to our parents, who are super excited for us. "I can't believe my daughter has a date!" my mom says and I sigh. "Mom, seriously? It's not a date. I'm going to a concert, definitely not a date." I say and she hugs me. "It wouldn't surprise me if you and Calum were dating after tonight, though." "Mom..." I roll my eyes at her, at which she laughs. Larissa grabs my arm and we walk outside, walking the short distance to the bus stop. As soon as we sit down, the nerves start kicking in. "Do I really look okay?" I ask my best friend and she sighs. She always does when she thinks I'm overthinking. "Yes, you look amazing! You always do." Larissa says and I hide my hands in the sleeves of my sweater. It's way too big, but somehow I still like the way it suits me. But I'm still worried. What if Calum thinks I'm ugly, or weird for actually wearing his sweater?
When we arrive at the station we run to catch our train, and when we arrive at the Central Station after half an hour, Larissa immediately drags me over to Starbucks. "Saar, why don't you get us a place to sit. It's crowded. I'll order. The usual?"
I do as she says, and when I see her heading over to the counter, I receive a call from Calum.
"Hi Saar!" he calls me by my nickname.
"Hey Calum, how are you?"
"I'm good, thanks. Where are you? Are you going to be here in time?"
"Yeah, we sure are, we are at the Central Station of Utrecht right now, getting Starbucks. We're going to be in Amsterdam in forty minutes, I guess."
"Okay, I'll be happy to see you again!"
"Me too! I'm going to go now, good luck and say hi to the boys. Bye!" I say and hang up.
Larissa then comes walking over to me with our coffee and I stand up. "That took a while. Let's go to our train."
Once we sit down, I get a video call from Calum. I answer it, noticing there's a girl with a 5SOS shirt in front of me way too late. "Hey Cal, calling me again, huh?" I say and he smiles. "Yes, of course! I want to make sure you're still coming. You are, aren't you?"
"Of course! I'm in the train."
"You're wearing my sweater!" he happily says and at that moment I deeply regret that I didn't put my earphones in.
"YOU'RE WEARING CALUM'S SWEATER?" The girl in front of me yells and Larissa tells her to calm down. "Saar, walk away for a moment, I'll handle her."
I don't hesitate and rush over to another part of the train. Thankfully the toilet isn't occupied, so I quickly close the door behind me.
"I'm so sorry for that." I sigh and Calum shrugs. "Don't be sorry. She overreacted and it was dumb of me to call you while you're in the train. But for your sake, I'm gonna go. I don't want you to get hurt."
"Thanks, bye. See you tonight." I say and hang up. I then walk back to Larissa, who's obviously still in a discussion with the girl.
"Okay Saar, we're going to get out. It's the final station anyways."
I'm glad to get out, and as soon as we go stand in line for the concert, we lose sight of the girl. "I'm going to get some fries, do you want some?" Larissa asks me, at which I nod. As soon as she's gone, the girl behind me asks, "Is that the same sweater as Calum has? I thought they didn't sell it anymore."
" Yeah, I got it from hi- a friend." I quickly correct myself, hoping she didn't notice. I'm really starting to get nervous, but my best friend comes back with fries and some water and I gladly accept them. My phone buzzes and I'm afraid it's Calum. Hopefully he'll understand when I don't pick up. Luckily I don't have to worry about that, since it's my mom.
"Hey mom,"
"Hey sweetie, are you having fun?"
"Well, I'm actually in line so it's kind of boring, but I've got food so I'll survive."
"Okay, have fun on your so-called 'not date'."
"No mom," I sigh, "Stop saying it's a date. I'm just going backstage." I tell her, whispering that last word. I then say bye to my mom and hang up. "Do you think anyone heard that?" I ask and Larissa shrugs. "I don't know."
Then the people in front of us start walking and I grab Larissa's hand. "The doors are open. Here we go..." When our tickets get scanned, I grab them from the guard and we start running. We're lucky we both have excellent health and we're soon standing close to the stage. I already imagine Calum standing there, looking for me in the crowd... I wonder if he really wants to see me tonight. I can't wait, but I don't know about him. Maybe he still sees me as a fan he can easily hook up. But I'm not going to let myself be treated that way. I just really, really hope he still likes me and doesn't think I'm weird or something.
"Sara are you okay?"
Larissa pulls me out of my thoughts and looks at me weirdly. "Yeah, why do you ask?"
"You should see yourself. You're almost shooting hearts out of your eyes."
I sigh, "It's just... I can't believe I'm actually in touch with him. It's just so weird, all this happening. I mean, you and Luke, me and him. I can't stop worrying about it. I'm very nervous."
"I'm too, but there's nothing you can do about it. Let's just have fun and believe it, because this is happening!"
After twenty minutes of waiting, the lights of the stage go on. The lights that lit up the hall now go on the stage. It's showtime...
