Lost In Stereo

There's nothing in this world that can truly prepare you for the ground floor of a rock concert. The blinding, flashing lights that search the crowd. The smell of sweat, cheap perfume, and smoke that seems to linger, overwhelming your senses. The surging energy radiating off the crowd as they dance and sing and shove into each other, trying to get to the stage. The feeling of the giant speakers booming over the fans, so loud you can feel their vibrations in your chest. The joy and happiness that takes over everyone in the room and they scream the songs back to the band, forgetting about whatever troubles that they have and just letting go and having fun. The feeling can be intoxicating.
To me, the most beautiful thing is that none of the people here have never seen each other before. It's a room full of strangers that came together over a mutual love of music and getting lost in the moment. These people would never have been in the same room if it wasn't for the music. It's such a beautiful thing to me, and I'm lucky enough to be able to experience it every night.
Somehow, my three best friends and I started a band that made it big right out of high school, and we were lucky enough to be able to travel the country playing shows every night with whatever band felt like taking us with them. This tour was just like any other. Every night, we opened the show and after our set, Jack, the lead guitarist and I would go and watch the other band from the floor.
“Come on, Alex!” Jack yelled at me before disappearing in the dancing crowd.
“Wait for me!” I took off after him, being shoved around while trying to weave through people.
After a long few moments, I finally spotted Jack. He was pretty hard to miss. He stood a few inches taller than I did, putting him a little over 6’ and jet black hair with a small section of it bleached blonde. As I got close to him, I was shoved off balance by a fan who was dancing too hard for the cramped area.
I was hit hard enough to throw me off, but not enough to knock me to the ground. Regaining my composure, I turned to look at the person at fault. There dancing was the most perfect person I have ever seen. Her long dirty blonde hair was swinging as she jumped and danced around. Sweat collected on her face and neck causing stay hairs to stick, but she paid them no mind. She wore a tank top and ripped jeans and a red flannel knotted around her waist. Her hands were in the air, and her face smiling as she danced and sang the lyrics. She danced alone. She was just as oblivious to the world as the world was to her. I knew in that moment that she was the one. Everything about her screamed perfect, and I couldn't let her slip away.
Now I was shy. Always have been, actually. As a lead singer, I was forced to be full of energy and confidence on stage. Off stage though? You would be lucky to get a response out of me. So I guess you can imagine what I'd do when I'm being forced to talk to a beautiful girl. It took everything I had and more for me to try and talk to her.
“Hey!” I yelled over the music. “My name is Alex.”
She didn't even notice.
So I tried harder.
I tried yelling louder. I tried tapping her shoulder. I even got in-between her and the stage, so then she had to look at me to see the band. It still didn't work.
I felt like colophane with the way she could see right through me. It was as if I didn't exist, and the only people in the world were her and her favorite band. She was out of control. The way she danced, she was lost in the sound, and she was still beautiful.
I spent most of the night trying anything I could to get her to look at me. Just to notice me. Just when I thought she was going to look at me, the crowd shoved forward, carrying her with it. Jack and I were left in the back of the crowd, frantically looking into the crowd for her. It was when I realized that I'd never see her again that I felt my heart break.
Heartbreak was a familiar feeling to me, but it had never hurt me more than it did that night.
Jack put his arm around my shoulders trying to comfort me. “You should go after her.”
I sighed. “What's the point? I don't know her name, and it's not like she will notice me anyways.” I pushed him away as I made my way for a back exit out.
I sat down in a empty ally that stood adjacent to the venue. Leaning against the building I slid down the wall to sit down in the street, one leg outstretched with my other knee bent, my hand resting on it.
There was a beautiful but complex painting on the wall opposite of me, most likely graffiti, and I found it entrancing. I was trying to decipher what its meaning was when I decided to light a cigarette. I have never been in the habit but I was prone to use them on bad nights like this. From where I was, I could hear the crowd roar as the concert came to a end and the slamming of the doors as the fans made their way out. Very few people used the door near me, and most that did scurrying away as fast as they could without seeming to rude.
I sat here for a long while, taking long slow drags and exhaling the smoke just as slow. Eventually someone slumped down next to me.
Not bothering to look away from the wall art, I muttered out without any emotion in my voice, “Go away, Jack. I want to be alone.”
“Do I have to be Jack to tell you that smoking is bad for you?” A feminine voice responded to me, a voice full of sass, but genuine concern also present.
Slowly looking from the wall and to the source of the voice, I was met with the deepest blue eyes I have ever seen, with the most dangerous bubble gum smile, and the most perfect person to exist.
It was her! Awestruck, I couldn't seem to find the words to respond, try as I might. My mouth was moving and attempting words but no sound was coming out.
She was still smiling when she reached for my cigarette, snuffing it out. She got up and extended an arm down to me.
“I'm Stella. May I ask who you are?”
Grabbing her outstretched hand, I tried to sound confident in my response to her, “I-I-I'm Alex.”
She pulled me to my feet. “So, Alex. Would you like to go on a late night adventure with me?”
“An adventure? And do what?”
Stella laughed, a noise just as beautiful as she was. “That's the beauty of it. We can do whatever we want!”
So that was how I met the love of my life. We spent the night and most of the early hours of the morning exploring the city, doing whatever we wanted. We did it for hours before it started to rain, forcing us into a 24/7 diner to keep dry. We sat and we ate, joked, and talked about life.
The more we were together was the more in love I fell with her and her tattoos and her switchblade attitude. The more Stella spoke, the more I lost myself in her, just as she had been lost in the music.
All of this seemed to happen lifetimes ago. Even after all these years, I have no idea why she decided to talk to me or why she wanted to go on the late night adventure, but I couldn't have been happier that she did, because now I get to spend the rest of my life with her.

Notes

Hi guys! I write this in an hour for a writing class, so I thought I'd share it with you guys! I hope you guys liked it! I have an idea, if enough people show intrest, based off this story but it has a different ending and cn be pulled out to a full length story.
Let me know what you guys think about this story!