I could swear you looked right at me. I could swear you smiled when you saw my stupid smile. You know, the one you get when you’re listening to mind blowing music and you just can’t stop smiling. The kind of music that uplifts you, that heals, that transports you to places that your body has never been to. Exactly the kind of music you make.
The kind of music that you listen to. I mean really listen. Not just hear in the background. You put on a CD and that’s what you do for the next hour or so. Listen. I love that. Not all music can do that. Some music is meant to be in the background. Not yours. This experience is multiplied when it’s live. By which number, I’m not sure. But it extrapolates to a new level.
I could’ve sworn we smiled at each other. I could’ve sworn you saw me and I saw you in more ways that we thought was possible.
I can’t believe you played my favourite song. The weather was perfect too. There was a lot of wind, the temperature was perfect, hot but not too much. The night sky was clear and the moon was really bright, nearly full. With the wind gushing I start to listen to the notes of “Only The Winds”. I cannot believe it at first. It isn’t from the last CD, I did not expect for you to play my favourite song.
Isn’t it the perfect weather for that song? Maybe that’s why you played it. This is when we saw each other. I remember looking away for a few seconds (sucks to be shy, sometimes) and finding your gaze still on me when I looked again.
The amazing experience that is listening to your music live went on and my smile did not leave my face at any moment. I was lost in the music, lost in watching every move on stage, every light change. Lost in my thoughts, lost in the places I was being taken to.
The concert, sadly, ended. Like all good things do. People started leaving and I just sat there, still in shock about the whole experience, trying to wrap my brain around what I had just witnessed. I admit I also like to stay while they take away the equipment after a concert. It’s like the end credits of a movie, I stay for those too. In this case it was both.
The theatre was nearly empty when I saw you coming out from the right side of the stage. I shuffled in my seat, not really knowing what to do. I wanted to get up and go up to you, but it seemed like my body was against it. I tried sinking in my seat so as not to be seen. Useless effort, as it turns out. You saw me and moved towards me.
“I was hoping to catch you after the concert. Glad you stayed in your seat.”
“Oh, you did?” I was already blushing. Thank the gods the lights were still dim.
“Yes, I saw your smile during the concert. I wanted to meet who was the person behind it.”
“I just really like your music. I think you have a great talent for making people feel what they need to feel, what they’ve been hiding from.”
“Have you been hiding from something?”
“Love has been hiding from me.”
“With a smile like yours I would expect for love to fall at your feet.”
I’m silent. I do not know what to say to that. My face is red, how is it so warm, suddenly?
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sound so forward.”
“Oh, no. It’s ok. It’s just me. I’ve never been able to take a compliment. Too much thinking, you know?”
“Well, if you let me” you say drawing closer, one index finger stroking my hair alongside my face, “I’ll take you somewhere so you can allow yourself not to think.”
“No thinking? That would be nice.”
“Don’t think, just come with me. Don’t think.”