“The price of popularity,” he replies softly, and we both lapse into silence.
I realize after another ten minutes of driving, he never answered my question about where we’re headed.
The answer becomes pretty obvious when we pull up outside Hawk Arena, the venue for the gig tomorrow night.
I glance uncertainly at Iri as he holds out a hand to help me out of the car. The arena is quiet and dark. It looks locked up tight for the night.
“Uh, Iri, what are we doing here?”
“You’ll see,” he replies, resting his hand on the small of my back. That small touch seems to burn straight through my clothing and I try to track back, to recall if it’s the first time he’s touched me.
Iri unlocks a door around the side of the arena and leads me through the silent lobby that tomorrow will be teaming with people. It feels strange to be here when the place is closed up like this. Almost... melancholy. Lonely, even.
We head through a back warren of corridors inside the empty building and I glance up at Iri curiously, and he finally takes pity on me.
“I figured you might want to see the place before everyone gets here tomorrow. See where your creations are going to come to life.”He draws me along until we’re right in the wings of the stage. He then turns on a few of the light switches with a casual flick of his fingers and the entire stadium illuminates.
I peek out onto the stage and my breath catches.
“Holy shit. It’s enormous.”
I knew this was one of the bigger venues slated for the tour. I also know that it seats around sixty thousand people.
But knowing that and seeing it in person are two very different things.
“What do you think?” he asks. “Go ahead, take a proper look.”
I just shake my head, unable to find the words right now. My heart pounds, feet starting to sweat in my shoes.
So many seats.
So many people.
Iri then steps close to me, his hand brushing against my hip as he nudges me until I’m stepping out onto the stage. A shiver runs through my spine and I take a small step away from him, causing him to frown again.
“Holy fuck.”
I stare out at the seemingly endless rows of seats. They curve up in a dome that surrounds the stage from a full two hundred degrees.
I don’t know if I’m having the reaction Iri expected me to have, or what his reasoning was for bringing me here. But I feel kind of itchy. Strange. Kind of like I might puke.
This time tomorrow, it’ll be all over. One gig down and six more to go.
“This is my ritual before every big gig,” Iri says. “I like to come out on stage before it gets busy and loud. You lose sight of it when you’re caught in the moment.”
That’s pretty sweet.
Iri’s not exactly someone who’s easy to get to know. But this feels like he’s trying to open up and show me a part of himself no one else knows about.
However sweet the gesture is, I can’t pretend like the sight of this room is affecting me the same way. A surge of nerves overload me, blowing right past my internal dam. I’m sweating and the sight of the sheer number of seats in here is making me feel kind of dizzy.
A wall of exhaustion hits me and I want nothing more than to crawl into my bed. It’s been a long day.
“Thank you for showing me,” I say. “Do you mind if we head back to the hotel now?”
He nods, and it seems like I’ve surprised him. “Right. Yes. Sure.”
And something tells me tomorrow’s going to feel even longer.
