As they finished their meal, Colton lifted his glass. “I’ve got a surprise for you,” he said as he clinked her glass in a toast. “I’m taking you to a concert tonight.”
Sophie batted her eyes and sipped her wine. “Really? Who are we going to see?”
“Have you ever heard of DJ DVLN?”
Sophie’s eyes lit up, her face soft in the candlelight. “Shut up! He’s amazing! That’s who we’re going to see?”
Colton smiled proudly. “Yep! I met him a few weeks ago. He came and filmed some footage of the team for his next music video. I asked to see his music studio, we started talking about playing guitar, and he offered us tickets for tonight.”
“Oh my God! I’m so excited! I love his music.” Sophie began a little wiggle dance in her chair. “And you’re gonna be in his next video? I can’t wait to see that.”
Colton felt a growing sense of pride. He was just beginning to understand exactly how many people were going to see this music video.
Colton dropped his napkin on the table. “We better get going. We’ve got to pick up the tickets before the show.”
A short time later, Colton and Sophie arrived at the Fillmore Auditorium, picked up their tickets at will-call, and were escorted up to the VIP area. The venue was a large ballroom with a huge central dance floor and two big bars on either side. At the back end of the dance floor was a seating area under the balcony. The stage stood at the other end of the dance floor. At least, Colton assumed it was the stage. It was currently hidden by a giant velvet curtain. Upstairs, a balcony circled and overlooked the first floor. Most of the upper level was the VIP section, with the portion closest to the stage closed off and marked BACKSTAGE ACCESS: NO ENTRY.
Colton and Sophie took their seats.
Each VIP “seat” was actually a curved velvet sofa with a round table in front of it. There was a small space in front of each table where you could lean on the balcony railing, which provided the perfect vantage point from which to watch both the show and the crowd. Colton and Sophie were seated front and center, directly across the dance floor from the stage, at Table #1.
Colton rested his elbows on the railing and looked down onto the dance floor. The show hadn’t begun, but the floor was already packed with people dancing to the club music pumping through the sound system. He noticed people of different ages, shapes, sizes, colors, and ethnicities, some dressed conservatively and others wearing completely outlandish club gear, all mingling together, having fun.
Colton and Sophie were clearly overdressed, so he shucked off his jacket and tossed it over the back of the sofa, removed his tie, and unbuttoned the top buttons of his shirt.
He returned his gaze to the floor below, where couples were dancing together. Men danced with men, women danced with women, and women danced with men.
This is how the world should be. He thought to himself.No judgments, no fear, no anger, no hatred…just everyone coming together and having a good time. This is really fucking cool!
He turned back to the sofa where Sophie had already stationed herself with drinks for the two of them. “It’s amazing you got these tickets.” Sophie said as she sipped her martini with bright red lips. “This show has been sold out for months!”
“Really?” Colton raised an eyebrow and sat next to Sophie. “Dean didn’t mention the show was sold out. You like his music?”
“Hell yeah. He’s big in the club scene and his music is used in a lot of runway shows.” Sophie took another sip of martini.
The VIP area was not overcrowded. There was plenty of room to move around, and Colton recognized several familiar faces scattered throughout.
A few tables away was the guy from that Netflix series, with a fairly large entourage.
And next to them was the actress from the new Marvel movie.
He was even pretty sure one of the tables hosted Tom Daley and Gus Kenworthy. And at another table was the soccer playerwho had recently come out. It was a veritable who’s who of celebrities in the VIP.
“There are some pretty famous people up here,” Colton said as he undid his cuffs and rolled up his sleeves.
“Yeah, these tickets were not cheap.” Sophie grinned and tossed her hair over her shoulder.
Why did he give us such nice seats? He didn’t have to do that.
The music began to fade and lights began to dim.
Colton could see the curtain beginning to open as the lights were going down. It must be showtime.
In the darkness, a thick beat began thumping through the space. Then a figure slowly appeared on the huge video screen. It was Dean, walking slowly in a shadowy spotlight, slightly turned to the left, with his shirt off and the spotlight highlighting the left side of his body.
While the beat pulsed, ‘DVLN’ appeared over Dean’s silhouette on the video screen and the crowd erupted with a giant roar. Colton couldn’t believe the volume! It was louder than anything he’d ever heard in an NFL stadium.
Next, the video screen split in the middle and began to open. Colton could start to make out Dean behind the video screens wearing a tight t-shirt, headphones on, pumping his fist in the air, dancing to the beat.
