She couldn't have been more excited today. Today, was her 16th birthday, and she had 13th row at a Hanson concert! Ashley Smith had been waiting her entire life jusy to be that close to the band that she had admired for so long. It was just about 5:30 PM, and Ashley and her family were already ready standing in line for entrance into the venue. Her friend, Katrin and her were all fired up, and had spent hours on the posters in their hands. Ashley could only pray that Ike, Tay, and Zac could see them from the stage. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Ashley...," her mother had just returned from the 'bathroom', "I have something for you. I forgot to give it to you in the car."
The now sixteen-year-old girl looked quite confused, and inquired, "What?"
Cautiously, her mother held out two round blue stick-on "Meet-n-Greet" passes. It read "This Time Around Tour: Group 516". They had to be fake. They just had to be!
"Are you kidding me!?!" screamed Ashley, in shock.
Her mother handed her a pass, smiling, "Stick it on, girl."
A shrill of volume was heard, as Ashley threw her arms around her mom. She couldn't believe it! She was going to meet Taylor! The love of her life! She had to be dreaming.
Hyperventialating, Ashley stuck her "Meet-n-Greet" pass on her green snake skin patterned top, "I can't believe I'm actually going to meet them! Do I look alright?"
Ashley was dressed in tight olive-colored leather pants, a black semi-see through cross top, and a green skane skin patterned overshirt. Since her seats were so close to the stage, she did her hair and make-up extra careful. She looked in perfect condition to meet them.
"Katrin! Katrin!" huggin Katrin, the girl screamed. "Can you believe this!?"
"NO! That is so awesome!" yelled Katrin, back. "You gotta go! Go! GO!"
With that, Ashley ran over to her mom, and grabbed her. Ashley began to drag her mother over to the side of the venue. Ashley was going to meet Hanson! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The girl was standing on the side of the venue. To the left of her, were the four tour buses, two were red, and the others...blue. She was ecstatic! Ashley couldn't believe that she was here...in line to meet Hanson! It was a feeling that couldn't be described in words!
Ashley heard the girl behind her thanking her dad, as she did to her mom, "Thank you so much, Daddy! I love you!"
"It was nothing, dear, really," he hugged her, tightly.
"How'd you do it?" Ashley's mom questioned the girl's father.
"Diana Hanson gave them to us," he explained, unbelievably.
"Are you serious" Ashley shrieked.
"Yeah, we met her the other day, and she hooked us up!"
"OH my gosh!" Ashley was going nuts, she was in awe that all of this was actually happening to her. "What's your name?"
"Amy," answered the man's extremely happy daughter.
"Hey, I'm Ashley."
"That's cool," Amy replied, smiling, "can you believe that this is actually happening?"
"No," breathless, Ashley responded, "I can't. I really can't."
There were people, working for the tour, running up and down the line of people making sure that all the backstage passes were authentic. They all were looking for "Group 516" written on the pass. After the four "MOE crew" organizers had gone back and forth throughout the line four or five times, they decided they were going to start letting people back to meet the band.
"Alright! The first 50 come forward!" announced the short, brown haired man.
Fortunately, Ashley and her new friend, Amy were in that group. They all walked forward and prepared themselves for what was about to come. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ashley was in a panick as she waited in the back alley to meet Hanson. They were letting people go in by groups of 5, and it wasn't her turn, yet. As she got back therre, she had just realized she had brought nothing for the three boys to sign.
"What am I going to do?" she turned to Amy. "I don't have a pen, or even anything for them to sign!"
"Calm down, calm down," Amy's father comforted her. "You can just have them sign your pass, and we'll give you a pen, promise."
Ashley reached over and hugged the man, she was so happy! This was just something that she couldn't control.
"Next group!" yelled one of the MOE Crew guys.
The next group was Amy's. Her dad, her, her two friends, her other older friend made upto five people, and there was only Ashley and her mom...so Amy's family went first. Amy waved Ashley good-bye and that was the last she saw of her throughout the night.
What seemed like only minutes later, the MOE Crew man, called over to Ashley and her mom, "C'mon on, guys...you're next!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ashley entered the backstage. It was in a back alley behind the venue and looked almost as if this was where the dumpster used to be placed. It was dark and only had one dim light, keeping the place a yellowish glow.
Unstable, Ashley slowly walked over to Zac. It was almost like she was blacking out, completely star struck by a person who was even younger than herself. She waited patiently for Zac to look her way.
Zac turned to her with a smile, "Hi, there. Thanks for coming!"
"Thanks, nice to meet you," the girl smiled, dazed.
Zac was in one of his favorite shirts, she guessed. She had seen the same red shirt in so many different pictures of him. The shirt was a long sleeved dark red shirt, with blue stripes on the upper arms, and an eleven in the middle of the shirt. His hair was pulled back in a ponytail, with a cap upon his head.
Turning away from Zac, Ashley waited in line for Ike. He was all smiles, from what she could blurrily see. Suddenly though, she felt a tap on her nervous shoulder.
Ashley turned around, only to see Taylor standing there, smiling at her. He looked so heavenly to her. He had a yellowish glow around him that illuminated him and made him look like an angel. He was perfect in her eyes. And now that she was looking at Tay, for some reason, she could see correctly again, and remained consciousness.
"Hi," he smiled brightly, looking into Ashley's eyes.
"Hi, nice to meet you," Ashley replied, looking back into his crystal blue eyes.
That was the biggest mistake she had made that night. She looked into Taylor's eyes. Ashley should've known that once she did, she'd never want to leave. They were beautiful and the entire time she conversed with him, her eyes looked into his.
As he grabbed her hand, Ashley sheepishly added, "Today's my birthday!"
"Oh, really?" it seemed she had sparked some kind of interest. "How old are you?"
"I turned 16 today."
"Really?! That's fantasic!" Tay blurted out, smiling. He then, came around and embraced Ashley in a hug.
Ashley seemed almost paralyzed by his touch. The second his arms went around her waist, she felt as if she would die. She never wanted him to leave her side, though she knew in only a few moments...he'd be gone.
"Well," Ashley regretfully told him, "I haven't talked to Ike yet, so I'm gonna go see him, k?"
"Alright," Ashley's eyes were still locked on Taylor's, "See ya! Happy birthday!"
Ashley stroded over to Isaac, the eldest of the Hanson brothers, and reached out for his hand. Suddenly, once again, her vision blurred and she struggled to look directly at Isaac.
"Hi, thanks for coming," she heard him say to her as he shook her hand. "Happy birthday, too!"
Ashley assumed that he had overheard her talking with Taylor about her birthday, and just thanked him, "Thanks, Ike. It's so nice to finally meet you!"
Alright, everyone, group picture!" one of the MOE camera men, told the group of people.
Ashley started to walk over to Taylor, who was motioning her over. But, just as she was just about to be in front of Taylor, whose arm was extended to her, she was pulled back by the back of her shirt.
The girl turned to see who had held onto her so tightly, to see Ike's smiling down at her. He pulled her closer to him, so that her body was practically onto of the front of his own, and put his hand firmly on her shoulder. As she began to smile for the picture, another hand landed on her back. It was Zac.
"Flash! Flash! Flash!" cameras went off everywhere. It was amzing, and Ashley for a second, felt like a celebrity. She barely knew where to look, and which camera was going off and photographing her.
For one last time, Ashley shook, everyone's hands. As she approached Tay for the last time, she smiled at him, saying, "Thanks for throwing me a great party!"
"No problem! Have fun tonight!" Tay laughed. "Happy Sweet Sixteen!"
Ashley stood closely to Taylor, waiting for her own mother to go through the line of Hansons. As she came to Taylor, she asked him, "Did you know it's Ash's birthday?"
Surprised, Tay put his arm around excited Ashley, and nodded toward her, "This is your baby?"
"Baby!?!" thought Ashley. "Oh my GOD! Taylor Hanson called me 'baby'! Wait till everyone hears about this!"
"Yep," her mother responded.
"Then, yeah, I did," he assured her. "I definitely did!"
As the mother and daughter began to walk away, Taylor sneezed, and waved towards Ashley, "Happy Birthday!"
Her mom and her walked out of the back alley and into the venue for the concert. They still had the whole night ahead of them. The flashing lights, the music, the crowd, and of course, Hanson! It was the best! Ashley's mom created a Heaven for Ashley that night! It was a night that she's never forget.
***WHAT HAPPENED NEXT!?***During the concert, Ashley had been dragged by Katrin to the front. Of course, there were about 100 other people there. Ash was hit in the head time after time by disposal cameras. During the show even, Tay had reached down to grab her hand, whispering...or really yelling, "Happy Birthday!" to her. She even was throw against the stage leaving a big black and blue mark that lasted for almost about three weeks. And what about Taylor's sneeze? Well, that got her sick enough to get bronchitis...two days later, lasting for almost about a week and a half. Being so sick, also caused her to lose her voice for the entire week and a half.
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